The Puffbloom Islands realm caused people to lose the sense of time as the sun's fixed position messed their circadian rhythm to the point of nullifying it. But humans' ingenuity had a fix for that.
The cabin's bedrooms were all sealed and warded against outside light. They had to respect the clock and go inside when it was supposed to be nighttime. Special filters on the windows gave the illusion of a starry sky outside. They slept like babies if compared to the stress of sleeping in the previous realm. Robert didn't need to worry about someone jumping and dooming themselves for losing contact with the floor and they could put away the metal balls and silk ropes.
The next five days were filled with idyllic walks through the flower meadows intercalated with lectures on Ether theory and physical workout. Robert learned how to calculate the essence to effect efficiency of spells and to check which ones were worthy of tossing out and starting anew. His time in the liminal void was used developing his mental palace with the insights he got from the flower meadow. It was like painting painstakingly accurate “nature morte” paintings with his mind's eyes as a paintbrush. Given that he had skipped sixteen months of work, his progress was quite amazing for only five days.
He ended up taming the other puffbloom and named him Cotton. Now Cotton and Coal were Freddy's playmates as the trio went around the island.
Amanda's garden was already nearing its second harvest. The vegetables were absolutely fantastic. She could recover the seventy million her Prime Vestige cost in a few years if she dedicated her whole time to just growing premium crops for the wealthy. Of course, she wouldn't.
Robert sat on the grass, enjoying the eternal morning sun. He closed his eyes and let his talent take over. Colors vanished. The illusion of the haze also went away, allowing him to see the islands in the distance.
He wanted to test his talent. An Emperor goes where he wants. Dive deeper. He had to decipher the meaning of it. He tried to will himself to go elsewhere but nothing happened. He tried falling backward but nothing happened. Another exercise.
Robert imagined his makeshift house in the twenty-third district. He closed his eyes and wished he was there. The Emperor goes where he wants. He felt weightless. When he came back to his senses, he was inside the cabin. The closed cabin. Without any openings. It seems that his talent's evolution allowed him to ignore physical barriers.
He tried to walk outside but tried to keep his awareness this time. The grayscale cabin became darker and darker, and he felt a chill that encroached around from everywhere. His mind picked up signals, thoughts from beyond. Of things men aren't meant to know or perceive. The cult books spoke briefly of these entities, and how only the pail priestess was able to reach them. He closed his eyes, and then he was outside again.
"This is amazing," Robert said. "I'm no longer subject to physical boundaries."
He went through the walls a few more times. Each time, he got more and more used to his jaunts through the true void. His rational, Euclidian, gravity-bound mind struggled to cope with the concept of nothingness and release from the grasp of the baryonic world but he believed that, with time, it would be as natural as walking on the real world.
Robert did one more experiment. He grabbed a random item from his storage, then focused his mind. This object was no longer necessary or wanted for him. He dove into the void, intent on leaving the item behind. He knew it was possible. The void was even more conceptual than real and he didn't need to burden himself with things he considered useless. Just like he didn't bring the grass or dirt he was walking on, this object should stay behind.
He dove deeper dozens of times. When talent fatigue settled in, he would rest and cycle lavi flows to restore his body, mind, and stamina. Robert could afford to be patient. One day, he would unlock this ability.
It started to rain. It was weird because the sun kept shining. Robert went inside the cabin to wait until it passed.
*
*
The next day, Noah gathered everyone on the lawn.
"Tomorrow we are going to fly to the next island. But today, we are going to cast spells using both of your stars. I trust everyone is at full essence, right?" Both students and one alien refugee nodded. Noah continued. "Good. I know using both stars to power a spell is instinctive but I want you to focus on what we learned. Essence output and effect. You need to do the math by heart if you want to understand what's going on with your powers. The number one mistake rookie Archs do in a fight is to not keep track of their essence expenditure and remaining reserves.
"You are two-stars. You do not have that luxury anymore. The next three realms will be full of monsters. You need to be in top shape both in body, mind, and powers. Know when to use your talents, which spell to cast in each situation, alternatives. It reminds me. I want both of you to write me an essay on how you would fight an arch of each of the four basic elements, then another three compound or esoteric affinities you can imagine. This kind of exercise is called shadowboxing if you hadn't heard of the term before. Describe the fights step by step. You need to list the spells and tempering of your enemies but no talent. At least this time."
