The Dao of Magic

67 - Pressure

DELICIOOOUUUUSSS!!

I really missed tuna! I hadn't found any good alternatives to this fish in the cultivation world, so it has been a thousand years since this taste graced my tongue. The pile of veggies and fish is gone, only empty plates left on the table.

I pull the tableware back into my ring before any of my students start studying them. The plate and cutlery I gave Rhea look the same but are slightly different, any materials that are cut or carried by the implements have their qi stripped. I didn't want the dinner to end up with a qi poisoned dragon rampaging around, so I took some precautions. It doesn't really influence the taste at these low levels of qi, I hope nobody noticed.

The fish doesn't have any qi, but the seasonings and vegetables do, so it seemed prudent to me.

My disciples looked at me strangely, a vaguely unknown woman suddenly joining, but I spoke to them with my fierce glares. Behave or die, is the message I sent. I hope it came across, but we all ended up too enthralled by the food to really comment on the sudden interloper sitting next to me. She wolfed down the food quicker than even Bord, quite a feat!

The table is located in front of the mast, near the railing. I want to play some music now, and I don't want to sit on a chair, so I sit on the railing. I pull out a three-quarter guitar made from some divine moon wood, or something. The sect I stole it from was really pissed, but that wood has the best resonance properties of any wood I have found so far.

I strum some strings and fiddle with the tuning. Selis and Ket walk back to the raised aft section of the deck, Tess following them and begging for hints. Angeta jumps overboard and I hear her cursing as her feet keep breaking the water surface as she jogs after the ship. Bord also joins her and Vox continues to try and get a tan, unsuccessfully.

I play some basic chords, even these simple groups of notes sound rather nice thanks to the special wood the instrument is made from. Every fibrous grain inside the white material resonates with its own unique frequency, even supporting tone octaves higher or lower. The entire guitar is slightly vibrating in my hands as the neck and body seem to hum along with my strumming.

I finger pick some notes here and there but suddenly pause. "Rhea, do your people make music?"

"Call me Re-Haan, stupid human. And no, we only sing to our enemies."

"Not even a lullaby or something?"

She frowns and starts humming separate notes. It sounds disjointed, but I realise that the constant breaks in between tones prevent the air mana around her from building up. I listen to the melody in full. It sounds like some catchy sing along song.

I hum the melody a couple of times, experimenting with different timings until I find one that I rather like. I analyse the base note and the tone ladder it is in. It's in C minor, happy and sad combined. I decide to go with one, four, one, five. That gives me Cm, Fm, Cm, Gm. I decide to switch the Gm to a major G chord halfway to make it a bit more upbeat.

First, I finger pick some tones, getting a feel for the melody. I throw in some sevens and nines here and there to spice things up a bit. I start working in more concurrent melodies as I get lost in the music. I throw in some A major chords that use the same pattern to switch things up a bit in the chorus.

I have so much brain space free for thinking about the melody, it's really great. Previously, I had to keep a rather complicated muscle control program running for the complex hand movements that making music requires. Now I just let my heartcore handle that stuff, leaving me with more mental room for improvisation.

I sort of wake from the musical trance I am in when I notice something rather concerning. Since when did it get this dark? I look up and notice a massive storm cloud above us. An eery but beautiful song now accompanying my guitar playing.