Conflict
'This can turn into a… very thin crystal…' Heian Ciemnosc thought as his Spirit Sense was drawn in. He could easily retain his Spirit Sense on the spot, and it wouldn't be drawn to the grains, but if it was weaker, he might've momentarily lost consciousness. This was a considerable danger. Especially since Heian Ciemnosc's Spirit Sense was only bested by existences and well above beings.
Heian Ciemnosc smiled thinly. Although these things could absorb Spirit Sense like a black hole, where only existences were against it, he felt a vibration when sending his Spirit Sense through it to scan its composition. Meaning, if an existence probed with their Spirit Sense, its surroundings would tremble along with anything that it was attached to.
In this case, Heian Ciemnosc continued testing the grains as his overly pale skin trembled or his clothes vibrated. Sara’s sensing wasn’t detected by it, but it was to be expected. Finally, Heian Ciemnosc stood up and looked around, casually dropping the brown, black dirt on the floor.
He didn’t need to commit the dirt’s image to memory because it wasn’t the dirt that was something else, or a few grains of it, but a ‘mutation’ occurring in nature. This occurrence wasn’t like a mix of happenings giving birth to such strange material, but more like the surrounding nature changed the properties of the dirt, mud, and some stone underneath.
In just the first 10 meters beneath the surface, 250 km around Heian Ciemnosc were filled with this intricate phenomenon. These dirt grains or even stones with a white glow contouring them were infinitely special, and they seemed recently ‘formed’. It looked more like a work of effort that took who knows how many years to establish and has finally begun spreading since about a few hundred years ago.
“Hmph,” Heian Ciemnosc grinned from the left corner of his mouth before turning around. Evans dug some dirt and looked at it before falling unconscious like a drop dead bird. Heian Ciemnosc patted the fella, sent Spirit Sense into him, and woke him up. Then they flew northwards.
Heian Ciemnosc decided to name this material Pyrsna. It contained resilient, tough properties if processed well, but it could have flexibility even if turned into crystal, glass, or thin windows like a cicada’s wings. It gave Heian Ciemnosc many ideas, and making extra window protection for the Sect’s vehicles was just one of them. He could make such thin glass out of these for basically any purpose.
… After flying for half an hour, Heian Ciemnosc and Evans arrived at the northern central shore. There, he looked at the sea for a little while with Evans by his side, no longer curious and well-behaved. Heian Ciemnosc blinked before lowering his gaze, where the yellow sand became wet and dry with the calm waves.
On a spot indiscernible to the naked eye but clear in a keen cultivator’s eyes like Heian Ciemnosc, a small trace of dark gray-pink clay-like sand avoided becoming wet despite some seawater constantly seeping underneath and in between.
The sand was very solid-looking, but Heian Ciemnosc felt he could easily move a piece of half a square meter box if he just placed his hand into it and retrieved it with a claw stance. Without spending more time thinking, he floated downwards and crouched.
Heian Ciemnosc pinched a little ball out of the dark gray-pink and studied it before putting it against his forearm and pressing it hard on his skin. The little ball crumbled and turned to dust, flying through the air. As Heian Ciemnosc didn’t keep the water from touching him, he commanded the wind to return the dusted little ball back to his fingers. It was perfectly regenerated, with not a single nanometer missing. However, it didn’t become stronger or weaker.
‘Not bad. This can be used as a certain type of ammunition. Exactly what anyone in the world thirsts for but cannot find an actually available method for.’ Heian Ciemnosc stood up and let the little ball reincorporate back into the small spot of dark gray-pink sand. The ball seamlessly merged, seemingly having never been taken away from its home.
Heian Ciemnosc nodded and walked to Evans, who kept his neck stiff and his attention on the surroundings. Heian Ciemnosc stopped before Evans, placed his left arm on his feathers, and slightly caressed them while staring at the ocean. His darkest eyes suddenly wandered downward before immediately turning around to hop onto Evans’s back.
… Next, Heian Ciemnosc hid himself with just a Spirit Sense barrier around their bodies. With his cultivation base, the only thing he had to worry about was if anyone from the core mainland came or further away from the rest of the Authoritarian Summit Divine Kingdom. Especially the other ⅔s of the Kingdom.
Now, though, he could do as he wished. He flew to the western forest’s center, close to the largest territory’s slightly expanded borders, and dove with Evans’s isolation of his surroundings. They dug for a couple of hundred kilometers before finally finding what had piqued his curiosity.
