"Don don dooon." I worked on some music during our day off while Dylan was carving out some wood. Since I could use energy to make sounds, I figured I might as well create a theme song for myself. I clearly had no talent for music. In fact, if it was possible to have negative talent, then I had that.

But it was fun to try and get the sounds just right. "Doon don booon." I didn't need it to be loud, I just needed to come up with a fast past action beat, that was also majestic, and inspiring. I then unleashed the ten seconds I had composed so far. I had made notes on a piece of paper to help me remember the tune I had created. I then added in the last bit.

"Are you murdering a cat?" Dylan finally asked me.

"Music, culture, a theme song," I countered.

"A theme song, really?" he asked.

"Yes really. A theme song is incredibly important. Also it is relaxation day," I said.

"Wood carving is relaxing. What you are doing is going to cause abject terror in the populace," Dylan countered.

"And strike fear in the hearts of my enemies. I could call it, Last Wail Of The Dying Cat," I said.

"You need a guitar."

"Too much hassle to carry around. But making music with energy, I can do that anywhere," I replied.

"And will you do that in battle?" he asked.

"If I get a tune catchy enough and I practice it enough. Should have like three that I can rotate through. A battle theme, an intimidation theme, and then a traveling theme."

"Well a good thing grinding is going to take so long, you are going to need to practice a lot more if you don't want your music to sound like a dying cat," Dylan said.

"Have you actually listened to a dying cat?" I asked.

"No, but I imagine that is what your music sounds like. Even the shouting from the level 7 monsters isn't as bad."

"Now that is going too far," I replied, a bit annoyed.

"Michael, I have the highest respect for you. But there is a reason you never tried this on the Crystal Vortex, there would have been a mutiny."

"I can get my voice right," I muttered.

"Then start there and work on the tones or whatever. Whatever crazy type of music you are trying to make with energy manipulation is completely toxic. A not the kind of toxic that will kill someone. The kind of toxic that will drive them into a fuming rage and want to rip their ears off."

"You know, I should work on making it sounds transmit directly through energy."

"Are you coming up with a way to torture Qi Ji Long when you finally get him?"

"That is called being efficient. I get my theme song, develop a new way of combat, and a torture method."

"Now that you have admitted it is a torture method, go to the top of the air boat. My brain feels like it is going to melt out my ears," Dylan said.

"Fine. You just can't appreciate my talents."

"I do appreciate them. Especially your talent for torture."

I then began working on creating a space to stop sound energy from moving out of, and then tried to hum using energy inside the bubble of null sound. It wasn't polite to drive Dylan to madness. We had to get along. I would find a way to stop the sound from leaving a specific area and keep working on my music.

For some reason it was a lot easier to talk using sound energy, than make a separate kind of noise. I had known this before, but I had never really tried to make music like this in the past. Trying to create a fast paced techo beat just wasn't possible. Or at least I didn't have the talent to make it happen.

Stolen novel; please report.

Qi Ji Long should have taken an interest in music. He could have been my bard. If all my enemies had joined me, it really would be the dream team. The Ritualist and Michelle could double team on summons for offense and defense. The Divine Empress could punch things to death. Her son could play music to lift up people's spirits. The Astrologer could have been a great scout.

The Monster could be the team pet. The Sword could have been my trump card when things got difficult and I needed that extra bit of power. The sphere could have been the guardian at our base to hand out missions and explain things. Captain Francis would be flying the Crystal Vortex, the most important team member. Doctor Katz would be the healer. Naran would be the comedic relief. Dylan could be the new guy on the team.

Now that would be the ultimate dream team. No idea who we would be fighting or the missions, but it would be an unstoppable line up. Too bad it was impossible. I wanted to blame not having a hobby on the mental instability of all my enemies, but the Divine Empress had a hobby. Turning people into works of art.

Instead of making a throne, if she really got into torturing people, she should have made a museum at her palace for visitors to tour. Or have it before the treasury, so everyone dropping off their tribute will bring word back of what was done to her enemies. A lack of imagination was clearly on display. Still the classics were classics for a reason.

I mulled over these complex issues while I continued to try and manipulate sound energy directly. It was going very poorly. But now I wasn't making horrible sounds. I was just trying to stop a soft hum from happening.

Getting better at energy manipulation would take a long time. Having it as my hobby was a decent way to pass the time. There wasn't much else to do, and I didn't want to carve like Dylan was doing. By the time he was done, he would have a very well-made chess set that was hand crafted.

Too bad there was no civilization any more to sell something like that or play people. While I would play a couple games once he was done, I wasn't that interested in chess. There were only so many hobbies one could do by oneself in the middle of nowhere with limited resources.

Dylan let out a long sigh. "What are you even doing?" he asked me.

"Trying to make a sound bubble. It isn't going very well," I replied.

"I can hear that. At least it isn't a dying cat clawing on a chalkboard."

"It isn't bothering you?" I asked.

"After an hour of you just constantly humming at various strengths, I was curious. So, a sound bubble?"

"To keep the noise contained. You have noise, then it is stopped. Direct energy manipulation is not easy."

"You try other energy types?"

"Skills are better. The only exception is sound, which can be used in place of speaking." That did remind me I still had a sixth skill slot open. I was going to keep that open for now. There was no rush to pick a skill either. With how the upgrades worked from the higher-level zones, I had no issues with my current list of skills.

Anything I wanted to do with energy, it would be better to just use a skill. There were almost no utility skills, which interested me. Astral Projection, was at the top of the possibilities I was considering, but for now I planned to leave the skill slot blank. I also might get a meta-point and choose a skill that I absolutely needed. A tracking skill would be amazing.

No more hiding from me. Hunt down my enemies as they appeared. While it was a nice thought, that was the kind of stupid thinking that had all the other idiots pick something stupid for their meta-point. Increasing stats was the absolute best decision. It was a choice with no downsides and would always come in handy. But a skill that would only be situationally useful. The only exception was knowledge, but the higher the stats, the easier it was to control energy.

Learning, understanding, and mental models could push someone far ahead, like Qi Ji Long. But if I got my stats up high enough, I would be able to do what he was doing eventually. Direct energy manipulation should only become easier as my stats grew, specifically the Channel stat. It was the most underappreciated stat, and I was in no hurry to put more stat points into it, but it was good to know that stats could overcome ability and talent.

Either way, there was a lot of hard work in the future. Without whatever special advantages Qi Ji Long had, I doubted I would reach his skill level any time soon. Still, it was a good hobby to spend my time on. It would take a lot of work, but I had a lot of time to get it right.

It did make me wonder how long Dylan would stick around. Once he left I would have to look about getting a replacement. If young Michael was still alive and grinding his way up, we could form a team. But that would get confusing really fast with us both having the same name. He would have to take a nickname or something, since he wouldn't be that young anymore.

Well that was for the future. I wasn't planning to stop grinding and check on the cities until Dylan's time with me was up. I was going to get the full amount of time out of him. I could also purchase a new air boat during that time period and figure out how things had shaken out back East with my former Empire. Maybe the people there hadn't descended into complete and total barbarism. I wasn't hopeful, but there was a chance.

I could see the top grinders appointing someone to be in charge of their city as an administrator. If you aren't grinding a level 4 zone, then you don't get a vote, or something along those lines. The real problem came from the lower level zones and new arrivals, constantly putting pressure on the city. I could see some cities adopting the model Purgatory used, but it would not be easy. Clarissa was a genius at administrating. While copying her example could work, it would never be as good as the real thing.

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