novelraw Chapter 1605 - 1604 - Diversion
Chapter 1605 - 1604 - Diversion
Lind was covered in sweat before a cauldron that nearly glowed red. The fires in the room were unlike any he had ever been exposed to before but he was not sweating from those.
It was the level of concentration he needed as he extracted the essence from grade 8 and Dao Grade resources. Unlike the lower realms where he pushed pseudo-Dao level, the actual Divine Qi enriched herbs, Qi Stones, and so forth were far harder to extract!
He had gone back to using external tools rather than conjuring what he needed purely through Qi for water and fire.
Karu and he had been invited to stay at the Eternal Flame Guild and Karu confirmed they had never had the chance to before. While he had made a splashy entrance, none knew where he was anymore.
The few that did were Oathsworn and also he learned that the Ore Heaven Pavilion had been a rather common stop after he started meeting Karu.
He had asked if she knew anything about him before meeting but she said not exactly. He had ascended to the Divine Realm, barely by the sound of it, and simply kept fighting the Fiends.
She only knew that at some point, the Great Bastard had done something that drew his eye and led him to her. It meant he had not originally arrived on that island every time!
Yet, Karu also stated that he did not go to the Wild Sea by tribulation ever before either. The last few times were due to a battle in the Void Ocean or trying to follow clues about someone the Bastard was looking for.
Thus, when asked if he had anything he wanted to know about, Lind instantly asked to be allowed to practice his elixirs. The Master Tier approved it and even watched him demonstrate his current skills.
The instant he showed he could use 2 other elemental sets with ease, she kidnapped him to her courtyard and began instructing him herself!
He had hoped for it but even he had not expected the zeal with which she began to teach him. It was only as the months wore on that he learned why.
Master Ze was a pupil of his original Master! She had learned at the feet of the actual Younger Twin!
His name had been Aran and his older brother was an artificer of terrifying might. The twins were legends even now, billions of years after their deaths.
He was sad to confirm they were dead but it was likely given the Ruins he had discovered.
He had hoped to meet the real men someday.
Regardless, Master Ze showed him how little he understood about true Dao Grade and even grade 8 items. He had hit the intensity long ago, but the depth of the actual ingredients had not been tested by him yet.
He had quickly mastered grade 8 at speeds that left even the Master Tier woman astounded. Still, Lind's hopes for a similar result in Dao Grade were dashed instantly.
While such resources were not hard to come by, they were nowhere near as plentiful. Dao given form or fusing to living things was common enough that a Grand Maester was not something hard to find yet their work was considered a treasure without price.
The reason being exactly the issues he ran into. Grade 8 still allowed him to generalize an elixir. He could make healing, restoration, and so forth as easy as breathing.
Dao grade, however, had to take into account the Dao of the ingredients, the Dao of the customer, and the Dao he, himself, possessed! Balancing all that was extremely difficult! It was small wonder he never made true Dao Grade items!
Lind had several Elixir Masters and Maesters come to let him experience exactly those issues. Immortals began to touch on Laws and in the Divine Lands, they quickly accrued Dao traces.
It was hard enough just to tailor elixirs for them! He had seen Master Ze do it in a day which took him weeks!
His failures were long but worthwhile. In a few months he had begun to succeed slowly. He was about to regain his Maester title in elixirs if he succeeded today.
"I heard a new Divine Dragon ascended in the East recently. A very rare one too, a prismatic Ryu." Her voice suddenly shattered his concentration but he just barely kept the traces and aspects steady as they continued to fuse under his aura.
"It was said an Illusion Goddess arose with her. A truly beautiful aetherchild of water and light." One of the aspects was half destroyed when he slipped. It was salvageable but someone needed to stop talking!
The cauldron was reaching its limits soon too. The metal was creaking!
Making a Dao Grade elixir with a cauldron was not a good idea. There were very few refiners or Forgers that could make an all encompassing artifact for the stress of Dao Grade production.
