Chapter Forty Nine: A Prickly Situation
I scanned the horizon for any other obvious landmarks but nothing really stuck out, so I waited for Suzy to choose our destination.
Aannnd it looks like she’s taking me to the giant mess of thorns… But why?! Of all the places, you just had to pick the painful looking one over the nice… giant, pink, kinda poisonous looking tree or those… infested… aluminum? Mountains… Okay. What the heck is wrong with this region?
I let my head rest on her scaly talon in defeat. “Admittedly the thorns don’t look so terrible anymore, but really! What’s up with the other two?”
I perked up with curiosity and put the coin back to work. In a few minutes I found that the area around the tree, which looked pleasantly pink at first glance, was actually very much dead and just covered in perilous pleasantly colored pollen. As for the mountains, they were covered in several colonies of giant ants, around a few feet long each, all apparently coated in a little suit of aluminum armor.
It’d actually be kinda cute if I couldn’t also see them dismantling their prey… .
“Well, better check the thorns too. Wouldn’t want there to be some sorta rose monster waiting to devour us once we get there now would we?”
I reactivated the coin, and peered at the burgeoning brambles. The whole thing was as big as a small forest, and other than being home to an assortment of rather ordinary looking insects and some rodent type monsters, like four eared bunnies and field mice that had flower petals for fur, there didn’t appear to be anything dangerous about the place–beyond the pervasive amount of thorns present of course.
Due to Suzy’s speed we were starting to close in on the bristly briar, and the obvious lack of any entrance large enough for her had me wondering.
How the heck is she planning to get through all those– Oh… Oh no!
I clenched the coin tight, and covered my face with my arms as she plunged straight into the thorny thicket at top speed.
Suzy’s shrill shrieks sounded alongside the threshing crash of countless vines, each the thickness of a human arm, being knocked aside or otherwise torn apart by the sheer force of her descent.
Of course, I wasn’t spared either.
“Ow! Ow! Ow! Owie! Ouch! Stop it! You! Crazy! Bird! Ow!”
I felt my sleeves tear repeatedly since I couldn’t hear them over the storm of Suzy’s stupid stopping strategy, and out of the corners of my eyes, I also caught the blur of countless critters cascade away from us as we encroached upon their territory, with not a single one stopping or daring to look back.
I started to fear she would plough all the way through the place, when, mercifully, she stopped as abruptly as she’d started.
You have magic, dummy! Wind magic that cuts things! I know! I’ve watched you use it on Gretkarn’s goons! So why the heck aren’t you using it?
I lowered my arms, and found we were in a clearing within the messy floral fortress. There appeared to be a nest below where Suzy now hovered, and without warning, she dropped me straight into it.
She released me!
She finally released me!
I flopped hard into the fuzz lined bowl built out of sticks, outward facing spikes, and, well, more fuzz, before getting my first good look at Suzy since waking up.
She didn’t appear to be out of breath or even all that tired, though her feathers were now very disorganized, damaged, and painted crimson in a multitude of places–but not because she was bleeding. No. There wasn’t any blood. Just fire. Like little candles and torches lit all over her, each slowly shrinking as the damage was undone.
I guess that’s the ol’ quasi-phoenix part of her immortality kicking in. But why is it only Quasi? And what does that mean?
Uriel buzzed.
Conclusion: Suzy will regenerate but not be reborn. As a result, damage to the spirit will not be restored through her immortality. Though the physical body will forever recover, her spirit can still be destroyed which would permanently kill her.
Ohhh. gotcha. I narrowed my eyes up at her. I have a spell that can do damage to the spirit too, but that’s only if things escalate that far… since I’m kinda powerless right now.
Suzy ignored my dangerous glance, and once the fires went out she dove right back into the thorny thicket as if she’d just spotted something tasty to eat.
I scratched my head. “Wait. Did she spot something tasty to eat? I mean if she ate Gretkarn that was days ago. And I can assume she stayed seated atop me until I woke up so, yeah, she’s probably famished.” Then frowned when I noticed my shredded sleeves. “I’ve got to repair these at some point. Or at least get a new shirt.”
