novelraw Chapter 171 - 170 - Elemental Streams
Chapter 171 - 170 - Elemental Streams
The Silver Peaks was a massive mountain range that made up a large swath of Indelia towards its eastern coast. Like most mountain ranges, it stretched north and south but grew narrower before leading to the Rakathi Wastes in the north and the nearly half a swamp in the south.
Many powers had explored or settled in the Silver Peaks but of them all, the Aether Sect was the one that found the strangest location. The mountains were normal above but below there were artificial structures inside a massive dome.
The age was impossible to determine as the material was far above anything that could be measured in a mortal realm. The dome had been studied and found to have traces of complex and profound Qi. The only thing similar known was from Ruins.
Thus, the Aether Sect laid claim to a massive Relic. Relics were still functional items after a Ruin's distortion collapsed and all trials ceased to exist. Beasts that may have been alive inside the Ruin had unknown fates. Corpses were never found nor any living being above tier 1 Sky Realm was ever heard of across the 3 continents.
No one outside of the Aether Sect knew that fact and they kept it that way. The moment the conciliatory side of the sect wanted to include Lind Frey in their study of the Relic, there had been a near riot. The tipping point was the bargain laid out before Lind now.
He had sent Sage back with elixirs that were specifically designed to improve aether children. Even the anti-human side of the sect could not deny how effective the elixirs were. If Lind was willing to supply them with more, he would be allowed to the Relic.
Lind found no issues in the contract but he specified that if they were taken to the Sapphire Auction House, it would trigger a response he could not stop from the Stardust Emporium. Raistar added that addendum to contact Mythra and Su to sell the elixirs and the proceeds could be kept by the one submitting it.
Sage pointed out this would irk them but then he learned Mythra was also an aether child so it should be actually smooth sailing on that front.
Annabelle was taken to learn formations by Raistar happily as she had reached a bottleneck of her own. Lind promised to check in but he saw Annabelle whisper something to Raistar who nodded with a giggle. Lind suspected he would be dragged away but he did not even know if the Relic would be of help to him.
Sage took him along the very path up that Lind had been curious about before. As they ascended, the silvery metal began to finally show up in its natural state.
He had expected it to be less powerful than the refined version but instead, Lind was stunned as he felt all 6 elements flowing in the metal around them. It made his senses hardly reach as far as they could before.
His intense gaze was not missed by Sage.
"We think it was caused by the dispersal of the Ruin shield. It happened so long ago but the nature of the Relic left behind indicates an Inheritance that leans towards materials using all 6 base elements." Lind smiled at the attached word of base as before it would be dropped. Lind's study of demonic and anti-Qi elements had created the theories he used to cultivate with his harmony.
His theories used the word base for what most called by default the 6 elements vs demonic elements. Lind used the term refined for demonic as well but most ignored that. As for anti-Qi, Lind had left it off as most would not benefit from that knowledge.
"How do you refine this?" Lind felt an itch from his Forging skills to try but he refrained yet Sage leaned over and broke off a piece of the silvery metal as if it was glass! So brittle! Lind caught it and delved into it. On instinct he adjusted his exploration but he was repelled instantly.
His eyebrow rose as he did not understand why he could not dive into it.
"Before you go too far, Master Frey, it will resist any analysis because of the profound Qi inside of it. The only way to refine it was to make an alloy out of it. It seems to disperse the Qi radically after that and allow direct control with Arts or Qi manipulation." Sage produced a small orb from his storage bracelet. Lind examined that easily and recognized an air based metal mixed in but the silvery color matched the raw piece in his other hand.
It was odd as smelting alloys usually changed the original color to a kind that leaned towards the metal that made up more of the ratio. Steel, for instance, still retained the shine of iron once polished but looked more refined up close due to being an alloy.
This, however, was mostly the air metal, likely berill or aerosylite, but he found it hard to perceive yet the silvery color was of the metal on the Silver Peaks. Lind felt a deeper itch relating to puzzles but he pushed it back as he nodded at Sage to continue.
Sage smiled but did not point out the clear desire on Lind's face.
They finally reached a strange distortion in the air. It was not like at the edge of the forest that used a formation to hide the teleportation array, but an actual tear in space. Lind's instincts flared but his Sky Touch felt profound Qi not far off from Delenn's alley. Another Immortal space?
"These are littered around the Silver Peaks but most are death traps. We found the otherside of this one and stabilized it as much as we could. Others have appeared and disappeared but strangely they hardly show up until you are right next to them as we are now." Lind suddenly understood something.
"You built the sect here because of these distortions?" Sage smiled and nodded as he stepped through. Lind fought the phantom nausea just looking at Sage vanish but he swallowed his worry and stepped through.
A feeling of ice entered his body as a sensation of moving flowed over his body. His senses had gone haywire but unlike any teleportation array, he felt no nausea. It felt like a rollercoaster on rocket boost!
Suddenly the world went back to normal as he stumbled and fell on a stone platform. He felt cold and a little off from his body but he was laughing. It was fun!
