Most of the components for the resurrection ritual they had already gathered, but a few important and difficult-to-come-by ones remained.
“We have five components left to acquire,” Rai said. “Immortal Dew, which can only be gathered from the leaves of one of the World Tree saplings, the offspring of the once-extant, now deceased World Tree. There are only a few World Tree sapling locations that are widely known, and all of them are in the territory of powerful people who guard them jealously, so we either need to find one that isn’t, request or purchase the right to Dew from an owner, or sneak in and steal the Dew.”
“The first one is a no,” Isa said. “We’re not spending that kind of time, right?”
“Right. So, we’ll attempt negotiations, and if that fails, we’ll steal. The second component is the Celestial Rose Blossom, which can be found in the gardens of Kemlann’s Ruler’s Tower, as well as in the depths of the Forest of Forgetfulness, where people often disappear for decades at a time with no memory of the time they lost when they finally leave. Once again, negotiation first, and only brave the forest is the negotiations fail.”
“Indeed.”
“The third component can be found in the untamed depths of the lake surrounding Waterrush, beyond its protective borders: a Soul Pearl, which is formed by Lifetrap Clams, which in turn are often eaten by a predatory fish resembling a sixty-foot-long shark known as the Terror Fish. These fish are usually solitary, but they have been known to travel in small schools of up to dozen. Hopefully, we can find the Clams, but if not, we’ll have to fight one of those Terror Fish. Your Disintegration spell should work to let us get into its stomach if need be.”
Isa nodded.
“Component number four is the bioluminescent fluid found in the glow sacks of Light Beetles, which are usually found on the peninsula that will become the jungle isles – apparently they used to be more common until they were overhunted for their glow sacks, so it make take some looking to find them. Fortunately, they are springtime bugs, so we don’t need to wait until summer or anything.
“The final component required is Mizeiya’s corpse, or what is left of it. Even just her skull is sufficient. That one will wait until we’re back in our own era, obviously.”
“So, which one are we going for first?”
“Light Beetles, then Soul Pearl, then Rose Blossom, then Dew.”
“And I’m coming too, right?” Sylvie piped up.
“Of course. Well, maybe not for the Soul Pearl or the Immortal Dew,” Isa said. “It’ll be difficult to protect you with the first and difficult to sneak with you with the second.”
“But for the other two, we definitely wouldn’t leave you behind,” Rai assured her. Sylvie smiled.
“Yi-meep,” Braveheart said.
“It might be better for you to stay with Sylvie when we go underwater,” Rai said. “It’ll be an different environment and I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
Ever since Rai had reached sixth realm and their bond had deepened, Braveheart had become more articulate. She also seemed to have perfect understanding of both languages that Rai used, and responded to her name said in either language. Rai stroked her head affectionately.
“So, you’ll be going to collect the rest of what you need for the ritual, then,” Arcanius said, appearing next to them. “In that case… take these with you.” The Archmage handed Rai two engraved platinum tablets roughly half the size of a human palm. “With these, you should be able to acquire the Immortal Dew and Celestial Rose Blossom without resorting to thievery or delving into the forest. Well, if the Rulers remember their debts, anyway.”
“Thank you, Arcanius.”
“Eh. I’m just helping out a little. I mean, it’s not like those plates will be worth much after I’m dead, so I might as well use ‘em now.”
“Thank you anyway. You’ve been a tremendous help to us already.”
“Even if you won’t give us the secrets to cultivating our qi cores and building our mana circles past sixth realm,” Isa said playfully.
“Bah. You haven’t finished my list of tasks yet.”
Rai gave him a knowing look.
“Well, I guess we should head out now,” Isa said. “No sense in delaying.” She called over the drakes. “So… how do we get there? We’re not especially close to the peninsula and we haven’t been there in this era.”
“Simple,” Arcanius said. “I’ll just scry on the Ruler, create an illusion of his surroundings, and let you teleport there. Oh, wait, it’s outside your range… I suppose I’ll teleport you there myself, then.”
“Wait, I’m not so sure that’s—”
“Greater Scrying. Okay, now everyone touch each other.” Arcanius placed his hand on Rai’s shoulder, and the others hastened to attach to Rai and the drakes. “Greater Teleportation.”
The world shifted around them. When it came back into focus a moment later, Rai winced. They had arrived in the middle of a large bedroom. A winged lion beastfolk – eagle wings, lion mane, lion tail – with a body rippling with muscles stared at them from the giant bed where he was currently entertaining three women, beastfolk of different types. All four were naked. The women let out startled screams.
“Oh, wow,” Isa said. “You’ve got even less sense of propriety than I do, Arcanius. Even I know not to barge in on people having sex.” Sylvie covered her eyes.
“Yes, well, I didn’t want to wait, and I had no idea how long it would take,” Arcanius said dismissively.
“What the hells is wrong with you, Archmage?!” the beastfolk man shouted, rising and flaring his wings. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t end your overly-long life right this very moment!”
“I’d like to see you try, overgrown brat.”
“Ruler, I deeply apologize,” Rai said, bowing. “If I had known of your current circumstances, I would have stopped him from bringing us here. …Please don’t kill us.”
