Master Of None

”What did you think of those hunting grounds? A place where your wilderness and ours seem to share the same rules.” The true light sage having taken the form of a golem in front of them spoke calmly as the party halted their speedy travel using Walker’s magic to pull them along.

”I see what you and the light king wanted us to see. I didn’t like everything that we found though.” The slight glare that Walker and the others focused on the true light sage seemed to have an effect since the light golem flinched a little.

’The fallen dragon was not expected. That territory has not been used for long. There was a word of thanks for your party and their actions. That is why we are hastening your journey and have prepared a few items along the way. Until the next time we are able to meet.” The light mana dissipated and everyone couldn’t help but feel it was all due to the awkwardness rather than the true sage needing to focus elsewhere.

It did shine some light on things though. The light king and true light sage might be able to see and notice a great deal of what goes on within the light elemental plane. That was the same for every single one of the elemental kings and true sages. Yet, it seemed that some things were missed like the travel of certain monsters or tribes. Meaning that the party might see more of these things or the emissary groups from Genesis might encounter oddities.

”Well we scared him away pretty quick but I see what they had in mind.” The toothy grin from Remey was because she saw a small area right before the manas began to thin where herbs grew in large groupings. Small sprouts of off white leaves that seemed to be barely kissed by hints of dark mana while primarily keeping the light mana affinity that was normal for this area.

There wasn’t even any hesitation as Remey began gathering them. ”I can use these to help people resist dark mana by using their internal light mana. These will be perfect for that meaning we can have races from the light elemental planes journey in to the dark elemental planes. That might be valuable to a few people.” It wasn’t a bad idea, but Walker felt that selling potions like that might cause a little drama.

Some races didn’t want to travel while others didn’t want to accept travelers. There was an innate fear of the opposite mana affinity or generally losing balance. So making something that could allow for that to happen would be rocky ground to say the least. ”Stop thinking too hard and store all these away so I can use them later. There are also a few mixed mana crystals here.” Remey threw the cut and gathered herbs to Walker while he started to refocus on the dark mana ahead.

The boundary between the light and dark elemental plane seemed to just be a reflective shadowy mess of light mana forming orbs then being snuffed out by dark and vice versa. The flow was not chaotic, it was balanced as the manas countered and balanced one another causing strange scenes of shifting shadows that would be considered unnatural in the world.

There were also some shadows that seemed to shift a little too much, like predators were being shown to them before they blended back in to the inky flow. However, Walker could sense things a little more clearly.

The manas moving were natural and the shadows and light made strange illusions with the two manas clashing. If someone with the ability to use both light and dark mana had focused on this, they might awaken a unique class related to very powerful illusions. Instead, Walker sensed movement ahead of them. Monsters that used the changes in light and dark mana making shadows as stealthy places to hide and attack prey trying to move around the area, or each other from what he could sense.

”I think I will be the one scaring them off, they aren’t that strong, there’s one right there.” Walker pointed out the monster he saw moving, the difference in the flickering shadows was hard to make out but Gil and Midnight seemed to catch sight of them. Onyx on the other hand was looking behind the monster that Walker had just pointed out.

’Shadow assassin

A small shadow being that is able to use light and dark mana to create a larger body than it truly has. It uses the shadows it wraps itself in to both hide within the dual border of light and darkness and also to hunt and attack by condensing the shadows to be used as bladed arms and legs.

When they hunt they will follow the flow of light and dark mana to blend in perfectly. They also use the darkness and light to dampen the sound around them so that they can more easily hunt. They do not possess eyes since they rely on the manas around them shifting to hunt, they also have very sharp ears allowing them to hear anything that they may deem as prey.

When they sense mana that is much greater than theirs, they will hide or flee if possible, their small bodies are extremely weak causing them to be easily hunted if another being or monster can sense them. Their bodies hold very little value other than for fodder sustenance for larger monsters such as the false dragons and illusion spriggans…’

”Brother, what is the monster behind that small one you just told us about?” Walker refocused his eyes and realized that Onyx’s eyes had been focused on the larger shadowy shape. Something Walker had misinterpreted as a larger mass of light and dark mana moving around the area.

’False dragon

With a minute amount of dragon blood within them, this larger shadow monster utilizes the dark and light mana to create a body of a dragon. However, it can only mimic the size and shape of a dragon and lacks the actual ferocity or strength. Due to this, it must use the dark and light mana mixed to hunt by creating shadow whips, blades, and other similar methods of attack.

They live a fairly solitary and still life causing them to be confused as part of the landscape. They are also called shadow terrain dragons due to this when they are not always still and will sometimes move if they have a better hunting spot in mind.

They will rarely attack larger prey and will wait for prey that comes too close to them. While they do not lack intelligence, they are often too slow and tired to take the effort to develop beyond a certain strength. This causes them to be extremely focused on slumber and is why they can not become a recognized race or even higher species of monster.

The false dragon scales that they have all over their bodies are valuable materials to make stronger dual affinity magic staffs, weapons, and arrows. However, they are too weak to be made as armor and will be too brittle in the long run to be of any use…’

The larger creature seemed to be outlining what it thought a dragon looked like and not what a dragon really was shaped like. Walker could tell that the horns were a little too dull. The scales were not all shaped the same. And the claws that should have been there were non existent. A clear example of a being shaping its shadow body to be what it thought should be intimidating but could easily be hunted as prey by many other monsters with less dragon blood in them.

It was interesting to know that just like the Sigil continent, there were monsters here with small amounts of dragon blood. It meant that the dragons who became monsters, rogue dragons, were still passing strength downwards in a way. It made the elemental plane a little more relatable to the world for the party.

”It shouldn’t bother us. It’s afraid of us.” Midnight spoke up, her eyes had fixed on the false dragon making it clear she could sense what its instincts were telling it and her instincts could also sense from it.

”Then we will move through without any issues. We can pass in to the dark elemental plane and meet with the true sake sage. I can feel that they are waiting for us as well.” The outer dark mana wisp was stronger now. It wasn’t a golem made by the true dark sage. This was the actual true dark sage themselves coming to meet them.

That alone made the entire party understand that they might be asked to do something a little more than just explore here. They might be asked for their help.

.…

….

….

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

Drop those golden tickets!