99th Island was a serious matter for Murai's mind and body. He considered it to be a close call to the end of this whole Gate, yet it was hardly over. Lisa and Lorry acknowledged how close it was too, but they both kept something out of his ears, and out of sight.
All for Murai's sake, if they were honest. He was too hectic and stressed with his Ending Isles after beating the 93rd Island with an unnerving attitude. Hours and more hours later, he was still thinking about it rather extensively.
Lisa probably thought it was for the better since Murai's nerves were creeping up to questionable heights. Some essences didn't change that, nor did the talks of hopes and cheers between the islands.
What awaited him were tough fights after all.
Lisa and Lorry decided to keep his stress untouched, and after spending a significant portion of time outside of the Space Cages, Lisa talked with Lorry through many things. All outside of Murai's knowledge, of course.
When resting, they often pestered him about how the Endling Isles were great under his tries, as if it was greater than it was.
Murai couldn't care for this constant banter. He held every fight in his heart, core, and pretty much everywhere else. He got wounded, bled, and felt the nuisances of the Ending Isle' increased difficulty.
Nothing was easy here, yet he solved them one by one, spending a long time fighting and a long time resting. It all hurt in the process, slowly creeping up the familiarity of his body, but what didn't?
Wounds were numerous in size and effects, ranging from blunt damage, stressed bones, and even a couple of cuts that got through his feathers. His stamina, blood flow, and mana space also got its fair share of troubles. #
Endurance was his forte, but when enemies of great quality loomed over him with greater levels, he discovered how difficult it was to get rid of them without suffering some consequences because his balancing limit was too high.
Hence, he got some beatings against some nasty singular opponents. He kind of expected it and brutally assaulted that idea with unhinged curses and unwillingness to take it any longer. Yet Mindarch refuted it and challenged every potential aspect of his species and magic, giving him a tough time.
He hated how it all started to make sense. It started simple... then the past Islands crept up around him like surgeon's hands. Since he killed Low Lich while suffering the Overdraft, his tactics and views changed in seeming tests.
Solving it was easy. All he had to do was to beat things faster than he would be. It was that simple. Duels were up to every Island since the 93rd, which made the singular foes special and more difficult. They were much worse than dozens of foes added together.
What did it mean for him? Mindarch sent and spent foes of increased quality. All above Level 40, the hardship was stagnant at the very tip of the limits.
At least the foes weren't able to completely butcher him. Murai wouldn't let them do that. He would rather fly out of the Island than take damage that was troublesome to heal.
Wounds, or cuts here and there didn't stop his tries or Will. It changed his approach after he started utilizing the bits of less convenient tactics he didn't even use because he never had to.
Isles forced him. Mindarch demanded it.
He started to think outside of the box.
Those were the effects of his feathers and their defensive properties, while his tactics changed from unhinged tries to kill, to observing the enemy more and thinking about strategies and defenses first.
Murai thought about his feathers long ago, but using them to his advantage wasn't as simple as puffing his chest or wings and hoping for the best. It didn't work like that against problematic enemies such as Pawnter. It was a beast with a cutthroat personality, Beast Core, above-average intellect for an oversized cat, and incredibly sharp claws. Quick and powerful, it tried his defenses and succeeded a few times. 97th Island as a whole changed his mind about a lot of things.
What his feathers held wasn't under his whole understanding. It was supposed to be his great armor akin to tough skin, scales of dragons, or thick hide. He thought of them as something sturdy yet soft, so when an attack of high power creased against them, feathers usually moved suck attacks aside, or if they couldn't, they moved aside to let the strike hit his flesh. Against blunt attacks, they worked less. There was some limit and usefulness about them that he had yet to figure out.
Murai didn't like the way figuring out things felt. Razmund was similar, he bet, but back then, his flesh and body were significantly worse than right now.
Murai figured it was the usual logic. The same as how muscles in human bodies protect the bones and organs, ducks had their respective aspects. But power could still travel through physical objects such as armor, flesh, and bones. It was simple physics. Aftermatch and how to think of them depended on attacks, learning, and teachings. Rules too.
His feathers worked in a logical principle to scales and armor, but it wasn't entirely clear because his species might have other secrets. He found some elemental damage like heat or cold negligible, and his feathers had distinct properties that made them feasible dependable tools. They worked well against sharp objects and they shouldn't be too sharp.
