‘Parasitic worldcore. So this is the bad feeling I got, luckily Ebony wasn’t sent here.’ Ning Xin listened to the explanation she had received from the people who surrounded her.
This parasitic Worldcore aggressively absorbs every living creature’s mana. Nothing had pure mana here. Only the natural elements such as air, water and earth were left alone. It wasn’t only a parasitic Worldcore, it was also a world that Gearhart, Ruler of Cinderash had laid claim to.
Parasitic worldcores tend to be rich in natural resources but the problem was bringing the resources out because even space mana was absorbed the moment it’s sensed by the worldcore. It wasn’t impossible to transverse to and fro, but the costs were ridiculous.
Large batches of resources were sent out every decade unless the quota of material mined wasn’t met.
However, there was a problem. The batches of materials to be sent to Cinderash haven’t been sent for the past 4 decades since another two powers laid claim to this parasitic world, Teheil.
Ning Xin drew her blades away from the Gearhart Savant in charge of the facility she was sent to. Not only was there no mana, aether was also another form of mana and the parasitic Worldcore did not discriminate.
The Savant suppressed her with skill and technique. So she crushed him with power.
Without mana, she thrived.
Except for the constant headache that the drain of mana induced. Staying in Atrophy state helped with the headache but she couldn’t stay in that state forever. Especially because she didn’t have food. Excluding what she plundered from this facility.
She didn’t know if she was lucky or unlucky. The physical device that opens the portal under the Cinderashian’s control wasn’t where she was teleported. She was sent to some single-use, one direction portal and it might not even be a portal thanks to her limited understanding of the Gia language. It was more like an anchor. A few kilometres away from this facility, thanks to her spatial resistance messing with the transportation. Since she was teleported where she was surrounded or locked up, it was easy from there.
As poor as her mood was for the separation with Ebony, her Intuition couldn’t help but burn. This was the land of opportunities for her.
Why?
She didn’t know. But she didn’t need to know. She was a creature of instinct not planned thought.
‘Still, I’m lucky there was only 1 savant here. They are too skilled. Definitely tier 5, and maybe a full set of tier 5 skills but aether-based skills aren’t helpful here. I shouldn’t rule out proper vitality-based warriors in charge. Where should I go now?’ Ning Xin was slightly happy for learning bits and pieces of the language Gia or she would’ve been unable to extract useful information.
“You’re not going to kill me?”
“For what? I don’t eat people. Come, let’s see this portal of yours--hmm, never mind. There’s something wrong with your portal isn’t there?” Ning Xin was slightly weirded out but her Intuition was going off in specific directions.
“What?! No, why would it?”
“You’re not great at lying.”
“...How did you know?”
“Gut feeling.”
“Ha!”
“Tell me about all the natural treasures on Teheil. Then tell me how you suppose I can get home.” Xin squatted and hugged her knees, looking at the rough-skinned man who lay with numerous stab wounds.
“Dumb bi-”
Ning Xin poked his face with her sheathed sword to stop the words that were about to spill
“Hey, that is not nice. That scroll feels dangerous but sure, hit me with it. wa-!”
Ning Xin cursed out loud when she found herself somewhere else.
‘Teleported. So much for magic being useless. Magic is still around.’
The scroll felt dangerous but her gut told her that it was the ticket to growth. She hit her head twice, feeling so stupid for not packing up the two bags of food that she managed to scrooge up. It wasn’t a lot but it was still food. All she had now was a secondary pouch of jerky and biscuits and a few dozen vials of her high-energy soup stock that she kept under her mantle.
Stored in nigh unbreakable vials made by sister Jing, she didn’t have to worry about them breaking. She rarely took attacks anyway.
She didn’t have a spatial backpack anymore and she was already here, so she didn’t cry about it for long. Ten minutes tops. She might have felt more vulnerable than she initially assumed.
Scanning first for danger, then dropping the energy-wasteful Atrophy state for the Convalescence state after noting no immediate danger. She needed to make further adjustments to the Convalescence state since faster recovery meant greater energy usage.
Constitution and Perception felt like the safest investment to have at the moment. It was most attuned to survival excluding endurance. Her natural energy usage should be greatly reduced with an increase in Constitution. Vitality was a must for her.
Wisdom could take a huge dip leaving only enough for bare mental defences. Her mask could take care of mental defence.
Intelligence had to be balanced to help her mind react fast enough to what her perception told her. It was what helped her speed up the change between the two states so she didn’t touch her Intelligence stat.
Strength and Agility could be under three digits, with her Intelligence great enough and her Vitality based augmentations she could easily react to dangers and go back into the Atrophy state.
Endurance could be invested into when she’s in more desperate straits. When physical stats increase, so does the energy upkeep required so she kept them at a bare minimum. Mental stats also affected energy upkeep but she needed a sharp mind.
