Chapter 207 - Into The Storm (Patreon)

Jiran had two major problems to solve. First, his lack of vision in the blinding snow, which would hopefully be simple to fix. Second, how to actually hurt the revenants. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the first clue where to begin with that one so he shelved it for the time being. To remedy his first issue, he dug into his memories from Earth. They were partial at best, lacking the key emotional wisdom that added color and depth, leaving them hollow, empty, and oftentimes useless. The memory he selected was one he found particularly intriguing when he discovered it some time ago. It held a simple concept, yet one that carried profound implications about the mysteries of both Earth and Madra.

The memory was of a group sitting in a park, surrounded by a field of flowers, friends, and most importantly, bugs. One particular species flapped through the air in zig-zagging patterns, their oversized wings often sending them forward, upward, or to the side as if they had little control over their destinies. One of the friends was explaining to the group how the bugs had a miraculous quality to them; the creatures actually saw the world through fifteen color cones utilized across their many eyes. This afforded them a perspective that no other creature could match; one which could be argued was a true perspective where all others, including humans, were blind. The mere existence of so many colors and spectrums of visible light brought about a need to question reality itself.

What does the world really look like? Certainly, nothing like how a human perceives it.

As entertaining as it was to contemplate the nature of reality and the filters people used to understand it, what Jiran needed now was access to a spectrum of color his brain wasn’t wired to comprehend. The real problem was that Mana Omnis was just as reliant on refracted light to see as the rest of his vision. With so much of the necessary light bouncing off millions of flakes of chaotically dancing snow, his vision was useless. But not all spectrums of light shared that same nasty habit. Blue light was the only wavelength that humans could detect which snow and water failed to reflect, but with how much of the snow was in the air, a mere adjustment to how he viewed blue light wouldn’t be enough.

Mana Confluence followed the knowledge Jiran fed it, shaping his mana into a pair of goggles. They came into being snugly secured around his head with a cloth band. Through the lenses, the world was completely dark until he fed a trickle of mana into them. The energy created a complete circuit, first flowing through the glass and absorbing the wavelengths of light he couldn’t perceive, then feeding that information directly into his brain in a way it could interpret.

Jiran blinked several times, momentarily blinded by the numerous shades of bright blue blasting into his retinas. He adjusted the mana input, cycling through the colors one at a time until the tier four arena snapped into focus for the first time since he entered it.

He spun in a slow circle, looking through the blizzard that now appeared as a light static. He was on a nearly flat plain that stretched on infinitely in every direction save the one. There, he found a massive mountain whose peak appeared to pierce the clouds but that wasn’t quite right. Jiran squinted, trying to understand what he was seeing; it almost appeared like the top third of the mountain, where it met the clouds, was simply gone. Evaluating the mystery as not immediately important, he looked elsewhere, activating Mana Omnis alongside the mana already being fed into the goggles. The ghostly images of several revenants shimmered like mirages through the static. Two quested not five hundred meters away, more active than the rest so he assumed they were hunting for him.

Another quick adjustment of his energies turned their splotchy outlines into fully-fledged beacons of mana. Suddenly, the forms of hundreds of the revenants were revealed. It was almost more terrifying that he couldn’t hear their combined howling over the blizzard when he could clearly see dozens of puffs of mana released at a time as their mouths opened wide. His attention was stolen, inexorably drawn back to the peak of the mountain where a sight that shouldn’t be possible seized his heart and froze his blood. Jiran’s jaw dropped at the towering pillar of mana that was shooting into the sky. It was at least two kilometers in radius and so dense it was a wonder he hadn’t spotted it through the blizzard.

That’s got to be an emperor’s worth of mana being released every second. Please tell me that’s not the final boss. No, that’s ridiculous. The system wouldn’t give me a quest to kill something that much stronger than me… right?

Jiran forcefully tore his eyes away from the dread column, resuming his perusal of the revenants. They moved listlessly and each maintained a slightly different hovering distance from the ground. He wasn’t sure what that might mean, but he tucked away the observation for later in case it was important. He also spotted how their mana had subtle concentrations in a specific part of their bodies, different for each of them. The way it pooled up and vanished, only to reappear again in a different part of them, triggered a memory that furthered his impotent frustration.

That’s got to be the tap to their aura. It reminds me of emperors Loro and Palo. There was a kind of constant connection between their mana, soul tap, aura, and body. Almost like the energy was being cycled through all four permanently. Lostrifar had the same thing, and so did Meselay, but not Dominus or Dagris. Maybe it's some kind of upgraded aspect?

In the few short seconds he was contemplating the nature of their strange powers, the two searching for him seemed to have already forgotten his existence, furthering his impression that they weren’t very intelligent.

Maybe being incorporeal has some downsides I can exploit.

Now that he was out of immediate danger from the beasts, Jiran took a moment to regain his bearings. His map was still useless, displaying nothing but a blank snowy canvas. He was disappointed to realize that the direction he was heading before being ambushed was directly toward the mountain. Which meant that was likely where he needed to go. His eyes continued to be drawn to the massive column of mana but he tore them away each time. His desire to look anywhere else brought his awareness to a particularly mana-devoid splotch of land that wrapped around the base of the mountain like a belt.

No mana means no beasts. But why would the revenants avoid an entire area like that? And what are those dark splotches every few hundred meters? Caves? Better check it out before I do anything else. I need a place to rest and think, and since they don’t want to go there, that’s exactly where I should be.

