The Sun Drops inside the dome pulsed with a radiant energy that filled the room as the rest of the device itself seemed ready to collapse into many shards along the fault line of the crack already present. Within the shimmering liquid, there was no mistaking the danger that lay in its concentrated power.
Karvus adjusted his stance, his eyes narrowing at the faint web of cracks that crept along the dome’s surface. The manic grin he’d maintained mostly until now faded, replaced by a look of intense concentration. "Not sure even I can coax this one into a safe little implosion without something going wrong," he murmured, scratching his head.
Lassim’s mind raced. They’d managed to dismantle each device so far by leveraging Karvus’ unusual technique, using the controlled explosions to collapse the devices inward or outward, depending on Karvus’ preference, before they could consider the instabilities fully dealt with.
But this one was different—The sheer concentration of day mana contained within the Sundrops was a danger of another level. The fact that it hadn’t been affected by the external solar flares and bursts of day elemental energy was a miracle. The slightest mixing of the volatile energies could spell disaster.
Karvus let out a low whistle, eyeing the dome thoughtfully. "The Sun Sect sure loved their little light shows, didn’t they? Too bad they didn’t keep any spare vials lying around" He gave the room a sidelong glance before turning to Lassim, his eyes glinting with a mixture of excitement and uncertainty. "Got any ideas, kid? Because I’ll be honest: I’m about as close to ’winging it’ here as I’ve ever been."
Lassim took a step back, his gaze fixed on the Sundrops swirling within the dome. The heat radiating from them was almost tangible, like the warmth of a distant star condensed into a tiny, fragile sphere. If they made the wrong move, they’d risk igniting the entire containment vessel and isle in a fiery explosion.
A thought came to him, one he wasn’t entirely sure would work, but he didn’t have any better options.
He took a deep breath, bracing himself. "I might be able to move it… somewhere… safe. But it’s not exactly your typical thing." He turned to Karvus, his voice serious. "This has to stay between us, alright? No questions."
Karvus raised an eyebrow, a slow grin spreading across his face. "Secrets? From Volten’s precious disciple?" He chuckled, his excitement clear as he leaned in, ready to watch. "Fine by me, kid. Just as long as we don’t end up fried to a crisp."
Lassim nodded, taking a steadying breath.
Extending his hand, he summoned the void energy from within his inner heart world and empowered his progenitor marks, feeling the spatial element’s presence and the threads gather around him.
The air around Lassim shifted, the spiritual pressure increased as he used his cultivation to maneuver the threads.
He fully focused on the Sundrops inside the dome, letting his void energy within him meld with the surrounding threads, guiding the liquid toward the faintest seams in the fabric of space.
As he worked, he held his focus, easing the energy forward bit by bit until the liquid Sundrops began to flow smoothly into the tiny spatial rift he’d created. It was oddly similar to the tiny worm hole in the spatial threads that he’d just witnessed early.
With a final surge of concentration, he channeled the last of the Sundrops through the rift, watching as the liquid vanished into the void, leaving no trace of its existence.
Then, without warning, Lassim felt it—a presence, immense and ancient, immediately arriving and touching upon his spirit sense.
A flicker of warmth, a gaze both radiant and somehow sorrowful, passed through to his mind.
"... Sorry for all the clean-up, child…"
The words were gentle, yet laced with an ageless gravity that sent a shiver down his spine.
He recognized the voice instantly: Bavdall, the Day Elemental Deity. The tone held an overwhelming sadness, a weight that seemed to linger in the air around him, that he felt almost overwhelm him.
A small, yet sad, smile crept onto his face, a sense of calm filling him as the last remnants of Bavdall’s attention on him faded away.
As the Sundrops vanished into the void, the containment dome in front of them dimmed, its glow fading until it was nothing more than just the empty shell.
Lassim let out a slow breath, the tension in his shoulders easing slightly as he felt the weight of the day elementally attuned mana and the solar flares attacking his [Aegis] barriers in the surroundings lessen.
