Chapter 929: …Encroaching Deluge.
‘Aight, so new place to mark on the maps…sure would’ve been easier if these guys turned off their privacy filters…’
‘More trouble than…wait a minute, seriously? This place is full of literal forbidden books of knowledge, the kind that would normally get a man sent to a re-education camp in a heartbeat, and yet, you’re telling me that some of my predecessors had items and secrets worst than that? What the fuck?’
=That’s just how the world be sometimes, milord. One man’s personal demons, is another’s everlasting nightmare.=
‘I guess… actually, speaking of nightmarish predecessors, Frosttusk?’
[Minn jarl, would you still like me to give you my report?]
‘Indeed.’
[Very well, I must warn you though, the report details are rather sparse and a little boring…]
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Frosttusk Report: Where there’s a will, there’s an array.
[Hmmm, it appears things haven’t changed that much since he started…but perhaps, that’s a good thing.]
After the Zhen Clan had returned to Stone Claw City with all of their treasures in tow, Hermit Zhong Wei immediately took the [Eternal Spring Calabash Tree] and got to work establishing the [Phasing Water Array] in one of the flooded caverns beneath the Zhen Clan estate.
The reason for this location was due to the array needing access to a lot of water and/or Aquarii aether, both of which were a bit difficult to acquire in the middle of a literal desert.
But, that was where the [Eternal Spring Calabash Tree] came in, or rather, all of the fruit.
By continuously plucking, cracking open and then dumping the contents into the flooded cavern, not only does this process help to raise the amount of water in the cave to a sufficient amount, but it also raised the quality of Aquarii aether within in the space.
Once it has reached a passable level, in Hermit Zhong Wei’s eyes, that was when the real work began.
“Okay, estimated time to complete this array without a hitch…four days.”
This figure sounded like a lot of of work, but for something as complex as a teleportation array, this was surprisingly fast, especially since Hermit Zhong Wei was committed on establishing this array all by his lonesome.
Not only did the ink for the array had to be made on the spot, which was a blend of crushed [Blinking Star Snail] shells, the blood of an adolescent [Abyssal Serpent] and several catties worth of [Warping Kelp], but the actual array itself was composed of about seventy-two different runes, give or take, that had to be ordered in a very specific way, or it would lead to a spatial rupture.
The end result of these ruptures were either mild explosions at best, or two way openings to S-class danger wandering ruins at worst. Granted, the chances of that latter option occurring was slim but still possible.
On top of all that though, Zhong Wei had to factor in the coordinates of the main branch’s array into the rune ordering before finishing the damn thing.
On the plus side, since he was an Aether Lord, going a few days without food, water or sleep was child’s play.
Either way, for the next few days, Hermit Zhong Wei worked in absolute silence and focus as he established the teleportation array that would allow the branch clan to connect it the main clan, without worrying about things such as travel time or costs.
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[If everything goes according to plan, which appears to be the case, then Hermit Zhong Wei should be…done in…two hours…oh damn it…,] Frosttusk tried to report but felt himself slowing down.
‘Starting to run cold again?’
[Yes…feels…like…it…]
‘Feel free to duck into the hot water reservoir.’
[Yay…]
‘Anyways, Logos, Pathos. Is there anything I should know about in regards to this…what is this array called again?’
=[Whirling Warp Array] and not really, it’s honestly kind of basic.=
‘Say what?’
=Oh…yeah…it’s not a big deal for most aether warriors since they can just coat themselves with aether, but since you can’t exactly do that without using the kaijin, well…=
‘Soggy underwear prep, got it.’
<=More or less.=>
‘Now for the final report. Spring Brawler, Razorstella. Any information on the [Star Caller’s Tomb]?’
[Well…as much as we would like to report good news and that it’s been left unchanged since your mother visited it all those decades ago, that would be lie,] Spring Brawler admitted.
‘Beg pardon?’
[Alright, there’s no good way to dance around this information,] Razorstella interjected.
‘Was that a pun?’
[I don’t think so, but regardless, we managed to learn that about twenty-ish years ago, ironically around the time you were born, something…weird impacted the site.]
‘Something weird? Weird how?’
[We’re not sure exactly, but from what we gathered, it was giant metal bird with glass wings and a golden heart.]
‘That…okay, could be a weird aether beast.’
[Possibly, but whatever the case is, a few months after that happened, some asshole calling himself the “Nightmare Lord” rolled in and claimed the place as his domain.]
‘The Nightmare Lord? Really?’
<=You really want to judge the naming sense of others?=>
‘Point taken.’
[What makes this asshole really weird though is that the rumors surrounding him mention warriors that are unlike any human, bloodliner or aetherii,] Spring Brawler continued. [Don’t want to jinx it, but…these warriors sound like us.]
‘…’
[Director?]
[Ringmaster?]
‘Logos, Pathos?’
<=Before you ask us, we can't determine anything concrete until we can get visual, possibly physical confirmation. But...if this is called Nightmare Lord somehow managed to get his hand on her inheritance...it's not impossible for them to make kaijin, or at least...something similar.=>
‘You mean another Grub situation?’
=Possibly.=
‘Huh?’
________________________________________
“Xiao Liu, there you are!”
“Huh? Oh! Hey, Jin Fang. Give me one second…”
At a moment of impeccable timing, Jin Fang had arrived just as Zhen Liu finished building the last of the mundane showers meant for actual cleaning.
Well, just as he finished directing the zakos to do it for him.
Once he confirmed that it worked, he dismissed the zakos and focused on talking to his girlfriend, who had a surprise for him, as well as an important piece of news.
“So, what did you-wait…something feels different about you…”
“Oh really?,” Jin Fang said in a coy tone of voice. “I have no idea what you’re talking about about.”
“Yes you…oh! You’ve reached the peak of Aether Master!”
“I did! Thank you for noticing!”
“That’s great!”
Caught up in the emotion of the moment, Zhen Liu proceeded to hug and spin Jin Fang around in that way lovers do.
It was hard to believe that only months ago, this particular action could’ve been only done the other way around, but a lot had happened since then. Hell, at least half of Zhen Liu’s current roster of Kaijin didn’t exist yet.
But now was not the time for celebrating…yet.
“Wait,” Zhen Liu suddenly said after putting Jin Fang down. “I get the feeling that wasn’t what you wanted to actually tell me. Is it safe to assume it’s an important development?”
“Indeed, my love, all warriors are to make their way down to the flooded caverns. Hermit Zhong Wei is about to finish establishing the teleportation array and wants us all present for when it connects. Something about wanting to pay respects to the main branch.”
“Of course, I’ll be right there. Thanks for informing me.”
“Anytime.”
The two lovebirds were just about to depart for the array’s activation, but not before doing some light flirting.
Zhen Liu, after all, wasn’t too dense to notice that he was just referred to as “love”.
“I thought you weren’t big on pet names?”
“Well, I couldn’t help but get a little jealous of you being called ‘darling’ all the time…”
“Of course.”
_____Short walk underground kater…_______
“Yeesh! The aether down here is way denser than the last time I was here.”
“Feels like my cultivation could grow by leaps and bounds down here now.”
“Speak for yourself! The humidity is killing me.”
It didn’t take long for all of the scions, elders and some of the more notable outer disciple members to gather in the flooded cavern that had been converted into a teleportation room, given that there was a literal set of stairs leading directly to the place from the Zhen Clan’s cellar.
This was the first time many of them and seen a proper teleportation array being established, hell, this was the first time any of them were going to be teleported.
However, there was a single question that the group all shared with each other, given their recent history of incidents.
“Nothing is going to go wrong this time…right?”
