“You’re sure there are two more pools on the other side of the rubble?” Cal woke up to the sound of Ethel’s voice. Everything still hurt.
“Yes, but they are draining quickly due to the cave Cal caused. There won’t be any time to return to the others if you want to absorb any of the energy.” A second voice answered. Cal was pretty sure it was Tiffany, but he wasn’t willing to open his eyes yet to check.
Instead, he pondered what to do about the pools. Tiffany wasn’t loop-aware, so that would be a waste. Ethel only had one spirit. Did she want more? Did he want more? He had joked earlier about collecting them all, but it wasn’t really a bad idea the more he considered it, and when he took into account that his mana spirits grew by joining together, the more he was able to host, the further their growth and in turn his abilities could go.
He made a decision. “I’ll take them both if I can. I need to get as strong as I can before this all ends if I want to actually win the war,” he said as he pushed himself to his feet.
“Are you really sure about this? Can your core handle another two spirits?” Ethel asked.
“No idea, but we may as well try unless you really want to add a few more to your core,” Cal answered.
“Perhaps eventually, but I’d rather not yet. I’m still learning to push this ability further. Adding in more complexity just seems like a giant problem. Which, of course, means this is something you will do. No one loves to make new problems for themselves quite as much as you.” She frowned at Cal.
“I don’t want to go through this again next loop, and I’d rather just do it now than wait,” Cal coughed several times. A strong pain through his ribs accompanied the coughs. Looked like he also had a broken rib or two. “Assuming, of course, I don’t just die on the way there. I think I lost a lot of blood. My head still feels a bit off.”
“Well, it’s always possible one of the pools helps a bit, so I guess let’s go, but if you explode again after the first one, you are explaining this to your dad next loop,” Ethel shook her head.
“I’ll be fine, probably, maybe. Do you mind if I lean on you a bit as we walk?” Cal stumbled over to Ethel, swaying as he did so.
With Ethel and Tiffany’s help and a little mana channeling to keep the rock steady, Cal was able to get through the giant rubble mess he had made in the desperate last moments of fighting the squirrel leader. On the other side, they found the path Tiffany was referring to, and sure enough, at the end of rested two pools, both over half empty and continuing to decline as they looked on.
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Without stopping for a fresh debate on how bad of an idea it was, Cal mustered her strength and plopped himself down into the left one. He didn’t sink into it at all. Every time he tried to push himself below the water, he felt himself rise right back to the top to float along it.
“That’s new,” said Ethel, who was watching.
“I think it’s right, though. It’s comfortable floating along the surface, and the water feels a bit off compared to other pools; it's almost thicker,” Cal said in response. He started to speak more but felt the tingling sensation of mana pushing against his channels from outside himself.
He pushed his awareness into the pond as best he could, trying to feel a spirit like he had before, but there didn’t seem to be a mind to connect to. Instead, he followed the mana threads he felt against himself to their source. At the bottom of the pool, they led to a tiny egg. He pushed his good arm down into the water and grasped the egg firmly. As he did so, the mana of the egg broke apart and shot into his mana channels. It raced through his body and surged directly into his core.
“Fuck, what’s happening?!” He yelled in surprise at the sudden intrusion.
“Cal, your eyes are glowing bright white. What’s going on?” Ethel’s worried voice broke through the haze that had overcome his senses.
He blinked rapidly and managed to sit up in the water as his body sank below the surface finally. “I don’t know, there were man threads to a small egg. I grabbed it as it was all I could find in there, and the pool felt almost dead now. I wonder if that was all it had left from the squirrels.”
“Maybe. How do you feel though? Are you still planning to go for the other one?” Ethel’s eyes narrowed and focused on him
“Honestly, I think I feel a little better. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but my shoulder doesn’t hurt so much, and I can move my fingers again on that arm. Time for pool number two.” He answered as he climbed out of the pool. His once useless arm was now able to grasp the side lightly.
Once he was out, he looked at his hurt arm. Several of the wounds had closed up and looked to be in the process of healing, and best of all, he wasn’t nearly so woozy on his feet, so he headed for the second pool.
“Okay, this one feels much more like what I experienced back in the rainforest,” Cal said as he slid into the waters. He felt mana flowing all around him in the pool. Every time he reached out to try and grab it, it managed to slip around his grasp. Finally, and very carefully, he worked to create a box of void mana around one of the stronger flows, trapping until he had his hands firmly latched onto it.
“Woah, not so tight. Please don’t hurt me,” a voice entered his brain.