Chapter 35

Kyon pressed the button to turn off the crystal light. Then he stripped naked and plopped down on the soft bed, his arms crossed behind his head. It was time to reconsider.

{In this world, the strong and the powerful can afford anything. The decrepit half-dead old man takes advantage (in every sense of the term) of the beautiful maid... The poor thing has no choice. I must help her. Hopefully, my guess that Juno is Flitz's weakness is right. Will I be able to charm her off her feet? It's a snap. I hope she is beautiful at least...}

It was late at night. The two moons were shining brightly, occasionally darkened by the clouds passing by.

Kyon started organizing the information about energy and cultivation. {When I got out of the mine I could feel that my soul started evolving faster. As proof, I reached the 2nd stage... When I arrived here, this intuitive feeling doubled! The local people seem to cultivate faster because there's high energy concentration in the air. I wonder what's so special in the earth crust under the estate?}

Kyon remembered from the books that energy, as a rule, isn't evenly distributed throughout the world. In some places, there's more energy, in others, there's less. In places with more energy, the resources are richer and help get strong. They better nourish the body and soul, develop the unique body, and that's not all. He was getting the global power pattern in the world. The more energy there is in the atmosphere, the stronger the empire and its people.

While they were traveling to the estate (covering as many as 2000 km (1242 mi) according to Ren and Borya) Kyon watched the moons that looked more like planets every night. He noticed the slightest change in their shadows. The deliverer mentioned that the year lasted 360 days. With the help of Synergy, Kyon calibrated the time at an ultra-high accuracy and determined that 24 hours, or rather the seconds that they comprised, were close to the intergalactic standard. What an amazing coincidence! In his world, minutes could last up to 140 seconds on some planets. In particular cases, the minute was up to 5 seconds... But the 24-hour standard was observed everywhere.

When he combined all the data, Kyon concluded lots of incredible facts. For example, using the eclipses of the moons, he geometrically calculated the approximate distance to them. It was ~ 55 radii of the earth. It also became clear that the size of all the moons was about 3 times smaller than the earth. Praise Hipparchus! His method was simple and accurate. However, what Kyon learned later made him dizzy... He had traveled in the wagon for six days covering 2000 km (1242 mi) with a time deviation of no more than 12 minutes! He compared the deviation with the time zones and found out that the circumference of this planet was ~ 240.000 km! (~ 150.000 mi). It was about half the size of Jupiter, which means the length of the moons was ~80.000 km! (~50.000 mi). This unmistakable conclusion nearly sent him into a tailspin. Such giant planets must have a huge gravity. Only, they didn't. His discoveries didn't end there. He learned that the moons rotated around the planet, the planet and the moons rotated around the sun. The sun, the planets, and the moon, in their turn, revolved around some invisible object! Kyon thought he was delirious but his formulas for calculating the movement of the planet and the moons could not be wrong! He assumed that there was a black hole in the middle but there was not! There was no gravitational lensing effect which must be in the case of empty space. The gravity and the size were not in line with the presence of a black hole. It was some invisible object but not a black hole. Kyon's powerful mind was on the verge of collapse, trying to unravel the nature of the massive invisible object.

In the end, he came to a conclusion: the star revolved around something invisible, the planet revolved around the star, and the two moons revolved around the planet.

*sigh*

Kyon tousled his hair, swept away the problems he couldn't solve for now to the basement of his consciousness and moved on to planning the next steps of cultivation with the help of Synergy.

Two hours ago, Synergy completed upgrading his nervous system with the help of Synergy. Now his organs were more stress-resistant, the impulses from his muscles reached his brain three times faster. It always helps to react instantly in the fight, not only in mind but also with the body. His sense of touch had also increased significantly. However, it had a practical application only in matters of sex.

Kyon wondered where to direct the essence of the universe further on and what to develop with Synergy.

He identified three most relevant and useful options: sight, hearing, and smell. He'd rather start with his eyesight. The upgrade wouldn't take much time but the advantages were going to be tremendous! At the moment, he felt like a blind chicken in comparison with the sight Lovr used to have.

With one question solved and Synergy running in the right direction, Kyon began to set his priorities. First of all, he had to regain his freedom and the freedom of speech as well. Until then, he was bound hand and foot; almost all of his activities were restricted. Even if he opposed the subjugating formation, it wouldn't change much. He couldn't escape, anyway. Flitz's formation on his forehead tracked his location, and Synergy couldn't remove it. Kyon was like a boat flowing with the stream. It seemed he would have to play by ear, after all. He only hoped that Juno was a nice girl and that everything would run smoothly when he got to know her.

Kyon went to bed.

A gentle knock on the door broke the stillness of the morning. The pleasant voice asked permission to enter.

Kyon was instantly awake. He said indulgently:

«Please, do come in.»

He sleepily rubbed his eyes, yawned and stretched till his bones cracked.