Evans stopped in a nose-diving position, shutting his eyes and keeping his senses on his body. Heian Ciemnosc ignored the coward, who had too many families not to die and leave alone, and investigated a small ‘boulder’ a few meters before Evans.
Its rough-shaped outlined structure was a meter and a half, much smaller than Heian Ciemnosc, who walked to it and placed his palms atop and above it with ease. It was seemingly soaring upwards, with Evans and Heian Ciemnosc facing downwards.
When Heian Ciemnosc touched this ore, which was black and seemed to have ‘moving life’ inside it but was just its aesthetics, he immediately felt the insanely decent properties comprising it. He nodded and closed his eyes to feel its nature. He was surprised and became somewhat exhilarated.
This was a metal that extended everywhere, not just through the forests, tens of thousands of kilometers below the surface, but to the rest of the Vrida Region. It was so much in quantity that anyone would’ve felt their minds going crazy for a few weeks.
Heian Ciemnosc, however, dusted his palms and nodded at the ore once again. Just this little piece before him could make dozens of land forces’ war instruments he designed for the Sect, let alone everything below the Vrida Region’s surface.
However, it was well hidden. If it wasn’t for Heian Ciemnosc using nature reading to immediately see through every little ‘history’ this ore had, he would’ve needed to mine half of it down to realize how extensive it was. Furthermore, Heian Ciemnosc still felt there was more below.
‘I’ll name you Kalavera. It’s something to thank that First Disciple of my Sect,’ Heian Ciemnosc said as he returned to Evans. Thus, the official metal for the Sect’s war instruments, ammunition, weaponry, and whatnot was baptized.
Heian Ciemnosc walked to Evans and patted his head. They then flew outside and went to the eastern forest to confirm the same thing. Afterwards, they flew to the center of the eastern forest, where Heian Ciemnosc intricately looked for something until he found it. It was a little sapling that was far from any other tree but not within a clearing, as if this sapling was being mistreated by bully trees.
It looked like a miniature tree, with transparent, orange-metallic, dull red, and dull pink energy leaves. It looked as if it had trouble developing, and there was a deficiency of something that would cause it to die early without accomplishing any notable growth. Its tiny branch for a trunk was weaker than even ordinary tree saplings.
“Hey fella, are you content to see me now? Mn, oh.” Heian Ciemnosc crouched and talked to the tiny sapling, whose energy leaves rippled a little from their tips to their edges. Heian Ciemnosc scratched its ‘head’ with his right index finger before a drop of his dark blood essence fell on it.
The tree trembled before becoming stiff. Then its leaves bent, as if looking up at him. Heian Ciemnosc nodded a bit towards it and calmly said before standing up, “Share it with your brothers and sisters. Don’t waste more time trying to survive longer by taking turns on the surface before your demise. Wait a few more years and I’ll take you in.”
With that, Heian Ciemnosc left with Evans. The tree remained stiff, but it now slightly trembled as the dark blood essence did unthinkable things to itself.
Heian Ciemnosc and Evans flew further to the north after Heian Ciemnosc caught the ‘emergence’ of another thing, just in time to fuel his exploration desires. Evans landed on the tranquil ocean and remained still, letting his legs pedal without moving his body. He took a bath while Heian Ciemnosc submerged half his body in the water in front of a strange occurrence. It was like a potent hose shooting liquid from far below the water’s surface.
A small stain, barely 3 adults' hands in diameter, with irregular traces surpassing its perimeter, peeked from under the water’s surface. Its appearance was similar to mercury, and it seemed like a joyful poodle having fun of… ‘its’ own.
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Heian Ciemnosc looked at the strange thing for a while before poking its center with his right index finger. The same finger again. It stopped moving around, but instead of reacting as most things would, splashing or exploding a little, it adhered itself to Heian Ciemnosc’s finger, hand, and whole arm in a second.
‘It’s like a grand array formation, or grand battle array formation. It can react on its own, even if not controlled by others…’ Heian Ciemnosc thought as he sent his Spirit Sense and dark Soul through different trajectories onto the liquid on his right arm, spreading to his back and chest. ‘But this one can learn… This is a very useful property, one that usually needs several array formations to work… With it, even spaceships’ new cores can be reinvented.’
Heian Ciemnosc thought, fascinated. He then made light, hushed clicking noises with his tongue and moving lips. The liquid stopped spreading on his body, momentarily pausing. It seemed unwilling to leave Heian Ciemnosc, to which he calmly said like a cool uncle, “Mn, no- oh. Be good and tell the others I’ll give you something to work on soon. Just wait some more time before I start collecting you. I’ll send my people when it’s time; nobody else. You’ll know who they are when they appear. Be careful.”
