Master Of None

When the manas converged and Walker appeared from the cavern that held the bridge to the elements plane, he quickly was met with reports of what occurred. While he was glad that they had managed to capture a known criminal he was less happy about some of the goods being found here.

So far the damaged mana gems and the damaged mana crystals were already a lot to consider in his mind. The fact that these materials had even gotten here proved that there were a few people doing things they should not be doing at all.

The crafters who failed in making products like some of what was found shouldn’t have sold them anywhere. They should have dismantled them and repurposed the materials in to different goods or even lower quality goods. That was just part of learning properly.

Yet, that didn’t happen so it made questions arise. Were these all old goods that some shady merchants had held on to? Were they goods that were taken from less ethical crafters recently? Were these items stolen?

While many more questions came up, Walker could already see that some of these poor creations were newer, some even had newer materials only available within Genesis used to make them. Meaning that some people were sneaking them out for sale.

The worst part about that was the fact that these materials could be used elsewhere. Walls, armor, rune formations, and so many other places. It was an insult to the upstanding members of the alliance doing their best to ensure a solid foundation in every project. Even the most useless scrap could be repurposed in to a valuable piece for the current building projects.

When Gil walked up, he was thinking the same things as Walker and they didn’t need to say a word about it. ”The next bridge was found in a forest near the Demi-human lands. I assume you will head there?” Walker nodded and saw that had stopped personally scouting.

He’d found an issue he needed to handle here and in Genesis.

”I trust you.” This was the same as telling Gil he was family and wouldn’t second guess his actions to handle the problems they found here.

Stepping in to the air and moving toward the next bridge to the elemental planes, Gil turned to the scouts and began organizing them for those who could head out and continue searching for other bridges.

It would be a lot of work regardless of who did what and how many scouts were out. It appeared that this major quest of Walker’s was a lucky break since they’d happened upon an illegal sale area with dangerous goods. It also highlighted the usage of older trad routes which were partially still intact after the expansion of the world.

Making sure these routes weren’t used to smuggle illegal goods or dangerous goods around the continent would be a major undertaking. Something that the dragons might be able to handle the best.

There had been an idea of the elder dragons who could not take dragonkin form acting as enforcers. Basically they would carry small squads of guards and scout the patrol routes further away from the center of Genesis. This way they could enforce the laws and also keep an eye out for other dangers.

Right now, Gil was seeing that he would have to support this even more. The angels, batmen, and harpies couldn’t handle the longer distance travels in the same ways as the dragons. Neither could the spirit race to be honest.

It was about the endurance of going out and bringing back reports from distant areas like this. Especially when there was now a bridge to the elemental planes here. ”Let’s get this wrapped up. We should have more soldiers here soon to begin building a protective camp. After that we will set out with the last of the prisoners.”

That was that. Nothing else to worry about Gil just needed to supervise and focus.

”Sister, it’s over this way.” Onyx and Midnight had gone separate ways, however, they ran in to one another after just a few hours of scouting out the desert area.

Both knew Walker would handle the elemental plane in the massive stone pillar nearby, but they had been following a strange feeling. They both sensed more light mana that wasn’t coming from the already known bridge to the elemental planes.

Knowing that it could be one of many things, bridge, naturally occurring rune, or even a dungeon, they had stuck together to focus their senses. They could decide what they needed to do once they found the source. Onyx did make a mental note that the nearby bridge was releasing fire mana meaning that it shouldn’t be sending out any light mana anyways.

Midnight moves stealthily toward the next sand dune, the massive desert had only seemed to grow. While it hid ruins from the ancient angels and even some immortal chasing race too, it was mostly unexplored. Monsters lived here but the resources that were here were few and far between.

Many of the Demi-human race tribes that wandered the land instead of staying in one place didn’t even come here. Only a small handful would visit here now and then for traditional reasons.

Yet, when Midnight and Onyx picked up on the sound of shifting sands, they knew something else was ahead of the behind this dune.

’Sand slime

This rate slime is made of a water core that absorbs the sap of desert plant saps whenever possible. It then uses the thick slimy core to hold and control sand. While much tougher, they are actually very weak to the water mana which is part of their core since it causes the same to wash out of their control….’

The small appraisal was all Onyx could get with his usage of the all around appraisal skill he possessed now. While having. The skill was great it was nowhere near as used enough to be developed the same as Walker’s skill. Besides that, he only really cared about what he was looking at.

Before he could say anything, Midnight stepped out and swatted one of the slimes. A chunk of sand flew off it and she was left looking at the oddity that it was.

The sand slime was trying to pick up more slime to protect itself but the others around were making their sandy bodies in to what could more easily be called spiky sand balls. They were rolling themselves towards her but they were nowhere near strong enough to be dangerous to Midnight.

A few claw attacks later and Midnight had them all with cores exposed and Onyx was watching them piece themselves together. Midnight and Onyx left them be since they weren’t a danger to them, but they did notice some of them had a burned look to the sand they used as their bodies.

Following the trial of dropped burned sand they felt the light mana getting stronger. All until they found what could only be called an area melted. The sunlight was stronger for sure but the dunes here were all melted in to black and clear glass. Some areas could have been said to be burned black by flames but they both knew that it was whatever had been part of the sand that burst in to flames as the sand around it melted.

Looking further, they found an open space in the center of all this melted sand. It was a round open hole leading in to the ground pouring out high amounts of light mana.

”This is a bridge but there’s also a dungeon nearby.” Onyx could feel it, the high amount of light mana and earth mana that occurred here was why the area had been made in to this glassy reflective mess.

The light was brighter and the warmth even more so because of the glass, but it was the high amount of light mana reacting with the earth mana that changed the landscape and gave the dungeon directly next to the open bridge to the elemental planes the ability to form.

It was an amazing place to learn about either affecting one another, but an even more important place in terms of how the pair could change the world’s landscape.

”We need brother.” Midnight knew Walker should come here to handle all of this. She also knew that there was more to this than she could sense even with her and Onyx’s sharper senses. They’d worked together together but now they would need to ensure they found a way to deal with the landscape here too.

They could feel the more nefarious side of the light mana reflecting around the glassy dunes. The light mana could be used for combat and as weapons, it was just how it was used. And right now it was dense and dangerous.

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Please say no to piracy! Don’t take part in crime! Don’t patronize thieves!

Drop those golden tickets!