The four basic elements were Fire, Water, Air, and Earth.
Compound affinities were still elemental but had characteristics of two or more elements. Magma, Ice, Lightning, Mist, Vapor, Ooze, Smoke, Vacuum, Metal, Wood, Glass, and so on.
And finally, esoteric affinities were the ones who weren't elemental. All of Robert's affinities were esoteric, for example. Nature, despite being closely related to elementalism, was esoteric too. And then Light, Dark, Holy, Death, Paper, and many others.
"You will start working on the essay once we land on the next island. Now, onto the exercise. Amanda, you'll go first. I want you to plant an orchard on the garden we harvested and use the plant growth spell on the seeds to make them grow into adult trees. You will cast the spell in the long form, then ignite each of your stars one after the other, one breath apart, while you hold the spell before completion. When both stars are ignited, you will discharge the spell on the seeds at once. Any doubts?"
"No, it's fine," Amanda said with a confident smirk.
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She stood up and approached the garden. They had collected their second harvest, replenished their fresh food stock, and now the land was bare. The biomass had been composted on the spot and tilled to replace the nutrients used by the plants. Amanda placed seeds she took directly from her ring down ten feet apart from each other.
It was less than the recommended amount, Robert noticed. One of the hundreds of books he read during his long nights at the libraries was about gardening.
Amanda took a deep breath and furrowed her eyebrows. Robert could feel the power well inside her and then burst forth. "Plant growth!" She shouted for emphasis and flair. More flair than anything else.
The trees sprout from the garden like spears of wood attempting to impale the heavens. They split and then bloomed in a burst of bright green leaves. It didn't stop there; the branches soon became laden with fruit that ripened in mere seconds.
"Whoa!" Amanda exulted as the rush of pouring a violent ripple of essence at once. She wobbled but steadied herself without help. "I think I got heartburn."
"I didn't tell you to burn more than ninety percent of your essence in a single spell but good job," Noah chuckled.
Coal and Cotton floated to check the fruits and explore the new orchard. Freddy leaped and snatched a bright red apple from a low branch. Different from dogs, Taulusians were omnivores.
"Robert, it's your turn. I want you to either haste or slow Amanda."
"I'll go with haste, then," Robert said as he stood up. He focused. Robert drew Essence and wove it through the shell of his most recently acquired spell. The First star radiated power into the shell, then the second star lit up and poured even more essence. The efficiency dropped dramatically. He was spending twice as much essence for a fifty percent bigger effect. It only got worse with more stars. In a combat situation, this would be almost instantaneous but they needed to train and get used to the feelings. Once he felt the spell take the maximum amount of essence it could, he cast it on Amanda.
The spell dilated time by almost fifty percent. Robert still needed more practice with it as the shell was new and not yet fully crystallized. At the peak of stage one, it should almost double one's speed.
"How are you feeling, Amanda?" Noah asked.
"This is too weird!" She squeaked. "Why are you speaking so slowly?"
Obviously, it was her who was going too fast. Amanda ran around the lawn, faster than ever. She didn't lose balance or anything because to her, she was moving at a normal speed.
"Now, Robert. Since Amanda burned all of her essence in one spell, it is unfair if you don't do the same. Use the remainder of your essence to slow her down."
*
*
The week ended. Noah had everyone pack up and get ready to fly to the next island. As they walked to where they left the gliders, he ran over the safety instructions once more.
"Today, we are going to learn the most important glider technique there is for this realm," Noah announced. "What happens if you miss an island? You need to stay in the general area and descend until you reach the same island again. To do that, we must learn how to fly down in a tight spiral. We will all miss our target island today and come back on it from above. This means we will not only fly the thirty-two miles to our target island, but we are also going down the entirety of the realm's height. Since it is nineteen miles underneath us, that means we're flying for seventy-four miles today. That's a lot. Keep calm and try to stay together with your group but try not to crash into each other. One of the most dangerous hazards in this realm is inexperienced glider pilots."
The Puffbloom Islands was a realm where, if you died, it was entirely your fault. It was a skill issue.
