Chapter 952: Anticipation is painful, but recklessness is worst
[Executor…]
‘Hmm? What’s up Blazejudicator?’
[I don’t mean to be a stick in the mud, or in my case a rock in the fireplace, but is there any reason why you haven’t brought up the possibility of exploring the Abyssal Lands by your lonesome with the Matriarch? Well, our lonesome, but you understand what I mean.]
‘I do, which is why I’m fairly certain we’re going to be told “no” in regards to going by ourselves.
[How come? We’re stronger than any warrior in the Fallen, especially when we work together.]
‘It is not a matter of power, Blazejudicator, it’s…. actually, I’ll let her explain.’
…
“Ah…nothing like a freshly baked honey cake after a long day of sealing people into boxes,” Zhen Xun Tian thought aloud while munching on said aforementioned cake.
Shortly after leaving the Mailer’s Guild, Zhen Xun Tian had dragged Zhen Liu to this little, thankfully local, bakery that specializes in pastries.
A part of Zhen Liu was relieved it wasn’t a case of yet another Otherlander running a food based business…but another part was also weirdly disappointed.
He figured this would be the chance for him to mark this as three for three, but alas, he’d have to wait.
Once the two of them had purchased their pastries, Zhen Xun Tian and Zhen Liu opted to sit on an outdoor bench near a park.
Silence ensued for a couple moments as they both ate their newly acquired snacks…until Zhen Xun Tian decided to break it first.
By answering the question that was clearly on Zhen Liu’s mind.
“If you’re wondering when we’re going to be exploring the Abyssal Lands again, I hate to disappoint you and say we’re gonna have to wait for a bit.”
“Huh? For how long?”
“For about a month…maybe four.”
“What?!”
“And don’t think about going off on your own,” Zhen Xun Tian continued to say as she finished the last of her pastry and took on a slightly more serious seating posture. “I know from Kit and Rodenia that you have a habit of running off on your own to take care of things away from prying eyes with the help of your kaijin, but that would be incredibly foolish given where you’d be trying to explore and who you would be up against.”
“Really? How so?”
Zhen Liu was originally asking about the [Abyssal Lands] for the sake of the kaijin. But now that he heard this sudden change in tone of voice…he couldn’t help but be curious.
“Well, for starters, we don’t have enough specialized vessels at the moment, since the elders and other elite members of the clan are all out on their own little cultivation journeys and diplomatic misskons. That and I don’t think you have one on hand either.”
“Specialized vessels?”
“Yeah,” Zhen Xun Tian replied while pulling out a small figurine of a boat from her person. All it took was Zhen Liu a quick glance to realize that this boat was actually an aether treasure.
“Something like this,a boat made from materials associated with Luxarii aether, is absolutely mandatory when exploring the [Abyssal Lands] because of all of the [Shadow Water] that fills the place. Without a vessel like this, you’d get swallowed up in an instant.”
A weird pause entailed as Zhen Xun Tian didn’t elaborate on whether she meant that a reckless person would get swallowed up by the water, or the things living in the water. Evidently, this bothered Zhen Liu to the point that he didn’t realize he was walking into a bit of a verbal trap.
“Care to elaborate on that statement, or…”
“I mean, I could,” Zhen Xun Tian said as she put the boat away in her pouches. “But if the legends of the Kaijin Lords are true, then you should be able to tell me way more than I could ever tell you. Right?”
“Ah…”
At this point, Zhen Liu could tell he was being actively goaded into proving his abilities once more, or rather, the abilities of the library itself.
It would’ve been very easy for him to simply refuse the obvious goading, but a mixture of personal pride and pride in his allies compelled him to answer.
…
‘Logos, Pathos. You heard the lady. Anything I need to know about [Shadow Water] and the [Abyssal Lands]?’
=As well, she’s not wrong about the vessel thing, but we have alternatives to that. It just depends on what you want to go with.=
‘Oh? Like what?’
