Daniel

Getting back to the Li estate was very much a pain. Mainly because the Wind Medicine Family was keen on traveling with him. They were grateful. A little too grateful, if he was being honest. The Elder even tried to marry his daughter to him. He shut that shit down real quick. He was half-tempted to explain the concept of consent to him, but ultimately had to chalk it up to different cultures. Still, any culture that can marry off their daughters without their input is not a good culture. It made him angry just thinking about it. He understood that the head of the Wind Medicine family didn't mean anything by it. They were just being grateful and probably seizing the opportunity to get their daughter into a Tier 1 house. The girl in question, a little firecracker named Mya, who clearly had a crush on her childhood friend Adam, became much more talkative when she realized that Daniel didn't have any interest in her. She and Adam listened to Daniel and her father, the chief, exchange stories. There might have been some drinking involved.

When it finally got moving, alone, Daniel was really hung over. He actually opted in one of the bigger towns to take one of the flying carriages that were expensive as all hell but could get you somewhere twenty times faster. He arrived at the Li family property later than he anticipated. It had been a long week.

Mist trailed off his shoulders as Daniel stepped through the gates of the lane leading up to the main estate and felt a bit of relief. He wasn't sure when he decided that this place was home, but apparently, his emotional mind had made that leap. The blood-copper, skyglass, and other materials were strapped to his back, pulsing faintly as if they were anticipating their use in something important.

The Li estate came into view as the clouds thinned—a sweep of slate roofs and glass-paneled courtyards arranged with military elegance. The place never ceased to amaze Daniel at how overbloated and underwhelming it could be. It was like a lesson in contradictions. The outer gates opened as he approached. Two guards in House Li livery bowed low.

“Welcome home, Young Master Zhou.”

Daniel nodded once in return. No hesitation but with warmth. He gave a small smile. Just enough motion to acknowledge the role he was still getting used to. Inside, the courtyard buzzed faintly with early movement—gardeners tending the spirit orchids, disciples in sparing drills, servants sweeping dust walkways. No one stopped him. But everyone watched.

They saw Ethan Zhou—quiet, strange, now married to the heir of House Li.

He had been back sparingly to the main house since Vivian left for sword seclusion. Once his sword and mana training had started, he had been mostly at the House’s training facility at the base of the mountain closer to Mooncity. It seems he was still something of an oddity.

“Brother-in-law,” a voice called from the steps. “Brother-in-law! You’re back. You’re not allowed to leave anymore. It's boring when you’re gone.”

Daniel looked up.

Nathan stood waiting, a shit-eating grin on his face. But it only lasted a moment. His eyes narrowed.

“Why do you look like you got into a fight with a flame bear and lost?”

“Good morning to you too,” Daniel muttered.

“You were supposed to return a couple of days ago,” Nathan said, stepping closer, eyes flicking to the travel-stained case slung over Daniel’s shoulder. “The General was watching the skies.”

“I didn’t get lost,” Daniel replied. “My research subject gave me some trouble.”

“Trouble?” Nathan echoed. “You mean that mine? What the hell did you find in there—mana echoes, recursive traps, screaming rocks?”

Daniel didn’t answer. Because yes, sort of.

Another figure stepped out from behind Nathan—a steward, robed in dark blue and bearing the Li house seal across his chest.

“Young Master Zhou,” the steward said smoothly, his tone practiced. “The General requests your presence in the Solar. A matter of family protocol. He also asked that you be reminded—tonight’s fittings will be conducted with full court expectation.”

Daniel blinked once. “Fittings?”

“For the Imperial Gala,” the steward confirmed. “Your presence has been formally requested.”

Daniel resisted the urge to curse aloud.

Shit. He didn’t have time for this.

He had blood-copper, skyglass and half a dozen other material to process and form, half-formed threading arrays to finish, and at least three subtests to run before even attempting system integration.

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But the Empire didn’t ask. It summoned.

“Wait,” Ethan said sharply, his voice threading into Daniel’s mind with sudden urgency. “Imperial Gala, Daniel—we might be able to see the princess.”

Daniel narrowed his eyes. “I thought you didn’t even know what she looked like.”

“Don't be a smartass,” Ethan admitted. “She’ll be there. She always attends. And if she’s in the open…”

Daniel exhaled through his nose, mind racing. The Framework wasn’t finished, but they finally had the components they needed. But instead of focusing on that, they wanted him to dress up, smile politely, and stand in the center of the most prolific political gathering in the Empire? Dumb.

He clenched his jaw.

“Understood,” he said aloud. “I’ll report to the Solar.”

The steward bowed. Nathan gave a low whistle.

“Try not to piss anyone off tonight,” Nathan said, grinning again. “We only just got you fixed up last time.”

The solar was quiet and sharp with morning light. Lord Li Zhenhua stood at the far end, his back to the door, gazing out over the western courtyard. No banners today. Just silence and stone.

Lucas stood nearby, arms crossed, his expression unreadable as Daniel stepped inside.

