Path of Dragons 16 - Chapter 59 - Strengths and Weaknesses (Patreon)

Elijah landed on Fungee’s island, hitting the ground with an unintended thud.  With the increased ethereal density came much more powerful gravity.  It was localized to the guardian’s domain, but that didn’t make it any less impactful.  Thankfully, Elijah was more than strong enough to endure.  The only real effect was the echoing sound of his landing, which doubtless alerted any wildlife in the area to his arrival.

So, he wasted no time before shifting into the Shape of the Primordial Deep, then using The World is an Ocean to dive through the rock.  In moments, he fell through the ceiling of Fungee’s chamber, then swam through the air to reach the dolmen he’d built.  Only then did he let himself acknowledge something that ought to have been expected.

Outside, it was difficult to quantify how much the atmosphere had changed.  However, he was familiar enough with the interior of that chamber that he felt comfortable saying that the air inside had experienced a much more distinct transformation.  The ethera felt like a heavy blanket, as if the humidity had risen to a level that verged on turning liquid.

Forutnately, it didn’t feel hostile.

Indeed, it was like coming home.  It only took him a few seconds to realize that the innate resistances he’d been granted from the evolution of Shape of Spores into Shape of the Reaver were putting in some serious work.  Fungee had filled the entire space with tiny spores that clearly fed on the increased ethereal density, and to the point where they infected everything in the area.

Elijah was no exception.

The only difference between him and everything else was that he was functionally immune. 

Once he was thoroughly ensconced in Fungee’s atmosphere, he settled down on a rock near the dolmen and decided to, at last, make a choice.  He’d already examined the options, picking them apart until no more mysteries remained.  All he needed to do was make a decision.

That was a lot more difficult than he might have anticipated.  The ultimate issue was that each possibility was viable, meaning that there wasn’t a bad choice to be made.  It was purely up to preference.

In the end, though, Elijah went back to something he’d long established.  To date, one of the biggest reasons for his survival was the strength of his soul.  That power could be directly traced back to two factors. 

The first inadvertently obtained unscheduled ability evolution and his first specialization were responsible for his continued survival.  Given that reality, Elijah didn’t feel like he could choose anything but the Enduring Soul option.  So that was what he did, resulting in a new notification:

You have chosen the Enduring Soul specialization.  It has been combined with your Natural Dominion specialization to create Domain of Souls. 

Synergy: S

All previous benefits will remain in effect.

The second Elijah made the choice, he felt an influx of energy as his soul expanded.  Unbidden, his Mantle of Authority exploded out of him, becoming visible as a mile-tall tree with appropriately expansive branches.  Between each limb stretched mycelial strands that somehow integrated into the whole, infesting the entire tree. 

That was normal enough.

His soul had slowly taken on the shape and characteristics of fungi, mostly because it was mostly driven by his perception.  That meant that the imagery associated with it had gradually adopted fungal visualization. 

What wasn’t normal was that it all felt more solid than ever.  Almost like a real tree had somehow grown within the space.  On top of that, the branches and connective hyphae were much thicker than they’d ever been before.  And finally, Elijah could feel the atmosphere respond to his dominion. 

He didn’t really have a domain.

Soul of the Wild was close, but it was more sensory than anything else.  Cloak of Embers came close to the characteristics of a domain as well, though it wasn’t ubiquitous enough to make that label stick. 

But now, it felt like he’d begun to bridge that gap, and not through an ability.  Rather, through the sheer power of his soul expressed through his Mantle of Authority.

As Elijah examined it, he realized that he enjoyed much more control over his soul.  With barely a flick of his mind, he made the image disappear, then sharpened his Mantle into a Thorn-like spear.  It wasn’t solid, but he somehow felt its weight in his hand.  And when he thrust, it exploded outward, not stopping for more than a hundred feet. 

Another thought, and the blade erupted into a thousand sharp branches.  They retracted almost immediately, but Elijah already had ideas about how to deploy that ability in combat.

It didn’t take long for Elijah to establish that he’d made the right choice.  Perhaps he would’ve felt the same about any of the three options, but he preferred not to look back.  He was happy with his decision.

With that in mind, he finally took a look at his status, and for the first time since the battle against the orcs.  The differences were stark:

The difference was stark, and it wasn’t difficult to see why.  The first thing he noticed was that three attributes – constitution, ethera, and regeneration – had already passed the ten thousand mark.  Doubtless, that was one of the reasons he felt the additional attributes so strongly.  When passing milestones in the past, he’d received a tangible boost to the effects.  And in this instance, it felt even more effective. 

He expected that when he reached that mark in strength and dexterity, the difference would be even more noticeable – just by virtue of the way those attributes worked.  Being stronger was a lot easier to recognize than having a little more ethera in his core.

The next thing Elijah noticed was that the effect of his specialization was retroactive to when he’d received the notification at level four-fifty.  So, he had eight levels’ worth of the increased attribute bonus, meaning that his stats were even higher than expected.

Sometimes, it was easy to discount the effect of those numbers.  They added up, though, and Elijah could recall instances where he’d needed every single point just to survive.