With her Intuition that bordered foresight, she would have more than enough time to react to dangers. This might as well be her training for Intuition.
‘It’s barren, what kind of opportunities am I supposed to find here?’ She saw no living creature around. The open skies were grey. Not just the clouds but the sky itself had a grey hue.
The barren soil was grey with no trees and a few strands of grey grass every few hundred steps she took where her feet brought her.
There were no animals and insects were as sparse as the weeds.
Sunlight was present but it also shone a grey light on her. Temperatures were low but not freezing. A moment of pause later, she decided to take a breath of the air not from her mask.
It wasn’t bad. She didn’t choke and it satisfied her nose and lungs. She might even say the air was clean, just not very fresh or alive like the breath of a forest.
This was the same planet. The only difference in the environment was the direction that the sunlight was coming.
‘Should I have listened to Ebony’s triangulation or astrology lessons…well, it just means I am very very far away from my previous location. Gravity relates to the size or mass of the planet, right? Then this place is big. That’s not all, the Savant didn’t lie. I am suppressed by the atmosphere. This is what he called the cushioning force?’
Although she knew that an increase in gravity comes with an increase in atmospheric pressure, it was usually nothing worth noting after augmenting herself. But on Teheil, that was something else in the atmosphere. Some force that the Cinderashian called the ‘cushioning force’. She might have mistranslated it.
It was an active force that slowed and weakened all her movements.
The harder she tried to move, the stronger the resistance. When walking, she would barely feel it. If she ran like an unclassed, it was like running in water. If she ran unaugmented, she could hurt herself.
‘It’s like cornstarch. But it’s not a fluid resisting motion, there are spots and times where the cushioning force weakens and strengthens. I have to figure out how to spot it. It’s about the same strength here and where I was before.’
Unable to speed up, she could only trudge on at an unclassed sprinting speed. A quick jog with her current physical distribution. She thanked the Tetramyths for the quick levelling and greatly needed stats. It was in preparation for these days.
She fell short of 500 by 20 or so levels but it was faster than most. She still had stats that she hadn’t grown into but it was just a matter of time before she filled them out. Not by allocating them but by growing into them.
❅❅❅
‘This is pathetic. What opportunity? Starvation?’ Ning Xin took an excruciating step forward in the dark grey light.
She had trudged on for two and a half months according to her body clock.
She fought nothing. Trained with nothing. And didn’t gain any combat-related skill levels.
All she did was walk and run with nothing in sight. No food, no enemies, no prey.
Energy conservation mode could only go so far and she was down to her last vial of soup stock, each of which lasted her days since she didn’t have any intense physical exertion.
Except now.
She had mostly figured out how the ‘cushioning force’ worked.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
The grey light was either the force or an indicator of the force. The lighter and brighter areas didn’t have as strong of a cushioning force.
She was now walking under grey light dark enough that walking was a hurdle. She also did what Ebony did best. Experiment.
This cushioning force had an upper limit. A threshold.
Once broken through with enough force, the grey ‘light’ would bend around her and no longer impede her.
At her current location and this intensity of grey light, she could not break through this threshold so there was no point in speeding through the area with brute force and drying out the remainder of her energy supply. Moving like a snail was more excruciating for her than most. More so when nothing was happening around her and her accelerated mind saw things in slow motion.
Under her robes were two large spheres that refused to wake up to talk to her. She might have gotten a little depressed and cried when she tried to talk to a pair of ice spheres that clung onto her burning mantle at the time of transport.
Her mind was rather weak whenever she went into the Atrophy state but she was calmer now that she spent more time in the Convalescence state. However, she still talked and mumbled to them whenever she fell asleep under the open skies with no distinction of day and night. Only a different hue of every present grey light.
She was unable to determine if the light was stronger during the day or night and there seemed to be no particular pattern to the ebbing strength of the grey light.
‘I want a bath. Please rain or something.’ She sipped water from her mask and complained about her stink. Thanks to the Transmutative Heart, she could still convert vitality to mana. Teheil robs her of her mana immediately but her mask was part of her and she was fast enough to make some water before the parasitic planet decided not to convert elemental water to pure mana for absorption. Unfortunately, it was still a dip in her resources.
If it wasn’t for water, she would’ve been able to survive longer with her soup stock since she didn’t need to exert any strength for battle.
‘Come on. Something to hunt…I want to cook. And eat.’ Her stomach grumbled loudly. With sheer instincts and her trusty feet driving her, her mind shut itself off.
She touched her last stock vial and gripped it tight.
❅❅❅
“The beastly one has finally fainted. This was a long stalk brother.”
“It's okay, can’t you smell that richness? It’ll be worth it. And the stink of Cinderashian we smelt…good catch.”
