Stellar Echo: Heart of the Myst

[Pef]

Hey author.

I have a few things with your story.
While I get this is a 'slice of life' thing, the pace is far too slow, especially for such someone at low levels as Erik.

If he is cultivating so slow at a low level, how could he possibly get to Sage or Arcane, not to mention Master level ?
The incongruence is jarring, for someone described as best genius of the ages.

Also, if you post this on QQ, you can also give your readers something saucy to read, not just vivid descriptions of virgin goddesses.

 

[lordanl]

"That sounds interesting, but I didn't know you were in the public relations business." Upon hearing Laura's proposal, Erik commented with an intrigued smile on his face, to which she responded seriously.

"I'm actually not, but I think this is a great opportunity to boost my auction house's reputation and possibly expand into new markets—which is what I'm really aiming for."

"Really? But I thought your auction house was one of the most important ones." Erik asked with mild curiosity, prompting Laura's smile to widen slightly as she replied.

"Thank you for the compliment. You could say we have a certain level of recognition at the university, but we still lack a vital element to take the next step forward."

"Oh? A sponsor, perhaps?" Erik asked with a subtle businesslike smile, to which Laura nodded and replied delightedly.

"Fufu, it's truly a pleasure to talk with someone so sharp."

"So basically, you're looking for the support of my masters."Erik said in a calm tone as he set the cookie he'd been eating back on the plate—an action that caught Sofía's attention as she turned to look at him, slightly confused, while Seraphina's smile began to widen discreetly. That alone set off every alarm in Laura's mind, prompting her to quickly speak in a slightly rushed tone.

"No, no, Erik, you're mistaken. What I'm looking for is your support in particular."

"I see."

Erik nodded and responded casually, as if it didn't really matter. But somehow, Laura could feel that something was off—something hadn't sat well with the young man in front of her. And the faint smirk of the maid standing behind him, which seemed to scream disdain and satisfaction, only confirmed it. For some reason, that realization made Laura panic—but being an experienced woman, she quickly began to speak again, this time with composure.

"What I need most right now is the support of a young academic genius who managed to register patents that spread across the galaxy before turning thirty, and who is publicly recognized as the best of the current young generation. That would allow my auction house to open up an entirely new market segment that has so far remained unexplored."

After finishing her explanation, Laura looked calmly at Erik. Although he simply took a sip of his tea, the experienced Laura could feel that he was studying her intently, so she too picked up her teacup with steady movements, determined not to reveal how fast her heart was racing.

"I wonder what you would need such a specific profile for."

Erik commented in a calm tone after setting his cup down on the table. At that moment, Laura quickly extended her hand, and from a beautiful wooden cabinet behind her, several folders floated toward the table, landing neatly in front of Erik—a moment in which Laura allowed herself a discreet sigh of relief.

"Here's a brief summary of the project I want to present to you."

Laura said in a composed and even tone as she managed to calm herself down. At the same time, she found herself wondering why she had panicked so suddenly. After all, while Erik's help would make the project she had in mind significantly easier, it wasn't like she couldn't do it without him. In the end, it would just require more capital, more time, and calling in a few favors—she was perfectly capable of pushing through on her own.

(Maybe it's because my business instincts warned me not to let this opportunity slip by and are pushing me to invest in Erik. After all, Erik will undoubtedly become a powerhouse within the Order, and having his favor would be an incredible asset...

(Yes… that must be it. I only panicked because I realized I was about to leave Erik with a bad impression of me and possibly ruin any chance of building a connection with him—because my subconscious mind warned me of the future consequences that could have on my career… yes, that's why.)

As Erik opened the folders, Laura—having reached a consensus in her heart—began to present her project with a professional and confident tone.

"Well, Erik, as you know, although the auction house I run has earned a solid reputation within the Arcane Order—especially at the university—primarily thanks to the good fortune of being able to auction off Master-level items, the truth is that we've hit a ceiling, which leaves us with very little room to grow within the auction market.

