Stepping into the gate was like stepping into a liquid rainbow, and when they came out again, they were inside of an aurora. The sky here was a wreath of mystic seasons that bled into the landscape on the horizon so that there was no solid distinction between them. Sunwhisper, Janna, and the beasts found themselves in a lush meadow. The air was rich with the scent of strange flowers, and the ground was soft and springy beneath their feet.

Behind them, the world seemed to end with the gate. Under the arch, they could see Yuyu and Remuru standing where they had been left, engaged in conversation. The image was distorted, as if they were viewing it from underwater, and when either of the pair moved, the motion left behind a trail of afterimages that was slow to dissipate.

This was less disturbing than what was on either side of the arch. For as far as any of them could see, the aurora fell down in a cataract of colored light, severing the Hidden Valley from the rest of the world.

The Hidden Valley was a Poketto Sunpo, a place that was neither quite in nor out of Hollow. It had been created from a naturally occurring high-magic zone by cultivators of an ancient time and claimed by the Azai some centuries ago during a clan war.

The mana here was so dense that simply engaging in a channeling meditation in this environment was almost as effective as processing raw Soma. Feeling the energy that hung as thick as a fog in the air, standing under an unfamiliar sky, Janna was tempted to do just that.

But they had discussed their options on the journey, and they knew that Yuyu would consider such a use of her token to be a loss, only increasing their debt to her. The clan token was coded with an allowance for who could enter the Hidden Valley in her place. It was meant for her personal use or someone at her level, and Sunwhisper and his companions all together added up to the value of one cultivator slightly beneath her.

She could have entered on her own, or they in her place, but they could not go together. That meant she was giving up her only opportunity to utilize the high-magic zone for herself for an entire year to ensure their rapid advancement.

Sunwhisper had an unerring sense of time, so he could track the progress of the hour easily enough, but they had also been provided with a small cabochon that Janna wore like a charm around her neck. The crystal had been faceted with a precise error so that it could only contain a small amount of mana, and that mana leaked from the gem at a predictable rate.

When fully charged, it would retain its glow for just under an hour, slowly fading with the passing minutes. A very expensive hourglass, but one that was, in Sunwhisper’s estimation, as reliable as an atomic clock.

Ogumo skittered excitedly around the party. "Tastes…there are so many…" Its voice was the product of rasping hairs and clicking mouthparts, something Janna had initially found to be disturbing, but had grown accustomed to.

Having a giant, hairy spider in the group had been nerve racking at first, especially when he came out of the corner of her vision, or rushed at her, which it seemed to enjoy doing. It was hard not to have a gut reaction to the sight. Ogumo had been nothing but companionable, however, and she was getting better at suppressing her fight or flight response to his antics.

"Lady Makoto said there was a path through the forest that would take us to a patch of Seishin grass," she said. The meadow was surrounded by trees. Tall and sturdy, their branches adorned with delicate pink and purple flowers that glowed with an otherworldly light, they were probably the source of the floral scents, though they belonged to no species any of them could have named.

It didn’t matter what the flowers were, exactly, because they weren’t allowed to harvest anything aside from the grass. There was a gap in the trees that could be charitably referred to as a path, and the party wasted no time in setting off.

Atop the gate, the pearl had become a stone eye that adjusted itself in its setting to follow them as they proceeded deeper into the Hidden Valley.

As they journeyed on, the landscape underwent dramatic shifts around them. One moment they were walking through a dense forest, the trees tall and sturdy and the air filled with the sweet scent of flowers. The next moment they were crossing a wide, open plain, the grassy expanse stretching out before them as far as the eye could see. The air was ripe with the tang of mana, and the ground seemed to pulsate with energy beneath their feet.

"Is this the Seishin?" Sunwhisper asked. The grass grew in clumps, with long, slender leaves that were dark green with lightly colored bands along their length.

"It matches the stories," Janna said. She had never seen a sacred plant other than the Soma stalks that were the livelihood of her village, but they were the subject of much discussion with her mother, who had trained her in the medicinal arts as far as she knew them.

Karasu had been circling above, but she landed amid one of the tufts and began testing the stalks with her beak.

"Time wasting," she croaked, "what we can take, we take."

By volume, Seishin grass was far less rich than Soma, but the field seemed to go on forever, and Sunwhisper estimated they had about a quarter of an hour to stuff as much as they could into their packs before they would have to be on the move again.

Starscream had been resting patiently in his chest since they had come within sight of the Hidden Valley and its guardian. The scarf disguised him as a part of Sunwhisper’s body to all but the most perspicacious and powerful cultivators, but that facade would be ruined if he climbed out of his partner’s chest compartment to help.

{Time to power up?} While he was plugged into Sunwhisper, they could communicate silently, and at the speed of thought. But he was otherwise voiceless.

They could share skills, mana, and cultivation techniques, which allowed Sunwhisper to compete with pure artists far above his level. He activated Xanthous Ascendancy, and gold mana rushed through their meridians to burn in Sunwhisper’s eyes and roll across his skin as a tender flame.