“Grr… Ladies, please grab your clothes and depart,” the Ruler said. “I will make this up to you later.”
Once the women were gone and the Ruler was clothed, he addressed Arcanius.
“You better have a damn good reason for showing up like this, Arcanius,” he growled.
“It was the fastest way to teleport to your domain – scry on you and teleport. After all, these two are only sixth circle, so they can’t teleport far enough to get here from my Tower’s current location. Do you happen to have Light Beetle glow sack fluid they can have? Oh, and they want to gather some Immortal Dew as well. Rai, show him the tablet.”
Rai held up one of the platinum tablets.
“…You barged in on my private time with my harem to beg for rare alchemical ingredients?!”
“Technically, they’re not going to be used for alchemy, but for a ritual.”
“That’s not the point! What is wrong with you, old man?!”
“I probably have no more than a handful of years left; I don’t have time to be patient while you sow your wild seed.”
“You…! Boy, throw me that tablet.”
Rai tossed the tablet to the Ruler.
“With this, I owe you nothing! Understand?”
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“Of course.”
“Follow me, foolish disciples of that old idiot.”
Half an hour later, Rai had put two quart-jars of glowing yellow-green fluid in his pouch along with two two-ounce bottles full of perfectly clear liquid that had been collected from the leaves of the towering three hundred foot tall sapling of the World Tree.
“Now get out of my domain and never come back!”
-x-
Collecting the Celestial Rose Blossom from the Ruler of Kemlann was similarly easy but slightly less confrontational since they only barged in on him while he was eating rather than anything more intimate. Afterward, they returned to the Thunder Isles and waited for the next day. Rai teleported everyone other than Arcanius and the drakes to Waterrush early the next morning (they were close enough that only a single teleport was required; Rai’s current maximum distance was one thousand four hundred miles), cast an overcharged plus star-energized Telepathic Link to bind them all together for a solid eight hours (it normally lasted two hours, but star-enhancement doubled the duration and overcharging it doubled it again). Braveheart and Sylvie were given free reign to explore the city (and given some money to spend on food and souvenirs) while Rai and Isa sought out underwater exploration experts in the submerged part of the city from among the merfolk, using Isa new Waterdwell spell to swim and breathe (and speak) underwater.
“Wait, wait, wait,” a merwoman said, holding up a hand. “You want… to go pearl-diving… outside the confines of the city… for a Soul Pearl.”
“That’s correct,” Rai said.
“And you want an experienced pearl hunter to guide you to the right part of the lake, with you offering to protect him from any hostile entities.”
“Correct again.”
The merwoman crossed her arms. “You’re crazy. The lake is dangerous. It’s not a place for land-dwelling races to explore.”
“Well, it’s not like we can just buy a Soul Pearl, right?” Isa pointed out.
“That’s true, but what do you need one of those for anyway?”
“A ritual. Are you sure there aren’t any pearl hunters that would be willing to take a couple sixth-tier, sixth-circle escortees hunting for a Soul Pearl?” Rai said.
“Well, you could try asking around in the Jewelry Quarter. That’s the part of the city that specializes in creating jewelry and collecting the materials for it.”
“Thank you. Can you mark it on our map?”
“Sure.”
The underwater half of the city is just as beautiful as the upper part, if not more so, Rai thought as he and Isa traversed its length. It heavily featured coral, including full buildings made of it, and plenty of fish of various sizes, shapes, and colors swam around freely, including some that appeared to be pets. The place had a much freer, more open feel than other cities, though the high population did make some parts feel a bit crowded despite its size. Artificially generated fast-moving currents served the same function as roads, enabling people to move through the city more quickly, while vast open spaces devoid of buildings and filled with plants served as parks. Rai witnessed performers dancing and doing acrobatic tricks.
Eventually, they reached the Jewelry Quarter. After asking around for several hours, they finally found someone willing to do the job. He was an older merman with a slight list to his swimming, but the gray-haired and teal-scaled man came highly recommended as an expert at finding rare valuable objects of natural origin in the lake outside the city’s barrier.
“I’ll do it, but not for free,” he said, chewing on a piece of freshwater “seaweed.” “I want a Soul Pearl myself. So here’s the deal: we do this until we find two Soul Pearls, and I get one. If we only find one, it’s mine, but I’ll take you out again tomorrow for no extra charge.”
“That sounds—” Isa began dismissively.
“—Fair,” Rai interrupted. “Can we leave immediately?”
“Of course.”
“Why’d you agree to that?” Isa said quietly as they followed the merman to a spot in the barrier where a magic device could create a hole for them to exit through.
“Because I checked how expensive they are, and it’s the best deal we’re likely to get. They’re fairly rare, but they’re absurdly hard to come buy because they’re bought up by the wealthy, who are generally the only ones who can afford them. We have enough money to buy one, but they only go up at auctions, not for regular sale.”
“Going out again, Old Timer?” the young merman manning the large vertical circular device right next to the swift-flowing barrier. “Oh? Taking some land-dwellers?”
“That’s right. Hunting for Soul Pearls!”
“When was the last time you brought back one of those? Three years ago?”