Splaasshh… gurgle, gurgle, gurg…
The mercury-like liquid seemed unwilling still, but it still returned to the water and dove to the bottom. Heian Ciemnosc remained in the water for a few more minutes before taking off with Evans, whose eyes were already on new prey.
… After flying throughout the Vrida Region for a few more hours, Heian Ciemnosc landed somewhere near the Sect, between the mark dividing the north and the south in the west. There, Heian Ciemnosc finally investigated a natural cave with a crystal ore spreading everywhere. It was as if slime covered the entire natural cave, which was a few tens of kilometers long just near the entrance.
After finding the ‘beginning’ or end of the natural cave, Evans stopped before digging into it, as it was several tens of kilometers below the surface, and it suddenly stopped without continuing any further or higher. Heian Ciemnosc didn’t want to break it, so he used his Myriad Darkness Materialization dark dome to seamlessly move through the crystal.
It was violet and transparent. Evans didn’t come with Heian Ciemnosc and simply burrowed outside, closing his eyes to rest in the strangely peaceful and more natural surroundings than most other locations in the Vrida Region.
The crystal was absolutely fragile, breaking with just the ‘idea’ of the wind from his fingertips nearing them. It seemed neutral and impractical, but Heian Ciemnosc had an incessant calling this thing did to him, with pure energy around it reminding him of his times in the Sinvonnia Kingdom.
… After a little while, without attempting more tests to touch it, Heian Ciemnosc left the area and returned with Evans, heading to another curious source.
At the utmost central western lands, in the tiniest areas between the shores and the forest, forming a hallway prairie. The vegetation was taller and smoother. Here, the most elastic and toughest Creature’s hide in the world secretly originated. Its species had been spread outside, but not from the Vrida Region itself.
Through circumstances such as a small, slippery, slithering Creature entering a traveler’s goods or vehicle, or some eggs accidentally taken away by digging, cutting trees, and more. The Lobotum Void Serpent has been accidentally seen outside the Vrida Region. It has been brought outside, mostly used as a pet, as anyone who wanted to rear them would find their adversary or enemy wasting countless resources to assassinate those valuable Creatures.
They were not only the most Soul-cultivation related Creatures in the world; their hide was super elastic and the toughest hide across all that exists and there is. What’s more, like any other such similar Monster, Creature, or Preternatural with such properties, which could be counted with one’s hands, perhaps. The only way to acquire their hide is through their molting.
Not killing or skinning alive. Only molting. Otherwise, they become pure energy and Elemental particles. After all, besides being the toughest hide in the world, they are also resilient and strongly defensive towards all the Elements. But they don’t serve any other innate defensive or effective capability.
Only through the armor grade classifications could its toughness increase, but its ability to merge with any other clothing or armor, and even weapons and tools, was simply one of its most vital functionalities.
Yet, this day. Heian Ciemnosc casually flew towards them, identified a nest of hundreds of 1 to 5 meters long snakes underneath the mud and tall greens before landing nearby, with Evans remaining behind. Heian Ciemnosc walked forth and looked at the agitated Lobotum Void Serpents, whose leader separated from the rest and faced their family home’s invader.
“What now?” Heian Ciemnosc started a staring contest with the serpent family head before the latter dropped its guard first. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head left and right before offering his right palm to it. The Lobotum Void Serpent slithered forth and softly lowered its head onto his palm. Then, the other serpents looked at this and escaped their battling formations.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
They slithered towards Heian Ciemnosc, ignoring Evans as Heian Ciemnosc looked at their intricate bodies. Obscure purple scales and lime green stripes pattern from their heads to their tails. They have holes at their body sides, distinguishing them from the other Fauna in the world already, which are endlessly black, as if bottomless.
“Oh, good boys and girls,” Heian Ciemnosc said, patting the First Step serpents, mature, juvenile, and tiny snakes waiting around him to be petted. Heian Ciemnosc finally finished meeting each of this family’s members before facing the leader, who hadn’t moved away since the start.
“If you wish to follow me now, bring your people together. I’ll send mine to guide you to my organization. There, you can start a new future. I’ll ensure your people have the chance for anything. You’ll just have to learn to share some things.” Said Heian Ciemnosc. The Lobotum Void Serpent family head blinked its eyes before lowering its body. The others did the same, prostrating before Heian Ciemnosc.
“Well. I’ll leave for now. You won’t have to wait for long. Just hold on for a few weeks and get everyone prepared. The deal is on whether you’re leading everyone or not.” Heian Ciemnosc nodded and voiced before returning to Evans.