His physical statistics multiplied according to his passenger’s dao rating, and in a moment more, he became a whirlwind ripping through the field, a demon inexplicably intent on harvesting grass with superhuman alacrity.

Janna set about filling her own sack while Karasu and Ogumo simply nibbled as they chose. Ogumo wasn’t well equipped to chew vegetables, so instead he used his mandibles to gather up clumps of grass in his maw before slathering them with venom to begin the process of digestion before choking it down in gobs.

Karasu snipped stalks with her beak and let them fall for Janna to collect. She could only eat the grass by biting off small segments, and she knew better than Ogumo that eating it raw was the least effective means of utilizing the mana the vegetable contained.

Sunwhisper was a blur of motion, filling pack after pack until they had no more bags to fill. Time was ticking away in his internal monitor, and he knew they needed to return, but the fields stretched on before them, and the temptation to remain as long as they possibly could was great.

Suddenly, the kaleidoscope of the sky split open, and shapes of magic like butterflies flooded the field in an endless wave. Their wingtips were flames, and they left behind glowing trails as they flew. They seemed to dance through the air, their movements graceful and hypnotic, and Janna stopped to watch them, entranced.

Ogumo tried to catch a few in his mouth, forgetting the warnings, but they would not be caught. They were not physical creatures at all, merely an imitation of life, and they reminded Sunwhisper that they were all beyond their depth in this place.

He let the golden aura of Xanthous ascendancy dissipate, and called to the others to return with him, but they did not respond.

Karasu had settled on one of the higher tussocks, folded her wings and tucked her head into her breast. Ogumo was stumbling confusedly, his eight legs losing their coordination, culminating in a comedic pratfall as he tried to return to Sunwhisper’s side.

Janna was standing with her eyes closed, swaying slightly on her feet. The butterflies were gone, but their glittering trails were still hanging in the air.

Sunwhisper took a deep breath, tasting the dust that had been left behind by their wings. It was bitter, but that didn’t mean much to him, the nanofactory in his belly could metabolize almost anything. As a Mechanoborg Ne Plus Ultra, his artificial physiology simply ignored most poisons and diseases, as he didn’t have the biological vulnerabilities such maladies had developed to latch onto.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Even the most toxic substances could be broken down by his nanites that circulated in the emulsive fluid that served as his blood.

(Looks like we’ve got a problem.)

{Very astute.}

Sunwhisper went to Janna and lightly placed his hand on her cheek. Her eyes fluttered, but she didn’t acknowledge him.

"We have to go," he said.

There was no response. He was already burdened by enough Seishin grass that he looked like an old tortoise, but he dropped all his packs and drew on Starscream’s flesh aspected techniques to spin strong, sticky webbing from his hands and use it to quickly combine all of the sacks into a single large pad.

(Your thoughts here?)

{We don’t have time to nurse them. We still have to visit the Pool of Ten Thousand Laughing Tears.}

(What a name. Has to be something lost in translation.)

Karasu was completely unresisting when he webbed her onto the back of the grass pad. Janna mumbled incoherently but was otherwise easy to handle. The two of them took up all of the available space, so Sunwhisper spent a few more moments fashioning straps for his shoulders before reactivating Xanthous Ascendancy and throwing the makeshift pack, companions included, onto his back.

Ogumo, perhaps because his own physiology was so different from the others, was not as far gone.

"Can you follow?" Sunwhisper asked, but the spider had lost the fine control required to replicate human speech, so his response came out as an uncomfortable screech. Instead of Web of a Thousand Grasping Hands, Sunwhisper switched to Web of the Genius Architect, which was stronger and less sticky, fashioning a leash so he could pull Ogumo behind him.

They had planned their route so that their return would be on a less direct path that allowed for a quick stop at the pool. Yuyu certainly could have collected the grass herself, but as no one was allowed to take more from the pool than they could drink, Sunwhisper and his companions had to enter the Poketto Sunpo themselves to reap its benefits. While they still had to traverse the forest, the way to the pool had been marked with the placement of flat white stones at even intervals.

It was the same variety of stone that the gate was made of, an ancient array that the beasts of this realm could not or would not alter.

While on the move, Sunwhisper partitioned his mind in such a way that he could practice his channeling meditation, the Path of the Kingdom of Wild Hearts, as he ran. The aura that surrounded them was so rich it was like a drink, and he used it to fill his core and that of his passenger, allowing them to maintain Xanthous Ascendancy without fear of draining their combined spirits.

Though they had lost valuable time strapping everyone and everything together, using the ascendancy technique made him faster alone than they had been as a party, even with the added weight. Janna and the raven and the grass together felt little heavier than a stiff cloak, and the biggest problem was avoiding getting them caught on branches or stuck in areas where the trees grew too close together for the pack to pass.

Ogumo didn’t seem to mind being leashed. He was still having trouble coordinating his limbs, but he was a jumping spider, so rather than trying to run along behind Sunwhisper at the same pace, he hopped ahead as soon as he began to feel the leash grow taut.

