Companionship

Chapter 132: Companionship

/Illuhm, the light, was the first of the gods. The overlord of all that glows, of all that is radiant, and good, and well. Of the beautiful and the rich, of opulence, of desire, and of good food. He is the patron of arts, and an enjoyer of games. That is what he says, at least.

In truth, many believe Illuhm to be a rather lazy god. He came, saw, and declared all that the light touched as his. Nothing he saw was earned. Life was given by Logebat of creation. Warmth by Vah, society created on the back of Uxbeyns anvil. Even Jeringr of shadow contributes to people, with warnings, with a sense of danger.

But Illuhm takes things for granted, to be his. He is the blind emperor, the golden greed. A god that is beloved by the rich, by the noble, by those who have, and used to spurn and mock them by the ones who don't. To those who worship him, he is righteous in his actions, the world his birthright. To them, he is a symbol of their own status.

That is why mockery of Illuhm is rarely done in front of those. After all, infuriating the rulers is rarely liked. Yet, through this strange disposition, he has somehow become a champion of rebellions, something the god himself would most likely despise.

Those who seek to overthrow governments often convene in the name of Illuhm. It is a blatant lie, a hidden thing that Anoth and Jeringr would smile onto, and one that Illuhm would hate, which, to a degree, is the poetry hidden within. The god light, good, and truth is used for people who truly are under the grace of the Lady of secrets and the Shadow.

There, the conspirators will first praise the nobles and merchant, the rich and good for just a little while. Rarely do those ever attend, they already have everything, why would they need a god's grace? So, after superficial praise, planning is done to take from those in Illuhm's grace. And, true to the lazy god, he is too preoccupied to act against it.

In truth, it is because he considers himself the first that the blind emperor is only a shadow of his former self. The light he casts is superficial, and temporary, the sun will always pass, and set, gracing only the surface with light. Its warmth goes deeper, underneath the earth, but the brightness will forever remain just that: surface level.

Because Illuhm, the golden greed, cares only for himself, so much so that he does not even look upon where his light touches./

An excerpt from "Of greater Beings", by Matthew Lexicon, the stubborn historian.

- - - - - -

[Evolution confirmed. Engaging. Please pick an option to evolve the Skill into. The price will be the same, no matter which you choose.]

[1. <Wild and Free>

2. <Trailblazer>

3. <Challenge Accepted>

4. <Unrestrained>]

If he had to be honest, Mercury liked those options. <Limitlessness> itself had already been a hugely helpful Skill, and saved his ass many times, and knowing he could specify the direction he wanted to take it even further was... strangely freeing. In a way, knowing that the other Skills could still be acquired, and that he wouldn't lose any of the effects <Limitlessness> had up until now made this choice put less pressure on him.

But he was getting distracted. <Appraisal>, what were the Skills even about.

[<Wild and Free>: A Skill usually found in individuals obsessed with the wild, this Skill is often found in more feral places. The individuals utilizing it are granted additional mastery when doing things on their own, or sustaining themselves by themselves. It is especially useful when staying away from civilisation, and provides greater benefits the more untouched the lands the individual is currently on are.]

This was slightly different from Mercury's expectations. Really, he'd expected the Skill to focus more on the "Free" part, rather than "Wild", but it seemed to be first for a good reason. Honestly, the Skill by itself seemed to fit him pretty well, given how often he decided to fuck off into a forest, but it also had some serious issues.

Rarely would he ever travel completely and utterly alone, even in a place as shitty as this, he had a companion. And he didn't exactly want to always be by himself either. Mercury enjoyed company. He'd really just gone back to the wilderness to try and... find himself a little more, he supposed, but right now he craved company.

Also, giving up the benefits of society was a tough ask. Delicious food, comfortable beds, plumbing and a sewer system, the safety a city provided, and so on. Giving all of that up seemed unattractive, even when he considered the benefits of the Skill.

[<Trailblazer>: A Skill focused on assisting the individual with tasks that have never been completed before, it provides additional learning when attempting to comprehend concepts no one else has comprehended. The holder of the Skill is encouraged to try and carve their own path by themselves, and not let anyone else stand in their way.]

On first glance, this Skill seemed to fit Mercury pretty well. He was learning quite a few things by himself, after all. But the more he thought, the less attractive it seemed.