Evans had a few baby serpents playing with his feathers, dropping from his body and climbing back up nonstop. They slithered away after Heian Ciemnosc’s words and as he walked to a bothered Evans. Then, Heian Ciemnosc departed from the utmost central western lands.
… Finally, Heian Ciemnosc’s curiosity has nearly all been solved, with only one remaining. This was from a land in the far south, where the cities and other settlements still hadn’t seen the Forbloffende Traes Sect from up close.
They have heard about it and learned about the happenings, with their ideas mixing and their hearts changing for the better or worse about the Sect. It was people, after all. And nature was like that in the end. It wasn’t the Sect’s problem, as they were obviously gentle with the population. After all, everyone is from the same land. No one doubted this because even those ‘foreigners’ who wanted to have a go in this backwater, abandoned Region end up getting bored and leaving the drama and slow burn of the upcoming events.
Thus, Heian Ciemnosc simply walked to an abandoned Stone mine that hasn’t shown signs of regenerating even after 100,000 years since its last production. Heian Ciemnosc entered it, casually walking to the bottom floors until he found the reason why there was no regrowth.
A large, black-gray, smooth ore blocked the core bottom of the mine, where the Stones are usually initially formed. However, this ore must be at least a few Changes old, and the people of the Vrida Region had wrongly believed it to be part of the floor. At first, that might have made sense. But now, it was clearly the emergence of yet another new material, and a metal at that.
After checking its properties and gaining new ideas with the mercury-like liquid he found earlier, as this new ore had anti-explosive efficiency yet seemed to have a shorter life expectancy. Heian Ciemnosc departed, finally returning to the Sect after a long day of deciding where and when to start the second years of the Sect’s growth, probably even before the Second Step.
… Beep beep!
However, when he was a few minutes away from the Sect, deep at night, Heian Ciemnosc’s medallion sounded. He took his pitch-black, small, smooth medallion out and read the news from Pretieta. He calmly looked northwards before setting his gaze back on his Sect in the distance.
Heian Ciemnosc, as the Sect Master, sent a simple message to her. To wait for him for further instructions, since he was nearby, but to begin preparing auxiliary and soldier units alike.
When Heian Ciemnosc arrived near the Sect, the lights were lit up everywhere. Even the testing grounds were bright, with puppets standing tall and some Outer Disciples watching from afar. Heian Ciemnosc went through his barrier and became every pair of eyes’ focus as he glided towards his central cottage. Meanwhile, The Ancestor and Elder led nearly 200,000 soldier units, with over 5.3 million auxiliary units behind towards his cottage.
An hour passed, with the troops readied, waiting for their Sect Master’s instructions. Although nobody doubted him after the mini tournament that led to their growing years, they still hadn’t seen their leader wearing the aura of war.
They wondered if he’d back down, compromise, or directly seek a peaceful resolution from today's event. When they saw their Sect Master return to his lodgings, he seemed hurried.
However, inside the central cottage, Heian Ciemnosc stood before an underground level about a few hundred thousand kilometers below the surface. There, he had planted a garden, placing every bit of flora existing in the world, from ordinary to those coveted by Godly cultivators. For this, he cheated a little and kept some of his old stuff to plant them, but it was necessary.
Regardless, he implemented his 4 Spores, which he obtained before arriving to this point in time, and let the Fallen Regrowth Fireflies he obtained hundreds of years ago free in his underground garden. The latter had ensured the garden’s growth, eaten the possible parasites, and kept care of the flora exactly as Heian Ciemnosc had taught them.
After a few decades, these Fallen Regrowth Fireflies have kept this place steady and progressive, never experiencing a tiny branch or seed becoming sick or affected for more than a few minutes. Without them, Heian Ciemnosc would’ve been busy with gardening most of the time instead of spending a few weeks here every few months.
Once Heian Ciemnosc checked everything was in order and fumbled a few things, placing a few extra new flowers and tree seeds here and there, he sent Soul messages to the fireflies. Then, Heian Ciemnosc communicated with the Spores using his Spirit Sense, letting them shower the entire underground garden and its several floors with his stored dark blood essence.
As a dark mist appeared in the underground garden, moisturizing everything yet bathing them with an incredible, thrilling notion as even the dirt throbbed in excitement, Heian Ciemnosc exited the underground garden and returned to his cottage.
When he came out of the door and was watched by countless pairs of eyes before his hill and more from other cameras recording him, as intended, he stopped. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the illuminated, obscure surroundings before setting his gaze on Ancestor Pretieta.
“What is it?”
…