Chapter 889: CKA: Freezing Mutations
“RARGH!”
“OOK-EEEE!”
In a shallow pool of boiling water, surrounded by frozen mountains, the Raging Storm Yeti and Steel-Plated Macaque Kong had been fighting for what felt like hours to them at this point.
For decades, these two bestial lords had kept to themselves.
The Raging Storm Yeti kept his kind, the Snow Yetis, hidden away in the snowy mountain tops, while the Steel-Plated Macaque Kong stayed in the hot springs at the foot of the mountains with his kin, the Iron-Capped Macaques. While the two species weren’t exactly friends with each other or mortal enemies, the two beasts knew better than to just rip each other to shreds for no reason. They were both rather content with just staying in their respective biomes and simply live in peace.
But then…a reason appeared.
Neither side could really remember how it happened or why it happened, but a strange looking stone had appeared out of nowhere, quite literally manifesting in the middle of the biggest hot spring in the area.
The next thing anybody knew, the hot spring pools began to expand.
Slowly but surely, the territory of the Iron-Capped Macques began to spread further and further as the number of hot springs that were rich in aether began to appear more and more numerous.
The Steel-Plated Macaque Kong and his pack of Iron-Capped Macaques were overjoyed at this steady expansion. No longer was space going to be an issue, private and communal baths for all members of their group and then some.
However, the Snow Yetis saw this expansion as being a bane rather than a boon.
As more and more of these unnatural hot springs appeared over time, the hot vapors produced by them travelled upward and slowly began to warm and melt the snow further and further up the mountains.
The Snow Yetis didn’t notice this change at first, snowfall on the mountain was one of those things that varied from year to year after all. But then…they noticed how things kept getting smaller and smaller over time.
It had eventually gotten to the point that the Snow Yeti has lost over fifteen percent of their original territory, due to all the snow melting and becoming new hot springs for the Iron-Capped Macaques.
In other words, unless the Snow Yetis managed to steal away that accursed teapot from the Iron-Capped Macaques, their entire way of life would melt away just like the snow itself.
As such, in a desperate bid for survival, or perhaps to convert the stone’s original power to do the opposite of whatever it was doing now, the Snow Yetis launched a war against the Iron-Capped Macaques, one that had finally culminated into a final showdown between the respective leaders of each pack.
Depending on how this battle ended, the mountain range would end up one of two ways.
On one hand, it would become a temperate, almost tropical, haven of hot springs, where the Iron-Capped Macaques would be the dominant species for miles and miles on end.
On the other, the mountains would become even more frigid than how they originally were, a stomping ground for the Snow Yetis, with all others becoming their prey.
That being said…these were the only conclusions that would occur…if there weren’t a third party interested in making sure that neither side won, and that the teapot was under their control.
________Meanwhile, as the primates battled to the death…______
‘So…you’re the reason why father managed to break through into becoming an Aether Lord?’
[More or less. He already had the accumulation built-up, he just…locked himself behind a wall of emotions. I just gave him the push he needed to have breakthrough. Literally and figuratively.]
‘I see…that does explain why he’s been more talkative these past few weeks…so is the fact that I haven’t broken through to Grandmaster, after you got inside my head, is due to…’
[You haven’t reached your limit, if that’s what you’re asking. You just need a little more time.]
‘Damn. Seriously?’
[Well…that and I’m the wrong pusher for your breakthrough. You already got claimed by someone else.]
‘Beg pardon?’
[Don’t worry about it.]
…
“Father…how are you feeling?”
“Good, just…I think I understand how my father, your grandfather, managed to break through after being possessed by…what I’m still hoping is some kind of puppet.”
“The last we checked, it was a puppet, but that Zhen Liu’s master was…weird…about them. Like they were aether puppets with a little something extra added.”
“I will not lie brother, I was initially jealous of you volunteering before I did, but now…not so much.”