I looked around at the spacious bed of fluff I now sat in, built at the bottom of a hollow within the thorns, and sighed. “But before any of that, I need to know what state I’m in. And while you’re at it, Uriel, can you tell me what kind of creature made this nest? It couldn’t have been Suzy. It’s too fresh, and has no feathers. Or pellets for that matter, thankfully.”
Uriel buzzed twice.
Analysis Complete: This is the nest of a pack of Harabbits. They live communally, building several large nests in hard to reach places to trick and evade predators.
But while the first notice came as a relief that I wasn’t in danger, the second was what I really needed.
Status:
-Name: Anon Amos
Race: H?m?n?
Age: ???
Height: 6’ 2”?
Weight: 168lbs?
Titles: Soul Survivor; ??? Wanderer; Excavation Emperor; ???; ???; Dreamer; Awakened; Biggest Hypocrite in the World; The Way Forward; Enemy of Evil; Patience; Temperance; Ki6f of K!4rs
Status: Health: Healthy; Mana: Depleted/Recovering; Endurance: Depleted/Recovering; Strength: Able; Agility: Able; Speed: Able; Toughness: Able; Spirit: Maximum
Status Conditions: Mana Contamination (Moderate); Fatigued (Moderate); Self Cleansing (Active)
Abilities: Beginner Mind Magic; Adept Body Magic; Beginner Spirit Magic; Beginner Essence Magic; Divine Unearther lv: 100; ??? lv: 15->16; ??? lv: 17->18; ??? lv: 11->12; ??? lv: 40->42; Total Resistance lv: 38; Understanding lv: 40->99; Comprehension lv: 40-> 99; Nostrian and Almassarin Language; Intimidation lv: 32->63; Craftsman: Adept lv: 1-> 16; Double Standards lv: 24-> 47; Mana Sense lv: 78 -> Mana Perception lv: 3 ; Mana Control lv: 72-> Mana Mastery lv: 5; Denial lv: 26-> 54; Way of One lv: 21-> 61; One with self lv: 52-> 70; Smite lv: 1-> 18; ??? Protection lv: 2-> 5; Focus lv: 12-> 46; V!&(^3 lv: 4-> 14; Detection lv:22-> 86; Awareness lv:27-> 79; Mental Map lv:1-> 2; Expansive Mind lv:9-> 99; Performance lv: 16; ??? Intervention lv: 2; ??? Authority lv: 2-
Disciplines:
Mind over Nature Magic lv: 1
Mind over Mind Magic lv: 1
Mind over Matter Magic lv: 31
Mind over Body Magic lv: 18 Disciplines:
Beginner Body Transformation Magic lv:1
Body Sensory Magic lv: 73
Beginner Body Fortification Magic lv: 1
Body Empowerment Magic lv: 59
Master Body Recovery Magic lv: 100 Disciplines:
Spirit Summoning/Bonding Magic lv: 1
Spirit Communion/Trapping Magic lv:1
Spirit Healing/Harming Magic lv:23 Disciplines:
Essence of Fire Magic lv: 89
Essence of Earth Magic lv:15
Essence of Water Magic lv: 17
Essence of Air Magic lv: 38
Adept Essence of Light Magic lv: 13
Essence of Dark Magic lv: 36
Adept Essence of Lightning Magic lv: 25
Essence of Ice Magic lv: 12
Master Essence of Space Magic lv: 6
Essence of Time Magic lv: 1
Adept Essence of Order Magic lv:82
Essence of Chaos Magic lv: 1 Total resistance:
Heat resistance lv: 13
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Cold resistance lv: 13
Physical resistance lv: 28
Insanity Immunity lv: 100
Spiritual resistance lv: 14
Essence resistance lv: 43
Blight resistance lv: 39
My eyes widened.