“Kek, to think that the Cinderashians had someone like this. Now that she’s starved let’s tie her up and get going, our supplies are running out too. What a persistent beast clinging to life for over two months without food.”
“Must be the richness in her body. It faded over time, her aura is weak now. Let’s do as you say and act now. She clearly knows where she’s going since we’re in the right direction, we should take her down.”
The iron-furred man stood on his hind legs and whistled in a low pitch. Turning away from his brother, he shouted to his troops. “Men, we’re almost back home. Unit 7, get that human and bring her back with us. Make sure her bounds are tight. She must be special amongst the Cinderashians, we can extract good information. Wake her up, extract information and then get rid of her.”
Sparing not another look at the pathetic woman who was just a prey that served itself. He commanded his soldiers to pack up and prepare to move on back to their golden field. They were just a week’s march away by now. If the cushioning wasn’t level 5 around here their golden field would’ve been susceptible to attacks. It also made going back so difficult but they can’t have everything.
The woman had been so weak that she remained within their binocular’s sight even after a night’s camp. And she had been trudging along the entire night.
After overseeing his men, he got back on four points of contact with the ground which was far more comfortable and natural for them. Obviously, he still had four arms on his upper torso to wield his weapons and carry his baggage. They shared similarities with the common human such as their upper body excluding the two additional arms under the two human ones and a little further back on their back.
The biggest difference was their iron fur and lower body. Their lower body was closer to a four-pronged tree stem for their 4 stable legs. They were the proud Ferruquads. Compared to the arrogant Cinderashians who may be more powerful elsewhere, they were far more suited for the environment of Teheil.
The Cinderashians found Teheil first and monopolised it for more than two centuries. It gave birth to a dedicated group of soldiers and workers who were fully incorporated into making a living and thriving in this world or the Ferruquads would’ve driven them off by now.
“We’re almost out of lustregrass? We were taking too long thanks to stalking the beast. It’s okay, we’re not far away from the golden fields. Half the rationing of lustregrass, we’ll take it slow and walk through the cushioning. Have the cooks prepare for a heartier feast tomorrow to calm the men for the extended return schedule. Ah, remind them not to go crazy with the supplies.” Varex received the report but wasn’t too worried.
Lustregrass helped to reduce the burden of the cushioning when powdered and sprinkled over their bodies and clothes. They were troublesome to transport since they lost effectiveness if they were crushed and powdered in advance but it was a necessity for long distance travel outside the Golden Fields. Not to mention battle effectiveness with and without it. It was thanks to it that they were quick marching with ease while the beast they stalked had to push through with unsteady steps.
Already packed up, he watched his troops move sluggishly and yelled. “Mov-”
Varex’s heart shook. The first thing he noticed was his hands and legs were trembling. The pressure was pushing on his throat that shut any words coming out. ‘What is this feeling?’ Facing his troops, he could see that he was far from the only one that was stunned still.
A thud entered his ears from the sudden silence through his camp. He would’ve jumped from something touching his leg if he could move properly. It was one of his men’s heads.
Broken growls tickled his neck.
‘Tha-that beast! How did she get here already!? She exceeded level 5 cushioning without lustregrass?’ Varax quickly regained control over his body and his troops did the same not too long after he did. All of their first motions were to jump back away from the centre where Varex was facing.
“IT’S AN ATTACK!” He warned his camp with every bit of strength he could muster.
Twelve heads, an assortment of bare fleshed limbs, a pile of bones and a pile of organs sat where they had jumped away from. Neatly separated and organised. Oh, and a few pots of blood. Those pots were theirs, he recognised the large pots his cooks used. He didn’t even know when but she even took one of their sleeping groundsheets to place unit 7’s remains.
‘Red hair? The beast we stalked had black hair. A different beast? A native Teheil monster? No, it has a pair of swords and a set of clothes. But that--thing…is not a Cinderashian.’ Varex’s stiffen again when the head, or rather, the expressionless mask faced him. It was a mask with a dimly pulsing orange feather that was vertically split in half by a dark red line. He could have sore the halves that were white and black swaped places. It was an opaque mask that hid all features but Varex saw himself staring into a pair of sharp crimson eyes.
All he saw was a monster in human skin. He couldn’t spot the human or sentient glint that he would find in people.
But he was wrong when the beast uttered words.
“Those - drop, weapons and hostility. 3 seconds. Live.” It was barely audible, dry and a thick accent. It was Gia but broken and not even structured right but he understood them.
“Slay the sinner that killed our breathens!!”
Varex’s bravest leaders bellowed war cries increasing valor and reducing dehibiliting aura effects for their allies. He would usually praise that reaction on the spot but their target was fast so he wasted no time to back his men up with a physical boost by spirit. “Her aura’s weak and starved but we’ll do it methodically! Unit 3 to the front, unit 1 and 2 attack!”