So far, he had only crashed into a handful of tree limbs and shrubs, and the recoveries had been swift.

By the time they reached the pool, Sunwhisper estimated they had about ten minutes left before their deadline. The remaining distance back to the gate would require at least eight.

(The name is starting to make sense to me now.)

The pool was by a cliff, situated beneath a fall of water that created a spray of droplets that hung in the air via some quirk of local gravity. The sound of the water was uncannily similar to the laughter of children, so much so that Sunwhisper felt the need to scan the area for where else the sound might be coming from.

There was nothing but the pool.

He lowered his pack next to the water and, for the sake of efficiency, dunked his face in rather than bothering to cup his hands. As soon as the water touched his skin, he felt the tingle of pure mana. It wasn’t quite like anything he had experienced before, because this water had no color aspect at all. It had never occurred to him that there was such a thing as colorless mana, or rather, he had assumed that white mana fit that description, but here was an example of a mana source that could be absorbed equally well by a cultivator of any aspect.

He took a long drink, as he was drinking for two. As long as Starscream was plugged in, they shared meridians, and as the energy was processed, they could both share in the reward. Already he could feel the water having an effect on his core, giving him a soft, warm, expansive feeling. Several notifications pinged in his head at the same time, and the voice of the system reviewed them for him in snippets.

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Superior Spirit Water: Drinking this will grant a temporary boost to your channeling capacity, and if properly processed, the boost can become permanent.

Channeling efficiency +10%

Quest Update — The Hidden Valley

Your companions have succumbed to a mysterious sleeping sickness. Bring them to safety. You have ten minutes remaining to complete this quest.

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When he’d drunk as much as he could, he brought a little water to Janna and dribbled it over her lips. She responded instinctively, and her eyes fluttered open at the taste, but there was still no awareness in them.

He did the same thing for Karasu, and Ogumo helped himself to the pool, slurping noisily.

"Not asleep yet? You must be stronger than you look." Sunwhisper had been preparing to pick everyone up again and jog back to the gate, but at the sound of the unknown voice he spun on his heel to face the trees behind him, his spear in his hand and already extended.

A pair of chimeras had padded out of the foliage a dozen yards away. They had faces like monkeys, the bodies of raccoons, and long, scaly tails.

"What are you?" Sunwhisper demanded.

(Aside from ugly.)

"You don’t know us?" The first beast looked to its companion with an expression of exaggerated horror. "They’ll let anyone in here these days, won’t they?"

"Anyone," his companion agreed. "Look, this one has two stars, but his friends are weaker."

"Weaker and sleeping."

"We will be gone soon," Sunwhisper said, quickly assessing the pair. They weren’t obviously afraid of him, but they hadn’t attacked when his back was turned, and that suggested they weren’t sure how much of a threat he posed either. The comment about not being asleep; these were scavengers, preying on those who succumbed to the butterflies. They might not be eager for a direct confrontation.

"Allow us to pass, and there will be no need for me to harm you." Golden aura still wrapped his limbs and shone from his eyes. It cost more to activate Xanthous Ascendancy than to maintain it, so he hadn’t dropped it again when arriving at the pool, and now he was glad he hadn’t. Without the technique bolstering his statistics, he would have been a very soft target for these beasts, and they might have attacked already.

The chimera bared their teeth at him, and more shapes materialized out of the thickness of the trees.

"You cultivators are all the same, you come into our home, our place, and take whatever you like. You act as if it is a privilege to give you everything we have, to let you hunt us. But you are not a hunter, are you?"

"I did not come here to hunt, but if you force my hand, I can become a hunter."

(Very manly.)

{Thank you, I am doing my best.}

(The clock is ticking, kid.)

{I am aware.}

(Think we have time to murder them?)

The first chimera licked its lips, gauging the confidence of his opponent. There were only two stars on the golden warrior’s arm, but there was also the spider to consider, and there was no stink of fear on them. The cultivator smelled very strange. The scent of his mana was not overwhelming, but whatever was beneath it was not the usual human stench. Humans always smelled like whatever they were feeling, eagerness and fear and anger all wrapped together, and they could school their faces, keep the quaver from their voice, but they could do nothing about the odors they produced. At least, a two-star couldn’t.

This man smelled wrong. If he smelled like anything, it was a well-oiled sword. That wasn’t quite right either.

The beast barked a warning at its companion, and they both stalked back under the cover of the trees. The rest of the pack dispersed, disappointed, but trusting in the judgment of their alpha.

(That was convenient.)

Sunwhisper gave a little more water to Janna before shouldering his oversized pack once more and tugging on Ogumo’s leash.

They had no time to wonder about what had occurred. The light of the cabochon around Janna’s neck was nearly gone.

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Quest Alert — The Hidden Valley

‎Congratulations! You have cleared the Hidden Valley stage.

You have gained Seishin Grass : A sacred plant common to high-magic zones, Seishin Grass is packed with mana. A necessary ingredient in many low to mid-grade elixirs, it has served as a foundation for the advancement of countless cultivators before you, but it must be heavily processed to be properly utilized.

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