Staring at the poster, I felt a realitization hit me. It was Saturday. How could I have been so absent minded? I thought about what to do for a minute till I decided to head to the hall of life.
Im already up so why not? Walking in through the glass doors, I headed straight for the elevator and got in. Suddenly, I heard a mans voice from a distance. I couldnt quite make it out so I held the elevator open as a strange man walked in.
He was about 6 foot, built but looked good. He bowed slightly as I hit the forge room button. He watched but said nothing. As soon as tbe elevator closed, it openned right back up.
Walking out, I watched as the man walked out too, in a different direction. Walking to an empty forge, I stared at the 2 stacks of pallets and got ready for a grueling couple of hours. I summoned my koi hammer and started to push my koi into it.
Raising it, I swung down, on the overlapping metal, focusing on mixing the metals beneath it. A clear chime rang out in the empty hall as a notification rang out on my watch.
[You have received the equation from Mr. Orpheous]
Along with a picture of the diagram below. Nodding, I got an idea. Why don't I multitask a bit. I aimed my watch at the metal and a solid projection appeared on it. Raising my hammer, I swung down as I studied it throughly.
Each swing was calculated as my mind followed the Neverending circle or letters that didnt really make sense. As I pushed koi through my hammer, I noticed it was starting to follow a different path, unconsciously at that.
Must be that equation. It was special to start with. As I ran out of koi and replenished it, I noticed something. Each time I cycled through it, my koi would gain a slight tint of green. Now, I would have never noticed it if Veil hadn't said something about it feeling different.
So my forging practice became 3 things at once. My Integraters practice, my koi practice, and my koi melding practice. Hours passed slowly until I felt a faint sense of hunger creeping up on me. After finishing my panel, I looked down at my watch and paused.
11:27am. I spent about 4 hours in this cycle. From what I noticed, koi alleviates muscle pains before they even start, making laborious actions a lot easier.
Suddenly, I got an idea. I've been wanting to gather more sparks to increase my koi capacity for a little bit after cycling through it so often, and Kasteel could always use some more food for his storage. So, I sent him a text. Within the minute, I got a reply.
[I can meet you infront of the main building in 10]
Nodding, I started to head out. Luckily, it only takes about 8 minutes to get between each hall so I was there a couple minutes earlier. Soon enough, I saw the petite man walking out, dressed in a black cloak and a wild smile.
Suddenly, he dashed, jumping up into the air. I froze in shock, before running up to catch him. He landed firmly in my arms while laughing.
"Lets get going! I want to try all the meats there are" he yelled as he flipped out of my arms, landing infront of me. How is he jumping and flipping so nimble? Im kinda jealous now.
"You know how to get there, cause I have no idea" I admit and he nods quickly.
"You can ask your watch anything and it usually has an answer. We need to walk to the main building and go to the basement. From there, there are a loooot of different portals" he explained quickly as he pulled me inside the main building. We went to the elevator and he hit the button that had a bold 'B' on it.
The doors closed for a second before opening, stunning me for a moment. Usually, the doors openned immediatily, why did it take longer this time?
Walking forward, I saw rows upon rows of black circular windows going to different enviorments.
"Which one are you going too?" I asked aloud, hearing an echo all around me as he kept walking.
"I dont really know yet. Somewhere with plenty of spirits" he vaguely described as we walked. Is it really safe to jump into a random portal? Then, Kasteel paused, looking straight ahead. Looking up, I saw what he was looking at and paused.
"Beautiful" he whispers as I nod. The portal infront of us was a cavern full of bioluminescent moss that held a bright teal glow. Kasteel jumped in, pulling me in by my arm.
Then, we disappeared from the Draven division.
***
Tiana stood infront of one of her tables as she glanced at the items on her table. A golden glow emanating from her hands. Slowly, she grabbed the soul that was bound to the table somehow.
The light from her hands slowly flowed through the bird soul, illuminating it with a golden light. She poured all her koi into the soul until she ran out. Then repeated the process continously.
After an hour, the soul was a bright golden white color. Tiana wiped the sweat from her forehead as she set it down and grabbed the mellowed paper.
"Grandpa, you better be right because Im risking a lot on this now" she breathed out as a diagram appeared on the paper. it looked like a bunch of equations overlapping but there were 3 clear pictures. A large clear stone, a bird soul, and a gold drop of liquid.
