Guiding Self

Chapter 128: Guiding Self

"Oh come the fuck on," Mercury cursed, taking a couple steps back from the water. In that time alone the small ripples on the pond's surface had begun to increase, growing larger and more solid, reaching out and seeping into the ash, before returning to their stone housing.

It felt as though the water was reaching out, grasping for some kind of support. For a few, calm moments, which Mercury used to get some more distance, the water simply swelled, not changing much otherwise, but eventually, it found something to hold onto. Only a single drop touched the net Mercury had used to get the parasites out, yet it was enough.

There was a visible shudder that travelled through the water, then it paused for a moment, before a large wave reached out once more. Mercury hardly had the time to take another step back before the wave had become a sheet of ice, wrapped around the string.

Forming some sort of freakish appendage, more water began to freeze, until a thick sheet of ice covered most of the pond's surface. Then, from below, the water began to stir.

Stunned, Mercury continued to watch as all the liquid rose from the pond's bottom, up onto the platform. Then, the sheet of ice began to spin, the water clinging to it in defiance of gravity, until it had all been heaved out of the pond and onto the ash-covered stone.

It rested for a moment, the ice shattering and melting, holding its shape as a half-sphere. Then, its motionlessness ended, ripples travelling along its surface again.

Slowly, a round bead of water exited from its front, soon gaining two catlike ears, a snout, and even whiskers. From the back of the glob, a tail began to grow, mimicking Mercury's own, then four legs followed from its sides. Somehow, the remainder of the water simply shrank, disappearing into the creature, until a crystal clear, translucent replica of himself stood before Mercury, though the copy did not include all his accessories, neither the cloak, nor the ring or his necklace.

The mopaaw blinked a few times, confused. Somehow, throughout all of this, <Intuition> had remained perfectly silent, withholding its piece. No warning bells went off in Mercury's head, even as this mirror image took shape.

For a few moments, the two simply continued staring at each other, before the blob of water began reaching out. Very slowly it lifted a paw, then tapped Mercury's snout with it. He felt a slight cold, and resistance, too. The water seemed to be covered by a thin sheet of ice, though it was much warmer than any form of snow he'd ever touched before. Barely cool, rather than freezing.

There was a short pause, then a gurgle left its mouth. One of its front paws changed shape, becoming a wide bowl of ice, which then filled with water. With a slight popping sound, it disconnected from the mirror image's body, then the paw grew back the way it had been before.

"Is that... a peace offering?" Mercury asked, carefully.

The creature simply tilted its head at that, confused. It didn't seem to speak.

Mercury couldn't help but stay suspicious though. For the first few seconds at least, until <Revelation> confirmed it was simply water. <Appraisal>, too, said the same thing, if more mockingly, and even his <Intuition> didn't seem to find any fault with the liquid.

His strange double simply watched the whole scene silently, seeming amused with his poking and prodding.

Hesitantly, Mercury leaned forward after a while. No matter how much he stared at the water, he couldn't find anything wrong with it. No parasites, no poison, nothing at all. It was, by all accounts, simply water.

"You're sure you're not trying to kill me?" he asked the creature again, though the only answer he received was a flick of its tail. Mercury didn't like the spot he was in, because while he wanted to refuse the drink just to be safe, he also couldn't get rid of his thirst. It had been pushed aside for a little while by his increase in levels, but that was a temporary relief.

The need to drink was growing stronger by the second, especially now that water was finally placed in front of him. In truth, how much longer could he last without it? Two days, three? Perhaps less, if his strength started decreasing and he couldn't hunt anymore.

In fact, if he listened closely, he was almost sure he could hear <Intuition> ringing quiet warning bells when he considered not drinking the water.

"Fine, then. Here goes nothing," he relented to himself, first only taking a small sip of the liquid, before he couldn't contain himself anymore. He stuck his entire snout in, greedily drinking up. Mercury thought he could feel the slight chill of the liquid travel through his veins, refreshing his muscles. He had staved off the thirst with all his will, but after finally drinking, he realized just how bad it had been.

Somehow, the creature seemed pleased, and refilled the bowl for him twice over, before Mercury finally felt his thirst slaked. But strangely, the liquid seemed to not just satisfy his thirst. His stamina was filling up again, rapidly. What was going on with that?