However, when Elijah looked at his status, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret.  Or maybe disappointment.  Either way, he knew he’d let his cultivation progress stall, and in retrospect, it was obvious that his silver-tier body was the reason he couldn’t effectively use his soul in battle.

And he suspected that his recent specialization would further unbalance him, which made cultivating his body that much more important.  Still, he had other things that required his attention.  Specifically, Fungee’s development, which was key to him taking Orveth Kaal for himself.

That didn’t mean he couldn’t take a few steps in the interim.  Chiefly, that meant being more diligent with using his soap.  His stores had dwindled considerably over the past ten-plus years, largely because he’d given some to his friends.  But with his plans being what they were, he could afford to use it more liberally. 

To that end, he’d employed it once a day since Alrhok’s betrayal.  It wasn’t comfortable, though.  Far from it, in fact.  It felt a bit like he’d repeatedly endured a sandblasting.  Yet, he could already sense the effects, which primed him to take the next step.

Could he leap right into it?  After years of using various body cultivating soaps and consuming the exil fruit, the answer to that question was a distinct yes.  However, Elijah would not settle for good enough.  He wanted the body cultivation to be just as high-tier as what he’d experienced at the First Fang. 

And for that, he needed a bit more preparation.

In the interim, he intended to work on the primary plan, which was to spread Fungee across Orveth Kaal.  To do that, he slipped free of the rock where he’d been sitting and approached the mushroom that functioned as Fungee’s center. 

Then, he tried to explain to Fungee what he wanted.  Despite clearly being excited to see him, the fungal colony was also dead set on giving him the cold shoulder.  That lasted for a few hours, during which Elijah patiently hung around.  Finally, he deployed his tent and went to sleep. 

It was much needed.

He hadn’t really rested since being stranded, so it wasn’t long until he was entirely unconscious.  Thankfully, he didn’t dream much, and he didn’t even remember those.  When he awoke, he took a shower, used his soap, then went to work continuing to develop Fungee’s habitat.

The first bout of development had been extensive, but there were a few instances where he’d cut corners.  Not because he was lazy, but due to a lack of time.  Now that that wasn’t an issue, Elijah could institute a more thorough and detailed design.

The most impactful was to continue teaching Fungee how to grow into various glyphs.  Since working on it before, Elijah had developed a few new ideas.  Some were based on the Vengeance’s enchantments, but others, he’d learned from Ikiajh and the other Farmers. 

He was incapable of employing similar domains, but he’d developed a method for mimicking them.  It had originated with his work with Treebie, and he’d expanded upon the ideas over the years, culminating with a current understanding that far exceeded what he’d used on Gorveth. 

But it wasn’t enough.

So, as the days stretched into a few weeks, Elijah continued to work on the underlying ideas.  As he did so, he guided Fungee’s growth, re-earning the colony’s trust until it was like nothing had ever happened.  That made things much easier, and it served a secondary purpose of establishing a baseline for Fungee’s emotional and intellectual development.  Elijah decided it was most similar to that of a dog, though there were times when Fungee showed much greater intelligence that approached primate levels of reasoning capability.

And considering that he was only a little more than five or six years old, that was an incredible rate of development.

What would he become in a decade?  In a century?  In a thousand years?  Elijah felt certain that there was a ceiling for Fungee’s development.  However, given his plans, Elijah also expected that he’d need to adjust his interpretation of Fungee’s potential.  After all, Orveth Kaal represented a perfect incubation chamber. 

And if he could tap into the power within the core?

That could become the catalyst that would spark Fungee’s development into something truly unique.  But before Elijah could get into that, he knew he needed to ensure that the base – the nucleus of the colony – was as well-protected and as strong as possible.

To that end, he continued to work, using Avatar of Storms to carve designs into the rocky surroundings while also establishing nourishing storms, into which he infused a touch of his soul.  That served to strengthen his connection to Fungee, which was his safeguard against the colony growing out of control.

He didn’t intend to use his influence to imprison Fungee, but he definitely wanted to keep it corralled – at least to some extent.  After all, Elijah was well aware that he was playing with proverbial fire.  Fungi had the potential to infest everything.  Elijah just wanted Fungee to learn that it was more beneficial to integrate with the ecosystem rather than assimilate it.

Whether he would be successful was yet to be seen.

Almost two months later, Elijah opened the Ledger to a major surprise:

Contribution Rankings

1.        Elijah Hart – 991 Points

2.        Agar’ish na Esko – 609 Points

3.        Carilabelle es Ky’hrin  – 588 Points

4.        Dosi es Tyrix – 572 Points

5.        …

6.        …

On and on it went, with many names Elijah had never heard.  He skimmed past most of them, only recognizing that some of the surnames were familiar.  It was interesting to see that second place belonged to an unknown clan, though.  But that wasn’t what was surprising.  Rather, Elijah’s shock came from the fact that he remained at the top of the list.

Idly, Elijah wondered what the deity participants in the trial thought of that.  No doubt, it was a source of confusion, which brought a smile to Elijah’s face.