“ALRIGHT! You heard me!” Murai cheered and jumped to the table, forcing the hoodie down in the process and quacking in victorious noises. “I am the boss. Never felt like one in this life, so what do we do again?”
He never heard the extent of Lisa's plans, so he turned to her in hopes of knowledge that he knew nothing about. He decided to trust her after all, while he already had many things to do. The current situation of this Gate was still unknown to him, though he knew his target. Ip'ur Mountain. That was it.
And so far, he only ate and slept, so he wasn't sure what to do, even though he loved this Gate to the bottom of his belly.
Lisa almost slapped him aside, but like many, she held back for the sake of saving some time and face.
“I will think about you and the whole situation a bit further. Now, we have the Helpers that I hoped for. David pledged more than that. He is trustworthy.”
“I am asking about the plan,” Murai argued.
“Don't worry about it,” Lisa waved a hand around. “Follow me and you will get it. This Gate will take us at least a few days if not more. Or...well, I have no clue of our target, so let's wait it out like a patient duck. In due time, after I will deal with my plan, I will give it to you on a golden plate.”
“So who is boss?” Ulitum suddenly asked. “Who follows who?” He was confused if Anatidae was it, or if Lisa or David were whom he should listen to. In any capacity, those quacks were nonsense, and this Fairy-looking monster floating before him was equally intriguing.
Lisa sighed, feeling that Ultium wasn't wrong, but not right either. She was the boss at heart, but Murai was a catalyst to this entire situation. They needed proper footing, and this Helltrim City was a good start for that. For how long they could remain in its protection was another worry.
Razmund was coming after them, so they needed to move on and start figuring out their location and where to start.
“Fine, Murai Hisagi. I am taking the reign of our Fate. You should take the current situation for something very different than the last Gate, where you battled like a maniac without any of my words behind your back. Here, it is different. We have to get some plans. Not only do we have to get out of this entire temple, but the Seventh Death Forest is a region we had to leave as a whole.”
“I know that. I said you can take the reign. So, what is that plan?” Murai quacked coldly.
“Don't wanna jinx it,” Lisa refused him with a smile.“You need to do a couple of things first, don't you think? Your training, new techniques, and magic await. For a long time, you neglected the fundamentals, little Panacea. Magic is not so simple to do with fighting alone. Nothing and nobody will stop you in this Gate. I can guarantee that with them.” She insisted, pointing at confident Ultium and David, and reminded Murai of something very important.
“What do we talk about when the world is so free? Training is fine, but what about this Gate? What about dangers? Foes! What about essences?! That damned Guide is gone, so how do I get them anyway?”
“Not so far, you greedy beast,” Lisa flowed closer to him, ignoring the pair aside. “We have what we need. These are for you.” She grabbed the Token and pointed at the pouch in his pocket, her ring, and the ring in David's hands.
“These? Oh, I think I got it already, but do I have to think of that right now?” Murai argued, not thinking he had the time in the world or mana space to care for his Core Defying Fusion Technique. He preferred to take it slower than giving it all his attention. Stability was a necessity to build up his foundation. With his current body, he felt he shouldn't be too harsh when he needed to re-learn his Shaping and figure out some swordsmanship from his deep memories.
Nearly everything needed stability on all fronts. It was so little ago when he started to build his Artificial Core. He shouldn't rush it. It wasn't a technique that was meant for it. Now, his power and body held an important reason for his argument. He evolved half a dozen abilities: Sharpblade, Sonar, Blitz, Heavenly Shaping, and Peak Layering.
He wanted to train in them like he did in the last Gate while giving at least half his attention to the Heavenly Shaping Manual in his possession. Lisa was right. He ignored what a calm training could secure. Stability. Figting wasn't everything. He figured out his need for such an approach long ago, and Lisa seemed to get it as well.
Murai was ready; he should learn and figure out all the tricks and issues about his sub-species on the go. Like always. As Rocky or Leaf, he wouldn't stop growing just because of some measly discomfort stemming from growth or his lacking flesh.
Lisa looked into his eyes, figuring his stubbornness still lived, though his reasons were like his lives. She couldn't see them all. She won't change it, even if she hoped she could.
“You do what is best for you, I hope,” she said to his mind alone. “If not, then do at least one thing you need right now. You said it yourself. Your core needs attention, or the Heavenly Shaping does.”
