Chapter 768 - Scram (Patreon)

“Just do it like this,” Lissandra says.

While I watch with my Preeminence eyes, she seeps a bit of mana with Myrra’s signature out of her body, where she circulates it.

At first, it confuses me because of how simple it looks, but then I start getting more information from my trait. Wavelengths shift, each moving in a different trajectory and calculated speed. There are spots where the circulation, seemingly without any good reason, becomes faster only to stop later. All without any rhythm I could pick up on currently.

More information floods my mind, and the longer I stare at it, the more I realize this is likely a way someone at the verge of Champion would move their mana. Well, by Lissandra’s standards, at least.

As with many things she does, it feels ancient. Raw and almost primitive. It is like people using a computer with less computational power than modern smartphones to get to the moon half a century ago. Meanwhile, people nowadays rely on much more computing and computers, or in this metaphor, a system, rather than their own calculations that would create a human-tall mound of pages of notes.

Yes, I will do anything in my power to continue to use my Cyclist Destroyer metaphor.

Observing what she does, I gather as much as I can, yet I still decide to take only the parts that I want and modify the rest so it fits my body. I am sure that what she has shown me would fit me well as it is, but this is simply what I like to do because I know that, through making my own version, I will continue to improve.

Seeing that I am done, the mana pulls back into her body, and I ask her, “Do you need more black mana or mana in general?”

“I don't, little pup. Honestly, this meeting might be a waste of time, but the little kitten wanted to see you, and her begging was starting to get even on my nerves.”

I glance at Myrra, who just smiles and shamelessly sways her tails. Turning back to Lissandra, I ask, “How many disciple meeting tokens do you even have?”

“Three more.”

I blink. “Three?”

“Yes, three. I gained them during the 5th floor of the tutorial. But enough idle talk. Do you know how to use the Fragment you possess?”

“A bit. Some things I came up with on my own, and others I have...”

“Which is to say, next to nothing.”

“It is one of my greatest joys to discover how things work on my own and find my own uses for them.”

“Little pup, sometimes it hurts me physically to watch people who behave like you. It is as if you would rather run face first into the same wall again and again before considering that you could simply turn aside. All the while, someone else keeps telling you to go left, but you scream out loud like a gray lizard so you do not hear it.”

“...I have heard about gray lizards a lot. One day, I will have to find one. Are you in one of your 'pass knowledge' moods? Go on, tell me about the fragment, but don't expect anything in exchange.”

She stays quiet, and I give her time, yet seconds pass, and her face turns focused instead.

I’m about to speak when her eyes drift past me, and she starts talking again, her voice settling into something colder and filled with power. “I have stood at the summit of one of the most powerful planets in the universe for longer than most of you could endure. My mana blazing like a dragon’s breath, vast and unending as the Dark Ocean of Eladore. You pathetic bunch were forced to tear pieces from my memory just to keep my shadow confined to the tutorial. I have already faced one of you. When his life ended, he looked at me with nothing left but shock and tears he could not hide.”

The presence around her rises up, and it is not mana at all. It is as if I can feel the capability of the body in front of me. This body holding the brain and memories of a person, only the Ruler of Pride was able to face.

She does not look at me. Even her words are not meant for me. Her gaze rests somewhere beyond my shoulder, fixed on a distant point only she can see.

Lissandra stops after a few steps, staring in that direction with a cold expression. “Even in the state you see me in now, I am more than capable of facing whatever trash dares to call itself a Ruler. This is more than enough. If you are afraid to face me, then stop listening and scram,” she shouts.

I do not realize it at first, but the black dagger is already in her hand. She swings it. The air shudders, and the endless white flickers, swallowed by pitch black before snapping back again. It happens again and again. When it eventually stops, the never-ending white space remains, split by a long black scar stretching into the distance. Slowly, almost reluctantly, the scar begins to close.

Lissandra already has her attention back on me. “There is nothing I want of you, little pup.”

Trying to ignore what just happened, I gesture at the dagger. “You didn't have a problem wanting me to make that.”

That dagger is now slightly different. It is still pitch black, but in some weird, twisted way, it feels more firm and materialized. It is as if it is made out of the darkest metal instead of mana.

Looking at it as well, she lifts it and twists it slightly to observe it. “It is indeed a useful tool. But that is it: a tool.” Her eyes snap back at me. “Is it a tool for you as well, or is it something you over-rely on and allow to stifle your growth?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

She smiles for a faint moment. “Good. Now, back to your fragment, and I want to hear none of your silly talk. I will tell you only a little so you can have your great joy.”

I lift my left hand where half of the fragment of the Nameless Tree is imbued. It is a pale green crystal with green, yellow, and blue lights swirling inside. “As far as I have observed, it needs time to mature, and it will grow to match my person, while in a way I can influence it.”