First of all, carving his own path was nice and good, but he'd had quite a few teachers by now already. Yvette, Uunrahzil and Yasashiku had taught him a lot, and he didn't think he'd be where he currently is without them. Heck, somewhere deep down he was still hoping to be able to continue smithing at some point.

No, swearing off being taught by another seemed like a silly idea, before even approaching the wording. "Additional learning when attempting to comprehend things no one else has comprehended." That seemed like a trap. How was that defined. No one with the system? No one in the Solar system? He knew for a fact there was at least one other world out there, and knowing that to really tap into the benefits he needed to find something entirely new?

The Skill was probably incredible for anyone pursuing research, and maybe it would help him a lot if he ever reached the absolute pinnacle of a craft in this world, but it would take him many, many years until then. It just didn't seem quite worth it to invest in a Skill for something so far down the line already.

[<Challenge Accepted>: This Skill allows the user to excel in difficult situations, especially when restrictions are imposed on them, either by themselves or someone else. It decreases the effect of most debuff-type Skills, and provides additional learning when the individual is going through a task set up by someone else. The more malintent behind the challenge, the more benefits the user receives.]

Mercury considered the Skill for a bit. It seemed quite good, especially gaining advantages in difficult situations, but he saw a slight issue with its activation conditions. Sure, it sounded like it would work with most problems, but it seemed like it would have the best effect when someone quite literally challenged him.

Especially the malintent part bothered him. Monsters wouldn't exactly offer up tasks. This encouraged him to go and piss off his teachers and people trying to get him to improve. Something about that just rubbed him the wrong way.

[<Unrestrained>: The desire for freedom is strong within those who hold this Skill. It provides further benefits whenever the individual is pursuing a path they are passionate about, and helps them discover more about it. Additionally, whenever the individual is wanting to progress yet finds themselves unable to, the Skill helps them find the next step towards their goal. Finally, due to the holder's desire for freedom, they will have an easier time escaping from restrains, both physical and mental.]

Now this, this was better. The Skill still came with conditions attached, but then again, so did pretty much all of them. These conditions were far more lenient. He would be rewarded, as long as he followed a path he was passionate about. If he wanted to smith, it would help him smith. If he wanted to move his mana, it would help him move his mana.

The name also spoke to him. Unrestrained. If he ever hit a brick wall in terms of his magic or ihn'ar or whatever else, this would help him get out of it. The resistance against mundane and mental traps was just the cherry on top.

"I'll take <Unrestrained>, please."

[Evolution selected.]

[The individual has acquired the Skill <Unrestrained> through Skill evolution!]

When he got the Skill, Mercury immediately felt a little bit better. Like breathing was easier, and moving was, too.

"Strange," he muttered to himself. Maybe this was an effect of <Limitlessness>? Its bonuses increasing as the Skill develops? Or maybe the new Skill viewed air resistance as a restraint and let him move against it more easily? In any case, it helped make him just a little bit stronger.

For a moment, Mercury pondered on that. He was decidedly superhuman by now. If he was still Steve in his office, he would not have survived that poison without an antidote. He could sprint for longer than even professional athletes by now, and his skin was tougher than anything squishy had any right to be.

The thought was empowering, but also strange. Somehow, being able to perform physical feats outside the realm of anything human was more unusual than even magic to him. Seriously. It felt more normal that he could just move things with <Telekinesis> than the fact that he could probably pick up a full sized human relatively easily, even being a cat.

Mercury shook his head a bit. Focus, he reminded himself.

He took a moment to close his eyes and see how he was doing now. His mana veins were still a little ragged, but nothing that wouldn't heal in a little while. He felt slightly weakened, like the fatigue after a long cold, but he was sure it would fade soon as well. In general, after his time of rest he felt... good. Probably even stronger than before.

Though there was still something he was curious about. "<Appraisal>, why did I gain the <Unbroken> Skill?"

For a moment, the air in front of him was quiet, but after a few seconds, the box popped up.

[The individual has both demonstrated and iron will, as well as the ability to reinforce their body through their will in a way that closely aligns with what <Unbroken> does. Therefore, the Skill was rewarded.]

Huh. He'd reinforced his body with his willpower? Had he seriously, somehow, thought the poison out of his body? Well, then again, he'd smashed rocks with his will before, so was it really that strange? What a headache.