Karvus, however, was far from calm.
He stood there, eyes wide and fixed on Lassim with a mix of shock and suspicion. "What in the name of all that’s volatile was that?" he demanded, "Just what are you hiding, kid? That wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill technique. That’s not even any element that I know."
Lassim shook his head, "That? Like I said, you gotta keep it between us. Just… think of it as a special technique I’ve been working on. It’s safer for everyone if we keep it between us."
Karvus narrowed his eyes, a spark of excitement quickly replacing his suspicion. "Fine, fine. You’ve got your secrets," he grumbled, though the hint of a grin tugged at his lips. "And I’ll be keeping an eye on that trick of yours. I don’t know what you just did, but if it can help us from turning to ash, well… I can’t exactly complain."
They then both turned their attention back to the domed filtration and condensation device.
With the Sundrops now gone, the device itself seemed far less threatening. Still, the day mana that the device was still trying to gather upon its array lines glowed faintly along its surfaces, residual energy sparking like embers in a dying fire.
Lassim extended [Aegis] around the device, reinforcing the barrier as Karvus cracked his knuckles.
"Let’s make this one quick," Karvus muttered, extending his hand towards the device with a look of fierce concentration.
His fingers glowed with lightning mana, tendrils of energy snaking forward to probe the surface. "Keep that barrier as tight as a drum, got it?"
Lassim nodded, bracing himself as he funneled more mana into [Aegis], strengthening the ice’s density and layering the barrier to insulate against any sudden flare-ups.
He watched closely as Karvus leaned in, his lightning dancing across the device in careful, precise arcs that probed the weakest points in the structure.
With a subtle shift in his mana, Karvus implanted his techniques explosive properties into the core of the device, a small metallic sphere pulsing with the now growing remnants of sunlight energy as it tried to continue its work. "And here… we… go…" he murmured, applying pressure to the sphere with the smallest pulse of his lightning.
Lassim could sense the lightning mana condensing inward this time, folding in on itself as Karvus’ mana threaded through it, forcing the devices many parts and pieces to compress tightly.
Then, with a final push, Karvus took a few steps back behind a rapidly condensing [Aefis] wall of ice before he snapped his fingers. The device collapsed inward in a silent implosion, the sunlight energy vanishing into a pinpoint before dissipating into a small shockwave that barely moved Lassim’s barriers.
Lassim relaxed, then allowed the barriers to melt and then fade into the surrounding air.
They both stepped back, observing the now-destroyed secixe. It was just another piece of scorched metal now, harmless and unremarkable.
Karvus clapped Lassim on the shoulder, his expression one of wild satisfaction. "Now that’s what I call teamwork! Just a couple more of these left to handle and we’re all set."
Lassim managed a somewhat tired reply, "Just lead the way. Let’s finish this."
~~~
Over the next few hours, they made their way through the remaining Sun Sect facilities scattered across Clearwater Isle.
Each structure held its own surprises and challenges, each device rigged with unique configurations of sunlight mana that were all handled with the same explosive or implosive procedure.
In one building, they found a solar amplifier designed to intensify day mana into concentrated beams that seemed to be the experiments of a researcher of some kind. They couldn’t quite make out the exact purpose of the beams, but they were indeed intense when still activated.
Another building housed what looked like a wide-scale, but less concentrated version of the Sundrops device over a larger area. The only way to describe it was a solar condensation chamber with a high-pressure device that focused sunlight mana into a misty form.
It was most likely a meditation chamber of sorts, from Lassim’s estimation, but there was a wide array of differing kinds of plants inside that made Lassim question what its exact purpose was for.
With each device they neutralized, Lassim gained a deeper appreciation for Karvus’ technique and the absolute control he wielded over his explosive power.
It was a skill that was both incredibly destructive and artfully precise, and Lassim couldn’t deny the admiration he felt for the elder’s unconventional battle art.
By the time they dismantled everything, both cultivators were drenched in sweat, the intense heat and assaults from unstable solar flares and day elemental energy pushing Lassim’s barriers to their limits.
