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Chapter 542 Docking
🕑 Added 2020-08-16 11:46:56 +0000 UTCAuthor's note: Hey there. New chapters up and more hopefully on Thursday. I'm a little behind so it might be Friday. We'll see.
Thank you for reading and of course for the continued support!
Note: Not sure when I'll post the next one. At least something I suppose.
Have a good day.
PDF/EPUB: https://www.patreon.com/posts/32241245
Chapter Index: https://www.patreon.com/posts/37813894
Chapter 542 Docking
Nearly forty seconds passed until the first Astral Spirit showed up. Its body looked smooth, without any blemishes. For all she knew, it couldve been born two seconds ago.
If that had been the case, her plan wouldnt work.
She had charged Heart of Cinder for long enough, activating Phaseshift as the creature finally took note of her.
In the next few seconds of her approach, she sacrificed tens of thousands of health into her Flare and Awakening. The Astral magic she dodged with displacement.
The spirit didnt take her as a large threat, instead using its manifested astral power to disintegrate the hordes of monsters below, their initial target completely forgotten.
Ilea let the creature work, revealing herself only when the next Astral Spirit showed. Her magic flared up with a bright explosion of flame and light, her fist lashing out to strike the beings back.
Sentinel Huntress manifested in a forced mark, the rest of her spells burning into the creature with devastating results. Her mana made bits of the creature burst, the thick blood splattering down onto the icy desert.
Wounds opened and closed as her assault continued, its focus now entirely on her as both its area attack and concentrated beams burned away at her ash.
It didnt relent.
Ilea renewed the mark when the hordes below started to die down, more Astral variants appearing in the area, adding to her falling health.
Every point of mana stolen would further inconvenience the creature but the burst of power she received from her new phased state still wasnt enough to overwhelm the monster in time.
By now it was regenerating quickly, the blemishes remaining returning to pristine skin as it drained not only from her but its brethren alike.
Those in turn would drain from the others and Ilea, creating an increasing mesh of mana draining entities.
The Astral spirits effectively forced an attacker to overwhelm every Astral Spirit present if a single one was the target. The same was true for their offensive arsenal, quickly getting through even Ileas defenses as they grew in numbers.
She displaced herself a few times, adding blink into the mix as she created distance between herself and the spirits. Their spells at least dont multiply each other, she thought. Would be quite interesting if they could combine attacks like humans with artillery spells.
Ilea smiled to herself as she lazily flew over the desert of Erendar. The lost mana returned to her bit by bit, her gaze focused on the single Astral Spirit she had chosen to mark.
She could feel it. Sense it.
The remaining Spirits of Death were destroyed, until they would rise again. Ilea didnt need an additional sense to tell that the Astral Spirit had healed back to full again.
It was unclear to her how much mana the creatures possessed, let alone how quickly they regenerated but perhaps facing them like this wasnt beneficial in any way.
Only about ten seconds passed as the ground froze again, streaks of burnt sand reclaimed by the unforgiving cold.
When the spirits started to leave, nothing but scattered bones remained from the large scale battle.
Its just an exchange of mana, isnt it? Ilea thought to herself. A natural phenomenon given form.
Humans had the capacity of harvesting energy from such phenomena, Ilea just had to figure out when, how, and where to strike.
She could gain experience from killing the death spirits, could gain resistances and skill levels from battling the entire group but the most beneficial enemy to fell would be the Astrals themselves.
The spirits didnt leave as one, not in the sense of timing or destination.
All were gone in the span of a few moments, flying away at incredible speeds, ready to find the next encounter.
What do they even get out of it? Can they not regenerate mana themselves? Or is it just an instinctual need? To consume and destroy?
Ilea knew they didnt drain mana when they werent injured so that shouldnt have been their main goal.
Maybe they just like it? Like moths attracted to light, Astrals are attracted to mana. And the death variants in turn seek life.
Survival and procreation were the main goals of most creatures Ilea was familiar with but by now she had been confronted with enough examples that suggested a different approach to life was certainly possible.
The Fae didnt exactly strive for survival when splitting up to travel the world at much lower individual power. Nor did the Meadow procreate in the same sense as humans did.
