novelraw Chapter 474 - 473 - Adrift
Chapter 474 - 473 - Adrift
Pain.
Pain was all he felt.
His meridians were cracking, his dantian trying to distort under the internal pressure as his lungs screamed for air. It was nothing but pain but it had been worth it as the thing with him was ripped apart but the strange lightning.
It felt alive but not.
It felt there but not.
He had forgotten his name or anything but that he had won.
Darkness was closing in when a roar filled his mind. It refused to concede until the very end!
The feeling of power returned to his body but with it the pain increased! He was dying and he knew it. It was just prolonging the inevitable.
As if to mock his acceptance, his mind began to summon sigils of a profound nature similar to what he had seen on the teleportation array. It was just desperate but it would at least show he did not give up.
The sigils danced as his blood began to leave his body by any pore it could find and his bones creaked as they started to crack.
Suddenly, it all came together and there was a place once more!
The last thing he knew was falling when blackness closed in.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
Pain.
Pain was all he felt but it was different.
It was like he was immersed in something familiar but his mind was too fogged by pain to understand.
Further, he was aware there was light and sound once more.
Time became a vague concept as he simply let his body and soul do what they would.
The warmth faded but the coolness made sense. At some point the pain spiked as whatever he was in moved violently.
Thunder and lightning were the first clear things he remembered.
He recalled an endless storm of lightning across the spectrum, but when he slowly opened his eyes, all he saw was black and white.
The water then covered his face before he coughed it up but it was hard to move.
Memory slowly began to return as he realized he was adrift.
His body healed slowly thanks to its draconic abilities but his storage ring had plenty of food. As his arm barely moved, he let food slowly into himself. His dantian and meridians were still healing but nothing permanent from what he could See.
"Where am I?" He croaked out a question but no one answered. He could not hear waves crashing against a shore nor were there any islands floating above him. He could be very far out in the oceans.
Days became a blur as he recovered slowly but knew no beasts would bother him. Despite dragons being a tonic to many beasts, a live dragon was holy to them. They would not bother him so long as he had breath.
Something odd was discovered when he finally healed enough to cultivate.
The density of Qi was very high at the surface. Not as high as the Floating Isles, but high enough for a tier 2 or low tier 3 Sky Realm.
He carefully recovered his Qi to the limit before he dared to fly. He failed.
He at first thought he was too injured to fly but then realized it was a restriction of the world. It was as if he knew instinctively he was not allowed to fly.
"Oh crap." Since he had never heard of such a restriction the options of where he was got a little bleak. If he had somehow accidentally broken into an Inheritance, he could be trapped for untold millenia.
It would explain the rather high level of Qi density but if it was an Inheritance, was it an aquatic beast one?
He could only pick a direction and hope. His sense of smell was overloaded by the salt and decay of sea life.
He was not too concerned save for his cultivation as time passed. If he could not completely restore his Qi, it would start to degrade with time. He had at least a century before that started under normal circumstances but how long had he been recovering?
He had no way to know.
The days bled into months, then a year before there was finally a change.
His body was nearly fully recovered with a scar from where the Fiend struck him. Only a dragon could recover from its heart being pierced but Lind was not complaining.
The change was the horizon. The Qi also began to thin. It was not a troublesome amount but it was enough to tell him he might have some trouble if he was not careful. The few aether beasts that dared come near him during his journey had left after one look.
They were terrified of him for some reason.
Lind slowed down his approach as he saw a pristine white beach. The odds of it being an Inheritance had not shrunk since he had been in a Divine Inheritance before but it did not feel the same to him right then.
The coast extended for only a little while to reveal it was an island or maybe a peninsula. Either way, it was land and a chance to fully assess where he was.
It took 3 more days before he finally felt ground beneath his feet again.
Lind looked back at the deep blue ocean and saw the azure sky reflect perfectly on it. It was a gorgeous day but his senses found nothing in range.
He tried smelling again but only plant life entered it.
"Deserted, wonderful." His luck was appalling but since he should have been dead, he could not complain too much.
After the straight year in the ocean he summoned a simple tent and activated what arrays he could. He also made a gathering array to increase the density slightly for his current level of Qi.
He then collapsed for his first true rest.
⬧⬧⬧⬧
A simple boat floated over the island with 2 people on it. They had dirty woolen clothes with many patches but did not look unhappy.
They had come to check the traps set up around the island for their village.
"Kiran, how many do you think we have this time?" A young boy looked up at his older sister who smiled down at him. He was only 14 but already at the peak of the Sand Tier. Fairly decent for their village so she had brought him out with her on her current trip.
"Depends on how well you built the traps doesn't it, Mika?" The boy pouted but knew his sister was just teasing him.
They had nearly made it to the island when Kiran frowned.
Normally, the coast would be teeming with shadows visible from their height but everything was gone! There was no sign of any beast at all!
Where were they and why were they driven away?!
It would be very bad for the village as the island was a good source of fish and other food for them. They also collected resources after beasts had fought like bones or Qi stones exposed by the battles.
Kiran guided the boat down to the traps and was glad to see half of them were full but the other half were just pristine as she had left them. It was as if nothing ever went near them.
"Hey, Kiran, is there someone else supposed to be here?" She was about to reprimand her little brother when she saw where he was looking. The island did not have much in the way of trees or brush so they easily saw the tent from their vantage point.
Fear filled her gut but they would not set up a tent, nor would they need to.
"Stay with the boat. Start gathering the traps but if I shout, fly back to the village. Nod if you understand me?" Her cold tone told Mika that it was a serious moment so he nodded vigorously.
The simple village life had little danger but his seniors had imprinted on him how cruel the world could be. There were times he was allowed to argue but that was not one of them.
Silent as a cat, Kiran came up to the tent. There was no sign of many people, just one faded set of footprints in the sand not touched by the tide.
She carefully examined the tent but did not see anything to tell her who it belonged to. There was no sound so maybe it was abandoned?
That would be the best case scenario.
She was about to cut a hole in it when a shadow appeared behind her.
"I was actually enjoying sleep for a change, young lady. Would you explain why you are sneaking up on me?" The feeling of the voice was the same! He was one of them!
Tears welled in her eyes as she slowly turned around but then shock filled them.
It was a man! A handsome man as well!
Strange symbols appeared in the air and she heard the voice once more.
"Do you understand my words?" She quickly nodded but then felt all the blood drain from her face as a simple spear flew through the air at the back of the man.
Before she could scream, he seemed to blur and catch the spear as if it was nothing.
"I get I am a stranger but could you please at least tell me where I am before trying to kill me?" The words were not angry. She knew there was no need. She was a Gold Tier and the power she felt was familiar.
"Great One, we are but humble villagers collecting traps. We did not know you were here or we would have stayed away." Kiran prayed it was enough to placate the man but instead of acceptance she got a question.
"That is obvious since I only just arrived. Now, could you please tell me where in the 3 continents I am?" The man looked serious but she was confused.
"Three continents? There is only 1 continent great one." The man's face frowned before he looked up at the sky as if he had expected the answer.
"Oerg craarpe." She realized his mouth actually moved that time compared to before. It was not an unpleasant voice but she had never heard that language before. Kiran began to wonder where this man was from and why he was on their island while her little brother was still stuck in awe looking at them.
Lind's first meeting with the locals could have gone better.