Eventually, as the afternoon sun dipped toward the horizon, they returned to the central building where Lassim had first met Karvus.
Ignoring the guards that stood a few feet away and only gave them a cursory salute, they landed heavily, both of them coated in a mix of grime, soot, and sweat, their sect’s martial attire singed from the rampaging flares that occasionally made it past his [Aegis].
Lassim let out a sigh of relief, taking the moment to fall carefully to his butt onto the ground.
Karvus mimicked Lassim and sank down on the stone pathway leading to the doorway, leaning back with a contented sigh. "Ahh, now that was a day’s work," he said, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Nothing like a few hours of the smell of burned-out mana and explosions to get the blood flowing, eh?"
Lassim chuckled, "You’ve got a unique sense of what qualifies for an accomplishment, Elder."
Karvus grinned, rubbing his soot covered nose before running the same hand through his permanently pushed back hair. "Can’t say I’ve met many who share my enthusiasm. But hey, that’s why they call me the Bombardier." He eyed Lassim, his gaze sharp. "Speaking of unique, though… that little trick you pulled back there with the Sundrops. You mind telling me what that was?"
Lassim paused, the memory of Bavdall’s voice resurfacing in his mind.
He considered how much he could say, how much Karvus needed to know. The elder was unpredictable, and the last thing Lassim wanted was to draw unnecessary attention to the progenitor marks and the spatial elemental power they granted him.
He still hadn’t seen or heard of the first round of space elementally attended youth being granted companions and powers of his and Khaalseru’s element yet. He wondered how long he’d need to keep doing a poor job of hiding the element to prevent even more unwanted attention on the fav that he had 2 elemental companions. If people learned it wasn’t just that, but also a third element with no companion that he was tasked with developing himself like a new Diety, he wondered what they’d really think of him and how they might change things even further.
He forced a casual smile, keeping his tone light. "Just a… special storage technique I’ve been working on. Comes in handy when you don’t have the right kind of container."
Karvus raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued. "Storage technique, huh?" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his eyes gleaming with curiosity. "You know, I’ve seen a lot of fancy tricks in my time, but that one was… different. Plus, that sensation that came out of nowhere. Almost felt like something was watching us." He shivered slightly, as if recalling the sensation. "It was familiar but… I can’t seem to remember where I felt that sensation before? It’s almost like it happened several thousand years ago, but… Well, whatever it was, it gave me the chills. Be more careful with that technique so you don’t give us older folks heart attacks, ya hear?"
Lassim forced a laugh, hoping to deflect the conversation. "Well, guess it’s just one of those mysteries we’ll have to live with. Plus, you of all people complaining about heart attacks?! I thought you said you were the "Bombardier"? Isn’t running into a little danger every now and then part of the territory?"
Karvus laughed, slapping his hand into his thigh. "You’re not wrong, kid. Still… I’m going to keep an eye on you. Something tells me you’ve got more secrets up your sleeve."
Lassim shrugged, maintaining his casual expression. But inside, he felt a flicker of unease.
The elder’s curiosity was not something to be taken lightly and reminded him that he’d have to be careful about how he used the progenitor marks in the future; especially around other sect members for now.
He felt like he could trust these sect elders, as Volten had specifically given him this particular stack of mission sheets, but it reminded him that he may run into more insane folks like the former Mercy if he wasn’t careful. He reminded himself to only use his spatial element when it was necessary for saving his life or the situation, as he knew he was still too weak to keep himself fully safe.
This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēwebnovel.com.
He didn’t want to have to beg the gods for another escape to a hidden land again, though an adventure of exploring without the need to complete tasks for others sounded fun.
They sat in companionable silence as the last rays of sunlight faded over the island, the day’s work finally done.
But Lassim couldn’t wait to begin to try and ask Karvus for the details on how to make his technique work. If it was anything like [Hydroburst], having an additional way to cause large swathes of damage with more explosions seemed like it’d be right up his alley.