The power of Daos was still profound; it was just that Mystery Grade left it far in the dust for many.
"The reason it reached me was that some of my distant contacts had been asked to keep an eye out for the oddest man. A dragon with emerald hair, eyes, and scales." She was doing it on purpose! "Something about Throne of Defiance suffering an issue."
The cauldron exploded instantly.
Lind was thrown back like a ragdoll as the scalding water burned him. The energies coursing inside it were too wild. He quickly used his emerald flames to seal them and then destroy the wasted efforts.
The metal of the cauldron barely cut him but the furnace and the other fixtures were obliterated.
He was soaking wet as looked up at the pristine old crone smiling down at him.
"Why?" There was no way she did not know who those people were to him but hearing they had reached the Divine Lands only acted to divert his attention.
She raised her gnarled hands and waved at the room.
"You can succeed under full concentration but you still get distracted. You are pushing it to complete rather than truly listening to the energies within. Dao Grade is not about forcing your will on it, but listening to what is possible in the notes coming together." Master Ze loved music. She had several instruments and played them very well.
She then narrowed her eyes at him.
"Why aren't you concerned about your wives and old home?" Lind looked chagrined at that question.
"My wives are far more capable of taking care of themselves than I am. Believe me, I would be lost without them. As for my Throne, I simply was too focused on the elixir to think about it clearly. The barrier came down, yes?" Her milky eyes widened and nodded.
Lind sighed as he should have not reacted but he truly was too focused on fusing the aspects into an elixir.
"If the flame barrier came down then the 4th layer will soon be stabilized. The time of chaotic Sovereign Tier enforcement will come to an end." His words confused her so he explained the condition of the 4th layer of his Celestial Fields.
"Ah, an interstitial space. Quite common in the lower worlds that are close to this one. The faint power of the Divine Lands leaking through prevents weaker landmass from forming but a Sovereign Tier can supply the necessary fortitude to condense it." She explained something he had only been able to guess at so long ago!
He smiled and nodded but then saw her frown.
"What do you mean it is over? What did you do?" Lind shrugged and explained how his Throne was directly based on his Dao and had spawned his true dragon race as well. He realized later that the barrier was not actually a barrier but a sort of refining field.
It was integrating the Throne of Defiance as the new heart of the 4th layer and stabilizing the space. If the barrier had come down, then the refinement was over and the Throne's stability would now spread across the 4th layer.
Sovereign Tiers would not be able to simply impose their will anymore to reshape the land. Battle still could but it would become limited.
Immortals could live freer lives soon.
She stared at him in shock but before she could ask questions a crystal of dark blue lit up at the door. Both frowned as they were not to be interrupted for any reason, yet someone had.
Master Ze blinked and a crack appeared in the wall before revealing a window to the outside and they saw an old man looking grim outside the chamber. His dark eyes glanced at the window as if sensing it.
She also grew grim and unsealed the door.
"Po, what do you want?" The rather simple names seemed to be a trend in the upper echelons of the guild. They had longer names at one time but shortened them to both reduce the need to remember and hide their past as time moved on.
The old man wore similar robes to her in the colors of flame. He noted the destruction but did not seem bothered about it or the failure it represented.
"We just received word, Shadow Seal Cove was wiped out." Lind snapped up instantly. Master Ze stumbled before sitting down. The old man did not stop. "There is more, Ore Heaven Pavilion was assaulted and many are dead. No one was certain but I just got confirmation the cove was taken out by the cultists and the pavilion was Fiends in the flesh."
Lind felt the world grow dim.
Then his emerald aura grew until it encompassed the entire main guild branch.
[KARU! GET TO ME RIGHT NOW!] Confusion filled the faces of the 2 Master Tiers. They had never felt a pressure like that from a simple Apprentice Tier.
Lind had no time as he quickly looked at the old man and said words that chilled their hearts.
"There will be more." He then moved outside to meet Karu as quickly as possible.