'Are you being serious right now?'
[I'm afraid I do, Grey. Jelly Legs' purpose only resonates with Jelly Hop, that's all.]
Looking around with his entire being floating in the vacuum aimlessly similar to a swimming jellyfish with no sense of direction, Grey didn't know what expression he should be having as a mere head.
'How do I even look like?' Grey thought inwardly, unable to see his reflection from within the laboratory tank filled with an unknown grayish liquid.
But then, considering his current predicament, he set aside such curiosity and instead asked Kesha for advice, 'So, what's next, Kesha? I've been moving too slowly. Perhaps this world has zero gravity.'
After an unknown amount of time, Kesha finally replied, [Grey, would you like to know the information about this world?]
What his flickering vision registered were all rocks and dust. The soil of this world was something he had yet to touch because of his inherent passive skill called [Floater's Float], which made him unable to land on the ground but only hover inches away above it.
'Huh? Have you analyzed it already?' Grey wondered. 'If so, then let me know.'
[Okay, Grey. Please refer to the gray screen in your mind.]
The projection of the gray screen was something not visible and manifested physically.
In other words, similar to the advanced function of Axion Glasses in his previous world, his existence was connected to Kesha.
With that said, through this connection, whatever Kesha showed him was something he, too, should see but through his mind and soul alone.
Upon hearing Kesha's voice, Grey then referred to and browsed the information flooding his mind.
[Nessark]
Age: 12,435,698,001 Cosmic Years
Location: 8th Layer of Pyrusverse
Heavenly Body Type: Moon
Atmosphere Type: Darkness
Weather Conditions: Totality, Partiality, Scream
Cosmic Energy Level: (Indeterminable)
Cosmic Essence Abundance: (Indeterminable)
Prominent Minerals: Nesoid Ore, Arkoid Dust
Status Evaluation (via. Cosmic Feather): This young heavenly body has long been forsaken with loneliness by Type-2 Civilizations who used to inhabit this world because of their inability to procreate and due to scarce resources.
'More than twelve billion years old and yet it was evaluated as young? That's just absurd.' Upon assessing the information, Grey couldn't help but inwardly mumble.
[Notice!]
[According to the scope of information contained within my own Pyrus Archive, Nessark is considered young not because of its age, but rather of its current undetermined Cosmic Energy Level and Cosmic Essence Abundance.]
Before Grey could utter a word, Kesha continued with urgency, [Grey, you are drifting further away from the Deicand pod!]
'T–That, what should we do then? I am floating involuntarily away from it! I don't have control over my own mobility, Kesha!' Grey felt a sense of fear upon realizing that the only familiar sight captured by his lone eye was gradually receding.
[Use the Floater's Jelly Legs! I mean, Jelly Hop!] Kesha suggested.
'Wait, will that fling me in my current direction? My peripheral vision's losing sight of the spacecraft.'
Based on his current rate of movement by being swayed by the law of nature without any chance to struggle, the direction he was moving to was around ninety (90) degrees from the destroyed Deicand pod.
[No, Grey! A Floater's Jelly Legs are similar to an Octod's tentacles! It's multidirectional, unlike human feet!]
'Why are you screaming at me!' Grey inwardly screamed, too, though there was no shred of anger in his voice.
[Hehe, I'm just excited about our adventure, Grey.]
'I don't know if I am going to share that sentiment of yours since I'm suddenly thrown into this situation.
'Anyway, how do I find my Jelly Legs? I may have yet to grasp my whole self as a head, but I still feel that I have a neck.'
[Grey, it will automatically be released if you activate any skill related to it. In your case, Jelly Hop.] Kesha paused for a moment before she added, [Anyway, Grey, about its activation method, you can just mutter it in your subconscious and the Pyrus Heart will detect your will.]
'I see. Let's check it out.'
Even though there were hundreds of Floaters hovering aimlessly from all directions after the Deicand pod crashed, Grey activated the Jelly Hop.
[Activating the Active Skill: Jelly Hop.]
[Cosmic Energy (2) has been spent.]
At that moment, he sensed that something was bursting forth through his neck similar to confined snakes wanting to tear through their miniature opaque metallic cage.
In the next moment...
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Four greyish slimy tentacles or in his case, Floater's Jelly Legs, found their tip on the cold, darkened soil of the moon. Along with this partial semi-transformation, a gray aura permeated from his entire head-body, which signified the release of the Cosmic Energy that he possessed as a being in itself.
Grey did not feel any sort of pain. It was a testament to his constitution as a Floater, who was created through cosmic material known as Jellyner, which caused him to be impervious to pain and other sorts of harmful elements.
After their release, as though he began having temporary control over his own mobility, the Floater's Jelly Legs garnered momentum and power on the moon soil before launching in the direction that Grey desired.
Hop!
Sproink. Sproink.
Grey's skin felt weird as he hit some senseless kins hovering towards nothingness.
Through this attempt, Kesha's cheerful voice resounded in his soul, [Go, Grey! Go, Grey! Go, Grey!]
Hearing this, as a head without a mouth but only a lone eye, Grey smiled inwardly. What's more, experiencing this, Grey noticed something...
'H–Hey, Kesha! Wh–what the!'
It was the power of propulsion through Jelly Hop empowered through Cosmic Energy, which rivaled the power and speed of a bullet in motion. But being under the low-gravity moon, even though it felt like it, his movement was still considerably slow.
'W–wait, how do I stop this! My head's spinning!' Grey screamed, his mind seemed to shake into dizziness.
[What do you mean, Grey? You're a head, of course, you will spin upon propulsion to maintain equilibrium.]
Sproink. Sproink.
This motion he was currently experiencing as he continued to get in the way of the other Floaters, albeit unintentionally, felt like an eternity.
