The Dao of Magic

85 - Lesson

"Hnnnnnngh" Beads of sweat appear on Selis's forehead as she spreads her arms. The water surface in a circle around her starts to sink, forming a half sphere with a level floor. The seven passengers let out appreciative murmurs as they sink through the water surface, the smooth watery walls giving them a perfect view of their surroundings.

Bits of chopped up aquatic fauna skim across the half sphere, leaving red trails in their wake. They sink down quickly and another wave of the small girl's arms causes them to rise up towards the diving bell structure containing the stairs going to the next level.

"Now that we all have calmed down, let me say a few things. I decided to take things a bit more seriously. So I want to make some plans for the future, feel free to butt in with any suggestions." I make eye contact with everyone one by one as they walk past me down the stairs.

Bord raises a hand and I nod in response. "What happened to your face?"

I drag a hand across the subject in question and feel my patchy and scruffy beard. That ball of fire qi must have done more damage than I thought.

'CUT, BLADE, THE BEST A MAN CAN GET."

Sliding a qi clad finger across my face leaves it baby smooth.

'GROW YOU FUCKING HAIR, MAKE DAT STRATIFIED SQUAMOUS KERATINIZED EPITHELIUM'

A glorious new beard grows from my face as my follicles go into overdrive. I do some slight trimming and present it to my audience.

"Better?"

They all look weirdly at my impromptu barber trick. Selis is looking at me with especially big eyes as she rubs her hand through her short hair. She scrunches up her face as her hair starts glowing blue while it slowly turns in a wild mop of hair.

The brightest smile I have seen from her yet appears of her face while she strokes her fingers through the blue locks.

"That was one of the first things I tried." Angeta pulls a long, grey and glossy tail from her pants, a rare gentle smile on her face as she too starts running her hands across it.

"This is a good example of what I want to talk about." All attention goes back to me as I continue talking.

Ket is totally ignored, along with the grand total of five facial hairs that he managed to grow from his face. He pulls them out while wincing, tears forming in his eyes. I want to ask if those tears are from physical or emotional pain, but decide not to.

"I never had a chance to do this in my previous world because of entrenched, ancient, power hungry and powerful existing authorities, but I want to start a school. Qi is pretty much omnipotent, I want to see what happens when I create a society where qi and cultivation information is freely shared and built upon."

Ares is looking at me like I'm crazy, the rest has doubt clearly written across their faces. I sigh and rub Lola under the chin. She is the only one who truly understands me.

"Let's get a move on first." The next room turns out to be from my half of the dimensional patchwork, the ceiling is completely bare of crystals. I jump down and walk towards the exit. Soft thumps followed by a short scream sound out behind me. Ares must not have liked the fact that Vox jumped without informing her. A decent walk later, we are all gathered inside the resting area between level thirty and thirty-one.

I weave a protective web of qi, forming it into a slightly glowing ball of thin strands. Grabbing my necklace, I hang it in the middle of the stone room. "You guys go first. I have something to discuss with Ares."

Everyone casts glances between me and Ares. Bord is the first to touch the floating piece of jewellery and disappears. The rest follow soon after until only me, Ares and Vox are left behind.