Chapter 225 - I Can’t Believe It Actually Worked (Patreon)

Armament tracked the seeker’s mana as it raced away from them through the bowels of the ship. His aura struggled viciously to keep Jiran from intercepting the signal. Jiran's Manabody condensed, and with renewed potency, crashed against the seeker's, shoving it aside before tearing off the access panel. Armament flooded into the conduit, racing down a series of connecting tubes. When he caught the seeker’s mana, he didn’t waste time, utilizing Elemental Castigation to unleash an overwhelming gout of searing flames. 

The ship shuddered as the entire conduit melted and several nearby rooms were vaporized. Jiran winced, learning too late that most of the vessel’s interior wasn't nearly as durable as its exterior.

The seeker lunged, blades coated in green lightning extending from his sleeves. Jiran's aura didn't give him a chance to use them, slamming the man back into his chair and pinning his arms. The seeker’s manapool lit with the activation of a skill and he opened his mouth but Jiran was faster. A ball of Mana Venom slammed into his chest, sinking through flesh without causing any harm. They locked gazes, a Meersvant’s version of confusion crossing the seeker’s features before his eyes rolled up and he fell limp.

No way I’m killing him. He's three tiers above me. There's a good chance it would restart my timer. Not ready for that just yet. What to do with him…

The ship quaked again and Jiran went to work on the more immediate problem of putting out the fires raging through her innards. Enthralling Touch easily passed through most of the walls, assimilating the unruly elemental mana. During his quick search, he discovered several sections his aura, nor armament, could access. He withheld the desire to start breaking down walls to see what was hidden, already feeling bad about the damage done.

Nice ship, shame I can't bring it through the portal with me. Wish I had more time to examine it, too. These Meersvants have some amazing formations that I know I’d learn a ton from, but I need to get home now that I have the mana. Might as well hide her somewhere near the platform.

Enthralling Touch drained the seeker, leaving only enough mana for his parasite to survive and maintain physical control of its host. Jiran slung the man over his shoulder and flew toward the largest inaccessible room. It was at the center of the ship, its door sealed tight, refusing to respond to his attempts to peacefully open it. Through the nearby walls that his aura could penetrate, he found two tubes that fed into the room, both of which he couldn’t see through. They extended all the way to the tips of the two wings on the ship's top and bottom.

There were similarly sized sealed rooms at the ends of both wings. Jiran frowned at his slumbering guest, assuming the man wouldn't be willing to show him how to get inside.

With anxiety to return growing with each passing second, Jiran mentally rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He lifted the entire ship with his aura, beginning the long flight back to the temple. Waves of heat billowed in through the open hatches so he closed them with brute force, tearing several of the delicate mechanisms that controlled them, cringing with each scrape of metal-on-metal. He picked through enough of the damaged and accessible rooms to discover what had likely been an armory, now completely ravaged, every weapon and their attached masterium nothing but dust.

He certainly was thorough. He must have destroyed several hundred masterium, I doubt I would ever need more than that. If he had just left them, I might have decided to blacklist this place entirely. I wonder how he would react if he knew he forced me to come back. Ugh, when I do, they’re going to be far more prepared for me. Wait, could I… The description said it could do it, but can it really?

The ship was eerily quiet with the doors closed and the protection from the sturdy hull perfectly blocked the dangerous sunslight. Hoping it would save him some time, Jiran angled higher into the air, lifting the vessel further than he’d been able to reach so far. Despite rising nearly four kilometers, all he could see through the bridge’s expansive windows was more desert. The hull was smoking and his aura was depleting faster than he was comfortable with, so he rotated the ship sideways and let its oddly positioned wings act as actual wings to glide toward the pyramid.

A controlled descent took considerably less focus than fully controlling the ship so Jiran poked around the only portion of the ship that might yield some benefit: The mana storage formations. They were made with the same quality as the outer hull, leaving him unable to freely see inside. He took another route, tracing his mana through the remnants of the destroyed conduit. He followed it to an intake that was clearly designed to give easy access to the inner formation as his mana slipped right through the protective membrane.

Upon breaching the mana storage, his jaw hit the floor. The sheer quantity of unaspected mana inside boggled his minds, and for several seconds, he refused to believe that what his senses were telling him was true. With shaking hands and euphoric giggles threatening to burst from his lungs, Jiran pulled with Enthralling Touch, achieving exactly zero results. The higher-Concentration energy was incredibly resilient, and since the formation was too far away for Mana Venom or any of Jiran’s masterium to reach, dislodging the energy was going to take considerable time, if it was possible at all.

With such a tantalizing score right at his fingertips, there was no way he was going to give up without a fight. It took nearly the entire flight to struggle, worm, and cajole the first drop all the way down the conduit. When he got the first blissful taste of the fresh, unused mana, he knew every moment had been worth it. It was so condensed and potent that it was equivalent to half his total mana and there were easily fifty liters of the stuff stored away. With a suddenly parched throat, Jiran threw himself into his task, hoping to get one more before finishing hiding the ship.

He halted the ship’s flight well short of the temple at a spot that appeared no different than any other. While most of his focus remained on dislodging the stubborn mana, his aura shoveled out massive scoops of sand. He set them far enough away to not collapse the tunnel he was digging. Eventually, he reached solid bedrock and diverted another of his minds to Elemental Castigation, converting hard stone and ore into easily removed sand. He set enough of it aside to bring the entire ship into the underground ruins his Cartography System had revealed upon first entering the desert.

