A Map to the Root

As we make our way down the mountain on the initial path we took up, we are a bit wary of the monkey trying to mess with us, but they don't seem to be willing to bother us as we travel down. Wanjing, who is still carrying Hakase, asks why we're paying attention to the monkey as Lia then explains a little bit about how the harassed when we climbed the mountain the first time. She's a bit vague about it since she is trying to explain it without saying how they're related to the trials required for moving to Shengdi.

After a short hour of walking, we eventually reach the beach as our friends from Shengdi look on with a bit of surprise on their faces, though it quickly disappears.

"I know I heard from you already, but it really isn't a complete wasteland like we're told," Wanjing says, putting Hakase down.

"See that continent over there, just beyond the sea, all that land is mine," Aurelia says, proudly boasting, "I even have more territory under my control beyond that continent. It's called the Lausiel Empire," she continues.

"What about Talonia, the place we're going?" Boshi asks.

"It's across the ocean. Unlike the continent of Lausiel, Talonia isn't an untied entity and has many independent countries. Our destination is the largest country, called the Central Alliance of Talonia. Unlike the Lausiel Empire or the Empires of Shengdi, the Alliance is a union of five countries. Originally it took us close to a month to arrive in Lausiel form Talonia, but we travelled through the water to do so, this time we can fly back with me so we should be able to arrive within a week or two," Lia explains.

"Since we're flying, maybe we won't meet a giant whale that wants to eat us," I say.

"Giant whale? What's a whale?" Wanjing asks.

"It's a type of large creature that lives in the ocean," Aurelia explains to the Shengdi residents whose only interaction with deep water is a river, "but I'm curious about this too, why haven't you ever mentioned this before?"

"I don't think it to be a particularly nice memory if you ask me," Lia says, "but Cory should be rather familiar with it."

"Yeah, unfortunately. we should still be careful not to approach the Isle of Eon even from the sky," I say as I recall the experience of being chased by Cetus.

"Isle of Eon? How come I've never heard of this place before, me, of all people?" Aurelia asks.

"You do though, you are familiar with the spire in the ocean that should never be approached, right?" I ask.

"Indeed," Aurelia replies.

"Seeing that signifies that you're approaching the Isle of Eon, that's where the Spire is located. There are four Legendary Monsters that live around it, two in the ocean, one on land, and the other is supposedly in the sky, though I've never met that one. To keep it short lets just avoid being near the place unless you wanted to get chased around by something several times larger than even myself," I explain.

"I have some more questions about th--"

"I... found it..." Hakase says, interrupting Aurelia.

"What'd you find... oh, right, you were looking for the map that can locate Roots. I had nearly forgotten about that," I say.

"Here... just inject... Divine Energy... and it... should... work..." Hakase says, handing me the map.

Taking the map, I Look it over and see that it's just a large black sheet of parchment with a compass drawn on the top right corner. Although I'm a little bit sceptical, I follow her instructions regardless, injecting my Divine Energy into the map. Within a few seconds, an outline of our current location appears on the map as the compass projects itself into the air like a hologram and points downward and to the east.

"Ok, how the fuck does it do that?" I ask, turning towards Hakase.

"I don't... know... I was... never too... interested in... finding out... how it works... and I'm still... not interested..."

"You mentioned that your teacher made this, right? They must have been quite the genius to create something like this," Lia says as she looks at the map with interest.

"So what now?" Wanjing asks, "From what you've said before, Talonia should be east of here and that compass should point towards the Root that Teacher is searching for is also pointing east so it's roughly in the same direction," she continues.

"Even if we make a small detour for it, Cordelia is the only one who can survive the pressure of the deep and the map likely can't be used by her while underwater, moreover, she's very likely to get lost if she's on her own," Aurelia says.

"Can't everyone just sit on my back while you protect them from the pressure with a barrier?" I ask.

"To an extent, yes. But your destination is probably the deepest point of the world that can be reached from the surface, my barriers wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure once we arrive in the abyssal zone, let alone the depths of the hadal," Aurelia explains.

"How about we go as deep as we can?" Gyosu asks, "personally I'm quite interested in the deep sea and I might be able to create something that can allow a regular person to survive the harsh environment if I had a chance to study it for a time."

"I concur. Like Gyosu, I'm also a bit interested after hearing about it, so I'd like to see what lies under the water as well," Boshi says.

As we're debating on what to do, Lia shifts to her Azure Dragon form and says, "for now lets just fly towards Talonia. While we're flying, we can keep the map active and if the compass points straight down to indicate the location of the Root below us, we can go as deep as Aurelia's barrier can hold and take a bit of time for them to understand the situation of the deep."

"Not a bad idea, and it's better than standing around here just talking about it," Boshi says.

"Alright then, lets go with that," I say, jumping up and being the first one on Lia's back.