When the defense was tight, anything that creased past them hurt so much more than normal pain. It was as if thunder hit his nerves, causing immediate pain. It wasn't worse than broken wings or legs, nor worse than the beating Razmund had handed him. That pain was wilder, constantly shifting like a waterfall crashing to the earth.
In the long term, it wasn't a terrible thing. Pain can get lost because his body, Vitality, and feathers lowered most wounds to a certain degree. Of course, the Robust Spirit did the most work with pain and suffering, as its power applied an unshakable Will.
Through some of the Islands or rest, his potions helped with empowering Vitality, and recovering the wounds was faster than without them. He liked their simplicity, even if they were kind of low in quality and quantity.
It reminded him of being an alchemist, or how many worlds were full of wonders and nice things. Potions felt great, so using what he got from Gate 1's Vault was up to standard, or occasional mouthfuls.
These times happened a lot after 93rd Island, so he wasn't some stingy duck who would hoard the potion without using them. He was no dragon for sure.
What a treasure was worth if it can't be used?
The latest Ending Isle was tougher than the last few combined, as it held a peculiar demon that held more offensive abilities than him. That was already a big deal by itself, and even Lisa found that surprising from Mindarch's voice before the 98th Islands.
It tested his defenses, wings, legs, and everything about his mana reserves. He was even forced to use Robust Defense a couple of times in an almost 15-minute-long fight against a foe many times his size.
Named Lucider, a demon-looking beast was a little vermin by all rights. 4 legged like a cat, its whipping 4-parted tail was like a flexible spear whip, crashing and cracking the stones apart. Then its razor-sharp teeth did reach into his flesh numerous times, similar to its tail whips. It was not a Child Lucider, but a fine specimen at the Adolescent stage.
Murai didn't meet any other Variant Island, but this one had an enemy that cursed his mind. Lucider was Level 42 and the toughest foe he ever met. He fought it to a near standstill with heavy reliance on his defense.
Lucider was an incredibly versatile demon, and its scales were hard and shiny. Then, its brutal and unhinged aggression tested Murai's tactics. He couldn't afford to be that unhinged himself, so he wasted a lot of time and took many hits before he began to chip into its flesh.
Graded at S difficulty, it was close to SS in rightful terms, as its scales were tough and special like his feathers, making his mana attacks useless. Birthed through the Divine Beast Bloodlines, it was a demonic experiment gone well.
Until it met Murai, of course.
Slowly chopping its health down with his Blitz, occasional Fatalities, or Peak that wasn't as useful because Lucider was quick, strong, and sturdy, similar to a great Anatidae, he killed it in hot blooded fight.
Murai wasn't at its level, yet his strategies made up for the difference because there was a catch.
He could choose to give up, yet still proceed to get forward with his kill. Success depended on the damage inflicted on the Lucider, as Mindarch proclaimed as he entered the arena.
Murai ignored that premise. He felt immense satisfaction after he saw a Middle Grade 6 Essence coming out of Lucider, that bled out thanks to dozens of holes the size of his beak around its neck, or head. Anywhere else was too tough for his attacks.
It came as no surprise that he rested before the 99th Island, easing his stamina with the effects of the Rejuvenation Potion, his Vitality, and aspects of his enhanced Replenishment.
To pass the time, he was wondering about something beside him, rather than wondering about the cursed past.
Heavenly Shaping Manual lay there on the ground, right above his bent neck and focused head with eyes that looked at its first page. This tome had a unique concept of writings and formations to unlock it. Thinly laid our Intent that was fused with everything was giving it a chaotic feeling. It felt as if someone insane made it, and formation-locking arrays were shifting like the flow of Fate.
Acting against the mind, the lock formation was one of the most complicated Murai had ever seen because it carried no sense or reason. It followed the principles of beasts as far as Lorry said to ease the awkward relationship between them. It hardly helped.
Murai was angry at the hours spent in his tries to uncover its secrets. Many hours passed since his first look and nothing was going on.