"The only path forward would be to secure the support of a recognized Master within the Order, but that's not a viable option. Even though I have some connection with Master Jessica, Master-level individuals don't lack resources. And if they wanted to get involved in the market, they could simply open their own auction houses and achieve great results on their own."

Laura watched Erik carefully as he began reading through the documents while listening to her. Seeing the young man nod in agreement, she continued, now a bit more at ease.

"Faced with this kind of stagnation, I decided to start thinking outside the box, and I couldn't help but notice a significant challenge: young talents often struggle to secure investment, while investors, in turn, have difficulty identifying real talent and promising business opportunities in early-stage projects. I firmly believe there's a major business opportunity there—one that could catapult the reputation of Aetherion's Hall to a whole new level."

Laura took a sip of tea, which helped clear her thoughts, while she observed Erik—who now looked much more relaxed and was smiling calmly as he showed some of the documents to Sofía. That encouraged her to keep going.

"That's why I decided to organize a series of auctions focused on young talent—primarily in innovation projects, startups, art, and educational experiences, as well as products and services from young individuals still striving to make a name for themselves in the market.

"Not only would this boost the reputation of the Aetherion's Hall brand by associating it with entrepreneurship and technological development, but it would also allow us to diversify our auction portfolio, giving us protection against market fluctuations."

Erik looked at Laura in a new light, letting go of the annoyance he had felt when he thought she just wanted to use him to hang onto the coattails of his masters. After all, the business proposal Laura had laid out sounded solid. And if the market analysis and financial projections she presented were accurate, it would be extremely profitable. While he still needed to conduct his own research to verify everything, Erik could already sense that it was a genuinely viable project.

But what truly drew Erik to the proposal was something more forward-looking: the opportunity to gain access to ambitious and talented young individuals. Not only could they potentially be employed under his brand, but even those who didn't want to work for him would still be useful. After all, the nature of youth is to embrace change—something that older generations, weighed down by prejudice, often struggle with.

If they saw profit, those ambitious youths would no doubt help popularize his current inventions, like Manalite, and more importantly, the ones that were still to come—some of which, if successful, would certainly make a massive impact on the galaxy. But to achieve that, he'd need the energy and adaptability of the younger generation.

"This is truly a fascinating project, Laura. I still need to do my own research, but I have to say I'm looking at it very favorably—and it could potentially be a great help to me."

After a few moments, Erik commented with a calm smile as he looked at Laura, who couldn't help but return a beautiful smile of her own and replied in a cheerful tone.

"It makes me truly happy to hear that, Erik. I really want the business my grandparents sacrificed so much for to be recognized throughout the galaxy, and I know that with your help, I'll be one step closer to making that dream a reality."

Upon hearing Laura, Erik's desire to work with the woman in front of him skyrocketed by 200%. With a warm smile on his face, he responded in a more formal, business-appropriate tone—while laughing inwardly, wondering if the woman before him had already figured out how to push his buttons.

"And according to the documents you gave me, what you expect from me is to help leverage the current hype surrounding my patents to attract interest in the event—both from investors and young talent—and also provide a headline for the press."

"I actually expect much more than that, Erik, because I'm certain these patents are just the beginning, and in the future, you'll continue to leave your mark on the galaxy with your talents. That's why I'm proposing that we become equal partners—I'll handle all the logistics, contacts, and so on, while you'll be responsible for giving the project credibility and appeal, acting as both an ambassador and a mentor."

Laura replied with a beautiful smile, to which Erik responded in noticeably good spirits.

"I really like your project, so I'd love to go over it in more detail and maybe contribute a few of my own ideas. So… how about we order something to eat?"

"Of course! It would be a pleasure to work with and share a meal with the great genius of the young generation." Laura said playfully, matching Erik's cheerful tone with a teasing smile.

"Then I hope you appreciate the time of this young genius, hehe." Erik replied jokingly as he took a bite of a cookie and added.