"Thanks <Appraisal>."

[You are welcome.]

With that question somewhat resolved, and him feeling physically ready to continue the journey, Mercury turned to his liquid buddy. "You ready to go?" he asked, and the other mopaaw seemed to nod. "Thanks again," Mercury said with a smile, as he began heading off. Time to continue on through the ashen wasteland.

He'd get out of here, no matter what.

- - -

As Mercury continued to journey across the ash-filled wasteland, the scenery changed slightly. The terrain became more rocky, with towers of dark stone jutting from the ground. Between the rocks, there were also revines, like scars dotting the land, with drops down to an inky blackness. Some of them were surrounded by chittering noises, like a hundred centipedes crawling over each other. Needless to say, he didn't feel the need to explore.

Slowly but surely the thing in the distance had grown closer. He could make out some features now, enough to notice it had a roof. The thing was a tower, a tall one, and it wasn't the only one, either. By now, Mercury could see that the tower was part of a mansion, one carved from black bricks.

Some parts of it looked strangely small, but after a few days, Mercury noticed why. He was higher up than it. The ground was inclined downwards, a slight slope, but the distance would add up over the time he'd take to eventually reach there. For some reason, this entire place seemed like a funnel towards the mansion.

But what was a mansion even doing in a place like this? Who the hell would ever want to live here? Was this where the Court of the Crimson Sun used to reside? If so, then he'd have to expect it being filled with the twisted servants.

The lack of answers annoyed Mercury, but he didn't expect to hear much more soon. Not unless he investigated himself. Maybe then, <Appraisal> would be gracious enough to shed some more light on the situation. For now, he was forced to simply continue on his journey.

And a journey it was. Even during the night he still travelled, through the everlasting bog. It had gotten easier, by now. <Unrestrained> seemed to stop the fog from clinging to him as much, and the whole place seemed less suffocating. Progress was still slow, but he'd escaped the stalkers a couple times now, and viewed it as a good sight.

Seeing the diamond grow larger as he moved closer to it was also a motivating factor. What was that thing? Why was it the only thing he could see in the fog? Some nights, the mopaaw worried he was like a moth going to flame, like this was exactly where they wanted to drive him, but other nights, when he noticed that there were more stalkers around this place, it felt like it was being defended instead.

If it was being defended, well, it surely had to be valuable. And if it was valuable, well, Mercury wanted to at least catch a glimpse of it. So the trudge continued, even as the mana grew thinner, and the cracks in the mud larger.

It felt like the floor was really wanting to swallow him up now, with the revines and the larger cracks there. Sometimes, Mercury would swear he could feel the ground pulse rhythmically, even outside of the opening and closing. Like some sort of sinister heartbeat, a central core that swallowed up all the misery in this shitty swamp.

Honestly, if there was some sort of central dark engine, he wouldn't even be very surprised. It had long since seemed that the place fed off the misery of its inhabitants. That's why there were gloom stalkers, not simple murder machines that annihilated you the moment they saw you. There was a reason for the whole chase, he was sure of it. Maybe to exhaust you, to spend your stamina, and feed off the residue in the air, or maybe to actually produce fear.

Really, the longer Mercury spent in the ashen plains, the more certain he became it was meant to break down your will to keep going. The vast emptiness, the hostility of it all, the terrain standing in your way, and the lack of any good sustenance would be enough to drive the most resolute people mad. In fact, if he hadn't already been used to travelling through dreams, Mercury was very sure that his first few encounters with the stalkers would have gone much, much different.

But, well, he was who he was. Perhaps the mansion or the diamond would hold the answers to his questions. Whatever it was, they kept their silence for now.

- - -

A few more days into travelling, something happened again. One of the rock formations had, once again, proven to be an impostor. It simply got up as night fell, the last bits of crimson letting the falling ash look more like embers.

Within moments, the inanimate rock turned into a giant, strings of boulders lashing out fast enough to almost blur in the air, the sound as they struck down loud enough to make Mercury's ears ring. Then, once they had squashed enough monsters, the whips of stone would grow soft, membranous, and simply envelop the bodies, leaving only a dent in the ash as proof of what had happened.

