The Insides of the Cave were occasionally filled with the sounds of sparring. Vira and Mursayade had been working out some of their issues the hard way. Apparently, this time they were fighting over who got the most kills during their hunts.
Vector felt like there was something better he could do with his time, All of them had already absorbed the spirit stones for the day, the others were busy either working it off or working it in. Large scale training was out of the question, it could draw attention to the group. They had decided to practice lightly and not to use energy outside of the ship or isolation formations.
Finding his way to his cabin, Vector passed Cheonquq.
The Prince was curious about how Vector trained his ability. "Vector, would it be okay if I watched you train?"
"As long as you're quiet and don't interrupt me in the process." Vector couldn't think of a reason to send the kid away, there really was nothing else to do in the cave and there were still three days left until they were to return to Hodda's ruins.
Vector let Cheonquq observe his training, he pulled out two crystalline beds and sat down on one. "Use this, try your best to understand and feel the changes as I perform them."
Cheonquq sat down and crossed his legs, following Vector's example.
Vector formed some ice on his hand and then put it away. Then, he pulled it out again. He continued the process of taking it out and putting it away. The process was like exercise, he would breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth.
The room grew cold quickly but the Crystalline bed that Cheonquq was using was a fire bed, he didn't have to worry about being frozen so easily.
After two hundred repetitions of making snowballs in his hands, he stopped. "Next, I'm going to form spikes." Vector did as he said, he formed a spike and then dissipated it, then repeated his actions as quickly as possible. It was not just a test of endurance but speed, the objective of the training to was to increase is speed and overall control over it. "Speed matters but if you can't form the basics you'll be taken down before you have a chance to defend yourself."
He formed the spikes perfectly until the eighty-fifth one, it came out like a ball. "See, this is why it important to train. I got distracted and made a ball instead."
Cheonquq didn't speak, it was still rather cold in the room. Sitting on the fire crystal bed helped keep him warm but the cold air in the room was making him breathe clouds.
Two Days passed,
Cheonquq was curious about what Vira and Kuzunoha were doing for their cultivation but they were both disinterested in sharing the details with the young prince. They even erected an isolation shield to give themselves some privacy.
Vector kept the boy in the Cockpit after a while and gave him a short tour of the controls but the Prince was completely out of his element. Misozi took over to relieve Vector for his training and cultivation, Mursayade was waiting patiently by the doorway.
"We have to grow in strength, I don't feel close to a breakthrough. There is less than a day left.." Mursayade tapped her foot and dragged Vector inside when he got close enough, the door slammed shut and an isolation barrier was activated.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Wu Hai sat in the room at the Inn. He could have chosen to pull out the pagoda but if things turned out badly for whatever reason, he would be forced into abandoning it for his own safety and that was just not something he would allow to happen.
Copyu slept in the pit of his lap while he cultivated before sleep. The massive amounts of energy were passing through the small beast, it was gobbling up the spirit stones much faster than Wu Hai.
He wondered what would happen to the creature after it got a lot of energy, the last few transformations he had witnessed were mind-blowing. Evolution was a massive boost, a transcendence into a different realm of possibility. Still, he had no way of knowing what would happen. The creature was a complete mystery to him, the old woman hadn't shared any details but Copyu's reaction showed that she wouldn't be or feel safe in her care.
Going through the motions was fine, if worse came to worse, Wu Hai could always run again until he figured out what to do. He was getting better at escaping the situation rather than dealing with them, it was a tactic he didn't like or appreciate.
Copyu absorbed lots of energy while it rested, 'it's a very strange little creature.' Wu Hai felt the urge to pet it gently but held back. She was sleeping.
His cultivation levels had not seen a dramatic increase for a while but he could feel the steady growth even with the Hilairen's passive ability to steal his energy. Wu Hai materialized a few herbs and threw them into the array to absorb. Spirit stones of that level were just not making the cut, he pulled out the few herbs he was sure contained large amounts of energy. Thirteen fire grasses had an easy effect though, they were an intense heat.
Copy woke up and it caused Wu Hai to lose control of the array, it began to falter. He thrust out some power to stabilize it and then dismantled it quickly.
"Are you alright?" Copyu was shaking.
Wu Hai was still holding her and he started to pet. 'Come to think of it, those Nyankin all had water powers, these guys have water abilities too.. so that's it.. fire is terrifying, but why cling to me then?' Wu Hai spent some time to think about things, he was covered in fire 'why would a water creature choose to hide within my robes?'
He pulled out some water grasses, lilies and reeds. All of them carried some water energies but Wu Hai was slightly unfamiliar with their potency or side effects.
Copyu turned her head and dove at the reeds and roots.
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Cheonquq was busy teasing Misozi.
