Chapter 156 - Fortress Of Sanctuary (Patreon)

“What’s space?” Niya and Lulu both said in unison before looking at each other with surprise that rapidly devolved into giggles as they guessed what they had done.

“Space is everything beyond the atmosphere of the planet. Go up high enough, and there’s no air to breathe, no heat trapped beneath the gases that sit high up in the air. Don’t even get me started on the radiation. Being in space unprotected would be a very painful death sentence. Whatever happens, do not go outside this crystal.

“There isn’t even a way outside of this room. You are seriously too paranoid about every little thing,” Niya rolled her eyes and then walked away from the group to explore on her own. Jiran didn't bother warning her again since his aura had already confirmed what she said.

“Uhm, I’m sorry, I didn’t understand most of what you said,” Lulu cringed but he gave her a reassuring smile and placed his hand on the bark of her shoulder.

The bark was rough against his fingertips, though a surprising amount of warmth seeped through as though he were touching her skin, “It’s okay. I’d be more surprised if you did understand everything I was talking about. There’s plenty of time to learn. If you have any specific questions, just ask and we’ll do our best to explain.”

“Thank you! I-I will do my best!”

Mayalyn pulled on his sleeve, pointing with her other hand at the display, “What does this word mean?” Knowing her attribute-enhanced memory was nearly as good as his, he instead read aloud every single line on the crystal display while explaining what he thought they meant. Lulu squeezed in beside them as he read, laser-focused on his every word.

Jiran did his best not to think about the two women pressed against his sides. Which turned out to be an incredible challenge when a pleasant, earthy aroma from Lulu mixed with Mayalyn’s intoxicating scent, the combination invading his nose and causing him to momentarily stumble over his words. He fell back on his Remalonian instincts, quickly gaining mastery over himself. Once he finished reading everything, he pushed down on both the primary and subsystems messages but they didn’t show any further information.

“So, we’ve got a teleportation node, a stasis chamber, and a basic conversion module. The teleportation node is obviously how we got here, let’s spread out and see if we can find the other two,” They nodded at his suggestion and moved away.

Lulu ended up heading toward Niya while Jiran and Mayalyn took opposite corners of the room, touching each of the chest-height crystal interfaces before moving on. A nervous anticipation began to seep into the corners of Jiran’s subconscious and before he realized it, he was shivering with excitement.

Is all of this really mine? It was a quest reward from the system that I had to power with the beads of authority from the tier three arena. Does that mean the system built this place specifically for me? Or was it already here and I just gained access to it? What other features does it have? It's obviously sturdy, and there aren’t any beasts. Could we use it as a safe place for Mayalyn and Niya when I go to the next arena? No, not without them being able to leave, if I die, I don’t want them stuck here.

My own personal spaceship… That’s one crazy quest reward. Huh, I haven't really wanted to think about it, but I haven’t gotten a single quest since then. Did Madra grow too weak to give me more?

While his thoughts raced, Jiran had been walking from crystal to crystal, briefly touching each one before moving on. He was on his fifth crystal and the second his finger touched its flat, screen-like surface, the entire thing began to shine with a strong inner glow and a new prompt appeared.

[Basic Conversion Module Interface.]

“Found something!” He called out as he pressed on the words. While news messages populated beneath the original dialog, a rectangular crystal the size of his thumb poked out of the flat surface. The little crystal fit so seamlessly together with the larger pedestal that even after seeing them separate, he couldn’t tell there was a gap with his eyes or aura.

[Basic Conversion Module: Functional.]

[Current Power: (8%) 10 Million C.D.U. Of 120 Million C.D.U.]

Jiran gently pulled on the rectangle-shaped crystal which easily slid out of the console. It was weightless, impossibly smooth, and pulled at his mana in a way that he instantly understood on an instinctual level. He pushed his mana into the crystal exactly as he would the teleportation pedestal and his energy flowed inside without the slightest hint of resistance. The moment his mana passed into the little crystal, it was severed from his control, causing his brows to lift in surprise.

This feels a bit like the density absorber node, except this is a choice. It won’t take what I don’t give it. Let’s see how much it can hold.

After five percent of his mana vanished into the crystal, Jiran stopped feeding it. Mayalyn appeared at his side, looking curiously at the little crystal in his hand, “What is it?” She wondered aloud, her voice filling the empty air with a warmth he hadn’t realized was absent in the absolute quiet of the strange space.

“Looks like a way to add more mana to the ship.”

“You really believe this is a spaceship? How did we get here then? I assumed the teleportation nodes were connected beneath the ground somehow.”

“I thought the same thing. I don’t know, maybe I’m way off and it’s all wishful thinking. I hope I’m right though,” Jiran’s eyes lit up with childish glee and he bounced from one foot to the other. Not wanting to use more than five percent of his mana on this first test, he pushed the crystal back into the interface and waited impatiently with bated breath for a response. Only a moment passed before a new message appeared.