“Sounds fair,” Murai mumbled, “because that is up to me alone. Leave it. I will solve my issues, so solve the others aside. I am leaving the rest on you, so consider yourself helpful.”
Lisa jerked her head sideways, glancing up at David, and speaking out loud for him. “I don't think our foes will crash us that easily, right? Training in peace is important for my little beast.”
“We will ensure things go smoothly for you. That plan of yours, I will seek through it to the bitter end. Helpers are for that. I am for that,” David said firmly, slightly bowed in her direction, and saluted with hands pressing together before his chest.
With that, Lisa turned back to Murai and his Will. “I suggest working with the core. It sounds important for your species. You kept delaying it for various reasons, but you underestimated Anatidaes even after the Question Mark and last Gate. You should do something with it already.”
“Shut up. I have my reasons for that.”
“Yadayada. Excuses, Murai Hisagi,” Lisa complained. “Time in this place may be to your advantage, as we have Helpers and this world is aflame, but our situation seems much more complicated than you would think. Without the pair aside of you, I couldn't even imagine this clarity, so use this time well, or never. You need to be clever. Reaching the next Gate is my goal, but that Gate is dangerous. Do you think you can do that alone? I will clutch your neck and force you there myself if I have to.”
“Hm?” Murai raised his head, thinking for a second. “Next Gate, huh? So this one is still pending in its purpose. But that means you have some concrete evidence to get us out of here, right?”
“I do,” Lisa said confidently, “which is why you need to focus on yourself and leave it to me.”
“You would go that far? We go to the Ip'ur Mountain.” Murai sneered and laughed, smacking the table with his little feet. It trembled but remained in shape, which was impressive for a coffee table. “Fine. I have a reason for being patient. In fact, I have my plans, but I don't think I have enough essence for anything, nor time. So why should I listen to your suggestion? Core? You underestimate my body and Core Defying Fusion Technique far too much! It's not like you would get it, so forget it.” He turned and wanted to hop down the table but Lisa retorted back more strongly than he had anticipated.
“Are you kidding me? It sounds like you don't get the situation of this Gate and the world itself. Without me, you would be lost, or already in pieces, ready to be eaten with rice.” Lisa retorted in anger, half floating with her hands trembling at her sides.
“Rice?” Murai snorted, hesitant he would taste that well with that.
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“Then why won't you fucking talk to me about it. You know, I can like... help you with some ideas. With so many essences, what in the world are you even making, or lacking? Oh... I forgot you don't know about my gift for you at all, huh?” She mocked him, making a weird expression that Murai hated. Then, she spoke out loud to him and those aside from him. “David already pledged a bunch of essences out of his pockets. Their Ranks vary, but he can lose some Low-Rank 5s for sure, while Grade 6s are no problem for him whatsoever. Right?”
David shuddered, believing that the old glimpses of Lisa had arisen in that ghost right now. For a split second, he felt terrified and glad at the same time.
“Oh.. he did?” Murai shut up and turned to hesitant David, who wasn't sure what to do.
For once, Lisa wasn't aiming her anger at anything improper, which made him perplexed and frustrated at the same time. Some habits never changed, it seemed, but they should undergo some change.
Hearing that, Lisa took this to her own hand, flew forth, and aimed her fingers at Murai's face. “You should sometimes listen to others. The perspective is what matters for growth and change than your stubborn little head!”
“Yes. That would do,” Murai nodded calmly. “Still, I won't do what is excessive.”
“Why not?”
“Time is why. I need at least a week of stabilized status to make the final push with my cores, while my desires are high. Even if I have Everflower, do you think I can outgrow my body or limit what lies in mana? It's no puny force. Not at all. You know that my body is much better, but that doesn't pause the discomfort I've discovered, caused, or done in my growth. It is all young and pitiful. I need strong Vitality, calmness, and absolute certainty I won't be disturbed. If I fail, the End is certain with the Fusion.” Murai responded without exaggerating or telling a single lie. He sounded calm and forceful, giving Lisa an idea she didn't know for certain because he hardly talked about the Core Defying Fusion Technique and its deep secrets.