I blinked a few times, then rubbed my peepers to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. “Sunnova butterscotch biscuit! I lost another letter in human! And received a huge boost in several departments, namely my first master levels in magic and Uriel’s component abilities being close to max.”
I rubbed my chin. “Hey Uriel? Are your derivative abilities gonna change once I hit one hundred?”
Uriel buzzed.
Conclusion: Yes. Understanding will become Enlightened Understanding, and Comprehension will become Awakened Comprehension.
Heh. Abbreviated that’d give me the European Union and Some Air Conditioning. Nice.
I waved that thought away. “But in all seriousness, I seem to be okay, on the mend at the very least, so why in blue blazes did Suzy abscond with me here? And will I be healthy enough to escape before she gets back?”
Several increasingly louder crashes and an outrageous gust of wind heralded the answer to my question.
Suzy, covered in even more fire than before, screeched out a wave of mana to declare her victory during her honestly rather brief hunt. And then, just as with me, she unceremoniously dumped the corpses of several Harabits into a pile large enough to bury me on the other side of the nest.
So, what? Am I just another catch for you? I grimaced, then looked away. I shouldn’t be complaining. Those poor bunnies probably lived here, and now look at them… Owl food.
And without a care in the world, Suzy plopped down on the edge of the nest, opened her gullet wide, and started swallowing them down whole.
The fact that she gathered so many and then brought them back gave me frightening notions that she might try to force feed me, but she didn’t even look at me.
Not even once.
It’s like I’m not even– hold on. I–Is she going to sleep? She polished them all off and is now going for a nap? Right here? Right now? Really?
I stared at her, calmly perched directly across from me, eyes closed, and wings folded up, utterly unmoving as the last of her blazing wounds burnt out.
A moment passed.
Then another.
My scowl deepened. “We are strangers in a strange land, and you, the only able bodied one of us is going for an undefended nap in another’s home after eating the owners? Do you realize how many routes they could take to ambush us here? Heck! You still haven’t even insinuated why you brought me here yet!”
Indifferent to my shouting, Suzy continued her slumber.
I huffed, and crossed both my arms and legs as I grumbled. “Not that I’d really know how to get an explanation out of you anyway… .”
Then Uriel buzzed.
Observation: Her shreik earlier was her casting the master level Wind Essence magic: Razor Wind Wall around the nest. So you are not undefended.
With a sigh, I wiped the sour look from my face, and peeked at the silently surging wind that protected us with my new mana perception. “Alright then. So there’s no danger. And oh! That’s fun! I can now see the actual shape of the spells in motion instead of just a concentrated blob of mana. And oh boy, she really went all out and spent everything she had on it too! So it’s no wonder she went to sleep… But that still doesn’t answer why she trapped me here? Got any ideas, Uriel?”
Instead of Uriel’s buzz, the system whispered.
I blinked. “Wat?”
Develop? What’s that? And what happened to make this place so special anyway?
Uriel buzzed twice.
Answer: Development is the process in which an organism elevates itself to a higher level. For instance, individual Suzy was originally a monster that was elevated into a unique creature upon recieving a name. Then she developed into a an immortal after surviving countless near death experiences. She recently developed into a quasi phoenix by being reborn in fire, and is now attempting to develop into a terrestrial deity after devouring individual Gretkarn. Analysis Conclusion: Mana reservoirs are formed by the actions or deaths of mighty beings. If a terrestrial deity dwelled or dies here, or if there was a clash between them, then the leftover mana would congeal and saturate the area causing it to flourish in unpredictable ways.
I hit my fist onto my palm. “Ohhh! So like what happened between me and Gretkarn.”
My face froze as my own words sank in. “W–wait. Doesn’t that mean Kalsynthholme is going to change a whole lot in the years to come?”
Then the system whispered again.
“Huh.” I blinked. “You’re gonna have to go into more detail about that.”
Silence was, of course, my only answer.
I growled. “System.”
To my shock, the system continued.