A gentle application of elemental light revealed dilapidated buildings through the bridge’s viewports. They were in a sweeping, artistic style that spoke of undeniably talented craftsmen. Fallen stalactites lay shattered around the buildings, proving their durability even after so long. If not for the clear signs of a battle that once waged through the narrow streets, Jiran doubted any of the structures would be damaged.

Jiran’s emotions were a conflicted mess as he regretfully left most of the mana behind, exiting the ship with the seeker in tow. Mana Venom had done a great job keeping the man asleep during the day but Jiran applied a third dose of the skill to be safe. His heart tugged and prodded, begging him to take a few minutes to explore. He shook his head sadly, the delay in bringing the ship had already cost him half a day and the constant nagging fear that something terrible might have happened in that short time was far stronger than his yearning to investigate.

Jiran took a deep breath of the cool, stale air that reeked of the best kind of adventure. With a sigh, he bade the ruins and beautiful ship farewell, “Even more reasons to come back.”

With a last glance at the long-forgotten homes, he leaped into the air. Mana Confluence and Elemental Castigation reformed the hard shell of stone that had kept the place safe for so long. The suns were nearing the horizon when he reached the surface. Before leaving, he collapsed the sandy tunnel behind him, once more burying the ruins in their forgotten tomb.

His flight to the temple flashed by and he found three of his four guests were awake when he entered the central chamber. The injured Meersvant had succumbed to his self-inflicted state, showing no signs of life. Jiran formed a wall with his aura, keeping the rest from the door as he tossed the seeker in. He doubted the bars could hold the tier eight, even drained of mana as he was. Jiran wasn't concerned, since he had no intention of holding them there any longer than necessary.

!Dorik eyed Jiran skeptically when he removed the dead Meersvant, then gagged when he started pulling the masterium from the corpse. All three averted their gazes, staring instead at the newest arrival, their features making it obvious they couldn’t understand where he could have come from.

Jiran tilted his head toward the limp man, “Seeker.” The single word set off a series of intense reactions. They threw themselves to the far reaches of the cage, pressing against the bars and making warding gestures with their hands. After cleaning and pocketing his five new gems, Jiran’s aura pulled !Dorik across the cell until he was within reach. Without any warning, he shoved a ball of Mana Venom into the man’s chest.

!Dorik stared up at him incomprehensibly, then acceptance crossed his features before he fell back and started shaking in a full-blown seizure. Jiran frowned, examining him with Mana Omnis. When his organs started melting, Jiran reached through the bars, “Shit! That wasn't supposed to happen!” Mana Confluence flooded into !Dorik, healing him from head to toe.

Luckily, Jiran had spent considerable effort examining the Meersvants so he had a decent understanding of what their physiology was supposed to look like. He painstakingly rebuilt the damage caused by his venom, cursing each time he had to look up at the other prisoners for reference. They, of course, took his glares and swearing as the threat they appeared to be, yet were unable to push any further from him with their backs already to the cage’s bars. They held each other, clinging like lovers, just as terrified for the other’s safety as their own.

The venom refused to respond when he told it to stop, so he could only continue healing the man till the energy ran its course. During that time, he remembered the description of the skill specifically warning him about side effects on lower-tier people. 

I pushed too far, again. Hopefully he survives so I at least know if what I tried is possible.

Jiran didn’t relax until !Dorik was breathing easily and his heart was hammering away at a steady rhythm. Leaning back against his aura, Jiran prodded the man until he woke up with a start. !Dorik looked around, confused and disoriented. 

His eyes passed right over Jiran and he clicked his tongue at his cellmates, “What happened? Where are we?” They stared back at him in complete confusion, neither speaking.

“Go ahead, tell him,” Jiran’s voice held a touch of menace and his aura nudged the seeker’s limp form in their direction. !Dorik seemed not to notice the body moving, nor Jiran’s voice.

The lovers shied away, whimpering, one speaking over the other in a rush, “The forbidden room in the temple! We’re in the forbidden room!”

!Dorik laughed, then snatched a canteen of water and downed it in a few quick gulps. “Good one. Let us guess, it’s got something to do with this stranger,” he lifted his chin toward the seeker, “Who are they? Where did they come from? Shipments not due for another half-moon.” He wiped at his mouth and when his hand came away with a bloody smear, he paused, abruptly finding his situation far more serious. At no point did his eyes linger on Jiran as he swiveled his head left and right, stopping to gape at the hole in the wall. “Seriously, what’s going on here? Where are we? What in Tarrak’s name happened?” !Dorik’s voice cracked.

I can’t believe it actually worked! He can’t hear, see, or remember me. Just like the description said, it can really alter memories. Not only that, but so long as it’s in his system, he won’t be able to form any ‘restricted’ memories either! Mana Venom is insane! 

Jiran pushed a drop of Mana Venom into !Dorik, knocking him out before he could reach a state of full-blown panic. He faced the two terrified Meersvants with a harsh glare, “I’ll give you a choice, go through what he did, or die.”

“We’ll do it!” One shouted so fast the other gaped at him. “We can forget, once we wake up, this will all be over. Please don’t be stubborn, Torry. We’ll get through this together. We promised, remember?”

“R-right. We promised,” Torry’s mouth clicked shut, he turned to Jiran and nodded slowly, then again more firmly, “If it means we can live, then do whatever you have to do.”