Most likely the world was going to hell in a handbasket outside, but so long as Kai was fine, Omena didn''t really care. She was in the middle of a dozen different projects: refining new poisons, strengthening her Venomsteel, feeding that steel into Lethal Artisan. As everyponent of her soul synergized, she could feel her Azure Core strengthening, though it still needed another breakthrough of some sort.


    By contrast, Zae Zin Nim... cultivated. And focused on her healing, but mostly cultivated.


    "It''s going to take years and it can''t be rushed," Zae Zin Nim exined when asked. "I might as well make progress whenever I can so I''m readyter."


    "Yeah, but won''t you be dual cultivating all the time now?"


    "That... that isn''t the same! And there will be diminishing returns as we synchronize, so... it''s necessary..." She trailed off, squirming in her lotus position.


    Omena couldn''t help but smile. She found it endlessly amusing that Zae Zin Nim could be intimate with the two of them and still act like a maiden sometimes. But her difort might actually get in the way of the next step, so Omena decided to distract her.


    "So now that we''re married, do I get to call you Nim?"


    Zae Zin Nim sat up straighter. "That is... technically eptable, but I think ''Zin Nim'' would really be more..."


    "You never gave Kai permission either," Omena said. "Please don''t tell me that you married him, gave him your virginity, fucked him all morning, and still insisted he call you by your full name the entire time.""Of course not! I want him to refer to me familiarly, it''s just... we were very busy."


    "I''m sure you were."


    "Not like that!" Zae Zin Nim looked flustered, but only briefly before she shook her head. "You like doing this to me, don''t you?"


    "I absolutely do," Omena said with a rxed smile.


    "Do we call get to call you ''Omi'' now, huh?"


    "You''re not going to win that game with me, because you can feel free. But let''s see, if you''re ufortable with the way Cloudspire handles pet names, we shoulde up with our own... what do you think of ''Nimmy''?"


    Zae Zin Nim''s eyes widened. "Absolutely not."


    "Zinzi."


    "I... I see what you''re doing, and refuse to participate!"


    "Zimzin."


    The other woman''s eyes widened again, but she kept her lips pressed firmly together.


    "Ole Nimnim."


    Her lips tightened even further.


    "Widdle Nimmykins."


    "You will not!" Zae Zin Nim burst out.


    "I will, and your heart will be warmed by the intimacy!" Omena suddenly lunged forward and caught the other woman''s lips with her own. Zae Zin Nim gave a little squeak of surprise but then rxed into it, which was so damn rewarding.


    Gods, sometimes she just wanted to eat the other woman up. Omena had never attached too much importance to words like "husband" or "wife" and yet somehow they mattered here. Ages ago, she''d admired the two of them and been tempted to just throw them into bed somehow. Now she understood that she never could have done that, not and found something as warm as this.


    And yet they still hadn''t been together, not all three of them. That thought broke through her amused lust and returned her focus to her projects. There was so much to do and she really couldn''t justify very much ying around via dual cultivation.


    "I assume you wanted to distract me for some reason?" Zae Zin Nim asked her coolly.


    "So you noticed... yes, we''re ready for the next step." Omena handed her a new vial of dark blue poison. "This one is more intense than before. You should be able to drink it without harm, but like before, try to refine it if possible."


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any urrences elsewhere.


    "I should be able to. I''m d it''s helping." The cultivator took the vial and immediately focused on what she did best.


    Meanwhile, Omena dove back into all her projects with renewed energy. When Zae Zin Nim had offered her the sk of Ape Titan''s Ambrosia, she had considered it a sweet gesture that would probably not be relevant. Yet after taking it, it felt like her soul had burst free of confines she hadn''t even been aware of. All of the different pieces of her soul, which had previously seemed to ovep and get in each others way, now flowed together perfectly, strengthening one another.


    Dual cultivation hadn''t been entirely a distraction, it had actually benefited them. Omena couldn''t offer much chakrapared to the Kama Altar, but Zae Zin Nim''s new chakra strengthened her Physique by a level. She really was massively strong now, even if she was so often passive.


    Their time together had also boosted the Path of Venomsteel, which had been rapidly growing in general. Both of them had developed a new capacity, which was always a great path to power, but where Zae Zin Nim had brought hers into existence in a mature Amber Rank form, Omena was gradually building up from the foundation as she adapted to the Irunian methods.


    "When will the Pure Yin Shroud improve?" Zae Zin Nim asked, as if reading her thoughts. "It''s still stuck at 99. I confess... I haven''t ever really had a full understanding of the Rosemount ranks. Obviously more valuable gemstones are better, but..."


