Chapter IX: Burgeoning Alchemist II

Demonic Wildlands Near the Great Plateau

Month of the Pangolin 4, 172 ,328 DE

With his wheeled chair right next to the bridge window, Hoshi stares at the forest passing by below. "You know, the Demonic Wildlands don't look that scary."

Vorn laughs. "You should try riding through those woods on a steamer bike. You'd shit your pants."

Hoshi scoffs. "I admire steamer bikes. I don't ride them. A man of my stature rides on steamer cars, and I don't think a steamer car would fit between the trees."

"We brought a steamer tank though the forests from Dai Heian to a point not too far north of Shizukana Gake. Don't make excuses to cover up your fear."

"I'm not afraid." As the sour odor of fear fills his scent, Hoshi's voice trembles.

Vorn displays a maniacal grin. "Then let's land and talk a nice walk."

Hoshi shivers and glances over his shoulder at Brigitte. His calculations play out in his expression, and finally, his words come out as a barely audible whisper. "Okay. I'm scared. I don't want to set fort in the Demonic Wildlands. Not ever!"

"Graaaarrrr!"

"Raaaarrrrrrr!"

"Riiiiiiii!"

"Squaaak!"

Another pulse of Power like the one we felt outside the City Lord's cuts off Vorn's laughter before it really gets started. The calls of dozens of Ferocious Beasts, strong ones, rise up from the forest. To the north, a flock of Iron Talon Vultures takes wing. After circling once, the flock follows the largest one, the flock's leader, toward the Great Plateau.

With a startled expression, Vorn looks around the bridge. "Did you feel that one?"

I nod. "Yeah. It came from behind us."

Thousands more bird-type Ferocious Beasts join the Iron Talon Vultures. After milling around for a few moments, the entire swarm of bird-type Beasts heads toward the Great Plateau and Shizukana Gake.

Looking at me, Hoshi shows an extremely worried expression. "Beast, what's happening?"

I shake my head. "I don't know. I felt a wave of Power hit my Soul. The Ferocious Beasts must have felt it, too, and their probably going to look for the source."

Vorn's eyes open wide. "I remember an intelligence report form the Middle Empires. Someone down there has been working on devices to lure Ferocious Beasts. Do you this could be some type of Beast lure?"

I shrug. "I don't know. I've never felt anything like Power before. It moved through Pneuma, but it wasn't Ki or Trinity. Whatever it is, we'll look into later. My first priority is Hoshi's leg."

"Beast!" Hoshi looks like he is ready to cry, but he is overly emotional.

While we continue to fly over the Demonic Wildlands, I watch the forest below. I keep seeing momentary flashes of various Ferocious Beasts through gaps in the forest canopy. All of them appear restless, angry, or fearful, but not all of them are headed for the Great Plateau. Forming Trinity into a thread for Empathy , I reach out to the souls of various Beasts. Unlike with the humans in Shizukana Gake, I have trouble reaching the Souls of the Beasts. A faint layer of Power seems to coat their souls, the same Power as made up the pulses Vorn and I felt.

Neither Hoshi nor Brigette noticed the pulses of Power. Vorn and I were the only ones who felt them. Vorn is human, but not entirely human. He has the Blood of the Great Bear, a Great Beast, in him. I am not human, not even half-human, as I once believed. I am Beast that walks in a human form. Our Souls are not human Souls. The Power in those pulses clearly appears to only target Beasts, but what is its purpose? To enrage Beasts? To draw them in? Both?

"Tree! Tree! Look out! A giant Tree!" Hoshi screams loud enough to hurt my ears.

While doing a poor job of maintaining straight faces, Vorn and Brigette struggle to keep from laughing. As soon as he notices, Hoshi stops screaming and glares at them.

"You knew?"

"Of course." Vorn lightly pats Hoshi on the shoulder, which almost knocks him out of his wheeled chair.

Brigitte stops trying to hide her amusement and smirks at Hoshi. "Master took us here before we went hunting in the Demonic Wildlands."

