Cyril Sarnath
patreon
Chapter 207 Egg
🕑 Added 2024-03-22 20:02:37 +0000 UTCHey everyone! One thing of note in today's chapter. Monsters have tags instead of details. This is a change I introduced while editing the first book.
Also, I would love to know what do you think about the new saga. I knew it just started, but I wonder how does it look from your perspective.
----
Natalia exited the rift with Willow in tow. His complaints fell on deaf ears. Despite his arguments about the value of the toxic rift’s resources, they were short on time and any additional exploration would have to wait.
“We have wasted too much time already,” Natalia said as she pressed Willow against the wall. Not enough to hurt him but just enough to pin him in place. “If you cannot comply with the rules, I will confine you to the shuttlecraft. Understood?”
Willow squirmed under her glare and Keynes thought for a moment, the researcher would continue to argue but then he surprised them.
“Understood.”
“Let’s proceed to the third rift.”
“What about these?” Ul asked, pointing at the dead insect monsters. Some of them showed signs of degradation already. The planet’s toxic atmosphere wasn’t a joke.
Natalia looked to Keynes. He didn’t seem like a big issue so he told them to leave it. He actually was interested mildly in what effect the toxic atmosphere would have on the Level 1 insect monsters’ bodies. Nothing more than mere curiosity though.
By the time they made it to the third rift, Trisk had finished the landing zone and the tunnel leading to the first rift. Kora was planting the moss inside the tunnel now. Everyone kept their fingers crossed, perhaps, with the sole exception of Roman and Pierre who were arguing for their methods to be given priority. Keynes actually gave them green light to pursue their own projects in regards to the moss once the provisional base was set up. That mollified them and somewhat motivated both men to make sure the base was created before the end of the day.
The third rift was located outside of the gorge that contained the second rift. The gorge sloped down and widened until they walked out to a hidden hollow resembling a cauldron made out of dark red and brown rocks.
A wave of spiritual energy revealed the rift next to even a small recess in the wall. Without their visors they would see nothing, which would have been problematic as the bottom of the hollow and gorge was very uneven. Potholes and sharp rocks were everywhere. It wasn’t an issue for Natalia who said.
“This place would be optimal for setting up a base. It’s well sheltered from the wind, close to the landing zone and has the correct shape and size. Keynes, Jedd, what do you think?”
Keynes exhaled, relieved that Natalia decided to drop his imaginary title for good.
“While I agree with you, Natalia, I lean more toward setting up the main base next to our most valuable rift,” Jedd said.
“What if such a rift is far away from the landing zone?” Natalia countered.
“The distance to the landing zone doesn’t matter. We currently cannot afford to run the shuttlecraft once every few days.”
Keynes looked around and considered. The hollow was sizable. Its depth—about thirty metres—gave an option of setting up a multi-store base or having a high-ceiling. Maybe they could even make it out of Level 1 glass for nice effect? That option felt interesting. Its easy access to the landing zone through the gorge worked to its advantage as well. Keynes liked it.
“I am with Natalia on this one,” he said. “This place has charm.”
With all the otherworldly features of a remote desolate planet, eroded by winds and toxic atmosphere, it sounded like a cynical comment but it wasn’t. Keynes indeed thought it had charm, even though he despised underground bases.
“But there is one condition,” he added. “The ceiling must be made out of glass.”
The condition gave everyone pause. Keynes imagined Jedd’s reaction to his idea and smiled. Jedd was a very practical and pragmatic man.
“Keynes…” Jedd started saying but then trailed off.
No one else spoke for a moment. Judging from their spiritual auras they were in a state of shock. He expected more pushback than this so he was rather glad. The initial planning didn’t involve any glass anywhere.
“We would need tempered alumino-silicate glass panes to deal with the pressure,” Jedd muttered.
“We actually don’t,” Willow countered. Keynes winked at him. At least someone wasn’t gloomy about the idea. “The pressure is nearly the same as on Earth.”
“It’s not only about pressure,” Rell joined the conversation from the orbit. “Just check the composition of the atmosphere. Some of its components have high deteriorating effects. This coupled with strong winds and the large surface of the glass panel and we are looking at a serious chance of failure, which will only increase over time.”
“So let’s use that glass you mentioned,” Keynes said off-handedly, knowing pretty well that it wasn’t that easy.
And indeed, Rell explained the issue a moment later.
“Long story short, aluminosilicate is sourced from geologically active places like volcanos. This planet has no geological activity, which means there are no volcanoes.”
“They could have been in the past,” Willow said.
“We don’t have time or resources to look for dead volcanoes,” Rell snapped, clearly agitated.
Shit.
Shit, indeed, Alice muttered, clearly enjoying the argument.
“I’m going to the rift,” Keynes said to Natalia on a private channel.
“You’re leaving me with them?”
He shrugged, offering her the best smile he could, given the limitations of the visor. Not wanting to bother with the uneven terrain, Keynes supported himself with [Flight] as he easily jumped across the hollow.
Landing next to the rift, Keynes added, “you know the drill, guys. See you in ten minutes.”
He didn’t wait for them to make up their minds and opened the rift.
Mountain Eagles came at him and—shit—some escaped into the sky before Keynes could react. Persephone and Natalia were next to him in an instant. The latter issued a warning to the rest of the crew to stay beware of the flying monster at large.
“I’m going in,” Keynes said, stepping in with urgency. They couldn’t let too many mountain eagles get away from the rift. It would create a serious security problem for them.
The spacesuits provide enough protection against the attacks of Level 1 monsters and it is extremely unlikely for them to deal any damage.
Despite the AI’s assurance, Keynes would feel much better knowing that no monster was lurking out there.