[The individual has consumed water with stamina in it. The creature which provided the water has elected not to remove it. Whether this is an offering or due to poor control is unclear.]

[Max Sp has increased by 10.]

Looking at the creature again, Mercury was almost sure it was happy. Its tail swayed side to side, and it seemed to have something of a grin plastered on its face. As he looked at it, his double let out a few gurgles, which somehow also sounded pleased to Mercury's ears.

"I must be going insane," he muttered to himself, then sighed. "Thank you, I suppose," he said to the sentient glob of water, giving it a nod. "I'll go clean up the rest of the parasites, if you don't mind. Uhm, I wish you all the best on these plains, I guess." The creature looked at him, tilting its head again, as if confused.

Trying his hardest to look somewhat dignified, he turned around and began heading towards where he'd trapped the infested creatures before. Given that more of the worms were dead, he hoped it left them with even less brain capacity to spare. If he was right, they would hopefully all be borderline mindless by now.

After a few steps though, Mercury was slightly distracted from his thoughts, as he heard somewhat wet footsteps behind him. Looking back, he saw that the water double was following him.

"So you, uh, wanna come along?" he asked, a little confused, and the creature replied with a few gurgles. Nothing he could make sense of. Blinking a few times, Mercury nodded. "Alright, I mean, who am I to stop you? Maybe, if you feel like it, this could be a decent solution to my water issue."

The creature remained silent this time, though Mercury was quite sure its tail swayed happily when he didn't chide it for coming along.

On the way, Mercury tried to make some sense of the situation.

"<Appraisal>, why is the creature following me?"

[Reason unclear.]

"Very helpful, thank you."

[If the individual wishes for a better answer, they are recommended to either unlock a mind reading skill or grow their own insufficient capacity of understanding others.]

Without a shred of hesitation, <Appraisal> used its chance to once again call him an idiot. Sighing, Mercury decided to stop his questions there. He didn't think he would get anything out of it other than being belittled.

Occasionally, the creature would gurgle as they walked, coming up to Mercury's side, or staring off into the distance.

"Has it been a while since the last time you travelled?" he asked, once, receiving no answer. "Well, I suppose this conversation seems about as fruitful as talking to the system," Mercury sighed.

Having both avenues of interaction seemingly shut down, the mopaaw decided to redirect his efforts to something else instead, focusing on his breathing. First, he slowed it slightly, taking deeper breaths instead, then tried to find a comfortable rhythm, in sync with his steps. Bit by bit, he found himself sinking into ihn'ar with it.

Almost as though meditating, Mercury found himself listening in on his body. His heartbeat, his breath, the blood rushing through his veins. He could feel his stamina washing through his body in waves, his mana slowly beginning to circle, his feet sinking into the ash and rising back from it.

Step by step, he found himself adjusting slightly. His mana sped up, his blood slowed down, just a smidge. He felt the resonance between all of it, he could tell just how close it all was from... clicking. Puzzle pieces just about to fit together, yet somehow, he couldn't figure out the orientation. Of course, this didn't stop Mercury from trying, but he made no further progress all the way until he found the parasitized creatures he'd left before.

As he and his double approached, the walking pool of water began to gurgle angrily, as though attempting to hiss at the other beasts. But in Mercury's eyes, there wasn't much to get angry at. The creatures were just... laying there, unmoving. Their eyes were glazed over, their bodies limp.

Without the support from a full colony, it seemed as though the worms weren't exactly capable of puppeteering the bodies, leaving them almost completely incapacitated.

Mercury simply had to walk by them and slit their throats. None of the things offered up any resistance, and those whose weak points were hidden behind spikes or chitin, he simply crushed them with his rijn. After only a few minutes, he had already taken care of all of them, netting him yet another level

Once the deed was done, his humid companion gave him what seemed to be a thankful wave of its tail, and a gurgle, before continuing to follow Mercury back to his current living space.

If he was honest, being followed by something that looked so similar to him was somewhat eerie to Mercury, but at the same time, he appreciated the company. He didn't exactly know if the creature was good in a fight, but even if it wasn't, he was happy to have it around, since it could also act as a lookout. Somehow, it seemed to be able to see, at least.

Whatever the case, it followed him all the way into his current residence, where Mercury then finished up the snake. He didn't exactly feel like eating the worms, if he could help it, since some of them might contain eggs that could hatch inside of him or something.

