Schemes

Re'Kha pulled out her Magic Artifact, Harpen Waves, using it to sever the roots of an Aeki. She unloaded its contents into a couple of other Aeki nearby, dragging its empty self through the flight of stairs before placing it at the entrance.

Since the entire granary was covered by Water Qi, Re'Kha faced zero difficulties in perceiving her surroundings. But, she was feeling some difficulties in breathing, for it was starting to feel like she was underwater.

Unwilling to waste time, she placed the Aeki near the entrance and descended the stairs. She proceeded towards one corner, arriving before the Aeki that contained water. She opened and bent its lid the other way, tying it using one of its roots to prevent it from closing up.

The water within brimmed to the limit before starting to spill out. Re'Kha kept watch on her surroundings; since the entrance wasn't yet dominated by the Water Qi, she could use her Wind Qi perception from the area, using it to scout her surroundings, noting that it hadn't started to rain yet.

Re'Kha used Harpen Waves to cut the blanket into long strips, tying one of them to the lever that operated the door. She placed the Aeki beside, poking numerous holes on its underside using the needle-shaped Magic Artifact.

She left it in the place, multitasking as she was pressed for time. She connected the cloth strips, creating a line from the lever through the flight of stairs. She did a similar one for the Aeki, one to operate the lid, and the other for the holes she had poked. The cloth was blocking the holes, preventing the Water Qi from entering inside temporarily.

A tug on the cloth strip was all she needed to open the holes. She placed weights on the lid of the Aeki to make it close automatically—when opened. The water level was slowly rising within the granary. Re'Kha made note of the speed of rise as she stripped, wrapping the cloth banner around her, using a similar method like before.

But this time, the cloth banner was also wrapped around her arms, its sides touching her wrists. Only the part after the wrist was left unwrapped, for she didn't have enough length to do so. She then wore her dress over it, finally arming herself with a weapon.

Re'Kha jumped through the stairs, watching the Water Qi Essence had finished emitting all the Water Qi it contained, turning into a transparent crystal. All the hopping and running tired her, but as she had no other choice, Re'Kha could only rest in short intervals before continuing, constantly keeping watch on the weather beyond the walls.

She pocketed the crystal before picking up two cloth strips, tying one end to the roots of an Aeki, and the other to the vat she had brought. She then left it to float atop the water, making her way back to the entrance again, "This is the final step, if this fails, then everything I'm banking on would become useless."

Re'Kha focused, picking up Harpen Waves, using its sharpness to grate the transparent crystal, causing faint powder to fall out. Re'Kha used a vial to store the powder. She had already emptied the contents of the five vials, cleaned it with clean water, and had pocketed it.

Now, she was pouring equal amounts of the powder into each, swiftly finishing her task. The Water Qi Essence was a hard crystal, something that couldn't be shattered through normal means. But, once all the Water Qi in it was expended, it turned fragile, able to be ground into dust easily.

"The beasts love to feast on this. A spoon's worth can help them survive for a year. I hope the Kalhas too prefer them. A Kalha can survive for more than a decade with this amount." Re'Kha finished grounding the transparent crystal, closing the caps to the vials as she set a trap within.

Each vial was transparent, made from a crystal resembling glass but a lot tougher. As they were non-reactive, they were used to store and preserve medicines. The size of each vial varied based on the type of medicine stored; the ones before her were small enough to be enclosed completely in her hold.

The lid and the body of the vial were transparent, screwed together with a single rotation. Re'Kha placed an adhesive on the underside of the cap and craned it over the vial with a cloth strand. It was made to fall the moment something landed within the vial.

Finally, Re'Kha neatly placed them within the Aeki, heaving a sigh of relief as she checked the condition outside, "I'm almost done. It looks like it might rain soon. I have to hurry up with this setup."

She tied some strands to one end of the cap of each vial, passing the thread through the holes she made before joining them together into a thread. Once it was done, she checked if every setup she had installed was working fine, heaving an exhausted sigh when they all worked as she had expected.

Re'Kha descended through the flight of stairs, coming into contact with water mid-way. She placed Harpen Waves within her storage space and brought out the whip-shaped Magic Artifact, hoisting it on her back.

Re'Kha swam through the water, grabbing hold of the Aeki's—that generated water—lid before ripping it off, waving it once to see it could push around the water fair enough. She made an upward motion using her hand from within the water, noticing a small portion of water spill out, reaching a fair height before falling. She judged the height of travel based on the force with which the water droplets fell on the water surface. She could also perceive their motion through her Water Qi perception.

Re'Kha tilted the vat upside down, keeping its mouth within the water. It was hoisted and balanced by the cloth strips she had tied to the roots of the Aeki. It would act as her reserve of clean air that wouldn't cause her to become delirious.

"It's done," Re'Kha swam to the surface, took in a deep breath before pulling at a cloth strip, watching the entrance to the granary open little by little. When the gap crossed her little finger's length, the eye cluster rushed inside.