Everyone else was cultivating. Only a few hours remained until the days end but no one had felt any significant changes. They absorbed what they could until the energy levels were just unfulfilling.
With hours remaining, all of them emerged from their cabins fully dressed.
"This is getting no where.." Vector slammed his fist against a bulkhead.
Misozi frowned but it would fix quickly.
"It was just a calculation. As I'm able to understand it, once you develop to a certain point it requires action, a catalyst to drive you into the next phase of any path to power."
"Breakthroughs, yeah, I'm aware of them." Vector felt like a clown, he had been absorbing and the idea, the mere notion that he would be forced to 'breakthrough' instead of develop had never even occurred to him. He calmed down nodded to the others.
"Breaking through is the way then. What else do we have to lose."
"Working to raise our power isn't a bad idea but.. no isolation formation will contain your energy during the breakthrough. We're bound to be discovered." Mursayade didn't want to discourage anyone. They only had a few hours left on the clock, it was an imaginary deadline but they still felt it was worth keeping their pace.
Vira and Kuzunoha returned to their room without saying anything.
"Okay then, back we go." Vector went inside. "Are you coming?"
Mursayade shook her head, "No. Go focus, I feel like I'm too far away to make a breakthrough. You should go and consolidate your power." She ruffled Cheonquq's hair and smiled at Vector.
"I understand." The door closed.
Vector sat down on his bed and circulated his energy.
He started with a hundred circulations, then a thousand. Then, he channeled frost in one hand while channeling the ice spikes in the other, materializing and dematerializing them. In between each heartbeat, one would disappear while the other would appear in a back and forth motion during circulations. It was a tempering process, meant to hone his imagery and manifestations. When he didn't feel the bottleneck, Vector threw out stones and several beast parts to absorb.
It was at that moment, the bottleneck began to appear. He could feel the pressing, the collision between one state and the next but the way to rise out of it was beyond him. As a gamer, he understood that taking things to the next level meant a leapt forward but sometimes those leaps were extreme.
He needed that benchmark to break, he needed to pull out more than every before and consolidate everything. Ice, it formed with cracks but compressed, exploded and reformed. The Ice ran clear and hardened then blue and layered. It stopped melting when it was renewed, the ice particles didn't have time to mist into the room. The room sealed itself with the Ice and Vector did everything in his power to consolidate his energy, it got colder.
His tattoo was going crazy, frost turned directly to ice, it covered his body and his scales were shed. A cocoon of gold wrapped his body, it too turned to ice.
֍ꟷꟷꟷꟷ֍
Mursayade saw the Ice build up on the door, it clammed shut and couldn't open. She asked Misozi what was going on and the projection from inside showed that it was filled with permafrost. Whatever Vector was going through, he had to do on his own.
In the next moment, Misozi gave out an alert.
"The Orange Queen is headed his way." Misozi could tell from the energy readings exactly who it was, "She's headed this way, its like she knows our location but can't tell exactly where we are."
"What do you mean?" Mursayade was confused.
"She's headed this way but not, its like she doesn't have an exact position." Misozi did her best to clear up any misunderstandings but the facts didn't change what was happening. "By my estimates, she'll be in the vicinity of the cave within the hour."
"What's going on?" Vira and Kuzunoha came out of the cabin and saw the readouts. "I thought you said we'd be safe here."
"Vector's attempting a breakthrough, I think its giving away our position." 'So, I was right.' Mursayade held her tongue but gave a quick explanation.
Kuzunoha saw the readouts on the HUD, "She's on the move, that's for sure but doesn't that mean that she's not at the Castle?"
Vira agreed, "So, that means its probably unguarded. If she's coming here then.."
"Misozi, get ready to run at full speed. When she's near, we're taking this path." Pointing at the screen Kuzunoha drew a circular path. She gave her full plan and they group was waiting on pins and needles.
The Orange Queen was powerful and her corrosive abilities were nothing to joke about. The fact that she hated them was only fuel to her fiery rage. A streak of orange left a trail of death across the region and swept in their direction.
Creatures that tried to cross the scarred path of the Orange queen were enveloped in the waste and consumed. Every now and then, another of her hounds would appear. They'd howl in unison and trail behind her.
It was a stampede, a flash flood of a mutated river cleared the way and spread out among the trees and grasslands that surrounded the Orange queen, more and more beasts were sworn by slaughter.
Misozi saw the change in the Queen's trajectory. "Its time, I'm leaving the Cave."
"Vector.. you need to wake up." Mursayade pounded on the door.
"Don't wake him, we can only wait." Vira knew what was happening to some extent. She had never seen anyone with control over Ice that had transformed but it was obvious that he was going through a metamorphosis.