He usually kept glaring holes into it, hoping to see reasons in it.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Heavenly Shaping must correspond to something he had seen before, but the formations and locks were out of his world. Lisa agreed with his intensity and unwillingness to give up. She looked at it numerous times as well, hoping to try to covet its secrets, but it shocked her more than she showed.
She didn't remember or heard of such locks before in anything other than... some interesting things that shouldn't be handed over with discounts. It made her question Mindarch a little and also Levandis herself.
Lorry usually took his time with any words, because Murai was still pissed at him for what happened at 93rd Island.
“Still clueless?” Lisa asked beside him, still curious about what had happened on the last Island. Murai wasn't saying a single word about his fight against Lucider. He felt that it wasn't a big deal to take his accomplishment to the mouth when he couldn't solve a simple book.
All that Lisa saw was a rare corpse of a Lucider of Level 42. She was surprised that such a Divine Bloodline beast would serve its purpose around the Islands of Greatness, especially when Murai wasn't looking to be that easy to deal with.
It ended in the toughest battle out of all of them. Even Low Lich was easier because that pile of bones wasn't as potent on its own. Lucider was.
Murai looked at her, bothered about the Heavenly Shaping. “I feel the concept of the beasts lays in variants and incredible variety like those of demons. Correct?”
“As I've said, this thing follows such principle to the T. It goes by Pillage Emperor. Heavenly Shaping is a technique that he created. Of course, it acts along that concept and this world alone, or at least how it is perceived. It is a Battleworld-focused technique. Not something that came from the further away, or it could? I don't know. It is all about magic. Mana too.” She explained the little bits she knew.
“Magic and Pillage. Beast Sect, huh? How well of a sect was that? Sounds impressive from the little what you've told.”
“Imagine...” Lisa wanted to speak, but paused, knowing that Murai hadn't seen anything about this world besides a human village, a rather unimpressed City of Cinnar, and a little bit of Vermillion Church. But there was something massive he had seen. “Well, I think that sect was similar in might to a couple of Levandis Temples, but still far from proper Hell Haven.” She said it the best way, but Murai wasn't even aware of the might this temple held, or what Hell Haven had to offer.
Which Lorry took for an offense. “Hey! That wasn't proper!” He shouted at Lisa. “Temple is great! Hell Haven is the height of the difference! Some Divine Kingdoms can fuck off. Levandis is the greatest! Her home is rich. Some beasts and their excuses for the solitude of the universe were just a way to opt for a better future. Laughable. That is what it was.” He snorted and acted all so mightly as his single skull allowed.
Murai completely ignored him, opting to seek Lisa's guidance, which was rather validating to her, so she put good use to it and talked without regarding Lorry as someone important.
“Know the gist of what Extremes are like?” She asked.
“A little. Individually, they are like Seers?”
“What are Seers? I think I've heard of those called liked this here, but you think of the worlds beyond, don't you?”
“Yes. Nevermind that. What about Laws? Those are fairly finite in their aspects across the worlds.”
“Level 70 touches those here. The first sight of an Extreme Gate thrives in fully merging the Law into the Path, ending in a First Gate. That is the Extreme.”
“So... before that is consoling that idea? Uh. Someone powerful is the answer, but I am wondering about this pile of shit. Not a stage that is infinitely far away from me.” Murai smacked the Heavenly Shaping with his wings, clearly frustrated as he couldn't point to the ending sequences of these lock openings. Not only did it work with mana, runes, intent, and various scribbles of locked formation, but its layers moved in endless loops.
“Again, I haven't heard of such fine locks,” Lisa argued. “I saw and heard of opened Heavenly Shaping Manuals before. Legacies from old ages. This is new to me and Lorry has no clue either. Mindarch ignores us too.” She had no lies to tell. She knew how complicated it was from her own eyes.
“Extreme or not... his tome is part of a legacy. The kind that has some interests that you know.”
“I do, but only in the brief ways. Like a bystander, as I am no beast and never was. Pillage and Beast Sect still has its roots in this world. 50 years are nothing and this world is vast. It is interesting, so I got curious about it in numerous ways when I was alive.”
“So you are basically telling me to fuck off... great! How helpful!” Murai smacked it again.
“Murai...” Lisa sighed. “Just what happened on the last Island?”
He ignored her, Conjuring strips of mana to touch the formations of many kinds. He began working on it in a heartbeat, overseen by Lisa who watched his act with great interest.
