Shidar gave me clear instructions on how to find hurricane path but I first needed to do something. I swam northwest and descended. I caught more yummy ugly fish with lightning. I waited till my tails picked up a strong electrical signal.
He’s here. I started [Ocean’s Wrath]. The eel kept sending red lightning [Discharges] at me but the currents absorbed them and kept getting stronger and stronger. It tried to slam me with its electrified tail but I easily dodged it. It kept feeding [Ocean’s Wrath] until it was done after 10 minutes of continuously absorbing attacks. I combined it into one big attack that would give [Dragon] a run for its money and one-shot the eel. I cut the parts of the eel that were leftover with [Water Blade] and stored them in my dimensional pocket. The fight was a bit anticlimactic but [Ocean’s Wrath] is very strong when used well. My 9th tail became part of the try hard trio of tails. Now the 'tryhard trio' has 4 tails but the try hard trio sounds better than the try hard quartet. I couldn't just kick my 6th tail out of it because it was putting in a lot of work. Is this how some adventurers gain skills that make no sense? They figure out a skill name it and then later improve on it that invalidates the name.
Well, this isn't a skill but… Anyways now I can go and get blown away by the hurricanes! I wonder if I will ever see the surface again because it’s unlikely that I will get down by natural means. I had to swim for an awfully long time. I got close to the surface and tried doing this without my tails. I almost drowned 12 times. I had to get my tails out every time to save myself. The ocean is brutal; But after almost drowning well ehh actually drowning on the 12th time I was 1 life poorer but an ocean of experience richer and could do all this stuff without my tails.
I fought some minor sea monsters without tails and only made 2 small errors. After getting halfway to hurricane path without my tails I got them out again. Swimming just goes way faster with them.
Day 308 was whem I started to see enormous pillars of water and air.
And at day 309 I got close enough to feel the wind. I sat down on the surface which was rocking wildly. Do I just go in and get swept up? It looked extremely hostile but the place was filled with wind leyline energy. I looked up.
Maybe these hurricanes can send me up high enough for me to connect with the celestial currents. I saw some lightning flashes in the clouds but it wasn't enough to also catch my lightning training here. I still didn't know what to do. I had no plan on how to get back down. Just falling like most other creatures would do is not an option for me. The farthest I can teleport is 2 km. These hurricanes would bring me up way further than that. I can't use the method of descending as I do underwater. Would [Pressure] work? Maybe if I get better at using it, and the only way to get better at it is by jumping in there…
How would Greg fix this problem? Probably just by falling or making his hammer heavier… How would Raishin solve this?
Just falling or continuing teleporting down with his infinite energy… This is useless. I guess this is a good time to start simulating my dimensional teleport and actually become good at it. I put my tails to work to make something that I can work with.
Ikept simulating but my tails told me that I could teleport all I want but if I was still anywhere close to the hurricanes there would be no point. My 9th tail made a great contribution and started to work out how I can use my [Dimensional Anchor] to return to a fixed spot in space. I hugged my 9th tail because this was probably the best option. The higher the number of the tail, the smarter and more efficient it is. While the lower tails have higher familiarity and thus higher dexterity the higher ones make up for it with processing power.
I can use my first 3 tails almost better than my own hands. Meanwhile, my last 3 are quite clumsy especially the 9th because I got it recently. My 9th tail was done in no time and I could set my anchored point. It even included a place I've been to before recently. I put it to Gavin, the port city and ran toward the hurricanes. After 15 minutes of running on the ocean’s surface, the wind picked me up and sucked me into the hurricane.
Now this is cool and all but what now? My only plan was to get sucked up. Do I start fighting against the hurricane like how I practiced to learn [Waterfall]? How would I even call this skill if I somehow succeed to go against a hurricane? Naming it [Hurricane] would surely be confusing as hell. I decided to stabilize myself first because I was tumbling all over the place and it was annoying me. I had to work against the hurricane for some parts but I eventually figured out how to stabilize myself. There wasn't as much water in here as I expected. Probably because I got sucked up in the part of the hurricane that was mainly wind.
The lower parts were saturated with water. I noticed that the hurricane started to move southeast. It seemed like it was following the hurricane that was in front of it. A hurricane seemed to be forming slowly behind this one. Is this why it's called hurricane path? The hurricanes are wandering on some invisible path. I got close to the clouds where lightning was going crazy. A [Pure water veil] got made to protect myself from all these lightning flashes. I was bored so I tried to see if I could redirect the lightning. It seemed unexpectedly easy. Because I had no mana in my body the lightning moved through me with no resistance. I had to redirect it as soon as possible before it could actually deal damage to my body. This might come in useful when I have to practice lightning. I could drop my [Pure water veil] and just relax in the hurricane until a lightning bolt came my way and redirect it.
