48 The Island

I was currently flying over the seas in search of a place the Leviathan had informed me of. Only mere hours ago I was still learning from it about the beginnings of this world, though its memory was stilted with vagueness and half-truths. However I don't believe to be entirely the Leviathan's fault, even Asurans don't live forever so I imagine its information is passed down. Not all of the races have the ability to pass down exact memories like the Phoenixes do after all.

What I did learn, whether definitive fact or not, gave me much to think about. The Phoenixes were chosen by a higher order of beings than the Asuras to cultivate and grow this world, they were sent with the Leviathans and the dragons to this world. The Leviathan couldn't remember why both dragons and leviathans were sent as they were known rivals and adversaries originally, fighting for the right to be called the strongest.

That's what made me think they were originally supposed to be guardians and protectors of the Phoenixes. Even the Leviathan said that Phoenixes weren't known for their strength and preferred knowledge and creation over fighting. However he also told me the tale of a Phoenix prince from before the time they descended, the tale was told and passed down by past leviathans as a warning.

A Phoenix prince had lost his family due to a rival race in the higher realm wanting to claim their spot as the race most beloved by the higher beings. Scarily similar to my current predicament the Prince was one of the few left of the Phoenixes, but obviously they weren't completely wiped out. The prince absorbed the will of his father, the previous king, and apparently with it came all sorts of knowledge that led to the Prince becoming strong enough to take his revenge.

And with his revenge lead to the complete and utter annihilation of the race that killed his family and subjects. Even if most would consider it justified, the higher beings still needed to enact some sort of punishment upon the Phoenixes and the 2 races that helped them: Dragons and Leviathans. This punishment was to descend to the lower world, and live out there lives here in repentance. Though the Leviathan didn't know how much longer remained on the sentence.

The island entered my sight as I thought about the story the Leviathan told me. It made me wonder where the other Asurans came from. It said that there were other races and creatures here, but did that mean the other Asuran clans were already here or was it talking about humans, elves and dwarves? With the powers disparity not being much, from my understanding, I can only assume that they are fallen races as well or the products of intermingling between the big 3.

I file those thoughts away for another day because the one thing that the Leviathan knew for a fact was that certain Phoenixes were capable of creating life. It was his the Prince and his descendants decided to repent for the culling of another race, by creating lots of new races and creatures. And that is what I was coming to this island to try.

Of course I could do it back in Dicathen, but what if I create something dangerous? It will be much easier to control and monitor a thing of my creation on a secluded island in the middle of the ocean. I slowed my speed and floated to the ground, feeling the sand displace under my feet. It was your typical tropical island, with a sandy beach shore surrounding the island with a vast forest of trees as you got further inward. Its shape wasn't quite circular, and had a deep inlet on the South side that lead to a bay.

A mountain raised in the center and made me think of the volcanos of Hawaii. I sat down in the sands and pulsed my mana in search of other creatures or things holding mana, and to my surprise I found none. There was ambient mana in the air sure, and maybe a few degrees denser, but not as dense as the A rank zone and higher of the Beast Glades.

I suppose there's a possibility I just can't sense them, but so far I haven't run into that problem before. With the setting of the sun though I decided that I should wait until morning to really explore this island, so willing a tent and a bed from my dimension ring I began to settle down for the night.

The next couple days proceeded with relative normalcy, I scouted the perimeter of the island which seemed to be some 700 square miles or roughly half the size of the beast glades.

(Quick Author's Note: I'm no expert in geography or anything so I just looked up islands, and since I had already likened this island to having volcanoes like Hawaii, I just used the same land mass as Maui. Which is 727.2 sq miles or 1883km^2. Also I don't know how large the Beast Glades are or the whole of the Dicathen for that matter, but I figured it might help if I used things you could look at to help kind of understand the size. Last thing, while it's the same size as Maui it's not the same shape. It's mostly your circular with hooks of land and parts that bow inward with a deep inlet on the south side that opens to a bay. I can't draw, but maybe I'll try to just to give you an idea.)

As I went further inward the jungle of trees grew thicker, and the ground was already beginning to slope upwards towards the mountain. Contrary to what I believed, the soil was soft and lush, and I could feel the life brimming in it as well as see it. Vibrant green auras danced around the plant life and I could feel the potential within them.

I continued my journey toward the mountain and what was originally a gradual incline had become steep and jagged at the sides. Requiring flight or a very dedicated climber, as they were no longer passable by normal movements. Flying up I scaled the mountain until I reached the peak where it mostly flattened, but still had jagged mounds here and there. It turned out to not be a volcano unless it's completely dead, but even then I had thought it would be hollow. So maybe it's just a mountain formation on an island, I'm really not sure.

