I made sure to give Catori some space after her stressful evolution. At least more stressful than my own, with her being conscious during the process. She was getting used to having human limbs again, happiness swelling over from her part of our soul. On my end, nothing was really going on today. The bark-kin were being a little reserved, as always and Hive was talking to the Elders today so those weren’t available either. Which meant I was on my own.
The thought of exploring the tainted land with my main… my body crossed my mind. It would be so much easier to have access to all my skills. Especially if I wanted to take anything back with me. But I stopped myself before going through with it. I did not want to lose my body. So I spent my time relaxing some more and practising with the falcon’s body. As much as it annoyed me, the bird was just faster than the tawny owl. It would be much easier to delve deeper into the tainted land with it.
I was gradually getting used to the slight differences in wing shape and the resulting aerodynamics. The falcon’s wings were loud, for one. They made so much noise with each flap. And it wasn’t even because of my superior hearing because I was using the falcon body at that time which had… okay ears. Not great, but not terrible.
Mostly, I was a bit annoyed at how well the wings fit to the sides of its body, especially when dropping from the air. It was incredibly difficult to get the same speeds in my main body, unless I used my metal-and-glass form, and it was impossible to slow down nearly as precisely. The falcon had just slightly different joints making it a lot easier to lift them a tiny bit from their snug position to adjust directions as well. With my body, it was always wings: yes or no. Nothing in between. If I started to spread them, the wind would push them all the way open. At least my muscles were stronger.
Catori started prodding me as I was just having a little snack after exhausting the falcon’s stamina.
“Hey, you got a minute?”, she asked.
“Sure. What’s up?”
“I’m having some weird things happen with my barrier Skill. It’s flickering a little even though it shouldn’t.”
“Flickering? Is the shield using too much vis?”
“I think so. It’s somehow using more than I put in which makes it disappear for a moment every now and then.”
“Then control it. I had to practice my Skills to make them work properly, you know?”
“But…”
“What level is the barrier Skill?”
“… one.”
“There you have it. You gotta put in some effort. You haven’t even had it for a day.”
“Right… I was just thinking… Nevermind.”
I blinked at her tone. She was suddenly sending disappointment and embarrassment through our soul instead of the constant stream of happiness.
“Catori”, I said.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to brush you off. You’re excited about your new body and want your Skills to match that.”
“… I do.”
“But if I’m honest… Nymph will be much better help than I. Not only is she there with you, she’s also much more experienced. You should rely on her.”
“I was thinking… you could try using my body?”
Oh. That was her angle.
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“You don’t have to pay me back for letting you use my body, Catori.”
“I’m not…!”
“And as much as you probably want to share the experience, please take your time. If you still want me to try in a week or two, we can talk about it again. It’s your body, Catori. Don’t make me repeat what you always tell me.”
I knew I had her convinced when the emotions coming through our soul shifted to affection and happiness.
“Right. Thanks, Fio.”
“Enjoy yourself. And seriously, practise your Skills. Maybe you have to get your Attributes up, maybe not, but levelling them will be of great help no matter what.”
“I will. What are you doing?”
“Working on the falcon. I think I almost have it down. We can use it to look a little deeper into the tainted land.”
“Alright. Have fun!”
I smiled inwardly. I could tell that she felt it.
“You too.”
There was one thing I could try to prepare for tomorrow while Catori did her thing. Finding a way to carry something with me into the tainted land. Without access to my storage Skill in the other bodies, I had to get a little creative. The old idea of making an item to replicate the Skill was thrown out immediately. Last time I worked on it for a few weeks without any success. A single day was definitely not enough.
The best I could come up with on short notice was some kind of bag to carry while flying. The deer body might have an easier time with it but the tawny owl was what I was going to use first. I needed something that would not be destroyed immediately on contact with the taint so a silverwood box was my first idea. That was going to be too heavy to carry, though. Elder Bloom would not mind if I took some of the Ethereal Bloom further towards the forest, right? Nobody was around, anyways, so I went for it.