<=We'll tell you when we get back to the library, but for now, here's the info dump in three, two, one.=>
‘Shit.’
…
From Zhen Xun Tian’s perspective, Zhen Liu had simply closed his eyes for a few seconds and placed his left hand against his forehead during that time.
When he opened his eyes though, she could see that they were looking a bit more knowledgeable than before.
“[Shadow Water] is a naturally occurring liquid that is a mix of Luxarii, Caligos and Aquari aether in a 1:3:1 ratio. Naturally, shadows must be attached to another object or being in order to properly exist, but [Shadow Water] has no such attachments. Which is why, when traversing in areas with it, [Shadow Water] attempts to cling on to the nearest solid object. Causing the unfortunate target of interest to literally drown in shadows.”
“Damn. That was a significantly more thorough answer than I anticipated,” Zhen Xun Tian said after making a low whistling sound of approval. “I guess that bit about the kaijin lords being wiser than most sages was true. So then…do you know why we need vessels like mine to traverse them?”
Zhen Xun Tian anticipated that Zhen Liu would have to close his eyes and perform that small gesture again before answering her, but that didn’t happen this time around.
Zhen Liu simply went to elaborating an answer she already knew…alongside some additional information she wasn’t expecting.
“The treasure you showed is known as a [Shining Lantern Sloop]. On the open water like up here, it’s a simple autonomous vessel. In the [Abyssal Lands] though, its materials allow it to release enough Luxarii aether to disrupt the [Shadow Water] but disturb creatures living in it. Who also glow and emit Luxarii aether in order to prevent the [Shadow Water] from drowning them instead.”
“Damn straight,” Zhen Xun Tian nodded. “Normal lanterns don’t work down there either. If anything, it riles up the [Shadow Water] even more.”
It was starting at this statement though,that Zhen Liu blew Zhen Xun Tian’s mind.
“However, building a vessel out of Luxarii infused materials isn’t the only way to traverse [Shadow Water] safely.”
“Oh?”
“While the [Abyssal Lands] are home to the highest concentration of [Shadow Water], the Umbral Spider Continent is known to have several pockets of this liquid in the form of underground lakes and the occasional river. Instead of using Luxarii aether to repel it, they go in the opposite direction. Using Caligos aether rich materials to absorb it instead.”
“Interesting…but not feasible for the moment. Such materials aren’t easy to acquire on our side of the world. Although, I will give credit on being creative.”
“As well…there is one more method that is more appropriate given our current circumstances. Namely, the fact that I know this aether art and the fact that my branch family happens to specialize in aether beast taming.”
“Oh?”
While Zhen Liu normally understood that anticipation was a good way to drum up interest, now was not the time for such things.
Instead, now was the time to share some rather…interesting bits of history.
“The Invulnerable Storm Queen was said to appear like a passing storm cloud, popping in and out and causing the Pearl Scale Empire pain for just how swiftly suddenly she and her knights appeared and disappeared, taking away large swathes of slaves and prisoners in their wake.”
At the mention of this impromptu history lesson, Zhen Xun Tian’s ears began to metaphorically perk up.
It didn’t take a genius to realize the implications of these words.
“Are you telling me you…”
“Hypothetically speaking,” Zhen Liu interjected before Zhen Xun Tian could ask an obvious question. “How quickly could you get your core members to learn an aether art that, despite being a Major Corporeal art, requires a very strict regiment?”
“Tsk! Now you’re trying to goad me, boy? The Zhen Clan ain’t called the forge of heroes for nothing. We could get it done before the week’s over.”
“Cool, cool,” Zhen Liu nodded in understanding. “Now, hypothetically speaking again, if I were to give you the name of a particular species of aquatic aether beast, or the name of a particular type of naturally occurring aether elixir. How quickly could you gather those items?”
“That depends…what’s the target?”
At hearing this question, Zhen Liu gave a devious smile that mirrored Zhen Xun Tian’s.
“I’ll let let you know later.”
