About an Hour passed and the Spirit Stones that were being absorbed crumbled to atoms. Vira's strength showed a sudden boost in power during her cultivation, her eyes beamed. With the latest round of absorption, she had gained a new ability her eyes, like Kuzunoha, were now able to detect trace amounts of energy in the plant life around her. Roots that shown through the wall were pulling energy that laid dormant in the soils.
When Vector heard the news of her ability, he wondered if it had anything to do with their physical level. 'By absorbing so many spirit stones, perhaps they met a Benchmark.' It had been a month since they had arrived, it was also still very difficult to travel. The gravity and drop in strength to less than one percent of their prime, they were all left a bit defenseless. Driven by his need to remain relevant in their journey, Dragon King Vector set out to hunt when night fell.
Night time in the heavens of Ultinia were a bit strange, the sky was clearly marked with a line that shuttered over in a great bubble, tinting out the light and giving the illusion of night. A great framework of formations made it all possible like an electrostatic field, particles in the air flattened, further blocking out the light and bringing darkness over the area.
The sounds were strange but unique and harmonious, mating calls and chewing noises could be heard. The lowest levels of Heaven had its own predators, the Night was their time.
Vector tried not to flap his wings often, the noise from waving them cut at the air and gave away his position. It was much louder to walk so he chose to glide and stalk the skies. His night vision wasn't bad but he was hungry. Rather than chase small prey, he looked for anything larger than a rabbit or snake. He flew for about an hour spiraling away from the house.
The City was restful but it was quite small, most of the buildings were residencies and trade was somewhat non-existent. Everyone did their own thing, concerned with no one other than themselves. At night, most were in their homes and unwilling to chance becoming a meal. A Howl carried itself across the air in the vicinity, then there was the sound of a small creature dying. A crunching noise, similar to that of rocks grinding could be heard for hundreds of meters.
Vector saw the source, an Emerald covered Scarab was devouring some remnants. 'Bugs?' It didn't matter, he would be absorbing the energy but the thought of eating a bug was a bit strange for him and didn't sit well at first.
His stomach growled.
The noise carried and caught the Scarab's attention, its wings buzzed and it flew toward Vector. Mike had a fear of roaches when he lived on Earth, when it flew toward him... he reeled in the back of his mind for a moment. 'Eeeeee!'
Vector pulled out the Broken Tooth Shiv, he had wrapped it well enough to be considered a handle and it helped his grip tighten around the slick, sharp tooth. Before, when he had held it in his hand, the tooth itself had cut the inside of his palm and drank from his blood. Presumably, he had gained ownership of it once his essence had been drunk. It didn't matter how it happened, he still wanted to fight.
Brandishing the Shiv, he stabbed at the Beetle's chin before it could bite at his arm. It died in that instant, the shiv had crest the top of its skull and other than the fact that its weight was still in motion, Mike was thrilled at having killed it. Vector realized how heavy the Beetle was, Its armor weighed several tons, he slightly tore the shell away and grabbed at some of the flesh. He was ready to consume it but as it was dead, its remains turned into another spirit stone, two in fact, one medium size one and very tiny fragment of one that was in his hands.
"Fuck!" Vector cursed a bit. He had wanted to eat something and not have to absorb it. He threw the small spirit stone into his mouth and swallowed it. It no longer mattered to him if it was a rock, he was hungry.
The small chunk of spirit stone was caught in his chest.
Beating his hand against his chest, he tried to cough it up. It took several minutes but he finally realized why he couldn't eat a spirit stone. His throat hurt intensely.
'Fuck..' Reeling from the pain, it took a few minutes for his throat to heal. Vector sat down and began to absorb the medium sized spirit stone, it had a green exterior like the shell of the Beetle. Its emerald like surface only showed that there was much more the group had to learn about their new environment.
He was sitting in a clearing, with his senses, Vector was unable to detect others nearby. It was only then that he started to absorb the spirit stone. It's quality was much greater than the Goddribs and Higayyn that they had been absorbing until then. The energy of the Emerald Scarab was no doubt a result of its devouring of many creatures over its lifetime.
Sweat oozed from his pores and between his scales. The sweat froze.
Frost accumulated around his body and turned the plants around him into sculptures that shattered under the spiritual pressure Vector was emitting. His heart rate slowed and his mind entered a trance like state. The spirit stone vanished after it had been absorbed but Vector still had to process it. His body would have to do the work, his mind was elsewhere.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Kuzunoha and Vira were exercising, sparring against each other in the gravity that filled the Ultinian Plane. It was difficult but they continued to struggle to temper themselves. A stray punch from Vira had swept past Kuzunoha's face, it bruised.
"Sister, are you alright?" Vira came up to her and placed her hand on her face. She was worried.
Kuzunoha grabbed Vira's hand, holding it against her cheek. "You've always been kind to me, I'm glad you're in my life and me now." Her hand slipped down to Vira's waist and pulled at her belt, dragging her closer.
"Mmm." Vira smiled and tasted her lips. "How long do you think Vector will be out?"
Vira held out her palm and grabbed at Kuzunoha's upper thigh, thrusting her up on the bed.
