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Chapter 47 - Solid and Liquid Spheres
🕑 Added 2024-09-06 22:40:01 +0000 UTCTransmuting the gaseous essence in his core didn’t take long. Already a few minutes later, John stood on top of a dune away from the others, ready to start the testing.
‘Let’s look at solid first. It has the least potential of causing any unwanted damage.’
Out of nothing, a black sphere appeared before him, thoroughly filled with the solid essence he had cultivated earlier. Filling a sphere didn’t take too much essence, but his core was far from full. He would only have the solid essence for about ten more.
The visuals of the sphere remained the same as before, but John could feel a certain firmness from it that he hadn’t sensed before. He poked it with his finger, curious to see what would happen.
The sphere didn’t react at all. It only pushed back against his finger, staying firmly in place.
‘Oooh! This could also be very useful!’
John eagerly applied more force to his hand, pushing the sphere in various directions, but it remained steadfast. So he tried lifting himself by it, finding himself floating in the air.
Rain was watching him from afar, seeming amazed by his performance. She had promised not to get any closer, so she could only cheer him on from a distance. “Good, John! Good!”
He could only smile at her eager cheering and decided to put on a small show. He put his hands on the sides of the sphere and lifted his body over it, keeping his feet straight in the air.
After adjusting the position of his hands, he lifted one of them and waved back at her, standing upside down. But then the sphere popped, causing him to fall into the sand face first.
A rolling laughter pierced the silence that followed. John could see Rain fall to the ground, laughing hysterically at him. “Ahahahaa! John silly!” she yelled through tears.
John felt pretty embarrassed while he wiped the sand from his face, but he didn’t want to show it, so he smiled back. “You liked that, huh?”
Rain kept laughing at him, unable to stop herself and pointing in his direction. Slapstick seemed to be her favorite form of comedy.
‘... I’ve never heard her laugh this much before. It’s nice to see.’
Choosing to leave her to it, John got back to testing. He wanted to see if the solid spheres could be used to change directions mid-air, which could help him significantly in a fight. He missed the trees of the forest during some of his fights, where he could jump between them to out-maneuver his enemies.
He summoned a solid sphere ten meters before him and ran towards it. Then he jumped feet first toward the sphere, landed on it, and pushed away, instantly changing directions. He landed back where he started running, looking back at the sphere with a smile.
‘Damn! This aspect is starting to look extremely useful! It doesn’t give me any additional attacks, but it enhances all my existing abilities, bringing out more of my full power. Let’s see what liquid essence does, then!’
With a simple thought John summoned another sphere in front of him, this time using the liquid essence. But it didn’t stay obediently in place. Instead, it flew forward at high speed, away from John.
Once it hit a dune after traveling about fifty meters, it burst, spending all the essence it was filled with and sending sand flying in all directions. The sound was like a giant rock hitting a water surface, deep and satisfying.
‘Oookay? That one is more like an attack? But what’s the difference between that and a spell?’
The power seemed promising, but he failed to see any real reason to use it. So, not entirely happy with the results, John tried again. This time, he focused on the sensations of the sphere, trying to figure out if he could manipulate any other aspect of it.
Once the next sphere appeared, John felt a small tug in his core, like a connection had been established. The sphere still flew forward, but this time, he could feel it clearly in his mind. He tried willing it to change directions, and it did, turning instantly.
‘Oh! I can control it! And it can change directions in an instant! That’s amazing! Can I speed it up?’
After sending the sphere upward, he tried increasing the speed. It started moving faster and faster as John controlled its direction, making it turn several times in the air. But then it popped, leaving nothing behind. No sound or burst of power could be heard this time either.
‘Ahh, does it spend essence to change directions and speed? So, does it grow weaker with every change I make? Well, that’s still fine.’
He could think of many uses for something like that as well. Distractions and surprise attacks would be easy to pull off with this ability.
“John, again!” Rain yelled from behind him, looking at him with a wide grin.
John furrowed his brows as he turned to her. “Uhh, falling on my face? No?”
“... Only one time?”
John could see the puppy eyes clearly now, even from that distance. It made it hard to deny her. He gazed at Dennis, who still sat in Kerchak’s arms, and focused on his transmutation, eyes closed.
“... Fine, one time.”
Like last time, another solid sphere was conjured in front of him. And once again, he pulled himself up by his hands and made a handstand on top of it. He knew it would take a while before the sphere would pop, so he started doing push-ups.
‘Whew, this body strengthening really did a good job! I could do this for hours, even without essence… I should compare myself to Dennis to see if the different types of essence made a difference.’
The sphere popped, and John fell comically to the ground, doing his best to prevent his reflexes from saving him. He ate sand.
Rain found it just as funny as the first time, crying with laughter as soon as he landed. John couldn’t help but laugh with her as he brushed sand out of his hair. “That was the last one. But I’m glad you’re having fun.”
“Thanks!” she replied while staring straight up, putting her fist in the air from where she was lying and giving him a thumbs up. “Very good!”
John got up from the sand and bowed lightly in her direction. “I aim to please.”
Then he stared up at the rest of the planet, wondering what awaited them. He had yet to spot any signs of human life, but his vision had greatly improved since his last gaze, so perhaps there was a chance.
‘... No signs of any portals, but I doubt I would be able to spot one from here. For some reason, there aren’t any more holes in the planet, so I was lucky enough to encounter the only ones… I’ll certainly have some words with the lady of fate when I return. Weaver status be damned.’
Looking more closely at the next part of the continent they were traveling to, John shuddered. The land in that direction was covered with thick mist, making it nearly impossible to see any ground.
It was hard to tell if it was a naturally occurring phenomenon or part of the same effects the rest of the planet was suffering from, but they would find out when they got there. For now, they had to keep threading the desert.
‘Well, no use in standing around here anymore. Let’s get started. There’s little to fear anymore at this point besides horrors. So perhaps we can speed up?’
Another week passed during their travels through the red desert before they finally reached the end. Ever so gradually, the terrain shifted from sand to arid dirt and then to grass-strewn plains. But along with the familiar purple grass, an impenetrable wall of mist blocked their way.
“I’m not looking forward to getting lost in there, you two. Less flying from now on, eh, John?”
“Yeah, we’ll stick together. I could maybe fly over this thing with Rain, but I feel like that might be a bit rude. Unless you insist.”
Dennis chuckled and looked at John with narrowed eyes. “Oh no, I would hate to corrupt your morals like that. I’ll have to hold you back for the sake of your peace of mind.”
“We leave Dennis? Okay,” Rain added, acting like she didn’t care. But the clever smile pointed toward Dennis made it clear she was trying to bother him.
“No, sounds like we’re stuck with him. Sorry, Rain,” John replied, patting her head.
They were all sitting on Kerchak’s chest, using his bone aspect to make chairs and a comfortable platform under his head, leaving his arms free for other stuff. Dennis had made significant progress on his essence manipulation, which also made it easier to control Kerchak’s aspect.
John had learned to control the spheres better and was now eager to test them against a worthy foe. His only problem was that the only worthy foes were horrors, and they were highly dangerous.
“Well, then! Let’s head inside, shall we?”
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