‘Her aura is King-ranked at best but top-tier speed. Unit 7’s best at imprisonment but not too fast. What a terrible mistake on my part. Does she think my men will drop their weapons?’ Varex led a thousand strong men, with a tenth of them being Kings.
They could even fight off Emperors since Teheil drained all mana and an individual warrior can only fight so many with their limited resources. Emperor or not. Varex was even confident of warding of one of the Cinderashians’s Bellicose Savants generals that gotten accustomed to Teheil's conditions. Quantitative power was always an advantage.
“Beastly one, killing my troops has consequenc-you dare descecrate my breathen!” Varex charged, tackling the beastly aura with one of his own by bringing his heavy axe down on the smaller creature who barely reached his standing chest height.
The beast’s mask uncovered her cracked and dry lips with one arm grabbing the edge of their cooks’ pots, she chugged his men’s blood. Varex was more than a little surprised when his axe missed by a hair as she took a step forward.
The pot lip never touched the beast but his men’s blood flowed down gently as she tilted it towards herself. Pausing, her voice echoed within their ears again. Slightly more pleasant sounding. Quenched.
“Three.” A familiar pulse echoed throughout his camp that made his body tremble but a dozen war cries combatted the fear.
“ARHH!” Varex followed up from his fall and his other arm swung the warhammer horizontally. Double Heavy Arms Art was commonly taught amongst their race and he was good for his age. The strongest warriors under his command charged up as well. He was also adept at the Double Defender Art and held two shields with his secondary arms behind his back.
Active skills with intense stamina sliced the very cushioning around them and sundered their target.
A clang entered their ears and two pots were tossed on the ground. Dried up. Their target stood behind them and dodged the casual backhand swing that two of them including Varex reflexively threw back.
“Two. Please. I’m a chef and hunter but killing people…I don’t like it, I can’t cook or eat that flesh but if I’m not sure how long I can control my hunger. Don’t give me a reason to.”
“You speak as if you would let us go.” Varex knew it in his bones, this monster was recovering. She was even more valuable than he imagined. If not a Cinderashian, could she be one of those treacherous Veilborn Humans? It wasn’t out of the table, they had many unique individuals that stood out from their usual traits.
“Not if you don’t drop your burning urge to kill me. I can smell it. Your excitement to bring me down. To serve me on a platter to someone or something. One. Last chance, those who drop their intent will live…before I lose myself to hunger and instinct. I don’t have it in me to stick around long.”
She became more fluent in speech and clearly understood that Varex couldn’t stand back, no matter the fear or telltale signs his body was informing him. If he did, his men would lose confidence in him. He couldn’t let that happen, it wasn’t easy to climb up to his position.
Her words didn’t match her aura, she could tell he was excitable and he could tell she had far greater eagerness for battle. Before he knew it, the many pots of unit 7’s blood were emptied.
“WAAARRH!” He bellowed to his warriors with no particular meaning behind his bellow.
Varex choked when another pulse washed out their war cries. The pulse physically cracked the cushioning, a sight he was unfamiliar with.
‘I failed.’ A few clangs of metal entered his ears and he knew it was some of his men losing their grip on their weapons.
Unfortunately, he could never berate them for their cowardly act ever again.
He simply didn’t have the vocals, or the head.
❅❅❅
A distance away from the Ferruquad camp where mass execution was carried out, a group of four short creatures lay on the ground and crawled under the level 5 cushioning.
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” One of the short creatures pinched her cheeks.
“Crimson fur. Flash of red thunder. That unmistakable power of vitality. Ho-holy maiden.”
“We need to tell the High Priestess. The holy maiden has descended!”
“No, she fell! We need to bring her back!”
“How? There’s still over 300 of them that she didn’t kill.”
“She’s too merciful. All of them deserve to die!”
Whispering loudly, they panicked and discussed their course of action.
“******* ****.”
They hopped with all fours when they were bathed in heat. The red figure fell on her face and her racing heart was loud but weakening.
“Uhm what did she say?”
“I don’t know, I’m not fluent in our invaders' tongue.”
“Something me. Maybe she said ‘save me’? Did she know we’re not trying to kill her?”
“Whatever! Can’t you see the Ferruquads are snapping out of their fear and confusion they might look for us, let’s just get her away as fast as possible!”
“Ahh!! It burns! He-help me put out the fire!” The speaker’s fur caught on fire after trying to pick the supposed Holy Maiden up.
“You silly little girl! The two of us will carry her, you two keep up. Shhhh! It really burns!”
Two for the furry four-limbed creature tossed the large Holy Maiden on their backs and dashed away under the veil of thick cushioning.