The group stand surrounded, a set of four pitch black eyes baring through the fog ahead of them, seemingly consuming the light if not emitting darkness itself, as several similar beasts lay hidden within the fog around them. Aether spreads forth, grasping at the forms surrounding them and measuring their figures. "There's seven of them. I think we should fight." Goldy and Lyly avert their gaze from the ominous black orbs winding through the trees above them to try and spot the hidden creatures. "Is it worth fighting? We could probably just run." "I need the Aether. There's no need to kill them if we can restrain them instead, but I especially want that big one in the back."
Fluffy slides off Aleph's back, stepping behind her. "I'll take the four in the back then. This is a creature I haven't seen before, so I'm quite interested to learn more." "Can you see them okay?" "I can get a rough gauge of their presence. And my senses aren't too bad either." Aleph nods, nudging Goldy off her back as well. "Think you can handle the one to the side and the one above us?" With a light thump to his chest, he grins. "I have been sorely missing a good battle!" "Good. Then Lyly and I can take on the big one over there."
Aleph focuses her gaze forward, ignoring the four eyes trying to draw attention from above and locking directly on the largest figure in the cavern. A single eye opens to meet hers, the entire cave seeming to dim under the pull of the dark sphere before it shuts once again. Was this my fastest staring contest win yet?
Green
Ae'othas must be a formidable sense to be able to see through this fog. Yet I cannot seem to grasp how she manages it. Stepping towards the nearest presence he can feel, the elf takes in the silhouette before him. A large lizard-like figure with eight legs sprouting into thin digits which wrap around the branches it clings to. Frills poke out from its face like whiskers, the thin membranes seeming to float in the air and react to every slight brush of wind. Briefly the frills pause their motions, instead switching to open its eyes which drink in the light before closing again and making its approach.
The elf breathes in deep, closing his eyes. Perhaps if I face this battle by only allowing myself to use this skill to see I can find some improvement. My master always does encourage growth through adversity after all.
Gold
Tugging at the air, Gol Dhee focuses his attention on the beast above him. Its essence holds strong, observing him as he watches back with his own. I have been given responsibility to face these two beasts. My first priority must be to ensure their attention lies solely upon myself. Plunging his hands into the hard stone below he attempts to wrestle control of a wave of stone, but only manages a fistful of large rocks from the essence infused earth. Taking what he has, he flings the rocks with all his might to the beast, observing as it weaves around his attack with an uncanny agility for its size.
Satisfied with the attention he's garnered he focuses instead on his other quarry, charging towards the beast with flame coated palms. With a leap, he throws his fists forward and coats the area before him in fire. The beast slithers away, its pale skin now visible under the golden hue of Gol Dhee's flames as it wraps around the branches to charge him in sync with the other.
Cyan
"So how much onthulius does this guy have?" Lyla stands on guard atop her perch, waving her pedipalps like a boxer entering the ring. "A decent amount. This is about the limit I would expect to cling to a creature not attuned to Aether in this world. The others are so-so. I'm not too concerned about them." She always finishes with 'in this world'... Does she end up in a different domain every time she goes back in time or something?
The pair approach the beast, a subtle pressure from its Mana wrapping around them as it shifts and winds through the branches out of sight. Focusing her own, she picks up the faint vibrations in the ambient Mana allowing her to sense its silent motions as it grasps and pulls itself along the branches around them. The easiest win condition will be to wrap it in threads... "See if you can distract it while I build a trap." "Sounds good"
Green
I can't sense anything... My Aether is thin and spread wide, but I don't feel a thing. Am I missing something? Is it not thin enough? No matter, I simply need to keep- Bang! The earth cracks around him and he is slammed into the rocky floor, a large mass pressing into him from above. Ah, there we go. He grips the mass above him and sinks his feet into the ground. With a twist he lifts the large beast, its head alone easily twice that of the dragon, and cracks its body like a whip.
Bones shatter, the earth shatters, and the air itself shatters under the force of his first strike. Branches all around him splinter and break, disrupting the balance of the other nearby creatures as the shock-waves from his attack ripple through. Hmm... That won't do. Using brute force like this will just kill them. I should see if I can incapacitate them with my Aether alone.
Gold
Gol Dhee tenses, leaping to catch the charge of the oncoming beasts. His hands connect with the smooth skin on their skulls, muscles straining under the tremendous force of their charge. Quickly realising he's losing the battle of brute strength he deftly throws himself into the air above, wind from their collision below helping push him high. Grasping the air, he throws himself back down and strikes at the open target, only to be slammed aside by an agile tail.