She did wonder if it was a change that happened after centuries of introspection or if it was something more instinctual, a difference within the species themselves.
Gonna miss this one if I continue with that train of thought, Ilea mused and focused on the quickly moving mark.
Her wings charged and she followed.
Just dont fly back to Sephilon.
Sentinel Huntress lead her through the wasteland, most of it compromising of desert. The occasional mountain broke the monotonous terrain.
Clouds of frozen ice hung low at the side of the nearby mountain chain.
Ilea felt the chill even from a few kilometers away, the slowly moving giant traveling over the landscape in a steady crawl.
Another Ice Elemental? Or just a natural occurrence?
The temperatures would challenge even a high level Shadow with an Ice Resistance, or so she assumed. Her own body had grown so used to the surroundings, if anything welcoming extremes.
Feels good to put that natural regeneration to use.
The giant light blue ice cloud moved past, replaced by yet more desert. And Meadow managed to build a working civilization here.
Ilea thought back to the shared memory. Erendar didnt look much different without an eclipse underway. It just looked boiling hot instead.
No wonder everything dies out with a sudden decade long winter after centuries of summer.
The mark is getting closer.
She slowed down, looking up into the dim blue sky.
Astral. Right, she murmured and shot up.
The air thinned quickly at her speed of flight, the high level of Oxygen Repository coming in handy. However long a battle with the spirit would last, her oxygen wouldnt be the deciding factor.
Ilea stopped her charged flight, continuing on with her normal speed as the ground grew ever more distant. She could see the curve of the moon much clearer now, the air cooling more with each passing second.
Is this the highest Ive been?
Ilea wondered if her wings worked in zero gravity but decided that at the very least displacement and blink wouldnt be affected. If the Meadow couldnt disable the skills without using complex runic creations, a lack of gravity wouldnt affect them either.
The air had thinned enough to let her fly faster, any resistance it had provided gone near entirely.
All she heard now was her beating heart, her lungs useless at this altitude. Ilea just held her breath and zeroed in on the mark that grew closer evermore.
Eyes of Ash spotted the single spirit hanging in the distant space, its humanoid shape looking up at the dark planet of Sephilon.
All alone.
Ilea used phaseshift, stacking her health sacrifices for a few seconds before she displaced herself closer.
The spell deactivated and she grappled onto the being, a soundless beam of astral energy shooting past into the void of space.
Ash formed around her, spreading onto her adversary and igniting with a brilliant white hue.
The spirit lashed out, powerful spheres of astral energy burning away layers of ashen armor, its arms slashing at her with condensed power. Each strike that stripped away her ash revealed the bright blue Azarinth runes before the dark material covered them once more.
Blood both red and blue floated away from the spiraling forms of the two entangled enemies, both slowly moving down as the now weak gravity of Erendar pulled on their mass.
Ashen limbs slashed into the smooth skin, Destruction and Storm of Cinders dispersing their powerful destructive mana into the creature with every punch.
A bright sphere of fire and energy joined the spheres of astral magic, lighting up like a bright beacon in the eternal darkness of space.
The creature was hurt, more of its blood and mass floating down towards the frozen moon, entangling with Ileas ash, skin, and blood.
Its wounds healed only slowly, five more cuts opening in the time one healed.
The powerful astral magic cast near instantly burned away the humans ashen armor. The beams moved past, fighting the tough dark material. It seemed fruitless, the magic gone as the humans armor remained, gray moving towards an obsidian black as its density increased, all covered by a bright white flame.
Ilea didnt let up, her offensive spells lashing out with all the frequency and mana she could muster, the mana drain and astral spells more nuisance than anything else. Flare of Creation burned away both her mana and the enemy, the effects stacked from Phaseshift still remaining.
[Astral Spirit lvl ???]
Her Veteran suggested a little over eight hundred.
She knew she would win. The spells were meaningless against her defense, resistances, and regeneration. Time was on her side, each minute adding to her defenses and output of power.
Even if she couldnt keep up the offensive onslaught for very long, she wouldnt retreat. The mana it stole from her would only damage it further.
It just had to remain here, alone, facing her without other sources of mana.
The bonuses stacked during Phaseshift receded, returning her to a weaker state. Much of her mana was already gone after her excessive spending.
