(Making a decision.)
Chapter twenty six:
"Now that I've decided on how to proceed in the future. I wonder who to visit next. Should I go in order? Or is that out of the window now that I've visited the youngest first? They no doubt know that I'm here... Corvus thought as reappeared in the chaos surrounding Hera's domain. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. He wondered if this was how a person who had many children worries about showing favoritism. If he goes to Xuanwu next, he may make them think that Hera is more important than his eldest. If he goes in any order they could think of it in negative ways. They may not be able to do anything about it, and he didn't really need to care about their thoughts and wishes, he gave them life. So, in his mind, if he doesn't care about them and show that he cared about them all equally, he would feel like an irresponsible scumbag of a father.
"So then... how should I do this? Maybe I could rotate it? I plan on coming every time night occurs on the outside after all. So... a seven day rotation... each time visiting a different one first. I visited Hera first this time... so if I don't want it to seem like she's more important than I suppose the only answer is that I'm going from youngest to oldest. Which means next I'll be visiting Siwang, then she'll also be the first I visit next time. Perfect. Looks like a plan! Corvus Rigel said to himself.
Corvus beamed at his supposed cleverness, but soon, that expression turned downed to frustration. "Of course... it's only a solid plan until I figure out how to speed up the relative time inside of myself indefinitely so that my multiverse develops faster... Gah! Fine! It's a temporary fix... Corvus began pacing in the void. "Then again... Maybe I should first try to figure out how to be in multiple places at the same time? What was it called? Omnipresence? Or I guess what I'm going for at the moment is just multiple presence. Like shadow clones? No... not a clone at the end of the day is just a clone, I need multiples of me, all sharing experiences and thoughts at the same time. Hmm... kind of reminds me of a manga I read... it was about this reincarnation into a spider. She had parallel thought processing which diverged into being multiple actual versions of her. But they ended up being completely separate and weren't actually experiencing things at the same time or all experiencing the same thoughts either... Corvus Rigel said to himself.
He held his head and shook it in frustration for a bit before giving up.
"Shit! Too confusing! I'll just go spend time with Siwang! Corvus Rigel said to himself.
Meanwhile, back in the fort, a woman wearing ascetic robes was sitting in her quarters staring at a mystical flower. Instead of leaning on the sides of the cup of water it was put in, it seemed to be equidistant from them, as if the rose had no need of support in the first place, even though the base of the stem was not touching the bottom of the glass. It appeared as if the rose was just staring there in space. She wondered if the glass was even necessary. The way the colors ebbed and flowed seamlessly on each petal was indeed enchanting to say the least. And according to her observation even without roots or soil it appeared as if the rose was alive and able to grow. More study would have to be conducted in order to ascertain whether the rose could be pollinated and produce seedings. Even more study would have to occur to show whether or not the petals, stem, pollen, pistil, stamen, or leaves of this rose had any effects alchemically. She had already attempted to use spells meant to analyze foreign substances but was unable to figure anything out. As this was the only sample, time would have to pass before any tests could be made, if it could in fact grow. If she had one more, she could pick it apart in order to study everything about it. She could not... no, would not harm the only sample available as she might risk it's stability. It appeared out of thin air, if disturbed it could very well disappear at any time. It was not because she received it as a gift in order to cheer her up while she was lost in thoughts of her past trauma. No, that was definitely not it.
Sighing, she took another look at the rose before turning to the tome she had taken from Merlin's library before, Asclepius notes on magic and medicine. Currently the focus of her studies is the science of the human body and how it can relate to magic. Used in the right way, magic can make up for biological inadequacies, medical infimities that people have obtained through accident and couldn't be healed, even genetic deformities.
The people don't know this, but magic and science are very closely related. The known laws of physics that humanity won't discover for centuries are already known by magic scholars. The loss of the library of Alexandria was a great hit to the world of science, but much of the knowledge had been passed from master to disciple since the age of the ancient Egyptian empire and the oldest Chinese dynasties.
For Aife, utilizing magical energy, in this case dimensional, to make up for the body's impairments that can't be fixed by medicine or by science has been the focus of her life. As a child, Aife was often bedridden and a burden to her sister. It was only after her village was destroyed, when her sister disappeared, and she was taken in by Merlin that she was able to function completely independently. It was due to her frailty as a child that Scathach had trained so hard in the spear, to find work and provide for her younger sister.
Using magic to heal the broken and lead them to a healthy life, this was Aife's dream. That she'll be able to recruit them to help defend the earth from extra dimensional threat's was just a bonus. Currently, the way people are recruited is they come to Merlin or the ascetics on the other continents to learn, the Shaman's of the Iroquois, and the Daoist Cultivators in China. There are also rare cases where talent is found among the populace, like in her case, but that is extremely rare.
Magic can be learned by anyone, they just need to have their minds open to the three energies, natural energy that permeates the planet, energy of the soul within the body, otherwise known as chi, and dimensional energy. Then it's about finding the power that suits them the most. Sometimes, like in her case, children can be found who have affinities to all three. However, this is besides the point. During her brief moments with the Time Stone as part of her training sessions with Merlin, she had glimpses of a world without belief in magic, where scientific theory is somewhat flawed, and hundreds of years where hundreds of thousands of people are persecuted and killed for even being suspected to being wizards or witches. In such a world, it would be hard to recruit...
So while she wants to save people, selecting the weak, downtrodden, and medically malingered and saving them through magic where medicine and science can't will also effectively tie them to the order in gratefulness so that they can continue to effectively defend the planet. Altruism and realism working together in effective harmony.
After a few hours of self study, Aife closed the tome and rubbed her tired eyes that concentrated on the Greek words the tome was written in for all this time. Looking out of her window she saw that it was now the middle of the afternoon. It seemed like a good time for a break with tea. She got up her desk and walked to the door, taking one last look at the fascinating rose on the surface desk. "I could study what kind of being Sir Corvus is more if I spend more time with him. Aife said to herself.
She went out of her room and turned in the direction of Corvus's room. She started to smile unconsciously. She was finding him interesting. And considering the level of being he is, perhaps spending time with him and learning about him would be able to expand her horizons. It certainly wasn't because she was interested in him personally. Definitely not. Or was she?