Hmmph... this junior is a good seed [Cultivation Management Quest]

This was a very strange place, strange indeed.

Aliki didn't understand what this strange location that the Voice spirited her off to was all about--it was mostly underground, not especially well lit, and sand was pouring in everywhere. It especially didn't help that aside from Mister Spoon, she didn't get sent off here with anything important--not her tools, not her medicines, not even her clothes and stitches!

Of course, The Voice directed her to some funny looking robe that was really more a pair of sleeves with bunch of twisting ribbons than anything practical for the desert.

*irrelevant* The Voice declared when she pointed that out. *the advantage in manipulation granted by appealing to the baser instincts of men is significantly outweighs the damage sustained by extended sun exposure.*

Aliki was more concerned about the sand actually, but she did suppose that her current Cultivation would prevent it from being an extended nuisance, so she didn't protest much--her insides still felt all knotted up and she had little ability to channel her power, so making a stand here and now on little trivialities like that seemed a nuisance.

It was better instead to just take advantage of all the studying she could do instead.

*know that the [Tree of Death] is the ultimate symbiotic lifeform* it would say one morning. *it defies the heavens by way of its very existence, serving as a neutral medium that cleanses and purifies the blood of all things, utilizing the consumptive principles of Yin to refine your own blood into a transcendent form that I have dubbed ichor. in this process, one is removed from the the masses, standing instead as an incarnate demon that can only be as its nature demands.* There is a brief pause as The Voice seems to chew that over.

*perhaps this is the true reason you could not serve your intended function comes down to this, you are innately tied to your nature--to change that would be to damage that which makes you a masterwork. the Great Master at least seems to approve of your existence--perhaps I have not erred in releasing you in your incomplete state.*

When the Voice went off on tangents like that, it tended to be creepy, just babbling all kinds of weird things like helixes and entanglement and all kinds of words she'd never heard before but was tucking away in the back of her mind just in case she figured out how they were important later. It was okay, The Voice was an old aunty and you always had to be patient with old people! They tended to have a lot of valuable thoughts once they finally finished sorting it all out, and if you rush them you'll only just confuse them.

*know that your cultivation is presently on a positive course* The Voice added after it finished talking about some where chromo-thingies. *the ninth heavenstage within twenty years is adequate progress, and the fluctuations of your body suggest that the tenth is likely only a heartbeat away. you should seize that opportunity before beginning preparations for your breakthrough--a stronger body will accelerate the evolution of your [Tree of Death]. in turn, you should not concern yourself with the further unorthodox stages--marginal efficiency enhancements from purified qi and optimized spirit pathways are helpful, but the additional hundred years and enhanced tribulation do not make up for this. i made the mistake of attempting perfection when i could have settled for good enough as one of the Great Master's honorary disciples.*

Aliki nodded, taking note of all of this--a bunch of the Golden Devils best and brightest were playing along with all of that, and a lot of them could have been advancing instead--probably a better choice to just go for broke when you could! She took a moment though to consider things.

"You're saying an awful lot about things I don't understand" She added. "And while I see the importance of careful cultivation... I'm also seeing that you're talking a lot about bodies too--in ways I've never even heard about." She tilted her head slightly as the thought continued to percolate in her mind.

"All that stuff is what I'm really interested in!" She added. "I mean, things about a fancy body and a strong constitution are nice, but what I'm really interested in are medicine! Surgery and transfusion and all of the other fixy-things! None of that boring herbalism stuff that lots of others are talking about! And since you know so much about it, it's just... You know, nice to hear about?"

The Voice paused

*my knowledge of the medical arts is hard won--it is not in the nature of my Dao, not directly* it began. *nonetheless, the act of combining disparate powers lends itself well to the process of enhancement and repair, it is not beyond my abilities to master.* It seemed to grow in confidence as it considered this value.

*very well, I will speak on my learning in this field, it cannot hurt your cause and may provide some small benefit. know of the helix that governs the body...*

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Months and months passed within the Odd Place. There was food enough to be had here and there--even if some of them were funny looking animals and human-like thingies that were running around and droopy and eating each other when she wasn't eating them in turn. The Voice was an everpresent thing that spoke of medical terms Aliki had never heard of--but the wisdom was real, the effects were real (Based on some of her experiments anyway when she wasn't going to eat something right away that is), and much of it brought her learning in the Fortress into perspective!

Really, this was a great time to be had! But all things eventually came to an end--the poking and prodding she got whenever she had to head back into the pod thing grew more and more fuzzy, and eventually things were poked and jostled just right.

And then? Whoosh! All of her superpowers came back!

At which point The Voice declared that the repairs were complete and Aliki was to withdraw.

Which was a little disappointing but when she poked and prodded and asked if there was more she could learn, it dismissed the matter. Echoing something like *it would impact your development to learn more at this time, return when you have mastered what you know, and we will speak again* Funny business one and all!

But she did learn a lot, and she did get made better when she probably should have gone splat, so she'd call it a big win in the end!

Of course, confirming that she wasn't some body snatcher or something when everything probably thought she was dead was going to be a headache... But hey! She got back and got better in record time! Enough to even attend that big fancy war that was supposed to be starting soon with the Cannibals! Perfectly acceptable targets by anyone's definition! She could go all snippy snip, Mister Spoon could have a good lunch or two, and she might even have a few people she could poke and prod and see how The Voice's teachings worked on things that were close enough to being human that they might actually qualify as some!

You know, if they couldn't dislocate their jaws and eat people whole, somehow.

How did they even do that? Was it something like how her claws just went all fwoosh when she stabbed something with them? You can't fit a full sized person in a stomach after all no matter what kind of fancy digestion techniques you use! They're just too big!

There were mysteries abound to solve! And she'd get to the bottom of this one one way or the other!