After eating, the mopaaw laid down on the floor, finally feeling satisfied. He wasn't thirsty, wasn't hungry, and didn't feel like his life was in imminent danger for once. His double for a while simply watched him curiously, before also laying down on the ground, seemingly searching for a comfortable position.

While it was still squirming, Mercury decided to take another look at his status. He had three levels to quickly check, after all.

- - -

Status:

Mercury Rainfall Starlight

Level: 11 -> 14

Species: Leyfal

Titles: <Trialist>, <Patient Learner>, <Mountain Usurper>, <Tenacious Genius>, <Forest Usurper>, <Tutorial Completer>

Alias: Beast, Mittens

===

Hp: 510/510

Mp: 692/692

Sp: 367/367

===

Strength: 74 -> 76 (+5)

Vitality: 107

Dexterity: 73 -> 75 (+1)

Agility: 73 -> 75 (+1)

Intelligence: 99 -> 101

Wisdom: 89 -> 92 (+2)

Willpower: 100 -> 104

Luck: 52 -> 55

===

Ability points: 70

World points: 67

Skill points: 610

===

Gold: 1742

Beast familiars: 1/2

- - -

[The individual's Intelligence has surpassed 100! Your mana regenerative capabilities and your comprehension abilities grow stronger.]

Mercury wanted to spend longer simply reading through his status, but when the bottom notification appeared, it took his attention instead. Because while he had been getting bonuses for achieving stats over 100, this one he could feel the most immediate shift with.

It felt like someone was blowing air into his head, like his brain was physically expanding. He felt a slight tingling sensation, and then it was gone, but it took more with it. Mercury's thoughts flowed much more freely, and noticeably faster, too, it seemed.

Of course, the feeling was slight, not as though he had suddenly become a supercomputer, but when he focused, he felt his ystirs came faster, and easier, for example. Combined with his mental fortitude, which let him feel less resistance when moving the mana itself, this made it much easier to control any of his magic.

Absorbed in this new sensation, Mercury closed his eyes and attempted to expand his mana, feeling tendrils of it streak out from his body and feel the air. It still took quite a bit of focus, but it had become easier, too.

Even though the change was only slight, it felt both freeing and scary to Mercury. Knowing just how much an influence the system had on him was strange. He was facing the question that so many had asked themselves before, what would they do without it?

Were they strong because of the system, or did the system only tell them what they had achieved by themselves?

There was no answer. There would never be one, of course. How could there, if <Appraisal> remained silent on the issue? Only someone who disconnected themselves from the system would find out, and there were too main issues with that, too.

No one could, and no one wanted to.

Shaking his head, Mercury pushed the idle thoughts aside. There were still just a couple notifications to go through, after all.

[<Claw> has levelled up! <Claw lv. 2 -> 4>]

Killing so many of the creatures that inhabited this place with the Skill had done wonders for its mastery, gaining a whole two levels. Both it and <Bite> had gone up to level 2 during his travels towards the pond.

[<Thread> has levelled up! <Thread lv. 2 -> 3>]

Apparently he had also spun enough webs to get thread another level, though the weaving affinity pass was probably carrying its weight here as well. Being able to gain mastery faster was truly a blessing. Same went for <Telekinesis>, really, since it levelled up slowly even with an affinity for it. Not having the mastery bonuses would've made it just that much more bothersome.

Giving another small sigh, Mercury lowered his head onto his paws. There wasn't much more for him to check, surprisingly. Some of the creatures had dropped items, sure, but none of them were especially great. Nothing to increase his stats, neither temporarily, nor permanently, and most of the drops were just ingredients. A hide here, a tooth there, perhaps a plate of chitin or a tuft of fur.

The only item he elected to keep was dropped by the queen of the parasites. He wasn't quite sure which one it had been, but apparently, when he had gone fishing, one of them was designated as royal, and dropped something decent, its vessel.

[Brainworm Queen's Vessel: This vessel, once housed inside the queen of the vanquished brainworm colony, is filled with stamina. As the creature it belonged to has died, the vessel no longer possesses a well, and will dry out as time passes. The individual is encouraged to use it for experiments on stamina, or absorb it into their own pool quickly. Due to the queen's poor physical constitution, the vessel is rather small. Grade: D.]

