Five months had passed for Kuzunoha, Vira, Mursayade, Vector and Misozi. After liberating the Prince they were given a generous status and allowed any measures necessary to allow them to leave. Misozi had made the calculations and aside from time and spirit nourishment, they only needed to combine their efforts. The lower realms operated in such a way that the only the worthy could enter, E=Z³2πr was a very real obstacle they had to overcome if they ever wished to rejoin Zao.
Mursayade and Vector stood up from their dual cultivation and came out of their room. More than a hundred spirit stones had been absorbed in the last session, there was little energy in them on this plane. "I don't know if we're going to be able to achieve our goal if this is the limit of our cultivation.." Mursayade's tremoring voice was due to her unwillingness to remain. If they had brought some of the steeles along with them, perhaps they would have been able to move between dimensions already but none of them had that sort of foresight and thinking about 'what if's' had been unproductive.
"I believe that with our combined efforts we have a chance and just because our cultivation is slowing down doesn't mean it won't come." Vector consoled her slightly and they both made their way to the cockpit and operations center for the Ship. Misozi had several puppets operating controls and maintaining sensors on the spot where they had originally come through. She had been parked in the same place for almost four months in a row, still, everyday, without fail, they would try to contact the outside with a communication stone.
Vira and Kuzunoha entered their chambers and setup the array. Dual cultivation between two females was rather unique, they found themselves exchanging energies more frequently when they had finally made it work for the both of them. Two hundred spirit stones were spread between the two of them and several piles of bones laid beside them in a circle as totems. It was necessary to gain strength and by absorbing all the surrounding energies they tempered themselves further.
In the space where they had been, the gravity was to one and the 99% rule had also vanished. Otherwise, Vector wouldn't have bothered to try recapturing Prince Cheonquq, it would have been a fools errand and meant his certain doom to even dream of such daring action. He had full command of his abilities but the energy levels were just too low.
He was the Dragon King, more importantly, he was a tattoo holder, one of the Four Great Kings, the Ice King. As his powers evolved in the Heavenly realms, so did his control disappear. He had to relearn everything he'd known for more than thirty years. Only his Blacksmith training had been able to translate across his Path of Cultivation.
Vector played with his Hammer outside on the hull of the ship. Mursayade and he watched the light shift into a night sky. "We will get out of here." He stowed the hammer away and kissed Mursayade on the forehead. "I need you to stay strong with me. Give it some time, we'll make it. Misozi says two months given our pace."
"What would she know?" Mursayade shook her head. "Her calculations could be wrong, not even on purpose but still wrong. All of them are based on observations and little is known about how we will develop." She crossed her arms and hugged at her shoulders. "I want out of this place.. its too mechanical."
Vector agreed but he didn't want to take the moment from her. He simply held her as the light changed from amber to black.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Wrapped in green, Zao was a bit shaken by what was happening. His body changed as a whole, he grew by several inches and all of his joints popped. His skin felt more armored than before and he was reflective like a mirror. "What is this gift you have given?" Four colored flames circled his body.
Pistis rattled his head and unhinged his jaw. A bone came tumbling out. "Do not reject, deject or feel discomfort. This is not an innocent world, you, who come from another. If it's power you seek, I give this totem. It findss."
Wu Hai swept the bone with his senses before picking it up, he didn't want to be rude. The Naga God, Pistis, was quite powerful and worshipers were plenty. "Is this one of your bones?"
"No. It belonged to a sacred beast. I swallowed it but this remains. Perhaps it will serve you, as it has served me." Wu Hai listened as Pistis spoke, his words were somewhat cryptic but it didn't matter.
"Thank you, Great Pistis." Inspecting the bone, he noticed that deep inside the bone, energy channels, complex in design, were still drawing energy from the surroundings. He put the bone away, spread his wings and was about to fly away.
"I have given, you have accepted. Such is the fate of things. May you look favorably on my kind in the future." Pistis glowed a vibrant green that swallowed the mountain and all the eyes that had seen him were temporarily blinded.
All of them, except for Wu Hai.
He soared into the sky and vanished from sight. Cresting the clouds, he looked to the horizon. "Vira, Vector, Kuzunoha, Mursayade.. can any of you hear me?" He tapped the crystal on his shoulder.
There was no answer.
His vision had changed, the shape of Wu Hai's eyes had even gone through an alteration, he could see heat signatures and energy channels. He flew up.
From a great height, he could see many systems of valleys and mountains, a desert and a landscape filled with different colored lakes. It was difficult to choose a direction, everything seemed so accessible from that far away. "Okay, fate it is." He flapped his wings really hard, spun in a circle as fast as he could and when he came to a resting stop during his fall, he followed that direction.
Wahchung's compass wasn't giving Zao what he wanted, so he figured 'What the hell..' and gave it a shot himself. The result was the same, he got a direction. It led him to a red lake, a dead lake.