    "I was going to suggest we dual cultivate again," Omena said, "but if you''d rather have a lecture..."


    "Omi! This is serious."


    "Heh, alright. The lowest rank is Quartz, but you usually only see that on weak abilities. The next rank, which is much moremon, is Opal. Between all your preparation and the Kama Altar, you leapt over both of those to Amber Rank, which is where abilities begin to mature more slowly. You just need to edge a little bit higher and you could break through into Ga."


    "And it''s like an advancement?" Zae Zin Nim asked. "Are there procedures or rituals that need to be followed?"


    "Generally speaking, you just need chakra of the appropriate type." Omena smiled over at her. "As much as I would like to tease you on that, you probably won''t advance via sex anymore, not unless you''re absorbing some chakra from us. I''m not sure exactly what you need, but likely strength chakra."


    "I see. So it''s not so different from cultivation?"


    "Not exactly. Basically, you''ll advance through the entire rank - maybe smoothly, maybe in skips and jumps - so long as you keep absorbing the appropriate types of chakra. But eventually you''ll hit the limit and the only way to advance will be to find more intense sources. So right now you need something to tip you over the edge to Ga, but it won''t be a massive boost, it will just open up more advancement to you."


    "I understand." Zae Zin Nim nodded seriously. "What''s beyond that? Your ability is... Spinel Rank?"


    "That''s right. Lots of people stall out there, but it advances to Topaz, then Emerald, Sapphire, Ruby, and Diamond. You''ve seen Diamond Ranks actually, from great powers of Rosemount."


    "With 1000 Power, just like Sky Soul... do you think that''s a coincidence, or some sort of deeper rule? Maybe that''s the maximum that one power can obtain?"


    Omena shrugged because she didn''t want to tackle a topic thatrge. "It could be, or it could also be some other sort of limit. I''m afraid there may be dead ends with chakra arts too, but they''re less well known than with cultivation. Fortunately you don''t have to worry about those yet."


    Actually, Omena thought there might be something even more worrisome, she just wasn''t sure how to exin the technical details to Zae Zin Nim. Up to Topaz, each rank was broader than thest and seemed to involve a meaningful qualitative shift upwards. But then they became very even, and starting from Emerald she hadn''t been impressed. Oh, the users had more power than her, but not nearly the advantage she would have expected. It reminded her of some of Kai''s thoughts about high level Physique.


    All of that was a problem she would have to uncoverter, though, because she had no clues on that front. Besides, between everything at the Great Library and on Deadwaste, she was actually making progress on the truths of reality for the first time in years.


    Speaking of which, it was time for her to take her next step. Omena focused fully on the Path of Venomsteel, using it to create a sphere of metal. Of course the technique was very simr to her Lethal Artisan creations, but this time she held all of those abilities back. Normally absorbing your own metal was a zero sum game that wasted time... this should be different.


    First her Heart of Poison, newly empowered, strengthened the venom in the mix, then it was empowered by her Azure Core, through the mechanism of the increased Path of Venomsteel. The result was a sphere of blue-silver metal that throbbed with potential. Omena took a deep breath, set aside all of those abilities, and absorbed the sphere into her neglected Lethal Artisan soul.


    Instantly she felt the shock to her system, pushing past all of the blockages. She chuckled as she felt the new power surge within her - she''d taken a major step within the Spinel Rank.


    Of course this method resulted in diminishing returns, each of her abilities boosting the other less and less until she had extracted all of the potential synergy. But as she was now, especially with the Ape Titan''s Ambrosia and Zae Zin Nim''s help, she could advance entirely within herself.


    Name: Omena


    Total Power: 0958


    Heart of Poison: Level 73 (292)


    *Prana Jewels: Level +3 (12)


    Lethal Artisan: Spinel Rank (250)


    Path of Venomsteel: Step 5 (75)


    Physique: D-6 (230)


    Soul Level: 7 (49)


    Azure Core (+50)


    >


    She looked at her soul with satisfaction, pleased by how she was approaching 1000 Power now as well. Only her Azure Core hadn''t improved, which was still an open question. Not that she didn''t have ideas... Omena got to her feet and brushed off her hands.


    "Are you feeling confident enough here?" she asked.


    Zae Zin Nim nodded. "I am much better, and no one has found us yet. Why?"


    "I''m thinking that Kai might need some help."


    There were a few final arrangements to make, but Omena soon left the cavern in a good mood. Yes, these were the ones she''d been waiting for.