She wasn't annoying him, so Murai didn't slap her aside.
Minutes went to minutes, with some lock formations sliding away, forming more layers that he had to overwrite, sideline, or subsequently crack along the Intent that flooded into his mind. It worked in such a way, that he doubted there were some rules.
It was like solving the Chaos itself or looking for Order in the Chaos, which was clearly impossible. Intent and locks were also annoying. The success eased them away, before changing and turning to mess next.
Murai kept working in a neverending cycle that seemed purposeless, but he still kept trying. He was always stubborn to see something impossible become solved.
It reminded him of his Cursed Living which didn't seem to have an end, so he stubbornly kept his research going for a long time.
Overall, he was reaching the 14th hour of his research in total, yet answers weren't coming.
“Perhaps you should try something else? How about taking care of the locks before caring for the Intent?” Lisa offered her idea.
“Screw that. Intent is free to reign. It attacks and latch at mines anyway. It does whatever the writer wants, whispering and pushing my mind as if I am an intruder. Those acts as clear protection locks that would stop weakling away.”
“Or someone who shouldn't touch it. It is at the level that would deaf some other souls, so don't think too much about it. Others would give up sooner.”
“I AM not GIVING UP!” Murai snapped, glaring at her eyes from a feather distance away. “You gave this to me! I am taking it.”
“You don't have to be stubborn just because of me or some stubbornness.”
Murai sneered. “You or my stubbornness. What do you think is more insane?”
“Who knows?” Lisa smiled, having an idea for an answer, but perhaps she was overestimating herself.
Turning back at the swirling mess on the first page, all of this made no sense. With the lack of details and changing cycles, it almost seemed there was a need for a key to unlock this tome.
Usually, such a key would have obvious points in the formations or some residues of locks to possess some clarity. But there was hardly an order for a key in this madness.
Which infuriated Murai to no end.
He cried, slapped it dozens of times, until thin layered whispers echoed so weakly, that only Lisa and Murai heard it.
[Flood it.]
Murai barely stopped complaining, but that whisper came like poke of a thunder. Lisa frowned, speaking up with her Will to his. “Was that Mindarch?” She wondered but wasn't sure.
“Impossible. Mindarch was so pissy about the 93rd Island, he wasn't over it even in the last one.” Murai argued, realizing that Lisa heard it too. He thought he overhead Lorry or her, or his own head, but it didn't seem to be the case.
“Flood it, it said,” Lisa repeated.
“What?”
“Be my guess, but that is just a whisper that came out of nowhere. Catch its phrase how you want, but I can't give it any more light than your soul.”
Murai agreed with her, but he was skeptical about what this voice was about or where it came from.
“Flood it... Flood it?” he repeated. “By my mana? I haven't tried that, because what formation acts well when too much mana is in place? I wouldn't seal shit with it.”
“Have other choices?” She wondered. “Could be a hint for something else though.”
Murai agreed again, glaring a hole into the tome. “Screw it. I am flooding it!”
Murai cracked his floodgate, Conjuring a vast amount of mana by putting his wings on top of the tome. He let his mana out, and by some miracle or its internal structure, the tome was starting to tremble, and its formation locks began to move in sporadic, yet seamless fashion.
The Intent hadn't done a thing in retaliation either, as if the key was put in place, and no one worthless opened it either.
Murai kept flooding it with more of his unhinged mana that had no quality into it. It was straight mana without anything else, directly coming out of his Beast Core, which seemed to affect this tome in some way.
He wasn't sure what was happening, but it was something for sure.
Lorry and Lisa were beside his shoulder, wondering what would happen next.
Lorry was the most confused one, as he hadn't got a clue what made Murai force this sort of questionable tactic.
Flooding the formation lock of a Mana Tome with such mana and hoping for a miracle wasn't a good idea from his memory. But Lorry had no clues about this version of Heavenly Shaping. It was strictly private information, withheld by Levandis who forgot about it many millennia ago.
Lorry wasn't that old to remember or know what this was. Its history was one thing, but hardly anyone even cared about things left behind by the Pillage Emperor. Many eras were full of powerful individuals. Pillage Emperor was one of the many, and the present Battleworld was home to dozens of such figures. Beasts or not, Gods and the growth of this world guaranteed this idea.