“Gee, thanks Xiao Ye…”
Out of the group of four Zhen Clan warriors, Zhen Jin had decided to be the one to go up to bat and get empowered by Zhen Liu’s weird “puppet” thing.
Granted the feelings produced from undergoing such a procedure gave Zhen Jin a small twinge of [Regret]…then again, that might’ve been the point.
As Zhen Jin readjusted to his newly boosted power, he decided to practice Zhen Liu’s proposed plan before performing it on a larger scale.
Out of habit though, as he generated an icy mist with one hand hand, he reached for his pouch of aether plant seeds with his other. More specifically, he was searching for the seeds of a type of smoke-screen producing flower known as [Smoke Pollen Puffs].
“Okay, so just judging by my current output, it’s gonna take me a while to produce that much icy mist to-Ah!”
“Huh?!”
“Father, what’s wrong?”
“I’m not entirely sure but I think I just got zapped by my own seeds? What the…”
Confused by the sudden stinging pain at the tip of his fingers, Zhen Jin grabbed his pouch of aether plant seeds and took a closer look at it’s contents.
As soon as he opened the pouch he noticed a strangely cold aura floating out of it.
“What the…”
Peering inside of the bag, he found that the source of the cold aura was the [Smoke Pollen Puffs] seeds that he was about to grab out of habit.
Although…they didn’t look like any [Smoke Pollen Puffs] seeds he cultivated before.
“Father…when did you add new seeds to your collection?”
“I…didn’t…”
“Huh…”
“Let me see something, really quickly…”
For starters, they were a frosty light blue in comparison to the greyish black of the usual [Smoke Pollen Puffs] seeds he handled before.
Second, and probably more importantly, when Zhen Jin experimentally empowered and tossed down one of the seeds, it didn’t grow into a [Smoke Pollen Puff]. Instead, it grew into something, very similar looking but with a noticeably different effect.
“Huh…well that’s convenient.”
“Is it spitting out a cold…fog?”
“A very cold fog, yes.”
Normally, a [Smoke Pollen Puff] flower would look red, puffy and spew out a large black smokescreen that just so happened to be pollen as well.
This all natural smoke screen was surprisingly effective in deterring beast and warrior alike, due to the combination of eye stinging smoke and nose stuffing pollen. Zhen Jin had made use of this plant for a number of years, especially when dealing with aether beasts that were more brawn than brain.
These mutated ones though were still puffy, but had a dark blue coloration akin to a glacier. Additionally, instead of spewing out a singular black cloud of smoke-like pollen, the flower was releasing a steady stream of polar fog that made everyone present feel as if they were standing in the middle of an artic desert…which was surprising because they were standing next to at least four to five hot spring pools that were making the area around them warm and a little muggy.
At the sight, and realization, of these icy fog producing version of his [Smoke Pollen Puffs], the gears in Zhen Jin’s mind began to turn as a thoughtful look appeared on his face. It was a face that his brother, Zhen Ye recognized.
“Oh no, I know that look.”
“Huh?”
“What do you mean, Uncle?”
“Back when we were about your age, maybe younger, Zhen Jin was a bit of a troublemaker. Nothing too serious, but he had a perchance for playing pranks that would ranged from annoying to surprisingly clever. That trait kind of evolved as we got older to him being a dangerously smart trickster type.”
“Oh.”
“Really?”
“Yup,” Zhen Jin answered his son. “And it’s high time I bring back some of those old tricks and let the chips fall where they may.”
“What?”
Not addressing his son directly yet, Zhen Jin quickly counted up the number of, what he was now calling [Fog Spout Puff] seeds, he had after the initial test. He placed a few back in the bag so that he could cultivate them later, leaving six out seeds so that they could be used for this moment.
Additionally, he carefully dug up the first [Fog Spout Puff] he planted and placed the grown flower on his belt.
After doing so, he turned towards his brother, son and nephew.
“Okay, everybody. New plan.”
…
[Well…that was unexpected…]