The spirit had been reduced to two thirds of its mass, blood floating away from it as the two continued to spiral downwards.
Storm of Cinders had stripped away its mana intrusion defenses, the Flame of Creation was slowing its regeneration, and her mana continuously poisoned the creature from within.
The many open wounds allowed her to use her ash freely, creating dense combined limbs and shredder imitations to rip through the tough material of the spirit, each touch and attack adding more white fire to her now blazing enemy.
Their speed picked up as they moved closer to Erendar, wisps of fire flaring up as they entered the lower atmosphere and sound returned to their surroundings.
Ilea prepared to use another set of skills when what remained of the spirit went limp. A few dings resounded in her mind.
She stored the corpse and slowed down, blinking a few times before she stopped in the sky above the frozen desert.
Alright, that was pretty cool, she thought and checked the messages with a bright smile on her face.
ding You have defeated [Astral Spirit lvl 821]
ding The Azarinth Sentinel has reached lvl 397 Five stat points awarded
ding Kin of Ash has reached lvl 396 Five stat points awarded
ding The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 245 One stat point awarded
ding The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 246 One stat point awarded
ding The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 247 One stat point awarded
ding The Faen Valkyrie has reached lvl 248 One stat point awarded
Thats what I call pod racing. Or something, she said to herself, floating slowly through the sky.
Ilea twirled and checked herself for injuries, her mana slowly recovering as she flew. Just takes too much out of me to kill a creature of that level.
The rewards easily justified the high spending, Sentinel Core once more providing a massive boost to her offensive capabilities. The stronger they are, the longer I can beat the shit out of them.
ding Sentinel Huntress reaches 3rd lvl 16
ding Body of the Valkyrie reaches 3rd lvl 5
Not a long fight. Not a lot of danger.
She was surprised the two skills had even leveled, assuming each was close to the next level anyway.
Oxygen Repository is at twenty could go up there and no. Meadow is safer.
It creeped her out a little to fly up towards space. With a clear goal and a physical enemy in mind, her fear was subdued but to go there alone, just to choke on a lack of air? A small vacuum created by her tree friend seemed more welcoming.
No other skill leveled but she had reached her goal.
Turned out easier than expected. Alone theyre manageable but I guess the levels arent that good. And it wont get better for the next one I kill.
She didnt overthink it, flying back the way she came. Ilea had managed to convince Meadow of a huntress mark, the spell now providing a direction she wouldve had to find through landmarks.
Im so close. Do you really not think itd be worth it to max out my skills? she asked.
As I have said before. It is unlikely that youll evolve at four hundred. Even your third Class is shaping up to be incredibly powerful for a Class beyond your species limitations, Meadow said.
Ilea bit her lip. She didnt have much time left here. Maxing out her Azarinth skills was impossible in that time, due to Sentinel Huntress. With her ash she only needed a few more levels but considering the last weeks, it may as well take all her remaining time to get them to thirty.
Continue by the way, Ilea said, her training with the creature resuming.
Meadow formed a platform below her, the runes appearing near instantly.
Several hundred wooden spikes appeared all around her, cutting into her as she tried to dodge and move around them.
Roots filled the whole arena, quickly growing in all directions as pale white flames and ash tried to fight back against the powerful creation.
The growth didnt stop, overwhelming her offensive power with sheer density and resilience.
Ilea soon found herself unable to teleport not just due to the platform but mostly because she simply couldnt get past the sheer mass of wood.
Phaseshift activated, the wood quickly filling in the space where she would have been. The runes below were now the only thing preventing her teleportation but it proved to be enough.
Its just getting worse, she sighed.
Meadow laughed. You are trapped in my forest.
What happens if I appear now? she asked.
Either your body will prevail, or the wood will, Meadow said.
Very funny, Ilea sent.
Maybe I could give you a helping branch, Meadow suggested.
Im all ears. My mana is running out, Ilea said and smiled.
The runes carved into the platform below, the field it creates, the very mana that flows from my form into each, Meadow said.
What about them? Ilea asked.
Meadow remained silent.
The seconds ticked past.
Ilea strained her senses, focusing fully onto the platform of stone now hidden below her phased form and the sea of roots.
What about the runes?
