The Filter Beast looked like a hyper-sized bloated snake with features a hundred times more grotesque. It had eyes that were like spotlights, locking onto Athelei's tiny body and making the darkness even darker for the boy.
'An artificial being?' Athelei had to cut off his senses once more to observe what was happening.
The Filter Beast was charging at him again, and it forced him to once more push himself forcefully to the side. The bioluminescent eels were all devoured in one humongous gulp by maws that could instantly swallow a pirate ship.
Athelei flipped to the final page of the Tidal Tome, and in the next moment, Thalassa's Trident appeared in his grasp.
When the Filter Beast came charging at him again, Athelei had completed another round of his patterns and preparations. The trident in his grasp flew out in the blink of an eye as he dodged the bull-like charging beast.
Dong!
Upon impact, the trident stuck into the Filter Beast like a fork trying to pierce into a well-done steak. It caused an energy-filled note to ring and ripple out, and in the next moment, Athelei watched as the Tidal Tome flew out of Thalassa's Trident to return to his hands.
A powerful reverberation then shook the waters as the Filter Beast was engulfed by rapidly churning currents. Dark blue light emanated from these currents as they wrapped around the Filter Beast and inhibited its movements through the sheer force of the elements.
RRRRAAAAAAAAH!
The Filter Beast roared in rage as it rapidly descended and sank to the seafloor. It was forced onto the site where the wooden shack once lay, kicking up a large amount of dust and debris.
But there was nothing much it could do, as the [Mana] rich environment fueled the trident's seal. The ocean was once its home, and now it shall be its coffin.
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- [Active Effect: Aqua Seal] Confines the energies of an object with water-attributed Mana. When an object is sealed by Thalassa's Trident, it is placed in a [Locked] state wherein any attempts at tampering with the object are repelled. Nothing can penetrate from outside or inside the object unless the Aqua Seal is broken.
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After a full three hours of enraged struggles, the Filter beast realised that it couldn't go anywhere. The strength it exerted could not influence anything outside the seal. And with its entire body engulfed by the [Aqua Seal], it could not swim away at all no matter how much it writhed around.
Athelei watched all this and noted down the difference between sealing a living being and an inanimate object. The living being was still capable of movement, but it could not exert force on anything outside the seal. It could roar, but now that the [Aqua Seal] had fully settled, no sound made it to Athelei's ears.
The sealed target was isolated from existence, making Athelei wonder how somebody ought to escape something like that. He gave it some thought, but none of the abilities he knew could do so. Interaction between different parts of the world was important, after all.
'Perhaps I should first learn about the limitations of Thalassa's Trident. If I know where its limits lie, I can test out a way to exceed those limits and therefore break the seal if I was in the Filter Beast's place...' Athelei had thought to himself as he watched. 'But how exactly am I going to test the trident's limits...?'
That was where he had hit a dead end on his questioning. As such, Athelei decided to shelve his thoughts for now and return to his usual routine of endless practice.
"I'll come back for you tomorrow night," Athelei said as he gave the Filter Beast a few pokes under the light of his Tangible Will before swimming away.
.
.
.
And so, Athelei returned to the Filter Beast every night to unseal it for a moment and run Inspect. It became another part of his routine, and he had grown relatively used to the unnerving encounters along the path he had to take.
But despite all his attempts, all he got was one extra point of intrigue. Nothing more, nothing less. Everything else was technical knowledge such as its specific size, weight, lifespan, muscle density, the machine used to incubate it, and a long, very long, very very long gene sequence—which luckily could not be completely displayed by his Interface Authority Level, else he would have had a gigantic glaring screen.
Of course, he still recorded those technical tidbits, but he doubted their relevance for his current endeavours.
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Filter Beast
Health: 8,201/9,412 (Sealed)
Mana: 1/1 (Sealed)
Energy: 47/50 (Sealed)
- Created by the Zodiacs eighty-two (82) years ago.
- "One of my many creations. It is a species made to rid planetary orbs of unwanted organisms. Still needs a bit of work, but it gets the job done. Kind of. At least that's what the results say."