Woah! Woah! Woah! Hold on there bucko! First you try to go and change the subject, and then you go and give me a huge info dump that doesn’t even make any sense since you haven’t given any context!
I feared the system wouldn’t answer, but when it did I got a whole new headache.
I grumbled. “Well it doesn’t seem like you want me to let this opportunity pass, and given what you said about the world’s stability it sounds like this is the better choice anyway… So fine. Do it.”
I felt a flood of that warm stuff I used to save Calden rush out of me, and just like last time, I promptly collapsed into a pile on the fuzzy floor of this stolen sanctuary.
As darkness closed in on my fuzzy mind, my last thought was, Man… I really… can’t catch… a break… .
Then the system whispered.
#
Carmella excused herself from the castle for a long overdue break, and cut as quick a path as she could toward the slums.
She knew Calden spent most of his time there anymore, and with the strange power he’d been displaying becoming more potent than ever, it would make for the perfect target for her own new ability.
I still can’t believe it! I’m an observer! Me! And thankfully no one but Anon knows! I can’t even begin to imagine the complications that would befall me if news got out… How many lords, or religions would try to solicit or force me to join them, completely derailing my life and taking me far from where I want to be.
She carefully maneuvered around the various construction sites and countless workers bustling to and from job to job. The city was rarely silent, but never before were all voices so completely aligned to one task. And she couldn’t be too surprised.
Everyone suffered. The whole city. And thanks to the Count’s firm hand, and young Calden’s proselytizing, the people are united more than ever. She let out a dry chuckle. And how much of it is as Anon planned? From what the young lord said Anon is a servant of the Creator God, but from my own experiences… Well, I’ll find out. And hopefully soon.
The damage grew worse the closer she got to her destination. Not only were the buildings less structurally sound and more closely packed, but because the shape of the cliff left the slums at the lowest and most easily accessed point, that meant they sustained the most attacks from the monsters.
Nevertheless, she wound her way past countless road closures and collapsed houses, only briefly stopping to ask if anyone had seen Calden, to then reset her heading so that she could find her charge, and get to the bottom of the questions burning in her mind.
At last, she caught sight of him looking over some documents in a small camp where resources were being gathered, and distributed. His wide smile warmed the tired expressions of the unfortunate civilians lined up to receive their family’s daily allotment, and he sent each and all on their way with “God’s blessings for you and your family.”
She kept her distance in the hopes that he would actually use the ability, but after a few more interactions that no longer seemed feasible so she focused on him and activated ehr new observation ability.
Her eyes grew warm and almost began to water from the rush of energy as she carefully examined every detail she could of Calden’s figure. Then a pleasant series of tingles scattered out over her brain as the information sank in.
[Name:Calden Dresdeth; Newest Title: Protector of the People; Status conditions: Tired, Content; ???; Abilities: Observation level too low; Disposition: Friendly to user]
She covered her mouth in thought, and muttered. “W-what was that? That garbled and glossed over part of his status condition! It has to be Anon’s doing, but it seems like my ability isn’t strong enough to pry any deeper.”
A cursory glance of the surrounding people gave her an idea. Maybe I can check one of them. He has been using that new power on them so surely they have some trace left behind!
At random, she picked someone waiting in line, the fourth from the front, and activated her observation ability.
The sensations in her eyes and brain passed as before, and the target’s information became clear.
[Name: Wilious Gaff; Newest Title: Assassin; Status conditions: Acting, Disguised, Cautious; Abilities: Observation level too low; Disposition: Hostile to user]
Her eyes widened, and her free hand slipped into her pocket to fetch her wand. It isn’t much but it’ll have to do. He hasn’t noticed me yet, and since I can’t just start chanting a spell in the middle of the streets without giving myself away, I don’t really have any other options. But when should I strike? Now? Once he makes a move? Or– or do I need to secure the perimeter first? There’s no telling if there are others, but I can’t observe everyone! A sour smile crossed her face. If only Anon were here. This would be so easy. No. It wouldn’t even be a problem, would it?