The door opened, and Marina came inside. She looked rather worn out. Her braids were gone. The old man must have disliked her innocent hairstyle. Her head was a mess with visible attempts to hastily comb her hair. One stocking was torn, the second dropped to her knee in a sad accordion. Her short skirt was askew, she must have put it on in a hurry. Her tired eyes revealed she wasn't getting enough sleep. She had a stack of new clothes and a tray with breakfast in her hands. The delicious aroma of scrambled eggs with vegetables spread through the room.

{Flitz… Asshole! Am I jealous?} – He was surprised by his own thoughts.

His judgemental piercing gaze made the girl lower her eyes. She adjusted her skirt, embarrassed.

«Flitz told me to take you to the office in fifteen minutes... You'd better hurry up, Kyon.»

«Yes, sure.» - Kyon nodded his head in understanding, got off his bed and carelessly picked up the stack of his new clothes from Marina's hands. The maid gave a sudden cry and staggered back, hiding her crimson face in her hands. Hmm, what was that pantomime about? ... «Marina, are you alright?»

In response, she desperately shook her head, unwilling to open her eyes.

Kyon looked down. Ah yes... Of course... How could he forget? He was no longer an emperor, he was a slave! It was indecent, to say the least, to walk around naked with morning wood. He must get rid of the habit of sleeping in his birthday suit.

Kyon dropped his hands down to cover his package. He cringed, doing his best to feign shame and said in a shy hoarse voice:

«Did you see it?»

Marina shook her head again. It didn't happen too often that she had to deny the facts. This naked sinewy guy would stay on her mind for a long time.

Kyon breathed a sigh of relief, pulled out his underpants from the stack and hurriedly put them on.

«I'm glad you didn't. I can keep my innocence then. If you knew how you scared me...»

His shameless, brazen words left Marina breathless. She took her hands from her face:

«It's me who should be complaining! How can you…»

Kyon said, his voice thick with irony.

«You're right. Look at you. Was it really bad last night?»

Marina growled. She closed her eyes and counted to ten trying to gain control over her emotions.

«Why did you say that, shameless little scoundrel?»

Kyon laughed, turning everything into a joke. They had finally broken the ice, which was a big achievement in their relations. It was going to be easy from now on.

After that, Marina did not say a word. She threw occasional black glances in his direction. He kept a straight face. Anyway, it wasn't in her nature to hold grudges, let alone against fools. The boy probably didn't even understand that he had hurt her.

Kyon pulled on his new black pants, a shirt, and a pair of socks with black shoes. They weren't clothes for a slave, by any means. Only the noble could wear this. The things were of good quality, durable, expensive... He looked good in them. Only the formation on his forehead showed his position as if saying: "Look, I'm a nobody!"

After the delicious breakfast, they left the room in silence. Marina handed Kyon a sound transmitter he had asked for. It was a little box with a cloudy green spatial stone inside.

«Its quality is rather low. You can't take calls more than a hundred kilometers away.» - Marina explained awkwardly. – «Each sound transmitter has its frequency, which is not difficult to find out. When somebody calls your frequency, the transmitter vibrates and you can take the call... To call someone, you need…»

Kyon nodded in understanding. On the whole, there was nothing complicated. It was an analog of a standard mobile phone.

On the way, he asked Marina about Juno's closest circle. Any information could come in handy.

His future lady had a mother, a grandfather, a brother, and an elder sister. Her grandfather was the patriarch of the family. He lived in the capital of the kingdom as well as her mother. She ran the plantations, which was very honorable. Her brother was being trained to be the head of the mines, and her sister had fled for some unknown reason.

Marina kept throwing impatient glances at him. She could not wait to find out about Flitz's weakness. However, she was too shy to start the conversation, even if she was about to burst with curiosity.

{Every woman wants to control her man. In Marina's case, it was the old man. It is important not to cross the line, though. When men turn into a toy, they lose their attraction.}

Unfortunately for cute Marina, Kyon wasn't going to satisfy her curiosity yet.

The entire Stones' estate was surrounded by tall and thick stone walls. To one side, thirty kilometers away, there was an endless sea, to the other, fifty kilometers away, there was a mountain range thousands of kilometers long. That's where the memorable mines were located.

The estate was divided into the courtyard, where family members of the 3rd rank and above lived, and the outside area. A strict hierarchy was observed: the closer to the center, the higher the rank of the dwellers. Democracy was out of the question.

It was still early morning, but the streets were not empty. The servants scurried here and there, the beasts roamed freely. Many of them looked dangerous and even bloodthirsty but apparently, they didn't attack people.

Two girls noticed the way Marina looked and whispered maliciously to each other:

«Look, it's Flitz's favorite maid! She looks terrible. What did he do to her!?» ... «Who's there next to her? Do you think she is with that slave…»

The men on their way did not overlook the appearance of the blond girl, either. Poor guys, they nearly broke their necks when the girl passed them by. If the gossip girls gave the sexy maid a malevolent and even pitiful gaze, the men's eyes were full of lust.

Marina was red in the face. She walked with her head down, her eyes fixed on the floor. She couldn't stop adjusting her skirt. The maid had hardly had any sleep and needed badly to get some rest.

Finally, they reached Flitz's office.