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That extra point exasperated Athelei for a moment as he realised that Oxhor might just be a [planetary orb] or whatever that was.
He was familiar with planets, of course, as generic non-infinite universes had many of those... but planetary orbs? Those were currently beyond him. It was a unique feature of this infinite universe.
Sure, he came from empty space and manifested there, but he had made no attempt to properly look around. Whatever lay beyond Oxhor's atmosphere was something he was going to experience as a mortal.
Athelei was daydreaming of outer space when someone barged into the room he used for his Information Network transactions.
"I was asked to come here to retrieve an eight-leaf clover." A young man, who looked to be one of the Lotus, rushed in.
He spotted Athelei in the midst of all the items that were arranged in the room. An outstretched finger entered his gaze and he wordlessly rushed to the directed spot. Then, a small pouch of eight-leaf clovers came into his hands as he left hurriedly, not even leaving a single word of thanks.
"Is someone injured?" Athelei carelessly guessed as he stood up, desiring to find out what all the fuss was about.
Running through the radial hallways, Athelei followed a trail of sweat lingering in the waters and found himself at one of the palace's many gardens.
The sight that appeared before his eyes however wasn't one of blood and pain, but one of greens and life. A sapling stood at the very centre of the garden. A large amount of Lotus clan members had gathered around it, looking tired and tense.
The young man who had barged into Athelei's workspace was standing behind a middle-aged woman who was hunched over the sapling. He looked nervous as he bit into his lips while the middle-aged woman depicted no sign of agitation. She was in the zone.
Athelei watched as the woman took one of the eight-leaf clovers out from a pouch and drew a pattern that Athelei could not recognize. That pattern was followed by a dozen more and formed an encompassing Mystic Pattern sequence.
When the woman finished, a milky white chain had connected the eight-leaf clover to the sapling, causing energy to flow. Whatever made the eight-leaf clover special, now poured into the young tree like a dextrose injection supplying a patient with water and carbohydrates.
Time passed, and when the milky white chain faded, the sapling released a small flash of light.
This small flash brought a great amount of relief to all those who had been watching from the side. Athelei's eyes gleamed as he felt a similar emotion and his curiosities were once again riled up.
"What plant is that?" He ran Inspect.
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Tree of Fortune
Health: 3/3
Mana: 18/22
Energy: 4/4
- Currently in its infancy stage. The growth of a Tree of Fortune is said to be a good omen for any developing area.
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'I see,' Athelei heard about Trees of Fortune before, and seeing one here made him nod in understanding. 'It seems like Atlantis really is going to thrive.'
Even with all the leviathan beasts roaming around the city, the people of Atlantis would live. Even with all the unknown, its residents were going to trailblaze a path forward—perhaps not right now, but surely in the future.
What was an even better omen was the fact that the Tree of Fortune had never before been planted deep underwater where normal sunlight could not reach. There were worries about its long-term growth, and that was why these Lotus clan members were all tense. They wanted to know if the techniques they had just devised would function.
Inspiration had struck them after their experience in Avina. They had kept thinking about how terrifying the forceful transference of life was, and yet, now they had witnessed its beauty instead. The beauty of seeing it used to bring life and not to simply consume.
The Undead Remnants were what brought them to this point... in more ways than one.
This event with the Tree of Fortune also meant that plants could be cultivated deep underwater. Farms could be made.
And with the surprising fact that even livestock could be reared in Atlantis, a lot of what the humans used to survive on land could be brought into the city. It just required a few tweaks here and there, but all in all, things were turning up nicely.
Finally, to Lotus Weizhe, who had been worrying about the future of humans in Atlantis, the life of the Tree of Fortune signified stability. The tried and tested methods of the past worked. There was a backup plan that he could safely turn to if everything they discovered would bring them harm.
When the man heard the news that his relatives had succeeded, he nearly passed out. He could rest easier now.
Whatever chaos was transpiring between Illyas and Illum was not a worry of his at all.