"Although, if this goes well, you won't have time to design the offices for my company."

"Oh? You're already starting work on your brand?" Laura asked with interest, making a great effort to ignore the looks being thrown her way by a certain maid. The star-haired boy replied in a calm tone.

"Yes, I recently received a decent amount of capital, so I want to start working on it. For now, I'll just be renting a floor in an office building here at the university, but I'd like it to have an attractive design since I think that's important for a productive work environment. Also, I want to have everything ready before I leave for the ruin exploration…"

Erik and Laura continued discussing the brand Erik intended to develop, while Sofía reviewed the project documents and took notes in a small notebook. Meanwhile, Seraphina let out a quiet, slightly resigned sigh that masked a bit of inner irritation—but she quickly hid it, not wanting her young master to see the ugly jealousy threatening to consume her.

But no matter how hard she tried, Seraphina couldn't help it. Her instincts screamed that this woman was having thoughts about her young master, and the worst part was… he seemed to like her. That alone made the situation feel both dangerous and infuriating.

All of it made Seraphina regret, just a little, having brought her young master to that auction in the first place. Even with all the "fun" she'd had from the images in her secret stash of her handsome young master acting all high and mighty… maybe, just maybe, the price she paid for it had been a little too steep.

For her part, Sofía couldn't help but be amazed by her boss's influence and the absurd profits this venture could bring. The documents spoke in terms of billions, and although she wasn't yet an expert, she had worked hard to master mathematics and the fundamentals of economics. And since she had a natural talent for it, she could easily see that if even half of what was written in those documents became reality, her boss would be swimming in money within a couple of decades.

That was precisely why it was her duty to verify the validity of those claims. She was taking notes on what she considered most important—not only to study it on her own later, but also to prepare a summary for Lady Seraphina and her boss so they could review it in more detail afterward.

This was how she wanted to be useful to her boss: beyond just keeping track of his schedule and handling minor affairs, she wanted to go a step further, to stand out, to make full use of her talents, and to become a key piece in his commercial development. All so that he would feel proud of her—and more importantly, so he would feel truly satisfied with his decision to help her that night.

Spoiler: Patreon

If you like it, you can support me on https://www.patreon.com/lordanl and get up to 10 advanced chapters.

 

[lordanl]

Hey author.

I have a few things with your story.
While I get this is a 'slice of life' thing, the pace is far too slow, especially for such someone at low levels as Erik.

If he is cultivating so slow at a low level, how could he possibly get to Sage or Arcane, not to mention Master level ?
The incongruence is jarring, for someone described as best genius of the ages.

Also, if you post this on QQ, you can also give your readers something saucy to read, not just vivid descriptions of virgin goddesses.

Click to shrink...

I understand your points, and they're completely valid. It's just that when I created this novel, I did so from a different perspective—since it always felt inconsistent to me that the protagonist in many stories can achieve in a year what takes others centuries or even millennia. And if everyone has such exaggeratedly long lifespans, then their pace of life and personalities should reflect that.

For example, our life cycle is roughly 80 to 100 years, which might seem short to us—but to a species that lives only a week, it would feel like an eternity. Likewise, if everyone lives for thousands of years, then a century would feel like a very short time to them. From that perspective, Erik is advancing at an incredibly fast pace, accomplishing in a decade what would take others centuries, and so on. That's something I tried to illustrate with Sigrún and Eleonora, who managed to achieve in just a few thousand years what would take others tens or hundreds of thousands—but I suppose I didn't convey that as clearly as I intended.

As for the "saucy," I understand your point there as well. But this is my first original novel, and I'm writing it alongside a fanfic I'm also publishing here—which was actually the first thing I ever wrote. That one does include explicit scenes, so I didn't want to overwhelm myself with too much of that content, which is why I chose not to place the novel under the NSFW category. Still, thank you for giving my work a chance and for taking the time to share your thoughts.