She saw the stone in her sphere, saw the runes, saw the magic within them and she saw the way it all warped the space and mana within its area of influence.
And she had no idea what it meant.
The cost of Phaseshift maxed out, her mana now consumed in chunks of several thousand per second. Far too much for her regeneration to sustain.
Mana flows from its body into the platform, the runes use that to create-
Phaseshift deactivated, her body appearing within the roots as her spell tried to move her aside. She flickered a few times before her armor exploded, roots splintering, and bones groaning.
Her flesh ripped, penetrated by wood, both sides pushing on each other for the ownership of each cubic millimeter. Her ash and flesh lost as much as it won, her skeleton at least surviving the sudden appearance without major injuries.
Ilea still found herself severely mangled and stuck within the forest of roots.
Her health was down a third but recovered quickly, much of the damage however difficult to heal with the roots occupying everything around her.
Ilea didnt feel the pain nor did she care overly much about her circumstances. It was obvious by now that Meadow could crush her with whatever spell or magic it wanted to use.
Instead she continued to study the platform.
Perceive and differentiate magical frameworks.
The roots around her dug into her ash with every passing moment.
Could I see the runes themselves? The magic that flows in?
Or the field it generates?
I give up, she said as the wood bored into her skin.
Disappointing. My vague comment didnt lead to a revelation? Meadow asked as the whole dense system of roots dissipated into mana.
Not exactly but you were talking about the frameworks, right? Ilea asked.
A windless gust of pure mana moved through the hall. Or perhaps it did, Meadow mused.
The platform remained and Ilea kept her focus on it.
Perhaps we should start with something a little less challenging, the creature said as ninety percent of the runes changed into solid stone, the remaining ones changing shapes before a new effect manifested.
Teleportation without prevention of space magic, Ilea said, the wisps and mana around her enough to supply the information.
Yes. Well done. Your experience once again prevails over your primitive knowledge, Meadow said.
Yes yes. You couldve shared this earlier too. Mightve saved my life, she said.
Wheres the fun in that? Meadow asked. The chance of me physically moving Sephilon out of the suns gravity is higher than a Spirit forming an anti space magic field. Their primitive brains work much like yours.
Ilea crossed her arms and sighed.
Scared Id advance too fast? she asked.
You show promise. Your arcane healing and resilience allow for strength far beyond your level. Adding space magic into the mix is almost ridiculous. Whoever that Fae was, you were lucky to meet them.
I simply thought a humbling experience may be in order. Oh and dont think this will be easy. At best it will allow you to escape my grasp. At worst youll just continue to struggle like one of those fish creatures you described, when theyre out of water, Meadow explained.
Ilea just nodded along, staring at the runes with an intense glare.
Comments
MrrC
Interesting thoughts --- Meadow mentioned that upon becoming aware that she was passing on "divine" articles --- they lost the quality..... so you may be right. Illea could be inadvertently preventing her own growth towards immortality through her love of sleep / food / drink
Thinking about it, it’s actually really odd that Illea’s arcane healing doesn’t completely negate her need for oxygen, water, and food already. She can literally rebuild her entire body from just her head using mana. That includes all the building blocks she needs - liquids and solids - and presumably also oxygenated blood, otherwise she’d feel other side effects until she caught up her breathing. The big question then is if the limitation is intrinsic to the system or if it’s a conceptual block on Illea’s part. If it’s intrinsic, then there’s nothing she can do - the system is putting limits on her skills that aren’t fully logical. On the other hand if it’s a conceptual block, then Illea should be able to learn how to use her healing to fully substitute for food, water, and oxygen already. She’d just have to think about it and spend the time learning. Hopefully in a not too gruesome of a way - for example, ripping out her lungs and regrowing them repeatedly might technically provide her with infinite oxygen, but it would also be a tad messy.
Jonathan
Two weeks man, two weeks.
shillbear
when she not killing things on her own she gain skills a lot slower and her skills are high level so its natural she doesn't gain much skills from fighting 1 time against Meadovn and most skills are maxed already except for valkyr
Ivactheseeker
Wood, Ice, Astral, Death are all available, no need to check. She needs points to spend first.