After running into a dead end in the hunt for Vorn's bitch aunt, we told Mika-chan and Hoshi that we were hunting in the Demonic Wildlands. Both of them have known for years that I hunt Ferocious Beasts multiple times a week, so they did not ask any questions. The less humans know about what the bitch aunt has done with Chaos the better. The Primal Powers are too dangerous too use, but because of their for dominance and power over others, many are too eager to make deals with thing they should not. While I trust Hoshi and Mika-chan as much as any human other than Old Man Jones, they do not need to know things that could put them in danger at some point. By knowing me, they are already in potential danger, and I do not want to add to it.

"Master, where should I anchor the ship?"

"Between the temple and the Great Tree."

Swinging the Silver Princess into the wind, Brigitte skillfully guides the airship to a point between the Swords Temple and the Great Tree. After she drop the bow anchor and cuts the power to the propellers, she used the anchor to draw the airship close to the ground that the turret brushes the grass and drops the stern anchor.

"Is that Sato-san?!" Uttering a surprised exclamation, Hoshi points at the bridge window.

"Yeah. That's the crazy girl."

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Heading to the main hatch, I jump down to the ground. With an exaggerated grunt, Vorn passes me Hoshi in his wheeled chair. Once we are clear, Vorn jumps down.

"I'm going to the temple. I want to read the Scripture again."

Brigitte sticks her head out the hatch. "Master, is it okay if I look around?"

I shrug. "Don't leave the meadow."

"Yes, Master." Hopping out of the airship, Brigitte follows Vorn to the Swords Temple.

The Great Tree's projection appears near us and stares at Brigitte and Vorn. "That girl is heavily invested in the use Yuan Qi and has a weak Soul. Even if she gives up Yuan Qi and destroys her Cultivation, she has very little chance of ever becoming a Triune. The Scripture of Origin is more likely to do her more harm than good."

I shrug. "She'll just have to overcome it."

Hoshi gapes at me. "Beast, that's cruel."

"This Realm has been fucked over by the Dragon Gods and the Daos. Blame them."

"Pervert Master!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, Aoi charges toward me at full out run. She actually has clothes on, which seems a bit surprising. Her crudely-sewn, leather pant and shirt look to be made from inexpertly cured deer hides. Bands of reddish-brown fur wrap around the collar the cuffs of the sleeves.

As soon as she is close enough, she jumps on me and wraps her and leg tightly around me. "Aoi missed Pervert Master! Aoi thought Pervert Master wasn't coming back!"

"Beast, have you been hiding her out here so no one can steal her?"

Aoi glares over my shoulder at Hoshi. "No one can steal Aoi from Pervert Master. Aoi only loves Pervert Master. Why is Fatty Okada in a wheeled chair?"

Grabbing the back of Aoi's shirt, I drag her off me.

The Great Tree's projection stares at Hoshi for a few moments. "That was poor work healing that leg. The potion used to accelerate the healing could barely called a potion."

Aoi looks from Hoshi to the Great Tree's projection. "Tree-chan Master?"

"Aoi, bring one of the latest batch of Bone Growth Elixirs you made."

After Aoi runs away, the Great Tree's projection looks Hoshi in the eye. "You're bone needs to be thoroughly shattered to heal properly. Do you wish to be rendered unconscious for the process?"

Hoshi swallows heavily and nods. "Yes. I think that would be better."

"Very well. Go to sleep." After she finishes speaking, the Great Tree's projection projects a wave of Trinity into Hoshi's Mind. As he immediately loses consciousness, his head falls onto his chest.

"Obnoxious wolf, shatter his leg bone."

I probe Hoshi's leg with my awareness, but while I can feel the Yuan Qi sluggishly circulating in his Body, I cannot perceive his bones though the flesh.

"Use Trinity. Weave a thread and focus your Mind into it. The Body of one such as this human will then be no impediment to your awareness."