He took his time trudging through the deep snow. The closer he came to the mountain, the thicker the beasts became. They seemed to have little in the way of drive, aimlessly meandering while occasionally stopping to scream their hatred into the uncaring storm. He gave them as wide a berth as possible, having no desire to test exactly how good his aura-obfuscating suit was. With each step, the cold sunk deeper into his bones. Halfway to his destination, he began to actively convert mana to elemental fire inside his body in an attempt to stave off the debilitating cold. The warmth eased the strain on his muscles, allowing him to push forward but doing nothing to drive away the feeling of ice clawing through his blood.

His limbs went numb as he waited for a revenant to move along, the gaps between it and the next nearest beasts left him no space to maneuver. When it finally moved, his legs refused to cooperate as he demanded they resume their freezing march. The cold was impossibly pervasive, penetrating deep into his mind and dulling his thoughts. Jiran grit his teeth, fighting off the fatigue with every scrap of willpower he could bring to bear. 

Within the vast field of blue light, he could swear he saw flashes of Mayalyn’s smiling face, beckoning him forward. Before he realized it, he was marching again, slogging forward, seemingly endlessly. Each step through the deep snow was a reminder of how much he had come to rely on his aura for movement. His density-packed body, which had always seemed like a blessing, was now a heavy burden, a curse that weighed him down.

Time stretched on as his feet, and Mayalyn, dragged him forward. He adopted the habit of biting his tongue until it released a trickle of flavor, the sensation keeping him awake. Suddenly, the air grew several times more frigid than it had been a moment before. He lifted his head to discover he was at the mouth of a cave. From within, the freezing wind howled forth, its passage across his body making him realize he had never truly experienced what it meant to be cold before now. His brain felt like stretched sap and every idea that sprouted within his mind had to be swam across a river and deposited on the far bank before it blossomed into a thought. All he wanted to do was lay down and rest. He was so tired, and the call to sleep was irresistible.

Survival instincts buried deep in his psyche triggered. Elemental Castigation rippled through him in a wave, incinerating his flesh. Mana Confluence trailed right behind it, repairing the damage he had wrought upon himself. Even that wasn’t enough to bring him any real warmth, though it did grant him the mental faculties to step to the side, out of the freezing wind generated by the deadly cave. With his thoughts cleared, he noticed the blinking system messages that had been flashing behind his eyes for who knows how long.

Challenger has located the resonance chambers

Choose the chamber which aligns to your ideal

Survive until your ideal has integrated into your quintessence

I have to… go in there? And survive? For how long? That doesn’t seem possible. Maybe when I find the right one, it won’t feel so cold. Yeah… that doesn't seem likely. 

Hmm, freezing wind isn’t at all what I had in mind for my aspect, so this definitely isn’t the cave for me.

At random, Jiran walked left. He was back on high alert, disgusted with himself for basically becoming a walking zombie. The fact he hadn’t stumbled into a revenant was either a miracle, or a testament to the efficacy of his new suit. Either way, he wasn’t about to take a chance like that again if he could help it. He quickly located the nearest beasts and was glad to see whatever was keeping them away from the caves was in full effect. Twice, he watched them reach a specific spot and sharply turn around to wander away.

The second entrance he neared released a spray of sleet. When a few drops of it landed on his flimsy cloth protection, it was so cold it pierced the numbness of skin with a painful burning sensation. He moved on, knowing for sure that wasn’t the kind of cold he was looking for.

The third seemed serene at first and he poked his head inside to find the cavern within was well-lit. An ice-covered pool with crystal-clear water dominated the majority of the space and he grimaced, his hopes dashed. The next held a waterfall of molten ice and his instincts screamed that touching it would spell his instant death. On and on it went, each cave demonstrating a slightly different, yet no less dangerous version of what it would look like if the twelve infernos froze over.

It wasn’t until Jiran came across an empty cave that was completely still, as though the air itself had been frozen solid that he stumbled inside and slumped against a wall to rest. His sliding down the wall and the groan that left his lips were the only movement in the cave, all else was perfectly still. It was both relaxing and tranquil. At the same time, the dreadful chill in the air housed a warning of peril for any foolish enough to drop their guard. The space drew him in like a sweet embrace, exhaustion and fuzzy warmth creeping down his limbs.

His eyes shot wide at the impossibility of there being any kind of warmth in this frozen hell. This was an arena, a place of death, and his death was inching closer with each passing moment that he idly relaxed. He pushed against the floor to stand but his arms didn’t have any strength left in them. Shock and horror mingled when Mana Omnis revealed both limbs covered in dark splotches. He burned them away, driving out the damage and replacing it with healthy flesh.

Morbidly curious, and needing to know, Jiran counted down the seconds until another dark circle formed, this time on his leg. His cells dying off wasn’t particularly painful with how numb he was, but the prospect of surviving in this place until some mystical transformation with his aura occurred was daunting. With how much mana he needed to spend for each healing, he estimated he could last for around two days.

Well, this is the cave that matches my ideal. Problem is, I was wandering in that blizzard for a long time. I need some sleep and I certainly won’t be getting any in here. Should I head out and take a short rest before starting? Would it even be safe to sleep out there? What if the mana I’ve already used in here is the difference between surviving long enough to form my aspect? If I leave in the middle, will the process restart, or just get delayed?

I can’t risk it. I’ve already wasted too much mana getting here. Besides, two days isn’t my actual time limit. I’m still going to need mana to fight with after this. I’ll give myself a day. If I haven’t made significant progress by then, I’ll leave and rest. Then, I’ll figure out how to kill those revenants and recharge my mana.

With his choice made, Jiran crossed his legs, settling into a meditative posture. He forced his lungs to pull in a deep breath, welcoming his ideal version of cold into his body and soul.