Lind also felt enlightenment take hold as he assumed a lotus position. Concepts he had pondered over concerning storage treasures had suddenly progressed immensely as he felt his mind wander the mysteries of space.
His dantain flared suddenly with fire Qi and broke his concentration. He had been so close!
He snapped open his eyes to yell but he felt shocked instead. Sage looked apologetically at Lind but then looked at the flowing river contained in profound golden stone. Lind slowly stood up and looked within.
Pure fire Qi flowed like a natural river inside the golden stone. Crimson sparks flowed nonstop but it was not a material aligned with Qi, it was pure fire. How was such a thing possible?
His dantian surged once more as the Qi rippled but he did not see what caused it.
"This is one of 3 streams we have found. We suspect the other 3 are on the far side of the Relic but we have had no luck getting close to it. The traps are too profound." Lind looked up and saw Sage looking off as a golden glow flowed off in the distance.
It was light Qi. Pure light Qi! Lind then noticed an oddity. Despite 2 such flows nearby, there were no elemental shards or stones. His confusion clearly showed but Sage smiled as he pointed at the golden stone.
"It contains the flow perfectly without allowing the formation of shards or stones. Clearly it was not meant to be a resource production Relic yet it would be nice if it did." Sage grimaced as the elements surged in sync but their proximity to the fire flow made the light surge barely noticeable.
Lind walked over to the light flow and noted the distance between them. The wall partially blocked off the light flow. He wondered what the 3rd stream was but given the layout of his own dantian, the choices were earth or water. If it was split as described by Sage, it was likely water.
"So the top half of a dantian on this side and the lower half on the other side. How far?" Sage arched a confused eyebrow at Lind's description but then began to walk forward between the 2 streams.
"Our observations put the dome at only a little over 10 kilometers in diameter but that is only a guess. We would have to get as lucky with that distortion as digging down is incredibly difficult." Lind glanced up and nearly blanched as he saw the profound Qi all around them. Immortal Qi, it was definitely Immortal Qi.
No Sky Realm could damage the stone around here, even at the peak of that realm. It would take thousands of years to dig a hole through such stone but he had seen nothing like it on the surface. The silvery metal had such Qi but it was not even a tenth of the strength.
"How old is this place?" Lind knew the Silver Peaks were on most maps he had ever seen no matter how old, yet the time of a Ruin's breakdown was a massive variable. The level of profound Immortal Qi told him nothing.
"Our best estimates put it at billions of years yet it is still so strong. Without those distortions, this place would remain undiscovered." Lind nodded but a glimmer of understanding came to him. The surges in Qi were causing those distortions due to the breakdown of the Inheritance into a Ruin and then the loss of Qi to sustain the shard of reality it once contained.
The more Lind saw, the more he wanted to study it but then the tunnel gave way to a massive open space. Lind immediately felt a difference in the Qi quality. If he cultivated here, he would likely be able to break through without much time needed. Even so, he only used his Touch to explore with his Eyes and saw a glorious storm of Qi.
There were many formations that were far above anything he had yet encountered. Wherever this Relic had come from was far beyond even Delenn's level. He had never asked her about the Immortal Realm but he knew it was different from all that came before.
Lind saw a massive campe but there was still only the 2 streams. Off to the left he finally saw a faint blue glow and confirmed he was right. They were at the 'top' of this Relic, whatever it was. He saw structures ahead of them but there was obfuscation formations to prevent any chance of mapping it out.
He saw many Iron and Gold Tier aether children glance up at Sage's arrival. Some frowned at Lind but all recognized him, or at least knew what his presence meant. Lind recognized one of the frowning ones and one of the smiling ones.
"Master Frey!"
"You!"
Sasha smiled at him while Kelvin frowned. Their responses were respectively matched as they spoke at the same time.
"Hello again." Lind was about to ask some questions when a few bodies came flying from the structure ahead. He moved before anyone else as his Eyes told him there was severe damage to some of the aether children that had been tossed out.
His elixirs were summoned as he moved and he administered to each by dividing his Qi. All seemed stunned at his delicate control.
"How is he doing that?!" A few were mumbled but he heard that question more than once. He was confused why they were so stunned. It was oppressive here, but he could still use his Qi effectively.
"It would seem Raistar was right, Lind Frey's understanding of the elements is exactly what we need." Another Diamond Tier stepped forward. He was only a dual elemental of water and earth. Lind noted he seemed friendly but focused on his patients as he recognized them.
"I would think you all had enough adventure in Cimmeria." As they came to, they looked stunned, then overjoyed at Lind as they surrounded him. They were the 6 mono-elementals from Cimmeria and had advanced drastically compared to the last time he saw them.
They were all at the peak of Iron Tier with signs of nearly ready to break through. Lind was surrounded as he caught up but noted Sage talking to the Diamond Tier and then he finally saw an oddity.
Despite being surrounded by World Realms, there was very little World Realm Qi in the air. Why were none of them using their Qi? His own dantian was happily churning and recovering faster than normal.
He looked ahead into the murky shapes and felt a smile creep over his face. It was a puzzle and he had his first clue. He could not wait to start!