I wonder, where would the stuff end up that gets sucked up by these hurricanes? Would they get crushed, stuck in here forever, or end up somewhere else? I’m not getting crushed, although, these lightning bolts might fry stuff or turn them into ash. Maybe the water on the lower part of the hurricane crushes. No debris or big objects were getting tossed around up here.
The eye of the storm was something that intrigued me. I tried to get to it but it was quite difficult. If only I had a wind version of [Waterfall]. Wait won’t [Waterfall] work just fine? I used [Waterfall] and reached the eye of the storm. I started my slow descent. It looked like some giant was walking in the eye of the storm. I was looking at the back at its head. This might have ended up differently if i ended up right in its face.
I inspected it. What the fuck is a Hurricane Cyclops? Is this some joke? Hurricanes have 1 eye and so do cyclops. It didn't seem to have noticed me. The odd thing is that I shouldn't be able to recognize what this is. Have I read it somewhere and is it in my archive? It seemed to be there but I had no idea where I got it from. It's not a common creature not mythical or legendary. I’m sure they don't pop up everywhere though. It’s just walking. And the hurricane is following it. Where is it going? I looked at the hurricane behind this one. It was hard to see but it seems that one also has a hurricane cyclops. I saw the hurricane forming but I didn't see the Cyclops.
Where did it come from? Do I fight these? And then what? A new hurricane will form and spawn a cyclops. Or does the cyclops spawn and bring a hurricane with it? This one seems to be getting bigger. Do they start super small and grow bigger? It was hard to look into the hurricane in front of me. I saw an enormous shadow. I’m assuming that's the cyclops? How big do these things get? So many questions. I wonder if these things are friendly. I wanted to go ask but I stopped myself. I will only have some questions if I don't go. If I go, I might get a lot more questions, get attacked, or worse, both.
Nothing good might come from asking the Cyclops. So, I have the option of landing on the Cyclops' head or going back into the hurricane. Going back into the hurricane was arguably the safest option, although a lot of people I know would disagree. I don’t know if I can fight this thing. But… this thing must be slow right? Look how big it is. Then again, I don't think my aerial combat is on point. I decided that everything would be ok and landed on the Cyclops' head several minutes later. I expected a reaction but nothing happened. Maybe he didn't notice that I landed on him. I then remembered that I weigh next to nothing… Yeah, he definitely didn't notice… I rested on his head.
Day 310 came and nothing had happened. The cyclops was still walking and the hurricane followed. I wonder what these things eat. I practiced some wind leyline techniques on the Cyclops bald scalp, not to gain his attention but I'm trying to develop a habit of practicing every day. I also practiced [Boss music], I had to get away from using magic to use it. The sound was terrible when using leyline energy. I couldn't fix it for now so I would leave that for later.
I also did some laundry as I've been wearing the same clothing for the past few days and got some fresh clothing out of my dimensional pocket. I wanted to return my old clothing but they were torn and beat up. I know how to fix this because Hera taught me how to sew but I didn't feel like fixing this, moreover I found more sand in it. Where does this sand keep coming from? I burnt the clothes and the sand and spent the whole day doing stuff I haven't done in a while.
I maintained whatever was left from my weapon stash. All my swords broke a while ago. Only daggers and wires were left, and some other weapons I hardly use. I practiced dagger and wires with lightning leyline energy and this isn't much different than using magic. The day crept by slowly and for once I had no idea what to do. Do I just continue practicing wind leyline here until I master it or do I go back into the hurricane? Am I supposed to challenge this Cyclops? For the fire element, I just kept training in the magma pit, for the water element I had help after a series of headache-inducing events. So next up is being confused until something falls into my lap? I looked up at the clear sky. At least that is what I expected. There was something above the storm but only the edge could be seen. This might be the answer! Find out what that thing is! But first I have to rest. It certainly is going to have some sort of problem or headache-inducing individuals.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The next morning was quite stormy. The lightning went crazy inside the hurricane. Of all days it had to pick today… I protected myself with my water veil and jumped into the hurricane. Some zaps here and there but I was safe. The clouds came closer and I got catapulted out and above the storm. It was clear and sunny, only when ignoring the mean looking cloud blanket with various eyes in them. How many hurricanes were there in Hurricane Path? I counted at least 40 and it kept going. But something else was way more interesting. An enormous floating fortress was following the storms. One thing came to my mind immediately.