“Well, they do take decades to form.”
The youth pulled a lever, and the device began to hum. A circular section behind the device suddenly changed direction; instead of going from right to left, in now flowed from in to out.
“Stay safe out there.”
“Yeah, we’ll do our best.”
With that, the three of them swam through the device and shot through the barrier into the lake beyond.
-x-
“Little girl, shouldn’t you be with your momma?” A thuggish-looking man said to Sylvie. His two companions laughed.
“Let me through,” Sylvie demanded.
“Now, why would we do that? You have a pretty rare-looking beast on your head, and I think we could make some good money selling that to an aristocrat-type. Hand it over and we’ll let you past.”
“Actually,” one of the other men said, “those look like pretty expensive clothes. You got rich parents, kid?”
“I don’t have any parents, but my guardians will kill you if you hurt me.”
“Guardians? So, some aristocratic orphan?”
“Mister Rai and Miss Isa are powerful mages and warriors! I wouldn’t cross them if I were you!”
“So where are they now, letting their charge wander around the city alone?”
“I’m not alone! Braveheart is with me!”
“Is that the name of your pet?”
“Yi-meep!” Braveheart said indignantly.
“She’s not a pet! She’s Mister Rai’s familiar! And she’s strong!”
The men burst into laughter. “Strong? That thing? No way.”
“Meep!”
The first man reached for Braveheart.
A fan-like blast of lightning shot out from the carbuncle, catching all three of the men, who cried out in surprise and pain.
“Damn! That fucking hurt! You brat!”
“What’s going on over there?!”
“Oh, shit, it’s the watch!”
The men fled, and moments later a man in armor approached.
“What happened?” he asked. “I saw a flash of lightning magic.”
“These men were going to steal Braveheart and kidnap me, but Braveheart attacked them. They ran away when they heard you coming,” Sylvie explained.
“That beast is Braveheart?”
Sylvie nodded.
“I see… a magic beast. Wearing a tiara… is it a mage’s familiar?”
“Yes, sir. Mister Rai left her with me to protect me while he and Miss Isa went to find a Soul Pearl.”
The man blinked. “A Soul Pearl… you don’t mean they went to hunt for one themselves?”
Sylvie nodded again.
“Er… and this Mister Rai and Miss Isa…”
“They’re my guardians,” Sylvie said proudly. “They’re sixth realm!”
“Realm?”
“Circle and tier,” Sylvie said as though it were obvious.
“Combat artists and mages of the sixth… you have powerful guardians. I suppose it’s no wonder that a familiar of theirs would be capable of casting spells on its own. Well… you be careful, and just make sure not to attack anyone unless you have no other choice.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Yi-meep!”
After the watchman left, Sylvie took Braveheart in her hands and said, “We should find some gifts for Mister Rai and Miss Isa.”
Sylvie gave an exasperated sigh.
A sense of amusement from Rai came through the link.
-x-
Isa pried open the giant clam – easily big enough for one of them to fit inside – with her halberd, then used the weapon to keep it open, the weapon easily withstanding the incredible force the clam was exerting. This was the twelfth clam she had opened, and while they had encountered two other pearls, neither was a Soul Pearl… or particularly spherical. This time, however, she revealed a pink pearl that seemed to gleam under the magical floating lights used to illuminate the dark depths – a perfectly spherical pearl roughly three inches in diameter.
“That’s it!” the merman cheered. “A Soul Pearl!” He swam inside, grabbed the pearl, and swam back out. “The first one is mine, as agreed. You’ll get the second one.”
Isa pulled her weapon free and the clam snapped shut with a loud noise.
“Wait… something’s coming!” the merman said, fear tinging his voice.
Isa looked up. A massive fish – easily five dozen feet long – swam past. Then another, and another. She spread her lights around, and Rai did the same, illuminating a larger area. The sharklike fish turned around, spread out, and surrounded them, slowly swimming closer.
“Three Terror Fish?! We’re dead…”
“Overcharged Star-Enhanced Spell: Disintegration!”
Twin green-black beams shot out from her claws in different directions, striking two of the fish. In an instant, they turned into clouds of floating dust. Several objects dropped out of the dust toward the lakebed.
Rai turned toward the final one as it rushed toward them.
“Overcharged Star-Enhanced Spell: Chain Lightning!”
Lightning arced from his hand to the fish, killing it instantly.
“…What the hells. That is not the power of sixth circle mages.”
“We’re a bit stronger than most,” Isa said. “Now, lets see what fell out of the disintegrated ones.”
Searching the lakebed, Isa found another pearl.
“Is that a Soul Pearl?” she said, swimming up to it. Taking the lavender-colored five-inch-diameter pearl in hand, she examined it. “It looks different…”
“That’s a Soul Pearl, all right,” the merman said. “I’ve never seen one that big, though. They usually top out at about halfway between the size of mine and yours. The color’s rare, but not unheard of – basically, yours is of a higher grade than mine.”
“Nice. Hopefully the ritual doesn’t use it up,” Isa said. “I’d love to have it as a trophy.”
“Don’t get your hopes up.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Let’s get back.”