Ivactheseeker
Thanks for the chapter! Enjoy your vacation, don't worry about posting. Shouldn't she have gained some skills lvs from sparring with Meadow? Fighting against a 2000 hundreds of times is incredibly challenging. At least BoV since she got beaten up so bad :D
Johannes Sauer
I wonder if "u dont need air" is at the 2nd tier. Ithink it would be early. But i also want to see her fly high
Anon
I wonder how much faster Ilea could fly if she go up to low earth orbit to travel to places. Might come in handy when she need to cross oceans.
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Ilea the fish is an apt analogy.
foldedcorners
Finally ilea encounters an ally she won't surpass in quiet a long time, if ever
Johannes Sauer
Nah its inteligence. If her spells do more dmg with the same mana it improves efficency and saves mana. Inteligence is x10 while mana is lower(x2 meditation +?). While i normaly don't like her healthincreasing habits, since she has the half damage and slow time spell, when she is about to get oneshot and has healing, which turns mana into health eficiently, for now it might be a good idea to do so, since she will be facing multiple daughters of sephilon, who might actually be able to oneshot her, if her hp is low. Normaly im not a big fan of Vit to though
Luciaron
Thanks! Enjoy your vacation
fbt
ty for the chapter!
It's a poor use of her time. As the ancient magic space tree pointed out, she's a doer, not a thinker. Runes seem to be the magic equivalent of structured learning, Illea is an intuitive learner.
Cadastral
Thanks for the Chapter!
Connor Bruha
Thanks for the chapter!
Han Pol
or at least a good one for 500
Andrew
Thank you!
MrrC
Wouldnt creating multiple forced Huntress marks on multiple Astral Spirits be a smarter use of the power (and a forced evolution). Scenario: During the usual skirmish between Astral Spirits and Death spirits - Illea marks 4 or 5 (or however many she wants ) sirits. She then hunts then 1x at a time. Flight time should give her time to recover Health and Mana. Each mark should then let her push up her Huntress Skill. If she does 5X at a time - There is no reason he can't reach 3-30 in under 3 days. She will reach 400 by then but it can prep her for reaching an evolution point at mabe 450. Thoughts fellow readers?
thkiw
Illia is a mage, and she has high perception of both mana(don't remember if she still has that or not on one of her perception skills) and space magic. it's quite annoying that she doesn't dabble in runes and tries to create new spells. maybe she'll get something like space manipulation. I get that she's much better at fighting, but she takes her time to learn dancing lessons, she can learn some runes and magic.
David Burchfield
Ya look up newton's cannon if you want a more detailed explanation. Basically you are weightless in space because you are moving forward at the same rate you falling, not because gravity is not effecting you.
Alexander Dupree
So minor nitpick gravity doesn't fade very much as long as you're in the atmosphere. Even the ISS experiences around 90% of the surface gravity. Orbit simulates 0 gravity by falling the whole time and missing earth.
Acquiles Vitorino de Melo Graça
I too, my friend, thought of ducks first.
Acquiles Vitorino de Melo Graça
You're about thinking it too mechanically, it's way more organic. It's not that someone is trying to balance things, like meadow said, she's already above someone with a weak class at seven hundred, so that means she has more ground to cover if she wants to take an exponential bonus from the system, show that she is worth all the improvements. Even thinking like a game, what kind of sense would it make for someone two or three steps up the evolutionary scale to have the same need in XP then someone that has not reached even that?
Acquiles Vitorino de Melo Graça
That's the spirit!
Ferone
The first thing I thought of, I'm ashamed to say, was a different use of the term "docking"
FrostyNips
Thanks a lot man
Nathanuel Vine
Thanks for the chapter
Ziggy
"It creeped her out a little to fly up towards space. With a clear goal and a physical enemy in mind, her fear was subdued but to go there alone, just to choke on a lack of air?" Yeah, that sounds.. legitimately terrifying. ...Which means a great way to level up that fear resistance, baby!
Don't worry about the release schedule all that much. You are on vacation, enjoy and relax.
Acquiles Vitorino de Melo Graça
I was doing the dishes when I saw the notification for this and finished with battle music by the end somehow.
MountainFox
INTERSTELLAR MEME INTENSIFIES
PloofDoodle
I see this as a bonus, thank you and enjoy the weekend away.