Then, she grabbed the soul again, along with the giant's core. She slowly brought them together until they touched, and a golden flame erupted out from where they touched. The flames danced on her hands and arms, charing them quickly, yet she didn't let go.
Time passed slowly as tears amd sweat poured out of Tiana until a flash of golden light burst out, putting out the flame, but the burns stayed. What floated above her hands was a golden stone the size of her fist.
She slowly led it to the table before passing out, leaving her room in a slight disarray.
***
I stood in a dimly lit cavern, Kasteel at my side as we scanned the enviorment. Suddenly, Veil stirred.
'Master, take off your shirt. I can't use my vines efficiently' she called out, making me pause. I hadn't really thought about it but it made sense. I slowly stored it away in my soul space, confusing Kasteel.
He gave me a weird look until I made a vine grow from my shoulder. He nodded in understanding as we heard our first prey. It sounded like stone ticking against glass as a long lizard crawled against the wall. It was black with some teal markings but that wasn't what caught my attention.
<10% chance to drop a spark>
It was the lack of sustenance in its status. It only had 2 traits and reminded me of the quick water trout from the pond. It had no clear advantage yet it was surviving.
Kasteel gave me a look as he pulled out a dagger. I nodded towards him as I grew out a vine from my hand. I swung it up like a whip, aiming at the illuminecent cave lizard.
It called out like a snake before the vine smacked into it's jaw. The thorns cut into it's skin before Kasteel disappeared. It took me a minute to spot him again, high in the air. He held his dagger down as he landed on the lizard, stabbing into its head.
Teal blood splattered over him as a calm smile spread across his lips.
"We split the corpses 50/50?" He called out. I nodded before he stored it into his soul space quickly. How did he disappear for so fast? Then, I thought of another problem. If he kills them all, im not going to get sparks from the spirits.
As we walked on, I thought about how to take them out first and thought of a plan. I will rub the throns into its flesh untill it dies. The drops should come to me if there are any.
Soon, we got close to a massive patch of glowing teal moss and I bent down to touch it. As I did, I felt faint whispers from it. Oooh yea, moss is a plant, just an unusual one.
I couldn't make out most of it but something I did hear was horrifying.
'Fresh blood'
'MASTER! ABOVE YOU!' Veil yelled out urgently. Looking up, I saw a black and red bat with a wing span of 3 meters. I felt a cold sweat forming as it swooped down towards us.
I lunged towards Kasteel but the bat grabbed him by both arms and shot up. Panic bolted through me, making my mind race.
I urged all my koi through my body, growing countless vines, yet it wasn't enough. A few tears started to fall as I shot the vines towards the bat. I pulled out anything that looked remotely sharp and threw it towards the bat but it was starting to fly too high.
My vines failed to reach them. Then, I heard it. Tears poured out as I saw 3 things fall. Kasteel, and both his arms serrated into pieces. I ran over to him and held him, pulling out my uniforms shirt to wrap the stumps where his arms used to be. He was crying yet unconscious, scaring me.
I looked up at the bat as veil's vines went crazy. They swung wildly as I poured all my koi into them. The bat couldn't get close without getting hurt, but it wouldn't solve the problem. The portal was at least an hour away, and he couldnt walk while unconscious.
Wait, he would die from blood loss first... shit! I felt like my panic started all over again before Veil stirred.
'Master, I want to try something. You need to...' she explained her plan and I was kind of suprised. I looked at Kasteel before nodding.
"This better work or we're both dead" I whisper as surges of energy swam through me. I felt a dark aura enveloped me as koi filled my body once more, but far thicker than I was used too. I held my hands out as my koi surged to my hands faster than it has ever gone.
Beads of sweat poured out as mass amounts of green light poured out, soaking the moss in it. The vines swinging around slowed down considerably but the bat paused.
The whole patch of teal moss expanded exponentially, while the light grew stronger, stronger than most light bulbs.
'Feels nice' I heard the moss speak clearly, like a child, it was masculine and feminine yet neither at the same time.
The light illuminated a lot of the cavern, bringing to light another problem. Our fight had caught the attention of a horde of illuminecent cave lizards.