Ancient technology. I'm not sure if this is well hidden or not. No sane person would do what I do but what about accidents or research? Wouldn't those interested in this phenomenon find this quite easily? Anyways, not my problem, all its secrets are mine! That is assuming I can read its writings… [Tempest Step] brought me to the floating fortress.
The first thing I noticed was that there was no soul here, not even monsters. I scanned for androids, but absolutely nothing. I was the only living and moving creature here. It was completely abandoned. I did detect several skeletons but it seemed like these died either before they got here or died due to falling damage. Most of the bones were shattered. Most skeletons were human but some were from other species.
Nooo! Is that an orca skeleton? I guess nothing is safe from these hurricanes. I walked around the fortress to find the front door and was thinking of what kind of nonsense challenge I needed to get inside. To my surprise I didn't need to do anything, moreover, it was already open. Is this a trap? I inspected the fortress again. All the places my eyes could reach had no living beings or artificial beings. Maybe this place is filled with mechanical traps? I spotted some but not enough to be a threat.
I was reluctant. It still feels like a trap. Nothing ever comes easy to me. Maybe arriving here alive is already a feat? I don't feel like I had to do anything special though… But I can see how this might be different for other races. I stepped inside and nothing happened.
This fortress was quite interesting although maybe this is normal. This is the first time I visited one. So, I just passed through the front gate but I'm still outside. The area inside the walls had 5 large buildings. The one right in front of me looks the most important so I will investigate that one as last. I wonder what this fortress was protecting. It didn't seem to be made to protect people, there were no residences. Well, there were a few but it seemed to be enough to house the possible staff. I entered the building to my left. I got excited. It had a wide array of mural copies. It smelled dusty though.
A collection of ancient language murals and writings. The place smelled like old rocks. I recognized several languages, even the one I recently learned. It was some kind of dictionary but in building format. I struck gold. I walked around. No recent languages could be found. No ancient Kaledonian, also nothing from the 2 centuries in which there still were other languages before ancient Kaledonian became the main language.
Makes sense but that means this place is useless to archaeologists or linguists, there was absolutely nothing they could read here or base anything off. I counted 53 different ancient languages and could only read 17 of them. There was even ancient draconian but no modern draconian obviously. Tero's fuckup is finally becoming useful.
One language seemed to be odd. Judging by the translations I could read; this language was unable to be deciphered by the ancients. Only some words. I looked at the symbols and got a familiar feeling. They gave off some sort of primal energy, similar to the symbol I found in the Corundum dungeon, the feeling was weird to describe. All other languages had translations in every other language besides this one which only had limited translations in ancient draconian and 2 other languages I don't know.
This brought me to a question. If the ancients made these languages, who made this one? It makes no sense to make a language you don't understand yourself. And about the energy this symbol gave off. I took a piece of paper and drew the complicated symbol. It started giving off this primal energy before disappearing moments later. Some of the comments in ancient Draconian said something about this. Most symbols tend to disappear when drawn without conveying their meaning. What does this mean? I decided to ignore this pain-in-the-ass language for now and study the other ancient languages that do have translations.
I got all my tails out and got to work. There are 4 other buildings that need to be explored and I also need to practice wind leyline techniques. I went into 'Library Mode' and read all the texts about different topics and translations. Oddly enough nothing related to historical events. There were some ordinary diaries. Cooking recipes, some about research into certain types of magic but nothing that could indicate what might have really happened. The only thing was something mentioning a war between the gods and tailed creatures but I already knew about that.
It took me 3 weeks to master every ancient language, besides the primal language. Some were similar to others as if 2 groups came together and blended their languages. I certainly rushed learning these and my head hurt and I was keeping my tails in an ice bath because they were overheating a bit. I had covered my head in ice too because my head also felt like overheating. All this studying took a large chunk out of my food supply because it makes me so hungry.