I'm no strategist, but all I can see from this island is it being a good and defensible location. Beaches that stay shallow well into the water, preventing ships from getting too close. A dense jungle of soft soil making any kind of weighty mode of transportation likely to have a difficult time traversing. A narrow inlet that could easily be closed off in time of a siege to prevent the enemies from using the bay to their advantage.

Even then the bay is encircled by land and they could be trapped within. Lastly the mountain, where the castle or fortress could go, it's flattened peak is nearly a 1/4 of the mass of the island. Leaving plenty of space to make something grand and defensible. That's something for another time though, as I currently have no need for an island fortress, but it would be helpful to have the place capable of sustaining at least a small population.

Going back down to the forest I seek out a tree that I had past, that contained the most life energy I had seen. It was a massive tree, that unlike the palm trees that littered the island, was one of the few Yellow Elder trees on the island. Typically Yellow Elders are more bush like, but the ones in this island seemed to grow upwards in an attempt to reach the sunlight blocked by the canopy of the jungle.

Its usual thin branches had weaved together tightly, combining to make a thick trunk of about 15 foot thick and it grew up past the canopy. Standing at a surprising 50 feet, with its flowers that it's known for spreading out in the sunlight. It's beauty is another reason I chose it, but the main reason was the abundant life energy I could waving around it. It felt like the perfect test subject for my experiment.

I walked up to the tree and placed both hands upon its trunk. I could feel its energy resonate with mine as I poured some mana with intent into it, but I didn't really get anything besides feeling that i strengthened the tree. I decided to try and coax some Aether mana into it, but again it just felt as if I was strengthening the tree rather than giving it sentience like I wanted. With only a couple options left I activate my integrate phase of my beast will.

My hair began to fade into a crimson red halfway down, and at the tips was a bright gold. My eyes pupils turned from black to gold, while my irises stayed blue only attaining a bright red ring around them. I could feel the power of my integrate phase run through me and now as I looked at the Yellow Elder Tree I could see what I had been missing before.

It needed a source for mana, so searched around in my ring for a beast core. Though I didn't only pull one, I pulled 2. I knew that plant deviance was a combination of water and earth, I pulled out my 2 strongest water and earth mana beast cores. The water core came from an AA class serpent mana beast I had come across in the Beast Glades.

The earth core came from an A class mana beast that was similar to the Silver coat Bear, but used Earth mana. Both cores still had a beast will inside them and with my integrate phase activated I could tinker with them. I placed both cores at the base of the trees and began to knit the three together via mana strings, not physically but purely through mana.

Altering their differences to benefit each other in turn rather than cause strain on the bond, they slowly started to resonate with each other. I opened a section of the tree and placed the cores inside as I continued to meld them together. While I did this began creating a larger core to house the 2 cores inside the Yellow Elder. Rather than house them, the mana fused them together into one large mana core that that began to attract ambient mana to it.

The wills from the cores I provided meshed together and I cleared them of their past sentience, creating a blank slate for the new creature I was creating. I poured suggestions, of peace keeping and caretaking, as well as knowledge of mana and its uses to harmonize with nature. This formed a budding consciousness within the tree, and I fueled it with some of my Aether infused mana along with the mana it was already consuming.

I focused on combining the water and earth mana of the cores together with the foundation of the tree in hopes this would integrate them into plant deviance. I wasn't paying attention to my own mana or the time that had unknowingly passed around me. Life mana had been pouring off of me as I was too focused on the tree to realize I was leaking it out.

The surrounding plants and trees absorbed it, growing stronger and their vitality rising. The air seemed to hum in the immediate surroundings from the amount of mana coming in and going out, refreshing the atmosphere. The next thing I knew my vision was beginning to fade and before I could stop I had passed out. Though something seemed to catch me and cushion my fall, before gently laying me on the forest floor. Years of adventuring had made it where I never fully let my guard down, especially in unknown territory.

However something in me felt at peace right here on the floor of this jungle, and felt safe as if I was being watched over.

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Author's Note

Okay, maybe half a chapter more and we will be in Xyrus. I didn't want to just keep info dumping you with the Leviathan, so I just kind of sped it up and summarized it. More stuff that was talked about will be revealed at different times, but for now I think this was good.

Also can you guess what MC created? No it's not an Elderwood Guardian, though I did consider that, no this something a little more than that. Hope you all like the way this is going, and don't worry this isn't going to turn into a kingdom builder or whatever those are called. Though this island will be 'important' later on.

Lastly sorry for no chapter yesterday. I accidentally posted the chapter I had written for Monday on Sunday, so you got 2 chapters Sunday. Anyways I'm off today and tomorrow, so I'll try to churn out a few chapters for you all.

Thanks for reading.

-SocioPhobia