Apparently, even with all the worms it commanded, the queen was still only D grade. Mercury was unsure as to how the whole colony fit into that rating, and whether or not it was considered for it at all, but he wasn't about to complain. For now, the vessel was in his inventory, though he still wanted to deal with it before going to sleep.

Looking through his slots, he found another few items he probably should still find a use for. The vampiric essence he had bartered for after venturing inside a door with Marcel, Gilah and Elliot, as well as the ice-affinity core the drake he killed had, and finally, the half burnt cigar of the mafia boss.

Thinking on it now, Mercury realized he probably could have used most of them already, but still didn't. Nevertheless, he had made it to where he was alive, so there would surely be other opportunities to try and put them to good use as well. None of them were exactly perishable, unlike the vessel the queen had dropped, so it took highest priority.

In fact, Mercury was looking at it right that moment, trying to figure out what he could use it for. He felt that just absorbing the stamina wasn't exactly the best course of action, just like he felt about the mana core, since he could also just mine for his own. Instead, he wanted to use it for an experiment, but he was just not quite sure what.

Clearly, he had less control over his stamina in comparison to his mana. He barely knew how to spread it throughout his body with reasonable proficiency, but he'd never really considered it much more than that. But maybe, this was his chance to rectify that?

Carefully, he tried to feel for the stamina inside the vessel. When he held it in his paws, the thing seemed to be a small, dull green crystal, though slight patterns swirled beneath its surface. Getting in contact with the stamina was already different from mana. It was less ethereal, but instead much more active. Almost slippery, and hard to grasp.

Luckily, even the small amount of mastery the mopaaw had over the substance was enough to tell it was there. He could feel it almost like his own, eager to jump out of the crystal and somewhere else. In fact, some of it was already doing so, using cracks that were smaller than the eye could see to leave the vessel, and dissipate into the air.

It was draining fairly slowly, but Mercury was sure that as more stamina fled, the rate would only speed up. Quickly, he focused on his task, clamping down on the liquid with his mind, and trying to see what it wanted to do. Doing so felt almost like he was compressing a spring, constantly needing to put force on it to prevent it from going back to its previous patterns.

Mercury could tell that it was different from mana. It didn't exactly seem to resist any movement in general, remaining sluggish and placid, but instead, it already wanted to go a certain direction, already had force behind it. It wanted to move, and rather than forcing it to go a different way, perhaps it was a better idea to simply amplify that process.

Taking a quick break from checking the queen's vessel, Mercury focused on his own. There, he could already see his stamina, streaming out and back in, streaming to reinforce his muscles as they moved. Perhaps it wasn't even reinforcing them, but simply letting them do their job at all.

Curious, he tried to stop his own stamina from escaping his vessel for a moment, and almost immediately, instinctively, it responded. For a second, he couldn't even feel any pushback, not compressing of a spring, but then he focused, and did find it.

There was a pattern there he hadn't noticed before.

His stamina wanted to move already. Without him giving any commands, it almost knew where it needed to go, and wanted help in getting there, rather than being forced somewhere else. His own stamina was simply so cooperative he would never have noticed at all.

Making up his mind, Mercury decided to give it a try at least. He let the stamina move, little by little, always stopping it to see which felt like the right way to have it go, and slightly adjusting its course, nudging it forward and past obstacles, rather than setting it on a certain path. This was much less about enforcing his will, and much more about delicately helping to make a path.

And, almost immediately, it worked. Mercury could feel that the flow of his stamina seemed smoother, as it coursed, flooded, grew, and receded, then repeated the cycle once over again. The adjustments Mercury was making were honestly rather minor, yet their impact was clear. Whatever mechanism or instinct drove the stamina, it was imperfect, but by knowing his own body, Mercury could let it bypass those obstacles.

Smiling, Mercury felt his chest heave up and down, breathing more easily now than he had ever before, as he continued to guide and usher, turning shaky walkways for his stamina into properly travelled paths.

As he mediated, he hardly heard the soft plink as the queen's vessel shattered, nor did he notice his breaths growing slower as he drifted off to sleep. Finally, when his mind was beginning to draw towards wherever it was going, his body knew what had changed.

[<Stamina Vessel> has levelled up! <Stamina Vessel lv. 2 -> max>]

[Acquired the ability <Stamina Guide lv. 1> through a specific action.]

Then, Mercury awoke amidst thick fog.