The plants had large leaves and thick stems which on an initial test lost most of their auram soon after plucking. The bulb kept a little longer but still only a few hours. At least it was quite lightweight.
The second test was done using some large leaves and tying them together in a basket. They may have come from another two or three Ethereal Blooms. Then I took a healthy flower and dug it up with some soil still around the roots. I put it in the basket, filled it up with a little more dirt, and settled down to wait. When nothing happened after a full fifteen minutes, I proceeded to the next step.
A quick activation of [Distant Dreaming] and I was back in the tawny owl’s body. It took some practice but I found it not too difficult to carry the improvised basket. The biggest issue was balancing it properly. I added some dead prey from my main body’s storage and had a tainted exploration starter kit ready to go. This should keep me going for two or three days.
More testing showed I had little room to carry more with the owl. The falcon was already overloaded so I would likely have to not carry the Ethereal Bloom if I used that body. The deer could not really use it at all. I would have to make a different bag. Maybe something more like saddlebags?
It was already late afternoon when I was finally done with my testing. When I returned to my body, a slightly irate Elder Bloom was standing below the branch I was resting on. I turned my head to stare down at him.
“You’re back, Hero Fio.”
He almost spat the ‘hero’. The title I didn’t even ask for. I raised one of my ear tufts in a question. The Elder took a deep breath and settled his expression.
“Why did you damage my Blooms?”
I activated my arcane speaker.
“Because I needed them. If this works out I’ll be able to set up checkpoints further out into the taint by carrying Blooms there one by one.”
I was proud of myself for coming up with that idea right then even though I had not set out with it in the first place. Checkpoints might be an even better solution to the whole travel issue.
He blinked.
“That… might be worth taking some away from the fields. But why did you make your basket from their leaves?”
“I expect they’ll hold much longer. I couldn’t find anything better.”
“You should’ve asked. We have [Leaf Weaver]s that’ll make much stronger baskets quite easily.”
“Apologies. I expected the Ethereal Bloom to keep some of its taint-repelling nature after plucking. There is still some auram in them, even though it’s not much. How about you get a more mundane basket woven by some of your people and we compare the results?”
He grumbled. At least his anger had turned into productive thoughts.
“We’ll do just that. Let me get right on it. Anything else you’re planning?”
“I’ll need some bags for the deer body. And something smaller for the falcon so I can carry some food.”
“As you wish. When are you setting out again?”
“I’m going tomorrow. I’ll make sure to pay attention to any potential issues with my basket.”
He nodded.
“I’ll leave you to it, then. Have a pleasant evening.”
From his tone, he wanted to say something different. I simply ignored it.
“Likewise”, I said and watched him leave. That could have gone better. At least I had a good idea of how to proceed now.
I decided to run a quick checklist of what a checkpoint might need. One Ethereal Bloom would clean up a sphere of about 8 metres in radius all around where it was planted. A little deeper once the roots took hold properly. Having some food prepared was the primary reason I began with this idea so I would need a solution to store some of that. A place to rest as well, if any of the bark-kin ever decided to set out on their own exploration.
I was no builder so a hut was going to be impossible. The bark-kin were likely going to grow their house-trees for that. Maybe I could carry over a tent or something with my main body? Just to have a place protected from the weather. The main issue was going to be water. I just hoped setting up next to a river or lake was going to be enough.
That left the problem of getting the Ethereal Bloom planted in the first place. The excavation focus being part of my metal-and-glass form made it impossible to use with the remote-controlled bodies.
I shook my head. No matter what, I first had to see how the tainted land and all the various forms of corrupted life would react to an oasis of normalcy in their midst. Just dropping the basket and pushing the cleansing plant off had to be enough for the first attempt. If not, I could fly out with my main body and dig a hole without landing.
I settled in for the night after a quick snack, satisfied with my progress. There was work to do. Tomorrow.