[Compatible Power Source Detected: 0.1716 C.D.U. Added.]

[Current Power: (8%) 10 Million C.D.U. Of 120 Million C.D.U.]

Jiran’s eye twitched at the measly addition that five percent of his mana turned out to be, “Are you kidding me?!” His outburst echoed through the room, causing every head to snap in his direction. “My entire mana pool would net three whole CDU? I don’t even know what CDU means!”

“I do not understand why you are so upset,” Mayalyn asked while giving him an odd look.

“Because my mana is worth more than that! It’s mine, and, and… Oh,” Jiran stopped in his tracks, instantly calming down. “I think it’s a Remalon thing. My mana isn’t special compared to anyone else’s. I think I needed a reminder of that. Well, charging this place is out of the question for right now. I won’t have enough mana to fill up this greedy crystal until I’m tier—you know what, I don’t even want to do the math right now.”

While walking away from the pedestal, a portion of Jiran’s mind was fast at work doing the very math he claimed to not want to think about. By the time he interacted with the next crystal interface, getting no response from it, he had his answer.

One hundred and twenty million CDU would be half my mana pool at tier twelve, so long as I keep doing the challenger arena at every tier. Crap, this place is way too greedy! I wonder if I can use Madra’s mana. I certainly won’t be trying it here though, would be a disaster if it didn’t work and that mana damaged this place.

A soft glow from the far wall and a hiss of displaced air interrupted his thoughts. He spun around to see a perfectly rectangular section of the wall indent inward before sliding to the side, revealing a human-sized doorway that led into milky darkness. Niya and Lulu stood right next to it, both peering curiously into the abyss. Jiran was there a moment later as Oneness activated, pushing his body, mana, and aura to their extremes.

His aura exploded through the doorway and his jaw dropped as impossible information was relayed to his brain through the sensations of his manabody. Somehow, the pathway into the darkness was both there and not there at the same time. His aura slid through the doorway, clearly seeing the smooth crystal tunnel beyond, but his aura also ran into the wall right behind the door, showing that no pathway was there at all. It was as if the doorway was a portal leading to another place entirely, and not actually a tunnel in the side of the crystal room as it appeared.

“What did you do?” He heard himself ask as his mind reeled from the impossibility of what he was seeing.

Niya shrugged, clearly not realizing how incredible the seemingly simple pathway before her really was, “I touched that crystal and it said something about a stasis chamber then this door opened on its own.” She pointed to the nearest crystal pedestal—the source of the glow he had seen earlier. “Are you going to stand here gawking all day or are you going to go in?” She didn’t wait for his reply, pushing him forward from behind, the rest of the group right behind them.

The hallway was very short and Jiran’s aura failed to push far enough through the walls to reach the outside of wherever they were now. Each of their steps caused a trickle of light to race through the floor ahead of them before spreading to the walls and ceiling, fully lighting their way. They emerged into a room the size of a small house, each of them stopping in their tracks as the space was illuminated.

The entire room was empty save for a single interface pedestal next to a little girl with wavy blond hair. She wore a beautiful white dress and slept, cradled inside a crystalline bubble. Her eyes were closed and her body was completely still, unbreathing, and unresponsive to their arrival in any way.

“Didn’t see that coming,” Niya quipped as she moved around Jiran to get a better look at the girl.

Jiran blinked repeatedly, unable to process the information Identify was feeding his interface.

[Unknown Ent-ERROR ERROR: (Tier: ERRRRRRRROR) !%*%!%*%!]

The strange message was accompanied by a soft buzzing in his brain before something popped and Identify refused to function on the girl any longer. In a panic, he swept the skill over Niya and Mayalyn, immediately seeing both of their descriptions. He sighed, beyond relieved that the skill hadn’t been completely broken. By the time he snapped back to reality, Niya was poking away at the console next to the girl with a frown. He walked up behind her and read the displayed messages.

[Stasis Chamber Occupation Count: 1.]

[Stasis Pod #1 Occupant #DH0001 Status: ERROR.]

[Revive Occupant #DH0001?] [Y/N]

[Command accepted. Initiating Revival: ERROR Insufficient C.D.U. Detected.]

[Please Initiate Revival Before Expiration.]

“Seriously, Niya? Did you actually press yes without even thinking about the consequences?”

“Uhh, my finger slipped?” She looked away, staring at the ceiling while whistling.

“Thank the Fathers it failed,” Jiran grumbled, barely restraining himself from chopping the top of her head. He then checked the final message on the console.

[Time Until Expiration: 4320:6:119:17:54]

That timer is in imperial. Four thousand three hundred and twenty years, six seasons, one hundred and nineteen days, and seventeen hours. Wow that's a long time, guess there's no rush on reviving this little bundle of mysteries.