He stepped on a large shelf made out black, sleek rock. The wind buffeted him but his Level 4 body withstood it without much issue. He stood on a steep mountainside made out of similar black, sleek rocks. Hundreds metres up, near the mountain’s peak, some of it was covered by snow, but where Keynes stood, the stone was bare.
Mountain eagles were coming from the sky, their claws aimed at Keynes. He dodged the monsters’ attacks as he shot into the air. The number of the birds in this rift was smaller than insects in the second one, but the mountain eagles appeared stronger. At the moment, Keynes wasn’t interested in finding out how powerful these creatures were. He had to find and kill the boss to stop the monster spawning outside the rift.
The layout of the rift didn’t help in that endeavour as there was no obvious ‘boss chamber’ anywhere. The mountain eagles came from different directions, forcing Keynes to fly higher. The spacesuit informed him about the frigid temperature but that information was of no consequence to him, the birds appeared to be immune to it and followed him all the way up.
Keynes’s [Flight], boosted by technique of lesser knowledge of wind currents and technique of flight, gave him the upper hand and made it easy to stay out of the mountain eagle’s reach. Those that got close got a taste of ambient [Chaos Aura].
Eventually Keynes spotted a nest near the peak of the mountain, about four hundred metres above the rift’s exit. Keynes arrived at the nest a few seconds later, finding it to be massive. The nest was made out of branches and feathers, bones and hay.
Mountain Peak Eagle (Uncommon, Boss)
Level: 2
Abilities: [Frigid Aura] – The aura makes the air colder. Anything within the aura becomes more brittle, increasing the chance of dealing a critical strike (passive).
Tags: Frigid, Swift, Menacing, Protective.
An uncommon boss in a common rift. That was rather new. The boss let out a high-pitched scream that was spiritually enhanced. Since the Scottish Cluster City, Keynes knew that monsters possessed undocumented abilities, like resistances, enhanced instinct or attacks in this case. The scream was clearly a form of attack but the Pure Body buff and the spacesuit negated it completely.
“Sorry, birdo,” Keynes muttered as he released a [Mana Shot]. Keynes had only charged 5% of his total mana as he had to tread carefully with expenditure of his mana.
The boss moved, surprising Keynes with its swiftness, but the bolt made out of mana still caught its left wing. Its black eye shot Keynes a hateful glare, then the boss let out another high-pitched scream. Keynes ignored it, at the same time dodging attacks from the Level 1 eagles that caught up with him.
Keynes, I feel like I should remind you that you’re on a timer, Alice said.
“Sorry,” Keynes replied. “I got caught up in the moment.”
The mountain with its cloudless sky and clear air was a magnificent place to relax. But yeah, Alice was right. There were another 24 rifts to open before the day’s end.
The boss tried to get into the air, but its wounded wing prevented it from flying. Keynes landed a few metres from the nest.
The Pure Body buff blocked [Frigid Aura].
Even so, Keynes felt the air to be different, crisp, frigid and brittle with a note of panic coming from the boss. None of this affected him though. Keynes used [Chaos Aura] together with spiritual aura to deliver a killing blow as the boss’ head literally turned to dust.
The mountain eagles became enraged and he spent several minutes getting rid of them. Then he returned to the nest. Above it, on a small shelf rock was the reward chest but that wasn’t what got Keynes’s attention. A single, head-sized egg lay inside the nest next to the dead body of the boss.
“What’s that?”
??? (Uncommon)
[Egg, Bond]
Level 1
This is a bond! Alice exclaimed, excited.
“I can see that, but is it a reward or an enemy?”he asked, confused. He didn’t know what to do about the egg.
Alice appeared on top of the egg. She was still hand-sized but the substance she was made of was nearly solid white. She actually radiated spiritual energy that went beyond their bond and could have been sensed by someone in a high spiritual stage.
“Are you out of your mind?” she asked, her voice physical. “Bonds are precious!”
Keynes flicked his fingers at her, dismissing her. Surprisingly, she resisted his command for a second longer than he expected.
Keynes! Do not do anything stupid! She snapped at him in his thoughts.
Chill, I won’t harm the egg. I’m just surprised to find it here instead of the reward chest, he replied, finding Alice’s dramatic reaction cute.
Keynes lifted the egg and was about to put it into the spatial bag when he hesitated.
Can I place it in the spatial bag?
No! She replied, panicked. And the atmosphere outside the rift would harm the bond inside as well.
Hm. That posed a problem.
“Mighty AI, can you help?”
Extending protection to the egg will cost 500 mana. Would you like to proceed?
“You know well enough I don’t have that kind of mana available.”
I do.
Help me here, Alice, Keynes groaned.
There is nothing I can do. You must create a safe passage from this rift to the shuttlecraft.
Or I can put it back into the nest and leave, he mused. Was the bond worth altering their plans? Everyone was already on edge because of Keynes’s request. Dropping this on them might not be well received.
No! You can’t leave it! Bonds are precious!
Keynes jumped to the rock shelf above the nest and opened the reward chest. It contained two scrolls of identification, leather boots and a skill shard. He put the items into his spatial storage.
Do I have to use the scroll on the egg? He asked, just in case.
No. Until the bond hatches, it’s listed as unknown. It reveals itself upon hatching.
At least some good news, he didn’t need to waste precious scrolls.
There was no hidden compartment here and with nothing else of interest around, it was time to return.
Comments
Arcanical
Gotta say, not looking forward to the inevitable pet that comes out of this. That was one of the cliches that this story didn’t have, and I’m not looking forward to it being introduced. He already has Alice, which is annoying enough.
