It was late in the night when Lu Sha finally returned to the training ground. Hana had been cleaning up the mess, but the island was impossible to corral. Gravity was somewhat obsolete within the space, debris didn't exactly attract to one another to form the islands. Instead, it was likely that the broken pieces were originally land masses outside in the regular world, brought inside by previous tenants.
Hana had moved the portal entrance to the second island.
When Master Lu Sha arrived, Hana's expression of helplessness was enough to make him sigh. "Child, what has happened here?" Looking around, he saw the herd of moles tied together, bound and gagged.
"It's probably not what master thinks, I will explain. This Minotaur.." She pulled the body from storage and it fell to the floor. "This guy came in and attacked, he brought the herd as subordinates. I think I got them all but there were a lot." Hana watched her master tear the horns from the corpse and stash them away. Then, he brought out the black flames and destroyed the body. "Why did master destroy it?"
"Hanahaksu, if you keep corpses, what happens if someone were to ever find them or worse, reanimate them. The undead are not so easily understood, some types have great intelligence. Parts if you must but never bodies, they accumulate." Master Lu Sha looked at the pile of dead moles and shook his head. "Such a waste of meat." He stored them away and looked at the herd that was tied up. "Hana, take these moles and release them. If they can survive, let them have this place. Its unlikely that they will attack you in the future."
"Yes, Master." Hana cut the rope and watched them scatter, burrowing and destroying things in every direction. "Master, what about the things inside of here?"
He laughed, "This stuff is just trash we didn't take with us, but those tubs..." Black tendrils ran from his finger tips and into the floating debris. One by one, he pulled the elemental tubs from the air and set them down next to Hana. "You should take all of these, we will have a use for each of them later." Thirteen tubs landed, each had formations covering it, engraved into its surface. "Grab whatever you think is important, then, come to the fifth Island. It is very unlikely that they will make it that far for a while, let them have the space.. none in this place matters except the aura and energy field."
Master Lu Sha snagged one of the living moles and took it with him. He stabbed it in the chest, cleaned its body and laid it across the fire pit to roast. "These are much better than the Speval's I found." Using another skewer to spear a Speval through the side, Lu Sha wrapped them both in herbs.
An aroma wafted around the Island, without wind, it lingered and collected nearby.
Hana sat down by the fire and listened to Master Lu Sha speak while the meat was roasting.
"Channel your energy while you are in training." She started and he continued. "I've made arrangements to have books on formations delivered to this place, you will not lapse your studies. There are five tubs I want you to work with, like cauldrons, they can be used for alchemy purposes. Each will draw an elemental pool from this dimension." He pulled the Fire Tub over and started to pour his energy into the formation that covered its surface.
Bright red lines lit up, the crystalline patterns glowed and soon, a liquid started to condense and swirl inside. It drew the heat from the air, the surroundings grew cold. "Inside the tub is elemental fire, liquefied and ready for a container. It can be used to do a lot of various things, but your focus should be collecting it while you train. The myriad of effects you will come to understand because of their nature will prepare you in ways you cannot expect. I however, expect you to train on this at least one hour a day." He pulled four more tubs over, "You will rotate between tubs and circulate your energy while you fill each one. In the morning, do not be late for school."
Master Lu Sha few up and onto the sixth island. "I will be up here if you need me but don't, I'd rather sleep." Disappearing behind the rock face, he laid down on a crystal nest.
Hana stared at the other four tubs and started to fill each one before bottling its contents. In the course of an hour Hana had filled more than forty large containers. After a while, there was no place for her to put the liquid so she started to feed it to the Moles rather than wasting it. She had filled up eight tubs but there were leftovers when she was done.
There was a reaction to a few of the moles, the glowed with same hue as the liquids they consumed. Once she had started feeding one of them, the rest came running. They drank from the five elements and silver light consumed them. All the moles had cocooned themselves, sticky coatings covered their bodies and pulsations, like heartbeats, could be felt as well as heard. Hana couldn't move them, she kept her energy channeling up and waited for the meat to finish cooking.
By the time she was done meditating, it was time for dinner. Lu Sha came down to eat, he saw the cocoons, "You're just like your father. Hmmph. Even you have a shared destiny, this.." he waved his hand around at the cocoons, "This is definitely something he would have tried." Lu Sha laughed and pulled the meat from the fire. Taking a bite, he looked over at Hana. "Speval will taste good, try it."
"Master, I ran out of space for the essences." She grabbed the Speval on the spit and tore a leg off. The meat was juicy and crispy on the outside, it smelled and tasted like the herbs. She could feel her energy boosting. 'Oh.' Channeling her energy while she ate, she could feel herself growing in strength. "Disciple thanks Master."
"The books will be here tomorrow after you return to school, when the Moles hatch, make sure to feed them within 24 hours or they will not consider you their leader. I suspect." Lu Sha finished his meat and passed a bag of spacial rings over. "These are empty, use them to contain the liquids from now on, keep them separated."
Hana looked inside the bag, it was filled with many identical rings. 'How do I tell them apart?' The thought raced through her mind for a moment but she realized that she could put a tag on them that was wetted with the essence. Her inner joy was demolished when she realized she would be producing a lot more than what she had originally thought.
Sweeping the tubs into her storage, she noticed the formation more closely. Each one was slightly different but most bore the same emblems and diagrams as the rods that Phera had been using. There was an itch that Hana wanted to scratch, her studies and cultivation would require another hour and then she could practice or do something else on her own time. Hana placed all of her focus into training and an hour later, she got to work.