Eight black eyes bear down upon him as he tumbles into the ground, catching himself and sliding to a stop to match their gaze. That was painful... He grimaces, the bruised flesh on his arm throbbing as a small trickle of blood weaves between strands of gold fur. Is this a battle I cannot win? I am unable to both defend and attack, and I am too slow to avoid everything... No! Thoom! He slams his chest, the fog wavering under the wave of sound. Essence flows around him, coating every limb, every muscle, every patch of fur. Gold shimmers, flickering into white as patterns spread across his coat. His fur gains length and his muscles gain strength, Thoom! I shall be no burden!
Violet
Did Goldy's fur just get longer? What is he even doing over there? Ooh! Is this evolution?! Or wait... Was it ultra-something? Hmm... "Watch out!" Thud! Crack! Aleph is sent flying by the whipping motion of a giant tail, the pale scales striking against her own obsidian ones with enough force to leave a gash and launch her through several branches. "What are you doing?!" Shit, I wasn't paying attention. "My bad! I'll stay focused!"
Charging back towards the behemoth before her, Aleph slides under the gaping maw lunging for her and slashes her tail into the flesh below. The attack barely leaves a mark on the thick scales, but it's enough to keep the titanic beast's attention solely focused on her. Slamming her feet into the ground she leaps, violet bubbles coating her as she slams into the belly of the beast, briefly lifting it from the ground before sprinting away.
Green
Hm, yes! I think I feel something! Thonk! Never-mind... The elf grabs the tail slamming into him and tosses the creature into the air. This ae'othas skill is difficult... I can't even figure out how to feel what my Aether is touching! Focusing his attention to the sounds of loud footsteps approaching he condenses his Aether in front of himself. Master always said magic works through visualisation, perhaps Aether works the same way.
His mind narrows, the air condensing into green bubbles before him. His mind focuses, the bubbles splitting apart as he grasps hold of the finer particles in the air. His mind empties, leaning into a pure focus as he narrows his thoughts down to comprehending the individual atoms within his grasp. And now... Shock-wave! Nothing happens. Shit... Thud!
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Gold
Tiny but powerful vortices of fog swirl around Gol Dhee, an oncoming tail brushing harmlessly past as he grips the air into a tempest and pulls the beast from its feet. Coating himself in flames he meets the charge of his other foe head on, allowing the white flames to flicker over and burn through the tough scales slamming into him. As the beast backs away he takes a solid stance, waiting ready for their next charge.
This form works well! I may not have the strength to take these beings down, but I can at least last until the others finish their quarries. It hurts to admit weakness, but I must not allow recklessness for the sake of pride.
Cyan
"Fuehehe! The trap is complete!" Lyla hops down from the branches, landing atop her perch with practised grace with a single thread held in her jaws. "I'm ready when you are! Just lead it back to where we started and this thing is as good as caught." "On it!" The dragon leaps back, leading the titan by the jaws as it repeatedly lunges and bites with an enraged fervour. Almost... Almooost... "Now!"
Mana pulses through the thread in her grip, flowing up and across the network of threads woven together and scattered across the web of roots above. Like clockwork, the threads tense and pull in, sliding free from the roots and clumping together in a common centre where the titan stands. Wave after wave of tight threads clump and wrap around the beast, leaving no limb free as it's left writhing and bound.
"Fuahahaha! Yet another victory, courtesy of the great divine beast Lyla herself!" "Hey..." "Oh yea, you helped. Thanks." "Good enough for me. How are the others doing?"
Thoom!
Green
"Fuu..." The elf sighs, opening his eyes to see three incapacitated creatures encircling the crater he stands in. Fog rushes back towards him in a light implosion of air, having been blown away by the force of his strike. It was worth a try I suppose.
Stepping away from the shattered earth around him, he walks over to where he last heard Muscles to find the ape deflecting blow after blow from the two beasts circling him. His fur changed... How fascinating! Resisting the urge to pull out his journal and begin furiously writing notes, he instead shouts to the ape. "Need a hand there?" Their eyes meet briefly, Muscles ducking below an oncoming swipe of the creature's paw to sprint to the elf's side. "If you are willing."
"Excellent. Stand back." With a moment of hesitation, Muscles complies. His fur fades back to its natural gold as he steps away, making sure to keep a curious eye on the elf as he takes stance.
The elf breathes in, his mind focusing on the sole purpose of throwing a single strike. Feet spread apart and fist to his hip he takes a step, straining every muscle in his lower body as his foot plunges into the ground and his weight shifts forward. His hips turn, dragging his shoulders along with and finally his arm begins to extend. All within the span of a millisecond he throws his arm forward and with a final twist, the air shatters.
Crack!
A wave of force burns through the air, ejecting all matter and leaving behind a trail of molten rock as it travels straight between the two creatures before carving into a distant pillar. Wind bursts outward from the line drawn by his strike in a powerful shock-wave, shoving both creatures away as they begin to tumble and crash into roots and stone. The cacophony of sound reverberates through the cavern, the fog once again blown away from the area flowing back in an implosion of wind. Roots above them waver and fall, their supports destroyed by the beasts' uncontrolled travel and shaken by the shock-wave.
