Efficiently Placing the Bricks!

"Ahh, gentlemen, there is a misunderstanding here." Elder Jaya appeared hurriedly out of nowhere and patted Aira's head as his lips twitched. 

He explained, "In our tribe, we prided ourselves in our reliance on nature. Everyone here is equipped with basic herbology knowledge to survive in this land. We taught our children about plants as early as when they can walk. Mr. Arash asked us to care for the children as if they were our own, hence, we let them join the same session as other children. It's an educational program, rather than illegal child labor ahaha.."

"Of course, assistants are helping out with teaching, and hunters, lying in wait to care for their safety at all times." The elder spread his hands toward a group of sturdy-looking adolescents and two mature-looking women. They bowed slightly in acknowledgment, sweating profusely. 

"Ah, that is quite wonderful." Butler Miles didn't know what to say but to praise the Bateqs' effort to continue their herbology legacy.

Curiously, he asked, "How about the herbs mentioned by the Tok Batin? Did the tribe learn about them too?"

"We did learn orally how to identify them, but not how to harvest them since those are dangerous herbs that needed to be avoided at all costs. Only the Tok Batin has the strength to harvest them safely. Only official Spiritual Healers will be taught the full knowledge. We are simply... inadequate in Tok Batin Silihan's eyes." Elder Jaya smiled wryly.

"Really. That is quite, disheartening." Butler Miles too, sighed deeply.

"It isn't as bad as it sounds. The dangerous herbs had dwindled alarmingly and hadn't been found in recent years. One needed to venture very deep into the Deity's land to find anything at all. But the danger increased many folds. It was not worth the risk, especially when we're so abundant now."

Butler Miles understood the Expert's plight.

Mana Herbs have dwindled down to a very scant amount recently and many even went extinct, never to be discovered again for more than fifty years. It was a global problem for the ones who knew the extraordinary benefits. 

The young master hadn't steeped his toe in the main Family's business, hence his lack of knowledge, hence, his lack of understanding. However, in general, a big portion of the Family business deals with buying and selling of mana-related articles such as herbs and precious stones, and the processing of said materials into advanced serums, besides the employment of Specialists of varying fields. 

Their other businesses in telecommunication, engineering, automotive, and online data storage were considered periphery businesses at most. These were run by the Family branches rather than the main ones. 

In a way, Butler Miles knew more about the main Family business than Young Master Alan.

He was surprised that the Family had overlooked the presence of this meticulously self-cultivated group of advanced herbalists. It's practically a whole tribe! As how his former colleague, Geog, behaved almost desperately in front of him, their department truly needed these experts to move forward in their research and would never leave them alone if they knew of their existence. The Bateq's nature of being forest nomads might be the reason that worked positively for them all this while. 

Maybe not for long... Butler Miles contemplated and sighed. 

Georg must be investigating even now. His desperation was of another level for him not to do anything. What he could do was to minimize the damage and control the flow of information as much as possible lest he could expose the Spiritual Healer's tribe to harm.

...

Arash's sweat was absorbed by the dark soil around him. 

With a clear due date imposed on him by the elder, he had no choice but to double up. Since their last talk, one session was over. Arash had gambled that last session with multiple tests that he could think of to improve the bridge-building without informing his wife. He simply didn't have the spare time to ask for more favors from Tok Silihan. He would just explain everything when he returned to the village to meet up with Boss Alan's group.

After ample rest amounting to three solid hours of power nap, he immediately dived into the next round fully prepared, and fully focused. 

He melded the soul particles into several shadow bricks expertly around his Soul Core instead of the bridge. The little particles generated were immediately absorbed into these bricks, solidifying their presence. 

Meanwhile, time passed as one by one bricks made from Hana's Soul energy dominated the bridge at random locations. Arash ignored the activity entirely.

Steady... I can do this.

Arash carefully nurtured the bricks. He was reaching his limit, he could feel it, but he persevered. Letting go now would mean that the SPE bricks would dissipate into nothingness. 

Finally, seven bricks solidified stably at the same time. Arash felt that he couldn't control more than that and could only settle for this much.

Success!!

It took longer to solidify seven bricks at the same time, but he felt that it would be more efficient this way where he could immediately arrange the already-formed bricks without problems.

Arash moved all seven of them simultaneously and arranged the bricks where they extended the farthest from both sides.

 Again!

Arash pushed himself to form another round of multiple compressed soul particle bricks around his Soul Core. More bricks materialized and solidified enough to be placed at strategic spots to extend the partially illusory bridge after some time.

Another round of seven bricks...

And another round...

After the fifth time, Arash happily noticed he could increase the number of bricks from seven to nine.

And after a few more times, the number increased to eleven.

He arranged them in a way that the bricks extend to meet the other end as fast as possible. At one point, only a single line of bricks was formed.

His strategy was very simple.

One just needed to ask oneself a basic question.

What is the function of a bridge?

To connect two locations over an obstacle, be it a body of water, or a ravine. In his case, the means to connect his Soul Hall Domain to her Soul Hall Domain. A big part of it was only a guess on his part. But he knew there was a high probability that it was correct.

Is there a need for the bridge to be as wide as three-lane highways on both sides?

The answer is a big no.

As long as it could be traversable, even a single sturdy rope could serve as a bridge to connect to two points. 

Arash's objective was to make the bridge traversable as soon as possible. Even if it was connected by a single lane of brick. 

Since he was the only one who could control the position of the bricks installed, it fell upon him to make it happen. But because his wife's SPEs were too powerful compared to him, his attempt at helping to fill the gap for her was in vain when the bricks he painstakingly converged dissipated many times due to the randomness of Hana's SPE bricks' appearance. 

This wasted a lot of time and effort. 

But not anymore. 

After an endless cycle of brick creation and fittings, finally, the last brick was placed in between.

Arash, "..."

He waited with anticipation for five whole minutes, his heartbeat accelerated.

Nothing happened.

A wave of disappointment washed over him as his throat constricted, he could feel bile rising up, his mind going chaotic.

Did I do something wrong? Did my guess hit the wrong mark? 

He forcefully calmed himself and reviewed the whole process. 

From absorbing Hana's SPE, cultivating his personal SPE, compressing and reshaping them into bricks, moving them to designated locations to extend the bridge skeleton...

What else he hadn't done?

Arash, "!!!"

A lightbulb moment dawned upon Arash!

He pushed all of his readily cultivated SPE towards the bridge. Instead of making bricks, instead of letting them migrate outside, instead of controlling them to coerce Hana's SPE.

A rush of bluish-tinted waves of Soul particle Energy was absorbed by the now-slightly clear bridge. The first few blocks of brick lit up a fluorescent blue simultaneously and became solid! The blue light moved through the bricks like glowing blocks lighting up one after another towards the other end of the bridge. To his surprise, this time, he could follow the movement of the energy as he embodied himself as part of the energy.

...

..

.

Arash's sight was inundated with the very picture of a universe adorned with beautiful stars. Some shone so brightly, while the others were tiny and dim but still twinkled like precious gems of varying colors. The scarlet red and the ice blue ones shone the brightest.

In the center of the new universe, an illusory goddess-like entity was enshrined in the middle, bathed in spectacular multicolored light. She was in a levitating cross-legged position. Her voluminous hair billowing like a Nine-tailed, obscuring her features, and most of her unclad body. Rope-like lights directly connected the figure in the center with some of the stars. 

Ripples of aurora were intermittently emitted from the goddess, bathing the surroundings. 

The numerous stars twinkled when they were touched by the waves.

The goddess opened her eyes. He could feel her gaze move towards him within the SPE he personally brought over.

A heavy pressure descended upon Arash.

...