The Dao of Magic

26 - Association

I slap my own forehead. I have this massive knowledge database in my head, all the information I could glean from a day and night stalking half this city. The problem is I don't like working in databases. I need to sieve through massive loads of data I don't want to know consciously in order to find my answers.

Let's say I want to find the total number of puppies in the city, what could go wrong with that? I know how my brain databases work, so it's probably right next to the number of dead puppies and the number of drowned kittens in the city. I roughly know where all the information is stored, it's just that I have to look at all the surrounding data to find something specific.

But no more! I can simply ask my disciples! And even if I truly knew how much shit is going on in the city below me, this massive amount of qi around me is just too tempting. Sodom and Gomorrah will be summer holidays when compared to the righteous smiting power an unlimited amount of qi gives me.

Live and let live, though. I will give innocent victims a chance at something better once in awhile, though the revenge slaughter committed by the last semi-disciple I had has led me to look for other hobbies. The only hobby that hasn't caused unintended catastrophes so far is gardening.

I close my eyes and sink into the qi clone besides me. I still feel quite blurry despite how much qi is packed inside of this form. The bones and skin are present, internal organs are vaguely outlined now. It will reach full immersion when every cell has been perfectly copied, so I will have to look at the world through a hazy white filter until then.

Appearing in the little clearing has me just looking around for a bit. Deep grooves are carved in the topsoil, shredded leaves still fluttering around. A big clump of roots is wriggling around, lashing out with thin secondary roots. That's Angeta's place, I will let her cool off a bit inside of her self-made prison. But it's nice to know that she has started using her affinity in a useful manner.

The fat kid is just sleeping. Selis is looking at the paper on her desk from five centimetres away, the redhead... Vox is looking around with sleepy eyes. Ket and Tess are gone but I sense them running around the forest.

I walk over to Selis and place my hand on her short blue fuzz. Huh, it tickles. I force some qi through her eyes and check the focal point of her lenses. She is a farsighted as they get, any light coming into her eyes would focus on a point far behind her eyes, almost inside of her brain. Blind as a bat, this one.

I tap a finger on my cheek as I think. Do I still have that glasses fetish and do I want to unleash this look upon this world? Why not?

There are no libraries here, so if I want some innocent looking eye-candy I will have to make it myself. I pull some pieces of glass and some metal wire out of my ring. The next five minutes are spent wringing said materials into a wearable shape.

"Here, this should help."

She takes the glasses from my hands, looking around confused. Blind as a bat, yeah. I put the glasses on her face and she starts screaming like a madman.

"Just a qi clone, don't get your knickers in a twist about some missing facial features, tsk."

Confusion flashes across her face as she quiets down but I move on. I help her and as thanks she screams next to my ears...

Lamenting this ungrateful world I look at the sleeping fatty. He is physically exhausted, not a single shred of energy left in his muscles. He must have burned thousands of calories to get to this state but he looks as jolly and big boned as ever. He is unconscious though, and won't be answering any questions today. Not a single mark is made on his paper, I will need to work on his work ethic later.