Chapter 1080: Returning To The Pit
"Jeez, isn’t this just too convenient?" Rika pouted as the group stepped through another fissure.
"Where’s the romance of adventure? The close calls? The frantic running as we’re chased down by monsters beyond our power? Where’s the bonding as all of us laugh around a campfire after brushing past death?" She huffed, plopping herself down by a boulder.
"Stop complaining. The happiest one out of all of us is you after all." Yama rolled his eyes.
Even though Rika was acting like this, she loved how fast everything was. The fact that she didn’t have to get dirty camping or sweaty from running all day was nothing short of a blessing.
Rika stuck out her tongue with a cheeky smile.
"Well, someone has to complain. If not one of you lot, then the job naturally falls onto me, doesn’t it?"
"Nobody will think you’re deaf if you don’t speak." Tobi interjected, earning himself a kick from Rika as he fell onto the ground.
"What? So you want to just keep adventuring without saying anything? You realise that sooner or later one of us will say something stupid and jinx us." Rika crossed her legs elegantly while Tobi frowned.
"So you want to jinx us first instead???"
"Of course! If I jinx us with something weak, nothing stronger will come get us now, would it? Wait... You made me say it, so now it’s f*cked!" Rika froze before glaring at Tobi.
Sensing what was about to happen, he quickly ran away as Rika chased after him.
"You guys..." Noah sighed helplessly.
However, he understood why they were like that.
With Feris now being able to transport them from fissure to fissure, it eliminated many of the issues they were facing, such as rough travel routes.
Roads that would lead them deep into dangerous territories and such.
But with these shortcuts, it was simply a matter of resting for a night before going to the next location.
They could prepare as much as they wanted without fear of being tired out by the journey there.
Not only that, but if there was any third party waiting by the fissure, they could simply turn back and have Feris shut their connection off.
And by doing so, return the fissure back to its original purpose rather than using it as a shortcut for the group.
Turning around, Noah held out his hand as he helped Feris, who had just jumped out of the fissure.
"Hehe~ that’s another one." Feris beamed happily while swinging herself around Noah’s body.
"How many is that now?" Noah asked.
With each crystal or whatever item that she could resonate with, her personality became more defined.
But that wasn’t the only change. The crystal embedded into her chest would glow brighter while the Sigil-like patterns seemed to ’spread’ across her body.
There was a slight concern over whether or not these ’Sigils’ were alive, as the group wasn’t sure of their origins. But it didn’t seem to be a big concern for Feris.
In fact, she was happy they were growing.
It meant that her power as an individual had improved along with the crystals.
"That makes fifteen." Feris counted.
Power wasn’t the only thing that improved. So did her senses. She could now instinctively tell if these fissures had a usable shard or not. If they didn’t, she would simply skip them as she didn’t want to waste her friends’ time.
"How many more are left?"
Even with their fast travel time, ’clearing’ the fissures still wasn’t easy.
Depending on the size, they would need to carefully journey through an unknown realm, relying only on Feris’ senses as a compass. Sometimes these would be small and quick. Other times they could be labyrinths of sorts that would disorient them.
Jumping off Noah’s back, Feris walked over to the fissure and held out her arm.
Closing her eyes, she sensed the connections she had with the other locations.
Just as she was about to say something, a frown formed on her lips.
"Did something happen?" Noah asked. As someone who kept a close eye on Feris, he was sensitive to the changes in her expression.
"One of the shards just disappeared. Someone else is claiming them as well." Feris grumbled.
She knew that with how many fissures were spread across the world, thinking she could monopolise these crystals was impossible.
Even so, seeing someone else take what was hers didn’t feel great.
They could certainly travel over there now and take it back but...
There’s no telling how strong the opponent was. What if their luck was bad and the opponent was a Lord?
Rare as it may be, these were the risks that Feris now thought about every time she connected to a fissure.
Escape plans were nice and all, but when the opponent was someone who could kill them like swatting a fly, there wouldn’t even be a chance to use the escape path.
"Excluding what someone just stole, there are... at least fifty fragments still scattered throughout the different fissures." Feris reported.
"What many actually pique your interest?" Noah asked curiously.
After coming into contact with these shards more often, he realised that not all of them were equal. Some were bigger, some were smaller. The benefits they gave Feris varied based on size.