This would explain his hesitation, so Lisa got this to her head, deducing that his technique wasn't as defying as it sounded. It was reasonable to wait, and she even saw his sincerity and strange glint in his eyes. At that moment, she changed her mind about numerous things.
Murai said what was much needed between them. Whether Lisa wanted to remain angry or not, wasn't up to him.
The plan was simple: stabilize his cores and start a proper practice of Heavenly Shaping. That was what mattered. One was simpler than the other, unfortunately.
Shaping was a far bigger issue than he had anticipated. It was time to make and start getting his core powers out of his foundation. Those were powers that would be outside of his ridiculous body, or his cores. It was about his imagination also. Core was one big fuel anyway; one could always practice Shaping and creating spells even with his small Success. It just meant the power would be smaller, while limits were gradual or vast.
It was time for a proper magic. Not some beaks or struggles of his flesh.
“We have Helper anyways, so problems will wait for the better opportunity.” Murai waved his wings dismissively.
“But the Helpers might not be enough to reach the next Gate.” Lisa grabbed Murai's beak, asserting facts that Murai didn't know. It sounded like a contradiction. A moment ago, she told him to entrust it all to her and his Helpers, and now, she was telling him it wasn't enough.
Murai didn't fall for her trick; he took her current face and hands with some force, figuring that she was unusually focused and firmer than usual. She almost looked impressive when she spoke to him like that.
“Oh, let me guess,” Murai sent to her head since he couldn't open his beak. That shocked him. Perhaps Lisa was stronger than he thought. “What awaits at the end of this Gate? Is there a boss battle, or do you indicate the whole Gate itself will hunt me down? How original. I think I am some sort of boss too, so hunting this whole Gate back seems like a good idea. So?”
“S-something like that...” Lisa mumbled and awkwardly flinched her head and hands. It was time to spit the beans.
Murai looked at her curiously.
“Fine. I will tell you the truth. We doubt there is a ride to the next Gate in the Ip'ur Mountain. It is an ancient mining mountain and a city is above it, as well as a deep location that has no recollection of stone-set portals that Levandis had created upon establishing this Gate. There are no records about it whatsoever, which is impossible. Hence, I can't guarantee anything for you, so it is either a Mindarch's prank or something changed as the world did. Either way...” Lisa hesitated, remembering Lorry's whisper.
Murai squinted his eyes, eying her face with some doubts. “Alright. Sounds sincere, but you insist on going there anyway. Why?”
“Why not?”
“That doesn't sound reasonable to me.”
“Do you have better ideas? We should trust the process, and it does sound reasonable that Levandis would have some private base in that mountain to me. It is just... ridiculous to set it as your location. That is why I am worried, right, David?” She turned to the helpless yet still confident David.
“Is it about the location?” David asked, figuring that their conversation was hard to read. “Then no worries. I will seek out all secrets about that Mountain and these mines in less than a day.”
Murai paused for a dramatic time. “I have no issues with any of that at all.”
Lisa looked surprised and silent, uncertain how to answer him.
Murai continued. “I accept your work and reign with suggestions. I hope Lorry won't show his forehead around if that's the case with that mountain. I would kick and stab him until he is a very sorry skull. So, with that said, it isn't a public portal, huh? No records, or legends. Sets of portals could be discovered throughout the lines in Chaos Space. Perhaps we can look for it there. I worked with them a couple of times, so how about it?”
Lisa opened her mouth, doubtful if he was joking or not. Looking at this from this perspective, she wasn't sure if working with Chaos Space was even a good idea. Everyone on her side was weakling anyway. That sort of approach would require someone very skillful and David had no one like that. Murai was definitely not that either.
“I will think... about it,” she said at last. “For now, information gathering awaits and mines are deep. Who knows what we could dig out? Also,” Lisa pointed at the Token. “We have that.”
“Right?” Murai laughed and ignored the Token for the time being. “With me around, seeing the progress through the last Gate, you don't trust my power? I can work for myself too. You don't have to take it all to your head. It doesn't seem like your body is that firm anyway.”
Murai wasn't wrong in anything he expressed.
At that moment, after seeing and hearing his punchable face, Lisa snapped. She slapped him and turned back to normal, back to handling his beak. “The fact that I haven't seen a thing in the last Gate pisses me off, Hisagi Murai! I will demand some deep Fragments about your fights, you hear me?” She shouted, hysterically swaying with his beak around, sounding like the crazy succubus she once was.