[Grey, think! You survived the crash, don't worry about this!] Kesha reassured her.
'Forgive my childish tantrums, Kesha. It's just that everything feels surreal.' He heaved an expressive sigh.
Poink.
After a few moments, Grey finally landed within the massive ruined Deicand pod, which possessed an eerie atmosphere similar to a ghost town.
***
'Kesha, is there really no other way for me to have control over my own mobility? Being swayed like trash on a river of nothingness without being able to move in my own will just strikes fear in me.' Grey muttered his honest thoughts.
It was similar to an astronaut who had lost one's connection to the spacecraft, whose hook was cut and forever drifted helplessly on the vacuum until one's demise.
[There are two ways, Grey. But the most optimal considering our circumstances would be to unlock the Cosmic Store.]
Grey recalled in his so-called Pyrus Window what Kesha brought up, prompting him to ask, 'How do I unlock it then?'
Thump.
Sproink.
Thud.
Within the Deicand pod full of destroyed advanced technology, Grey's head-body continuously and arbitrarily hovered as the Floater's Jelly Legs retreated to wherever they came from.
Hearing his query, as this man floated senselessly similar to a boat with an exhausted sailor, letting it be dragged by water, Kesha answered, [You need to collect Cosmic Essence, Grey. You could say that it's the Pyrusverse currency.]
'Ah...' Grey pondered. 'You mean I need to pay with this so-called Cosmic Essence before I can even open the Cosmic Store?'
Sensing the dejected tone in his voice, Kesha said softly, [I am afraid so, Grey. You can think of it as budgeting yourself to open a business.]
'Except for the fact that I am my own store's buyer!'
[There you have it, Grey! Hehe.]
Kesha then proceeded to explain how to obtain Cosmic Essence, which was similar to buying and selling.
'Huh? So this moon's minerals, Nesoid Ore and Arkoid Dust, can be sold somewhere? But where the hell do I store them or to whom should I even sell those, just in case?'
His query echoed; however, Kesha's unusually long silence prompted him to say, 'Hey, Kesha. What's wrong? You're creeping me out, so say something!'
[Grey... Hehehe.] Kesha giggled, causing chills to run down his nonexistent spine.
[I have scanned the Deicand pod. It seems we do not have to worry for a long time about opening the Cosmic Store.]
'What do you mean by that?' Grey asked.
[There are bulks of Cosmic Essence in this ship! Let's go get them!]
'Seriously? But where?' However, Kesha's next words caused his expression to darken.
[At the lower deck of the pod, precisely two hundred meters...]
With those words, Grey seemed to roughly guess just how vast this Deicand pod was.
'Then, where are we?'
Sizzle.
Thump.
Sizzle.
The sound of electricity from the presumably destroyed control room entered the head-body senses.
[We are at the central deck of the ship.]
'Central deck... Okay, tell me the directions. I'll use Jelly Hop and propel downwards.'
After some time...
[Activating the Active Skill: Jelly Hop.]
[Cosmic Energy (2) has been spent.]
[...Jelly Hop.]
[Cosmic Energy (2)...]
Bang!
Boom!
Even though his head-body possessed the characteristics of semi-fluid, Grey's Jelly Hop caused the surrounding unknown metals to hit each other or hit something else, which then further the destruction of the Deicand pod.
[Notice!]
[Your Cosmic Energy's running low!]
[Your Cosmic Energy's running low!]
'Three Jelly Hops costs me six (6) Cosmic Energy...' Grey muttered upon hearing Kesha's seemingly monotonous voice.
[Do not worry about it, Grey! Cosmic Energy makes up for the entirety of the Pyrusverse! You could say it's the source of any kind of energy stored within every matter in existence. It means, your Cosmic Energy will be restored after some time!]
'I see...' Grey paused, observing what was ahead, which according to Kesha, was the right direction.
There were so many questions still lingering at the back of his mind, but until he could settle and find a shelter before hopping to another layer of the Pyrusverse, he kept those curiosities within.
After an indeterminable amount of time had passed, Grey finally appeared in the ruined storage room of the pod, causing his lone eye to blink at the glimmering view in front of him.
***
Finding himself within the spacious storage room filled with metallic crates, that seemed powered by some kind of energy to seal, Grey continued drifting forward.
'Kesha, what's next? I don't have a pair of hands, and you said my legs only appear if I used a skill related to it like Jelly Hop.'
At his question, simultaneously so, Grey was notified by the enigmatic sentient system.
[Scanning the Pyrus Archive...]
[Searching the Floater's Encyclopedia...]
[Floater's Passive Skill: Tentacles Embrace has been found!]
[Tentacles Embrace]
Pyrus Archive Description (via. Cosmic Feather): By using Jelly Hop in a controlled manner, a Floater would be able to land a hug at the target. With that said, as a puny existence with its biology composed of Jellyner, the Floater would be able to absorb the target until the said skill deactivates.
[Jellyner]
Pyrus Archive Description (via. Cosmic Feather): Jellyners are cosmic material commonly found from the 7th Layer of Pyrusverse, where the Type-3 Civilizations reside. It has the characteristic of [Void], which grants the puny product like Floaters a spatial storage meant to be used by Deicand during the Divine Deployment.
Understanding the Tentacles Embrace, Grey was prompted to immediate action.
'Here comes my tentacles!'
With those words, upon a series of calculations of positioning himself towards the right direction, with the right crate storing Cosmic Essence as the target, Grey activated the [Jelly Hop].
[Activating the Active Skill: Jelly Hop.]
With the appearance of his four tentacles that protruded from the neck, as he controlled it to stick on this room's metallic walls, Grey propelled and bounced several times until the strength of hopping weakened, letting his medium of mobility find rest at the embrace of Cosmic Essence sturdy crate.
Proink.
Sproink.