The only language that was left was this primal language. I gave a crack at it but the ancients were right, this language is a pain in the ass. I tried to draw the symbols I saw in the Corundum dungeon but they didn't want to stick. What am I missing? I tried to faithfully recreate the conditions I found it in. I created an illusion to create a treasure room. I dumped the treasure in that room and carved the symbol on the ruby floor. It took quite a while and broke some daggers because I messed up the wavelength. I finished and the symbol gave off its primal energy indicating I didn't mess up. I looked at the 13 failed attempts of carving the rune. All carvings were still there; this one gave off that energy and stuck around. I started to recreate the room multiple times and remove variables to find out what caused this phenomenon.
A week later and the only consistency is that it's extremely hard to get these runes correct in one try. I sighed. I don't get it, I changed everything but this rune works perfectly but if I just write it on paper it doesn't work. I thought for a bit. It can't be that right? I took 7 different materials and carved or wrote the same symbol on them. Only the one in ruby lingered. I used a rune I saw in this place and did the same test. They only lingered on the materials they appeared on.
I dropped on the floor and threw a tantrum. Which sadist makes a language that can only appear on certain materials. Are these people out of their minds?! I tested this with other primal runes but this fact was consistent. Nowhere could I find the other languages mentioning this fact. On closer inspection all the runes here were on the same material so by default this language is incomplete… I threw another tantrum and made some ice cream to calm down. So, there are some runes of which they knew the meaning of and others they didn't. I also now know certain runes have a material they prefer. Is this really their secret? Isn’t this awfully inconvenient? What if you want to write a message but you need to write different parts on different materials? I put my tails to work because this is probably not the real picture.
The ancients might not have come to this realization. My 9th tail reminded me that I have a big rock with 7 ancient languages on it of which one is that primal language. I took out the paparazzi stone and studied the 7 languages on it. I could read all of them some took more liberty in their translation than others but the message was the same. My favorite translation read this: In the pitch-black night, beneath a starry canopy, a solemn vow was made, sealing their fates. But little did they know, their pact would awaken a haunting nightmare, shrouded in an enigmatic mystery that engulfed their every thought, their every breath, forever haunting their sleepless nights.
I didn't know what this was about but it surely didn't seem like a good message. I compared the symbols with their meaning and realized something. The symbol for ‘Awaken’ was different on this marble wall than it was on this paparazzi stone. Same with the word ‘Breath’.
Does this mean that this language can be written on any material but the symbol changes? The symbol doesn't look that much different, it can be recognized as similar but it’s still different. My 9th tail was working hard and suggesting attuning to the primal energy. Greg did say back in Hourai that attuning to certain types of energies might give you information about them, just like what happened when I attuned to leyline energy.
I attuned to the primal energy and I didn't get much information. I did know how to pronounce these runes though. And it gave me more understanding about it so that I could recognize symbols that were similar to the ones I already know. So, any symbol that means 'awaken' will be recognized. I guess that's helpful enough. I tried to pronounce the word ‘Breath’, but I butchered the pronunciation several times before I got it correct.
Svasare The runes that meant ‘breath’ glowed and started creating gusts.
What the? The runes stopped glowing and the gusts stopped. The paparazzi stone was fine but the marble around the rune on the wall became porous and crumbled. It was like activating a magic circle or more like an incantation. But no mana was used up. This is another non-magic occurrence. Although. I looked through the filter that gave data about the ambient mana. It did change the composition of the ambient mana. The portion of unusable mana decreased and was replaced by wind mana. I stored the paparazzi stone because I didn't want anything to happen to it. I stood in front of the marble slab that contained the symbol for awaken and its 2 translations. I butchered the translation several times and it caused the marble to move but when I succeeded…
Jagrisc The marble turned into a golem. It was a weird-looking golem but it was a golem nonetheless. A living rock with ‘Living’ used loosely. It seemed the rune was its core. Is it because the marble is following the instruction to ‘Awaken’? When I said ‘Breathe’ it was as if the paparazzi stone and the marble were exhaling. I sat down and thought about it. Is this the reason it has different symbols for different materials?
If it can make anything obey its instructions it surely must depend on what material you want to instruct. Is this like the language of truth? Whatever is said happens? Although. It probably won't turn into night if I scribbled its inscription on a ruby. This was probably a stronger argument for why there were different runes for different materials.
I can't turn day into night by scribbling it on a ruby but if I could scribble it in the air I might.
I circulated nature energy to combat my headache and got up. I spent more than enough time here. I didn't think I would get much further because the range of materials was very limited. I would probably have to hunt dungeons down to learn the different symbols and what materials they were relevant to. I started to wonder what the other 4 buildings had in store. This one set the bar very high.