“C-calm down, will you!” Murai quacked as something snatched him up. Someone saved him, acting in an unlikely hand. Ultium, whose expression was a bit hesitant and distant, picked him up by his hood. Like David, who was intrigued by their one-way conversation, Ultium wasn't sure if he should laugh or not, but he felt he should separate them because they looked like upset siblings.
It was fairly entertaining for his heart how it all sounded and looked. Their concept when one quacked and the other talked was funny. One could guess the context, topic, or questions that Murai said, answered, or Lisa did instead. It counted as a chaotic conversation that was fun because of the guesses and their faces.
“Yeah. Yeah. You should calm down,” David said as well, half certain that hearing those quacks sounded insane, or was it also about the face Lisa was wearing? He doubted a soul would understand them, but he heard rumors that Anatidaes spoke their own tongue. He believed that, unlike many fools in the Surface.
He wasn't just a regular human, fortunately, but he was a far cry from something like Anatidae or... her.
“Both of you.” David insisted again when Lisa kept pestering Murai's beak in midair, struggling and slapping his head. Right above the table where Ultium kept them, they kept shouting at one another.
“Shut up!” This time, both Lisa and Murai shouted at him; one normally, the other with quacks.
Ultium separated them in a heartbeat, cracking Lisa's hands in the process, and tossing Murai away, fearing he would shove his beak down David's throat, or worse.
Lisa remained floating, armless but safe. Her arms were slowly swirling into their proper place, looking like fog returning to their home. She breathed as if she were fighting for her life, feeling that getting angry rushed her body much worse than she thought. Since she didn't want to get physical with this devil yet, she accepted his touch and smirk.
On the ground, Murai was inclined to act, rather than talk. What use did either have? Sometimes, there was no reason to be angry with Lisa, while this devil seemed like a tall ordeal for his ability.
Then, he thought about how Lisa had a weird head like him, so he gave up on this nonsense. It did occur to him that Lisa was great at making his blood boil, yet it was an equal problem. At last, Lisa snapped at him like never, which he found applauding and like a start for something new.
“You never change, Lisa. Never.” David said, helplessly shaking his head.
“Want me to pinch your face again, David!?” she barked at him, still a little bit angry, or was she pretending it from the start?
“Now, what the hell is happening?” Marthosh suddenly said, hoping to stop the chaos in the room. Looking around in confusion, it seemed the situation turned to another level. “Did heavens befall upon us? Finally? At last? Noooo!” He almost gaped at his headache, but at least he felt he had no concussion, nor bloody wounds.
Thankfully the crates had no sturdy wood as the main walls. The figures around the table looked at him. Each deduced it was a time to stop arguing.
“We are teammates, right? Someone is a boss, some is... duck, some is... um.” Ultium argued.
“You are tools,” Lisa argued.
“We are a business,” David claimed.
“I am hungry.” Murai quacked and tossed all issues away to the back of his mind.
Lisa turned towards Murai, watching him with clear and azure eyes. Unfortunately, her killer-like gaze wasn't working that much in this ghostly form, so she worked with what she had. “You just ate.”
“So what? Give me the rest of that order, while they will get me a room to decide on my solutions and training. As I do my work, you will deal with the rest of your plan in half a day. Then, we will decide to act. Got it?”
“Is that all, your lofty mightiness?” She said doubtfully, her eyes twitching.
“I will take another look at my Manual. It's not a time to hurry if the whole situation about the world is confusing. Wanna repeat all the weird things that I find weird about our situation, Gate, or the world? All of them? Razmund may be close, I get it, but since you insist on doing this Gate in this manner, then I will decide what is possible and not after your plan starts having its merits. Until then, leave the time for better tomorrows.” Murai argued, letting no argument resurface in her mind.
Lisa gave up and went with his decision to wait half a day.
That shouldn't hurt them all that much, nor give Razmund that much advantages. Instead, she might use this time to finalize her plans and ideas with David privately.
It sounded perfect, albeit filled with holes of all kinds because it was true.
Murai was right.
There were suspicions in everything, or was it his hunch again? She had yet to mention everything, so it was time for her to act around the Helltrim City while Murai would do what he never did: peacefully train without fearing the health of his neck.