"Hee.." Kuzunoha was about to speak but Vira's tongue was running down her leg. When she was done licking her way to Kuzunoha's toes, Vira laid on top and untied her robes.
They rolled across the bed and found themselves tasting each other in delight.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
"Its not a trick." Vector spoke to himself and stood up.
The tint across the barrier that hung overhead had lightened, simulating Dawn. He had been confused about something, his brief lapse into a state of understanding had left him feeling more questions than answers but he did answer one question. The Heavens were a dangerous place, if he had been the one to die earlier, the scarab would have benefited from his existence. However, they had traded places in that instant, Vector had become the predator and the beetle had become an object of nourishment.
His estimates were that the Beetle had taken more than a hundred lives, its energies were a quality higher than all the beings he had consumed until that point. No manner of energy had filled his hunger quite as much. If not one hundred, several, the Beetle couldn't give answers but its energies proved that it had scavenged its power from those less fortunate.
He spread his wings and flew into the air. Below him, many motes of energy were spread out in his vision. He could see the damage from his breakthrough earlier still present in the clearing. Beyond that, further into the clearing there were many bright lights clustered together. It caught the Dragon King's eyes and he flew among them. They hung in the air like a drafting of energies. Below them were plants of different colors, some of them were the same blueish green but one was red, another was gold and there were several with a violet color that pulsed.
Vector had been gaming his entire previous life, he knew damned well what to do. In an instant, he had pulled away the dirt and produced anything that looked like a planter to stow them away with. He pulled out several helmets and bowls. No bottle in his collection was wide enough to support any of the herbs in his grasp, he was forced to wrap up the roots in some of his older clothing or hides from the beasts on Shiyan. Twenty-three patches of herbs were a great harvest, Vector wondered if he had done the wrong thing by clearing them all but when he looked down, he saw small seedlings already in their place.
The roots had gone much deeper than he had realized.
Vector exhaled deeply and the plants in front of him shattered under the cold, pressurizing effect of his breath. "What a gift!" Startled, he had never expected his breath attack to be a normal process of his movements. His breath was not just cold, it was icy. The temperature around him had dropped considerably. 'I should get back.' He spread his wings, they glistened with snowflakes as he flew up.
Vector shook his wings clear of frost and returned to the pocket house.
He went to grab for the doorknob, there was a sock on it.
'^&!%@#' Noises were coming from inside, Vector could hear curses, then giggling and rushing about.
Vector's nose started to bleed when he thought about what was going on inside, he had come on the journey without.. "Dammit." When he realized he had zero chances of joining, Vector pulled his wings over his shoulders and took a walk around the nearby City.
It was quiet and Vector needed to cool off.
Multiple people were rushing about, despite the hour. There was an odd feeling about them all, none of them spoke among themselves. It was eerily quiet like none of them dared reveal their existence in the darkness.
Scared looks covered their faces as they saw Vector approaching, the light that reflected off him and his trail of ice were impossible to miss. The Cold air was in sharp contrast to the surroundings, the village was in a tropical type region. Thousands of plant species surpassing anything Vector had come across were present and there was even a moving water source nearby. Mike's approach quieted even the bugs. The rich and cold energy was too much to bare for some of the living things that came in too close, they ran away or died after coming into contact with his aura.
He walked until he had control over his aura, the light was coming back in full. It was Vector's turn to sleep. Someone had been awake at all times to make sure that one of them would feel the Emperor's presence. They had tried several times but the communication stones were not reaching him. They could only wait and try each day. All of them had thousands of communication stones so a daily trial was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Vector cleared his throat before he went back to the door, the sock was removed and the girls were both asleep.
Vector coughed. "Empresses, Its my turn to sleep."
They both laughed, Vira held one of the sheets and closed the curtain so they could get dressed. "I'll get up."
Kuzunoha laughed again and then dragged Vira into the bed once more to kiss and run her hands along Vira's body.
"Cut it out.." Vira giggled, it was a noise that Vector hadn't heard before.
He chuckled to himself, plugged his ears and laid down on his crystal bed. It was a Crystal Nest, the Greatest crafters of Greensong had spent hours customizing designs before Vector was satisfied. In order to immerse himself in the ways of the Dragons, he had slept on a nest since his transformation.
Vector enjoyed it, but it left no room for his mates. He had several different beds made and eventually he had the idea of having them produced for the Dragonkin of the Kingdom. It made Munju happy, he had another object for trade.
Now, the crystal bed was helping to consolidate the energies around him into Ice Energy, a collection point at the center would draw it in, condense it and then pool it until full to a certain point. Master Xuan had called it a smartbed but it was still a portable Ice pool.
Exaggerating about it being something like a bed was foolish, but many versions existed. Vector had one for each of the elements that was customized by the Dragon's Share scientists. Most of the Dragonkin had theirs tailored to their needs. Vector's appetites as the Dragon King required him to have a myriad of beds, including one that was all his own. He lounged in the sloppy ice, it cracked as he entered. The elemental essence was a little thicker in the Ultinian realm but what was produced by the bed was still the same as before. The enrichment of the atmosphere did nothing to alter the beds function, it only kept the energy levels full.