"The island we're on right now isn't used very often. Not many want to go through the slime caverns," Noah continued. "Can anyone tell why?"
"Because slimes are gross?" Amanda risked an answer.
"Wrong. Robert."
"Because the water monsters can be dangerous?"
"That's an excuse for wimps. The two of you saw how difficult it is to kill the monsters. Not very much, right?"
"Right. Is it because of the distance?"
"No. This realm here is only a tier two because of the Gravity Slime Caverns. Other routes to this place go through four, five, and seven other realms. Yet, people prefer to do that. All other routes are longer and more dangerous. Try again."
Robert laughed when he figured out the answer. "Money."
"Correct!" Noah clapped his hands. "Money. The Gravity Slime Caverns offers too little opportunities for financial gains. Slime cores are valuable but not as much as other monster materials, minerals, and flora in the other realms. Slime cores also take a lot of space and you need hundreds of them to justify a visit. Not everyone has that much storage available. Also, slimes are gross and not everyone knows how to fight them efficiently. They consider it a waste of time. You two are already among the elite slime hunters in the entirety of mankind. Now, that's telling."
They reached the gliders. "What is the first thing we need to do?"
"Calibrate the shadow gauges!" Amanda said.
"Exactly. Since we have tame puffblooms with us, we're attaching a special accessory to your gliders. The puffball release is a way to use the buoyancy of the critters to reach an island you just passed under." Noah took a bag with a plethora of things. "First, we will mount this spring-loaded release tubes to the gliders. They will allow us to fold the glider wings to reduce drag.
"Next, we will tie the puffbloom with this thing here that looks like a whip. Then you'll place them in this special cage and arrange the hairs so they go out through the cage. This hooked tool here is to pull the hairs through the cage. Once all hairs are out, you'll attach the puffbloom to the back of your harness. When you get underneath your target island, you activate the release tubes that will retract and fold the wings inside. They will also release the puffbloom cage but it will be tethered to your harness. If everything goes right, the puffbloom will get you down safely on the island."
"Can't we use parachutes?" Robert asked.
"Yes, but then you have to discard the glider. We only have one spare glider left. The puffbloom's Wind powers keep the folded glider from catching the wind and causing you to drift off the island. Let's get to work."
They calibrated the shadow gauges, tied Coal and Cotton to the cages, and then attached Freddy to Amanda's harness. Noah triple-checked the setup and gave them clearance to takeoff.
Robert went first. He had never flown before. He was only a little bit nervous.
With cotton secured on his back, he ran and jumped off the platform, checking if his shadow gauge was at the right angle. He did that by comparing the shadow the sun projected on the gadget with the angle shown in the calibrated gauge. They needed to match exactly but it was hard to read. He could be off by one or two degrees, and this would mean he would miss the next island by a mile or so.
It was nerve-wracking. With the haze limiting visibility, he only had the shadow gauge to guide him in the correct direction. Robert noticed only now that he had no altimeter. With the island they departed from rapidly vanishing behind him, he would soon have no idea how far he'd descended.
"Wheeee!" Amanda squealed behind him.
No. He wasn't a little bit nervous. Robert was quite nervous.
Robert banked a little to the side, eyes glued on the gauge to keep him from turning. He then pulled on the flaps to bleed some momentum and let Amanda approach from his side. His movements were jittery. Only the fact he could use his talent to cheat and see past the haze allowed him to not panic.
"How can you be so calm?" Robert sent through a telepathic link.
"Noah is behind us," Amanda replied. "He will tell us if we are deviating from the course."
Robert also noticed that the professor said nothing about how they would measure the horizontal distance traveled. He went from quite to very nervous.
Sometime later, the haze swallowed the island they departed from. It was not only the three gliders, some clouds, the sun, and a blue sphere all around them. The sense of isolation kept him from enjoying the flight. At least in the liminal void, he had the grayscale impression of reality to look at and ground him. But this? This was quite similar to the real void, sans the presence of color and sunlight.
With a grunt of exasperation, Robert used his talent. His momentum kept carrying him and the glider forward as both man, machine, and puffbloom shifted into the liminal void. He was still flying but at least now he could see the island.
"BLOODY HELL!" Robert shouted.