Lissandra shakes her head. “If we really must talk about it in such simplistic terms, so be it. If you are able to, try to find someone to tell you about the true nature of the Fragments and how they came to be. We don't have much time left, so I won't start that story, as it is something I would want to give proper time. As for your Fragment, in a way, you are correct. The Nameless Tree takes its meaning from that very absence of a name. It exists in a state of waiting, without nature, without design, without even a name. Because of that, you may imprint all of those things upon it. The tree that now grows where you planted it can be reabsorbed by you. When you then plant it again, it will begin from the start, but it will grow faster, because it remembers what it once became. You may feed it to accelerate that growth.”

She taps on the crystal, which is the size of my fingernail in my hand, and makes a circular movement with her finger. This causes the lights inside to swirl in that same motion. “This fragment is capable of both great power and utter weakness, depending on its owner. In the hands of a true Absolute, a fully matured fragment, raised correctly, can rank among the strongest of the fragments. Some shape it for combat. Others refine it into materials or cultivate extraordinary fruits. Most often, it is raised as the heart of a Domain. In that role, it serves as a central node that does not weaken or decay, allowing its owner's influence to extend far beyond their usual limits. Antenna, node, storage, it can also be forged into a weapon, a staff, a bow, or a spear.”

“But you seem to have one recommendation for me,” I mention.

“Yes. The path you are walking on is one of constantly doubling down. So, push blindly in one direction and continue to deepen your weaknesses until your strength grows so overwhelming that those flaws simply cease to matter. Though it is ridiculously dumb, given your abysmal level of talent, what you have done to your body is absurd. Even so, I admire it. I see what purpose your clumsy constructs serve, and I feel a hint of what you can materialize to endure your mana in your stead. Continue to do that, because if you have any talent, it is for mana. Do not allow anything to take it from you, and do not rely on something else to bear it in your place. Carry it with you at all times, and train your body and mind to endure what others require items to survive.”

Lissandra gestures for Myrra to come closer before she turns back to me. “Grow your tree for your primordial energies only, so you can torture your body and mind to channel even more.”

I give it a bit of thought. It is something I have been considering myself, as the tree seems to be even more malleable than I initially believed. My primordial energies... using it this way... this could work.

“I will think about it,” I answer Lissandra.

“Do whatever you want,” the Absolute answers. She turns to Myrra. “You have ten seconds before it moves you out of here.”

With that, Lissandra disappears, leaving me and the lynthari alone. Before I can think of anything else, Myrra crushes me in a surprise hug. The force makes me take several steps back so we do not fall to the ground. Some of the confidence and cheerful mood she put on earlier is gone now that Lissandra has left. Myrra squeezes me strongly but carefully, aware of the limits of my body.

“Is it that bad there?” I ask her in a whisper as I hug her back.

She halts for a second. Without answering, she squeezes me even tighter. This time, I think a few of my bones actually crack, but I don't care much and allow it. I somewhat awkwardly pat her back a few times.

When the time is almost up, she lets go and turns around. I don't even get to see her face as she waves with her back toward me, then disappears just as Lissandra did.

Finding myself back in my room, I allow myself to sit for a few moments before I stand up and stretch. Through my window, I look at the Nameless Tree growing there, surrounded by a multitude of barriers. Like lightning, a myriad of ideas flash in my mind, and I enjoy going over all of them.

Meanwhile, a powerful presence is heading toward my room. I also observe it with curiosity. That presence doesn’t slow down at all, and as it reaches my door, it just steps through. The visitor pushes right through the metal-reinforced door that I had further strengthened with inscriptions, mana stones, and other materials.

The most demon demon to ever demon simply walks through, ripping the door from its frame and tearing several large chunks of wall free with it.

Some of the alarms I set ring, warning me of an intruder. One after another, I turn them off while never for a second taking my eyes off Morwag.

I can feel his aggressive heartbeat. Being taller and more muscular than most demons, his presence feels especially overwhelming in the confined space of my room. His steps are long and powerful, yet quick and agile. After a few more strides, he stops before me, never breaking eye contact for a single moment.

“I broke your door,” he says.

“It seems like it,” I agree.

“What are you going to do about it?”

I open my mouth to say something quippy, but looking at him, I close my mouth back again.

Then, I chuckle and say, "Scram."

My blast of kinetic energy crashes against him with such speed and volume that he doesn't react in time or gather enough of his primordial energy to stop it. His body hits the wall and crashes through it. He rolls across the hallway and then through another wall, disappearing from my sight.

Combat subminds activate, and pre-prepared arrays rise to the brink of activation, and I slowly walk toward the hole in the wall, step over the broken bricks, and enter the hallway.

After gesturing for a few nearby demons to get away, I start walking toward where I sense Morwag’s signature and his primordial energy rising at high speed.

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