Following the trees instructions, I weave a thread Trinity. Since I have no better model for creating an external thread, I make it similar to what I use for Telepathy . Manifesting the thread in the Soma, instead of the Eidos, I sink it into Hoshi's Bod. Finding his bone through feel more than sight, I split the end into dozens of tendrils and wrap them around the bone. The section where it was shattered feels like dozens of fragments that were clumped back together in the wrong order If left as it is, the Jagged projections will repeatedly tear-up the muscles; Hoshi will spend the rest of his life in pain.

"Use the thread of Trinity to apply force to the bone. Crush the damaged section into powder." The Great Tree appears to be completely aware of the state of Hoshi's bone. She must be using this to make me improve my control over Trinity.

While I am funneling more Trinity into the Thread, another pulse washes over me in the Pneuma. As I look toward the Great Plateau, I see the Great Tree's projection looking in the same direction.

"Do you know what that Power is?"

With a frown on its lips, the Great Tree's projection turns back to me. "Elemental Soul. It is one of the Six Grand Elements. Someone in the Temple of the Dragon Gods, has been playing with something he does not understand and should leave alone. He accidentally created a device that generates Elemental Soul waves that enrage Beasts. The Beasts will be drawn to it so they can destroy it. Several of the devices has been placed inside the city of Shizukana Gake."

I frown. "If someone wants to draw Beasts to Shizukana Gake, it would make more sense to send the pulses out more rapidly."

"It takes hours for the device to build up enough Elemental Soul to create a single pulse. That is why there are multiple device in Shizukana Gake."

The Great Tree's projection points at Hoshi. "Finish with the bone. The girl is coming back."

Feeding more Trinity into the thread, I split into a total of almost two hundred tendrils and wrap them around the bone like a cocoon. Focusing on the tendrils, I constrict them, turning the bone into thousands up thousands of tiny fragments. Latching on the fragments with the tendrils, I crush them into smaller and smaller pieces, until the bone has the consistency of powder.

As Aoi skids to a stop, the Great Tree's projection, one more, points at Hoshi. "Pour it down his throat, girl. Obnoxious wolf, continue to observe the bone."

Aoi pinches Hoshi's nose and upends a small vial into his mouth. In a matter of seconds, Trinity with an affinity for Elemental Blood and Elemental Plant floods into Hoshi's leg. His muscles and capillaries shift on their own, rearranging the bone powder into the shape of the missing section of bone. Over a period of several minutes, the bone solidifies and thickens. In the end, the section that was shattered becomes stronger than the rest of the bone, but Hoshi loses a good twenty kilograms in the process.

The Great Tree's projection reveals a very faint smile. "Your skill at brew potions is improving at an excellent pace. If you keep going like this, you will concocting pills before spring."

Aoi beams that the projection of the Great Tree. "Tree-chan Master is the best teacher. Tree-chan Master teaches Aoi much better than Pervert Master."

As Aoi glances at me from the corner of her eye, probably trying to gauge my reaction, I wipe any expression off my face. "Can we wake him up?"

The Great Tree's Projection shakes its head. "Let him sleep a few hours before you move him. His healing will be complete by then. His Cultivation will break into Qi Condensation while he sleeps."

I chuckle. "If that happens, Hoshi's father might force him to go to a Cultivation College."

For Shizukana Gake, Breaking into Qi Condensation at Hoshi's age can be considered good progress, but if he had worked hard, he would be close to the peak of Qi Condensation. He simply hates Cultivating and only want to attend a common 'Engineering College in the Sengoku Empire.

Aoi grabs my hand, "Pervert Master, come see Aoi's potions. Aoi is happy to have Tree-chan Master, but Aoi wants to be with Pervert Master."

Shaking my head, I allow Aoi to lead me to a cabin next to the base of the Great Tree. As I examine it with my awareness, I find that all the vines making up the walls and roof are still alive. The cabin is a marvel of plant mastery that has to have been grown by the Great Tree.

Pulling open the cabins woven vine door, Aoi point at shelves made from more living vines. "Look. Aoi can make all kinds of potions. Tree-chan Master has taught more in a month that Aoi learned in all her time in the Academy of Magic Technology."

Aoi looks up at me and frowns. "When Aoi become strong, will Pervert Master still push Aoi away?"