Murai spent half of his mana pool without controlling what was happening. Heavenly Shaping hadn't changed much, but something happened. It began consuming some of his mana, while the rest flared aside, disappearing into the world.
“Keep at it and next Ending Isle will make Murai regret it,” Lorry commented, but Lisa grabbed his jaw, shutting him down. She glared at his Soul Flames, making his soul skip a beat. He almost moaned in delight but hadn't forgotten his manners, so he kept himself silent.
Murai was stubborn, and if he started something, he ought to do it to the bitter end.
He kept flooding it until the Overdraft happened, and his Beast Core squeezed its bloodline quality of his mana onward, becoming so empty, its structure was squeezed so much, only the affinities that hadn't got a chance to come out remained like dried husk. It was a painful process that felt as if his core was squeezing his whole torso.
Affinities kept hovering in the layers of empty Beast Core, right along the ongoing Replenishment that hadn't been ongoing as Murai kept his Conjuring. One had to stop Conjuring to let some mana inside.
It took about 30 minutes to empty it, which was a lot more than most mages at his level managed. That number might be important outside of this situation. Stopping Conjurting in a timely matter would restart the Replenishment, but no matter what, he kept going.
Mura hadn't stopped demonstrating his talent. And that didn't even include the amount of mana he kept sending away. He ignored the potential loop that adhered to the basic principles of Shapers. Mana should be coming in and out, and this line and balance were what made Shapers immensely powerful.
Murai was letting mana go out without any regard, widening his Conjuring to its limits, which was stressing his core and mana space in general.
Perhaps the right equivalent to this was an hour of Conjuring training for a regular mage, but those wouldn't manage it for so long, nor their minds would take such a toll.
The last pieces of mana flooded out of Murai's dried core. Then, he collapsed to his back, no longer able to stand. Unexpectedly, the Overdraft wasn't that heavy, as it wasn't under stressful circumstances. Replenishment resumed, but unlike its usual power, it felt mild because of the Overdraft that crashed and muddled his senses.
But Murai had clear thoughts, ignoring out of the pain. His eyes beamed in understanding.
“So it was a key. Mana was the key,” he mumbled as weakness overlapped his mind and his Will skipped a beat as something moved.
The gates of the Heavenly Shaping opened, and something grasped his Will by a thin foggy paw that flew out of the flaring book that started to open its many pages.
Lorry and Lisa didn't know what was happening, but not like they had a way to stop it.
“Has he done that, huh?” Lisa mumbled, noticing that Murais' Will was seized, but it shouldn't be something terrible. But she couldn't follow it even through their connection. He was isolated and she had no clue what would happen next. It was her gut's feeling that she shouldn't try to be too curious, so she turned to Lorry who seemed confused.
“What happened?” He asked, still grasped by her stressed and physically charged hands.
“Found a key,” Lisa repeated what Murai said.
***
In a weird flood of Intent, Murai found no steady footing with his Will. He knew he wasn't sleeping, dreaming, or being taken by something insane. He felt his Will was seized, clutched, and kidnapped, but who was he to question?
He was in absolute darkness, where nothing was clear as he wasn't sure where his Will even went. It was just a mental landscape, he figured. Not much different from dreams.
“Oy! Anyone here?” he shouted, floating to somewhere, or was he already somewhere and he just didn't know where? Perhaps he was nowhere.
It was silent, unending in some motion as something was stirring around, touching and stretching his Will. It barely flinched as his Will was unshakable, shaking some workings of mind. Murai felt no discomfort.
It was just a little annoying when he wasn't sure to point the surroundings, much to this tome's internal trials that had been achieved.
Murai had enough of this after what felt like an hour. He extended his Will and shook it like bracing for a storm, until a glaring sight came out of him, bearing the Robust Spirit in its rudimentary form, appearing like a duckling, but so lofty, it appeared like a small king.
But its glare and shine were mesmerizing, revealing the surrounding darkness and one lone figure that was right below him.
A puppy.
It stared upwards like a bothered professor looking at a large new kid in town. There was also some curiosity, worry, and questions, and it was glaring straight at a humongous duckling above it.