So when she said there were fifty of them around, she meant as a whole rather than focusing on their size.
"Hmm... In terms of the ones I actually want... probably only around five."
"Just five, huh?" Noah creased his brows.
Out of fifty, only five were large enough to give Feris a significant boost to her power. That wasn’t including the mining site back at the pit either.
Even now, nothing could really compare to what they excavated back then.
That giant crystal... If they could get their hands on that, what kind of power would Feris obtain?
A question Noah didn’t want to answer just yet.
"What are the conditions of the five? Are they worth going after, or is the risk too high?"
He needed to scout out the situation as much as possible before transferring through the fissures. If they messed up even once... he quickly shook off the thought and waited for Feris to respond.
"Two of the big ones are off limits. The energy around them is too dangerous. They don’t feel like they’re part of our realm either."
’So two are deep in the Abyss.’ Noah nodded, making a mental note.
"One is... on the move. Someone must’ve found a way to transport the shard without absorbing it." Feris exhaled softly.
"As for the last two, one is... in the middle of a conflict? There is a chaotic blend of abilities being hurled around. Some disappearing, some growing weak. But there are a lot of new additions constantly joining the fight."
A clash of power that involved multiple parties.
And now there was only one left.
"The last one is on the way to the pit, and it seems... relatively safe? There’s not really anything around it. Though I will say the aura of the Void seems far denser than around the other fissures. So maybe the pit has changed the world around it." Feris seemed a little on edge.
So was Noah.
Most of the time, these fissures were rather... ’contained’ in that the Void didn’t really leak out.
But based on what Feris was saying, it seemed like the closer they got to the pit, the more the fissures would destabilise.
"Hmm... Alright. The others are obviously off limits since going there could risk everything. I think the pit probably holds the biggest shard of all, so let’s make our preparations to travel towards the fissure on the way to the pit. How does that sound?" Noah asked as Feris exhaled fully and removed her hand from the fissure.
"Are you sure?" She hesitated.
Personally, she wanted to go if possible. This whole thing started at the pit after all.
Even to this day, she couldn’t forget the sights she saw there.
"Mnm, I’m sure. We already told you we’d see this through together, didn’t we?" He smiled while patting her head.
"And when I brought you out of there, I promised to take responsibility. Naturally, I’ll be responsible for making sure you get the shards if they’re within our reach."
Hearing this, Feris paused for a moment before jumping into Noah’s arms and hugging him.
"Thank you..." She mumbled into his chest as Noah simply laughed.
"Go save Tobi from Rika. You four prepare some dinner while I make some finishing touches on a personal project of mine."
Nodding her head enthusiastically, Feris ran over with a laugh as the group quickly set up camp.
As the sun fell, Noah sat down with the rest of the group.
In his hands was what seemed to be a bunch of scrap obsidian metal bundled together with some leather he had lying around.
"Captain, what’s that?" Tobi blinked while chewing on some fish.
"This is the project I mentioned." Noah opened the leather.
To others, this was simply a shoddy pile of scrap with no obvious use.
Perhaps the only interesting part about it was the fact that its surface was very shiny.
"Void stuff?" Feris tilted her head while playing with the fire using a stick.
"Void stuff." Noah nodded.
"Just a shoddy merge between some of the crystals that Feris didn’t want and the extremely dense material we found scattered around the place. However, if we use the fissure as a forging anvil of sorts, using the connection between realms as a hammer, we can do this instead." Noah smiled.
Gesturing for Feris to give him her hand, Noah then placed one of the ’scrap metal’ pieces into her palm.
"Now inject it with your energy and think about a weapon or what you want it to do." He instructed.
Still confused, Feris did just that.
*KRRR
With a crackle, the scrap metal started to break apart as purple energy rippled between the fragments. Exploding into countless pieces, it reconstructed itself into a small figurine of what seemed to be...
Noah?
Seeing this, Noah’s smile twitched while Feris’ eyes shimmered.
"Woah!"
"It’s a prototype for now. But this material seems very... reactive to what you merge it with. The only issue is that it’s hard to forge. The changes are permanent for now, but I think I can make it malleable. There’s enough for each of us to make a weapon, so take your time thinking about it tonight." Noah looked to the rest of the party.
"Tomorrow, we’re going back to the pit."
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