Giving Muscles a friendly pat on the back he sets off in the direction he thinks the dragon was last at, leaving the dumbfounded ape staring in disbelief and awe at the line of obsidian now forming from his strike.
Violet
"Huh... Guess they're done too." Aleph trots over to Fluffy, ignoring the line of glowing red rock behind him. "I saw you were trying to use ae'othas earlier. Any progress?" Fluffy sighs, shaking his head. "None. I can't seem to feel anything from my Aether aside from where it is." "That's what you're supposed to feel for. You just need to make it thin enough that objects are able to push and block it, then you feel the environment based on how much resistance you're getting. You'll have better luck practising looking at living things which interfere more strongly with Aether." "I see! I'll begin practice immediately!" Gotta love this level of enthusiasm from a student.
"Sure, I'm going back to the lizard thing so I can extract the Aether from it. You know how to do that right?" Fluffy opens his eyes, putting a pause on his training to look at her confused. "You can do that?" Aleph returns the look with her own confusion. "Uh... Yes. That's how you're normally supposed to do it. You extract unattuned Aether from the environment." Has he just been relying on ambient Aether this whole time? His will must be pretty impressive to reach such an absurd amount in a world this sparse.
She turns around, stepping over to the still writhing beast. From above, Lyly peers down at the cracked scales and drips of blood on Aleph's side. "You're still bleeding you know. And what's with the weird gold stuff mixed into it?" "Oh yeah. I'm changing my blood into ichor. It's more efficient than blood, especially for helping carry Aether." Fluffy steps up once again, giving her side a poke and looking at the red and gold mixed fluid. "Isn't ichor a key ingredient in ambrosia?" Aleph pauses. "You know this world's recipe for ambrosia?" "Yes, my master drilled the method into me for some reason. I could never forget. Ichor is about the only ingredient I could never find any feasible method of acquiring." "Well... That's extremely convenient."
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So! You want to know how to make ambrosia? Well good news for you! I happen to know how! For reasons totally unrelated to the plot, I would never foreshadow or anything, don't worry about it.
Step one? Ingredients! Unlike some worlds, Ao requires a mixture of substances to produce its brand of ambrosia. Also unlike some worlds, these ingredients happen to be pretty vague, and a lot of them land on a 'close enough is good enough' basis! Probably because the behaviour of this world's Mana is closer to the true nature of Mana than most. Huh? I shouldn't say stuff like that? Isn't this whole schtick kinda a spoiler to begin with? Eh.
So what do you need? Well most ingredients aren't really relevant to this story, since they happen to be very common within the labyrinth. The most notable ones though, include powderised extract of a subterranean mammal's claws or fangs, any boiled substance from a realised divine beast, a mixture consisting of precisely three different breeds of moss, the favourite spice of whoever is creating the ambrosia, and of course the most important ingredient... ichor. Granted, ichor happens to be the most difficult of these to obtain, since any being with enough purity of ichor to matter would normally be unwilling to simply hand over its blood to a mortal, but if you can get this then everything else is usually a given.
Great! Step two! You have your ingredients! So what do you do with them? Mix them all in a big-ass pot! Yes. The pot is also an ingredient. The quantities don't really matter as long as they're roughly equal in mass, save for the pot. Really, you only need to think they're equal for it to work. Next you need to freeze them. Flash freeze is best, but sticking the pot in a cold place and waiting works too.
The final step? Burn it. Burn it more. Do not stop burning it. If it looks burned, it's not burned enough. Use fire, magma, a dwarf star, anything that's hot enough to burn things. The amount of time varies based on factors randomly selected about the ones creating the ambrosia. You'll know it's done when it stops being black and instead emits a somewhat divine-ish glow which seems to do freaky things to the surrounding light. Can't miss it.
This creates exactly one vial of ambrosia. How big is a vial? As big as the person creating it thinks it is. Mana is just weird like that.
PSA: Not fit for consumption by mortals. Side-effects of prolonged exposure to or excess consumption of ambrosia can include itching, scratching, uncontrolled maniacal laughter, mood swings, glowing cartilage, scritching, desire for power, increased emission of alpha particles, steady modification of one's body over the course of one sixth of their average life expectancy into a completely different species, desire for world domination, moss, an increased propensity towards sparing one's potential nemeses, accidental summoning of Laxbakkan or one of their incarnations, temporary or sporadic heightening of bodily capabilities, formation of a pseudo pure-heart, formation of a pseudo anchor, increased propensity towards devising plots, numb toes or fingers, increase sensitivity to sound and unbound energies, headaches, back-aches, stomach-aches, cramps, nausea, something akin to bone rot, and a runny nose.
- Vector's guide to ambrosia