“You’re late,” Zhenhua said without turning.

“I returned as soon as the site allowed,” Daniel replied evenly.

The General turned, and the moment his eyes landed on Daniel, the steel in his posture shifted.

He crossed the room in three strides.

“You’re injured,” he said, voice low but firm. “That cut near your temple isn’t twenty-four hours old.”

“It’s sealed,” Daniel said.

“That’s not the point.” Zhenhua’s gaze sharpened. “You left this house without an escort. You entered a unknown site without real support. And you come back looking like a survivor.”

Daniel blinked, unsure whether to argue or apologize.

The General didn’t give him the chance.

“You’re not to leave this estate alone again. Getting stronger is important, doing it safely is paramount. If you step beyond these walls, you’ll have House guard on your flank. No exceptions.”

Daniel tried not to smile. He was somewhat touched. “Yes, sir.”

Zhenhua studied him. Then his voice softened slightly—not weak, but weighted. “Tell me what happened.”

Daniel stepped forward, unfastened the blood-copper case, and placed it on the tea table with care. “The site wasn’t clean. It’s not just mana-dead—it’s trauma-sealed. Demon activity, most likely. Old, but the echoes were... still active.”

Lucan raised an eyebrow. “Spiritual instability?”

“Residual grief. Anger. Pain. You could feel it in the walls. See it in the stone.” Daniel looked down. “It wasn’t a mine. It was a wound.”

Zhenhua’s expression darkened. “Did anyone know?”

“No one briefed me. But I don’t think it was deliberate. More like it was buried and left to rot.”

“Typical,” Lucan muttered. “No one wants to log a failed defense zone on imperial records. Makes the war look messier than the scrolls say.”

Zhenhua remained silent for a moment, then exhaled through his nose. “You still recovered what you needed?”

“Yes, Skyglass and Blood-copper in abundance. I will begin refining them for use.”

“Good,” the General said. Then after a beat: “I will still need a briefing on what exactly you’re doing with all these interesting materials, my son-in-law. But push that aside. If this was Demon-related, we may need to request reclassification order.”

"I believe that to be approperiate, Father," Lucan nodded. “I’ll draft it.”

Zhenhua looked back to Daniel. “You did well. But I don’t want you that close to old wounds again. Not alone.”

Daniel inclined his head. “Understood.”

The General poured him tea. “Now. To other matters.”

Lucan stepped forward with a scroll. “We leave for the Capital in three days. The Imperial Gala is the first step. You’ll present under House Li’s Banner.”

Daniel accepted the tea without a word.

Zhenhua continued, “You’ll be observed, measured, judged for what you are and what you could be. You already know this.”

“I do.”

“You’ll carry the family’s weight, not just your own. And more eyes will be on you than you’re prepared for.”

“I’m getting used to that,” Daniel said with a soft smile.

Zhenhua almost smiled. Almost. “Good., you should also know that your lab has been moved.”

Daniel looked up. “Moved?”

“The building was flagged for ward instability,” Lucan said quickly. “City Officials pulled it off-grid for the next month.”

Zhenhua gave a small nod. “We brought everything back to the east wing. Your notes, your materials, your shard lattice and all your equipment. I apologize for not informing you ahead of time. You’ll have uninterrupted access there.”

That didn’t quite sit right. The building had been reinforced only weeks ago. Still—

Daniel said, “That’s... appreciated.”

“One more thing,” Lucan added. “Before we depart, I’d like you to review a regional report related to Agricultural output. We’ve had some odd reports out of the outer territories— mana falloff, low spirit retention and alot of dead crops."

Zhenhua said, “It’s not a famine. Yet. But I want it understood before it becomes one.”

Daniel nodded. “I’ll look into it.”

“Good,” the General said. “Now go.”

Just as Daniel turned, Zhenhua added—almost as an afterthought: "I am glad you made it home safe Son-in-law."

Daniel smiled but didn't look back. He left the Solar in silence and made his way to the east wing, where a very helpful servant helped him find his lab.

The room was larger than the city facility—cleaner, too. High ceilings etched with suppression runes, four-layered resonance shielding, and a reinforced casting circle inlaid directly into the floor. Everything from the old lab had been moved with care: his scrolls, the copper lattices, the skyglass panels, even the segmented test table with the char marks still burned into its left edge.

It felt... curated.

Not just convenient.

Intentional. The odds were that the General and Lucas were hiding something from him. That was okay. If they were bringing him back to the estate under pretense, it was probably for either control or safety. It didn’t matter at this point. As long as he could work.

He stood in the center of the room, scanning the spatial wards, the mana saturation, the structural frame—and realized they hadn’t just moved his work here.

They’d made space for it.

Zhenhua wasn’t just observing him.

He was placing him.

Daniel set the copper case on the table and released the seal.

The Framework still needed its core.

But now?

He had time. He had tools. He had three days of relative quiet.

He rolled up his sleeves.

It was time to get to work.