From the outside of the water, he could smell the blood. 'Blood lake?' It was a silly thing to be afraid of but anyone capable of creating a blood lake, even if it was small, would have to have a source. Zao cringed and followed its shores, he tested his vision a few times and found that certain parts of the lake actually had stronger energy levels in the murk.
There had been a lot of changes to his body, in order to fully understand it, Wu Hai chose to cultivate rather than explore. The isolation he felt near the lake was proof enough that he would be safe from prying eyes. Wu Hai called out to Wahchung, the compass still hung on his shoulder next to the communication stone pendant. "Have you discovered anything?"
("No. As yesterday, as today, as the days before.. no sensations of their auras can be felt. I will continue to monitor the situation. Is there anything else?") Wahchung's voice was clear but he did not appear.
"What do you think of Pistis and his 'Gift'?" Wu Hai asked for his opinion but had low expectations.
("The Ouroboros Serpent Gods are known for their twisted ways, though, I find it strange that you gained one's approval. You do seem stronger and your aura has more than doubled. Pistis may have ulterior motives but the power is real and not borrowed.") Wahchung's voice faded.
"Doubled?" Wu Hai didn't feel that much stronger, he flexed his hands and noticed that his fingers could curl the other direction. It was creepy but rather effective for grasping. "I'm going to cultivate, please scan the surroundings in case I missed anything." It was a necessary precaution, he wasn't omnipotent.
("Nothing I can detect. I would still recommend an Illusion array to hide your image.") He stopped talking and the compass dimmed.
"Inform me if you discover changes." Wu Hai threw out an isolation formation and began to inspect his body from within. Many changes, much like the joints in his body had taken place. He searched his heart and saw another remodeling still taking place. A Fifth chamber was being formed and had yet to open or begin pumping. He could feel the strain on his chest as it expanded and his rib cage flexed, contorting his body slightly.
He grew another inch taller and his jaw was beginning to hurt. 'Exactly how many changes did he make to my body!?' Wu Hai was alarmed, so many things were happening and he felt so reptilian that it was almost like his Gygax had been rolled. He knew better than to blindly accept gifts but what was happening felt more like a blessing than a curse, he held the transformation and waited.
When the transformation began to slow, he threw out spirit stones. More than a hundred scattered above him and flowed into the shape of a ring above his head. The array had been activated and Wu Hai sank his consciousness into the process of absorption. He could feel the transformation regain some of its former strength but it was on the decline. The changes were finishing and Zao felt himself grow still. His body pumped blood slowly while he was idle, the fifth chamber on his heart was completing and had just begun to open.
An explosive peng noise could be heard from outside of Wu Hai's body. Wahchung came out of the compass and gave a stare.
Another noise, like a low rumbling began to take form overhead. Clouds swirled and condensed like they had come to kill. Chains of Lightning swirled overhead like a Great Wyrm. The Sky roared and tried to shake Wu Hai from his changes. The ground shook and the blood lake came washing up its shores, flooding the space where Wu Hai was sitting in cultivation. The shield kept the flows away but he was surrounded, submerged and cut off from light.
Blood boiled outside of the shield, bubbling and coagulating into a thick foam as it tried to penetrate.
'The Gods of Ultinia must disapprove.' Wahchung dove into the compass and vibrated to wake the Emperor but secretly he was hoping that Wu Hai would not be roused from his cultivation. The storm crackled and a boom sounded, a chain of lightning struck the shield and shattered an outer layer. A formation totem exploded and a ring at the center of the formation plate fed another in its place. The shield regrew around the others and flashed a yellow light.
The blood that surrounded the formation did nothing to slow the lightning's attack, if anything it helped amplify it and gave the lightning strike a chance to penetrate the shield. It kept coming, great chains of lightning flows were thrown out of the sky repeatedly, the strikes came without end.
Thirty minutes later, the last stone in the array had finished and a chiming noise could be heard across the region. A great bubble, a translucent barrier appeared around Wu Hai, it traveled outward and pushed the blood out of his path, cutting a route to the exposed shores. His knees bent backward and he leapt. In the air, his body contorted and made itself smaller, more maneuverable. Wu Hai looked down at the lake and then up at the sky. Another great chain of lightning was descending onto him.
He tore the armor from his chest and let the strike hit him, fully embracing the charge.
Sparks flew and the Emperor's eyes were lit with energy, burned with a mix of black and white lightning, hints of green and red followed in their wakes. Wu Hai wondered if it was just because of his ability to see or if it that was how it appeared to everyone, he felt like his lightning attacks could match his fire. The great flows of lightning that had entered his body were still coiling and refusing to be suppressed.
Wu Hai flew to the surface of the lake. Though it was red in color, he wasn't sure that the blood was the source. While underneath its darkening cover, he could feel a beast under the murk. With a wave of his hand, the blood began to attenuate toward his hand.
Like a great vacuum it was pulled into a storage ring until there was little left above a floundering Creature. It seemed to struggle without the blood atop its body and rows of teeth split its body apart.