“So pretty,” Mayalyn reached out and ran her fingers over the crystalline bubble, her expression full of wonder. Jiran did the same, feeling the incredibly smooth surface beneath his fingers. Whatever the stasis pod was made of, his aura and mana couldn’t penetrate it, just like the teleportation nodes.

“Well, we’ve checked all the pedestals and figured out what each of the functional systems do. Without a lot more mana, I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here. Should we head back and check on the Matrons?”

“Already?” Mayalyn pouted. Niya didn’t hesitate as she took Lulu by the hand and led her back toward the central chamber. Jiran followed behind them. Mayalyn dragged her heels while taking several glances at the frozen girl.

“You okay? Jiran wondered as she stopped at the very edge of the room. As they watched, the lights from their footprints faded from the walls and cast the room back into shadows.

“Y-yes, I am fine. I… want to protect her. I do not know why,” Mayalyn shook her head and turned to follow him, leaving the little girl in a void of absolute darkness once more.

Back in the main room, Jiran moved over to the conversion module, popped out the mana crystal, and pocketed it before joining the others at the teleportation node. He swept his eyes over the crystalline perfection of Sanctuary, satisfied that they had explored everything they could access here for now.

They stepped through the portal and back into the Forest of Melodies. The suns didn’t seem to have moved much since they left, and a quick peek at his challenger timer confirmed they had only been gone a few short minutes.

The flight away from the pond and back to the edge of the forest was quick. Jiran spotted two of the Forkara scouts flapping their wings far above the dome of ice. The massive construct froze the air around it, sending wisps of white smoke drifting lazily in the wind before vanishing under the sunslight. Jiran’s aura lifted the group up to the Forkara first, recognizing two of the men who had volunteered to scout. One with light hair, the other dark.

The light-haired Forkara spoke up immediately upon their arrival, his face was a mask of pure terror only partially consoled by Jiran’s appearance, “The Storm Claw have sent a force to reclaim the valley. They will be here within the hour!” He pointed to the west but Jiran didn’t see anything when he looked. Elemental Castigation warped the light in the air before him, revealing several dozen little black dots far in the distance.

He nodded at the light-haired Forkara, “You were brave to stay and report this instead of running. I appreciate your help.” Jiran pushed his mana into him, releasing enough of it into his manapool to completely refill it. The Forkara gaped at him as he turned to the dark-haired Forkara who was considerably more calm, flapping his wings patiently as he waited for his turn.

When he had Jiran’s attention, he crossed his arms over his chest, smacking his fists into his pecks twice in rapid succession, “Sir! A small group of tier five beasts is heading toward the valley from the East. They were not in a hurry when I left, I expect they will find their way to the cliffs sometime this afternoon.” Jiran refilled his mana as well which earned him another salute.

Jiran then turned to Niya, both Forkara continuing to hover in the air, awaiting his response. “Niya, think you can deal with a few tier fives?”

His cousin's grin was feral as she smashed her fists together, “Oh yeah! I’ve been itching for a chance to stretch out since we left Mortan. Which way?”

“I will go as well,” Mayalyn stated in a firm voice.

Jiran didn’t try to dissuade her, knowing she could easily handle a few tier fives on her own, and at the very least escape them if things went sideways. “You two have fun,” He topped off Mayalyn’s lightning and metal enhancing before turning to the dark-haired Forkara, “Can you take these two to where you spotted the tier fives?” The Forkara nodded gravely before immediately flying to the east.

“We’ll be back before you know it!” Niya waved and pulled Mayalyn into her aura, quickly catching up to the Forkara.

Jiran eyed the screen of bent light, gauging he had around fifteen minutes before the approaching Forkara arrived. He traced his jaw with a thumb and spoke to Lulu, “I hope your Matron’s were quick to come up with a plan. How they want to move forward will decide how we deal with this group. I suppose if they haven’t made up their minds, I can always toss the new arrivals in with the others, but then they’d probably realize how much I plan on helping. Whatever, it is what it is.”

For some reason, his words caused Lulu to frown and look away from him. A moment later, her song came out, quiet and subdued, “They are not my Matrons any longer. I was cast out, unnamed. From now and forever forward, I belong to my own sect, the Sect of the Great Spirit, and it has no Matron, only me.”

“The Sect of the Great Spirit?” Jiran lifted an eyebrow at her, his lips tugging up in a sly smile which elicited a blush that was quickly covered behind a layer of leaves. When she nodded shyly, creating a soft rustle, he chuckled and patted the top of her head, “I like it. Except you can’t have a sect without a matron. Which makes you the Matron of the Great Spirit sect. Now, shall we go find out what your sister matrons have decided?”

She blinked at him through a gap in the leaves covering her face before jerking upright and standing at attention. She crossed her arms and thudded her fists into her chest in an adorable mimicry of the Forkara’s salute, “Yes, Sir!”