Looking at the thing made Mercury shiver. Hundreds of the creatures that roamed this place died that night, and he was not interested in being one of them, so he simply headed as far away as he could, seeking shelter in a small cavern. They dotted the planes more and more now, as the terrain grew more rocks, although he'd had to fight for their ownership more than once.

Well, it spared him from hunting for dinner, at least.

After that night though, he made sure to more thoroughly check where he was sleeping, before laying down and working on controlling his mana.

By now he felt ready to practice things agan. It didn't feel like he was progressing much in terms of <Breath>, so he dedicated his efforts to magic instead, practicing his handle on the mana inside himself, as well as that outside of his own body. He'd expand it, split his mind, try to get out a second tendril see if he could get his ystirs to maintain it, fail, then attempt it all over again.

The work was exhausting, mentally, and he needed to be careful. If he went too far, he was going to feel sluggish once the bog called to him. And eventually, it would always call to him. There was no escaping that place, not for him, not as he was right now.

Unfortunately, once he woke back up again, it seemed this place just didn't want to give him any breaks. When he tried to leave the burrow, he'd noticed that <Intuition> was ringing in his head slightly, and watching more closely, the ash on the floor was definitely stirring.

"Shit," he cursed quietly, hoping that their hideout wouldn't attract too much attention. There were never enough of them, even with them appearing more frequent, and whenever an ashstorm happened, the real estate value happened to soar so high, people were willing to really risk their all for a spot.

They were even willing to pay with their lives, and Mercury wasn't exactly a hospitable landlord.

It was the curse of the storms. They meant he couldn't travel for a day, but he also couldn't use the time they gave him productively for practice. If he was outside by the time they happened, he had to scramble for a hiding place, both for himself and his much more translucent friend, or dig them a ditch into the dark stone the floor was made from. Which usually involved smashing his rijn against it, and gave him a huge headache.

Luckily, this time he was already in a good position, but that meant he would have visitors soon, and needed to prepare a warm welcome.

With an amount of routine Mercury really didn't exactly want to have, he barricaded the entrance, spinning webs across the crack in the rock. And not very long after, the first party of desperate beasts already arrived.

- - -

A whole day of clawing, biting, and smashing his way through a seemingly endless stream of monsters, Mercury fell to the floor in a bundle of exhaustion. The storm had lasted long, longer than it really had any right, and their hideout had been one of the more visible ones this time. Well, visible when all the ash was up in the air at least.

Glancing at his buddy, Mercury saw that the sentient puddle also seemed more than spent. It was hardly even holding its shape anymore. "Get some rest," he told it, "you deserve it." His rather silent companion simply nodded at the request. Their communication had been steadily improving, though Mercury was unsure if it was due to him or them.

'Back to the swamp,' Mercury grumbled mentally. After being this spent, he wished that he would just be allowed a good night's sleep for once, but he knew it was a pipe dream.

As expected, he landed paws first in the mud again, his fur already stained form his last visit here. He looked scraggly, his fur messy and caked with dirt, but his eyes shone. He might be tired, but he would still go on. Ever pushing forward against this stupid place, because he just refused to yield.

'Ah, there you are,' Mercury suddenly read. Almost immediately, he whipped around, nervously. He had never met anything other than the rhino dragon in this place, and it didn't exactly seem like there would be much more friendly company.

Only a moment, later, the fog in front of Mercury parted. No, it didn't part. It was ripped away, as a crack appeared in space itself, the air folding to get out of its way. Through it, Mercury saw grey tubes, streaking through the air, a set of mana veins that was familiar.

'I have been patient, young Mercury. Leyren. But perhaps, this one should have come to seek thee sooner.' The voice was clear now, and underneath it Mercury knew of worry. It was a story of concern and conflict, on whether to seek or to wait, and now, content at the decision that had been made.

'Uunrahzil...', the mopaaw replied, unable to add much more. The old one wanted to chide them for not using their title, but it was fine this once. Because they knew of their student's struggle and despair the moment they stepped foot in this place.

'It is good to see you, too, young Mercury. But I must ask, why art thee in such a destitute dream?' A mix of happiness at their reunion, worry at the situation, and surprise laced their thoughts.

'It is a bit of a story, teacher.'

'Then please, tell it. After so long, this one has nothing if not time.'