Master Of None

Chapter 3029. Safe Behind My Back

The chaos tadpoles were few at the end of their fight and many had swum away through the waves of chaotic mana to escape. It seemed that despite their desire to consume manas and make them more volatile in nature, they did in fact fear for their lives.

Walker was somewhat surprised that they had been so weak, but what they made up for from that weakness was their ability to cause manas to clash.

They were the beginning form of a monster that lived out in manas clashing constantly. That could consume balanced and orderly mana causing it to clash within its body. That alone made it unique and also very dangerous.

”If those things were adults and we killed them, would all the mana in their bodies explode outward?” Su caught the same conclusion that Walker did.

”I believe that would be the case. Their adult form would hold a lot more mana in their stomachs, and it would have to go somewhere when they died. And that somewhere would be everything around them.”

Both Walker and Su understood if they saw this monster’s parents or adult forms anywhere, they would need to avoid it. Not because they might be unable to defeat it, but because they had made their own death the worst situation for anyone hunting it or fighting it.

”I am sure they have a predator of some sort, but that just means they are unchecked without that predator present. I am sure that many beings made a mistake and had to learn from it.” This had to be the case since it was just inevitable that something wouldn’t have faced them in combat and not suffered before surviving and keeping that fact remembered.

”They might have been feeding on the dull light ahead. There is more there, but I don’t feel anything good from those areas.” Su’s senses were sharp. She could tell that the path ahead was dangerous.

Not just the fact that the chaotic manas were moving in waves and clashing with their bodies, but because there were stronger sources of mana she could feel. Her body resisted it well enough, but why would there be chaotic and compressed variants of elemental manas if the tadpoles had not been breaking down smaller elemental planes and causing it to happen entirely?

”There are three broken elemental planes. One dark, one water, and one fire. But the one they were after next seems to be a bleeding light elemental plane. It might be one of the smallest ones we have ever seen.”

He could see the dissipating and clashing manas. Enough that he would struggle to control all of it if he were to try and reach out to those manas right now. But he could help deflect them from clashing with the light elemental plane.

The issue was, he could see the light mana dissipating from it. Whatever made that light elemental plane condense was damaged. The current state was a breakdown that would keep growing more and more if he did not make another move.

He buffed Su and himself again so they could move forward. The small elemental plane might be the size of a small beginning village. A couple of homes and maybe a couple farm fields would fit within it. But the size was shrinking before Walker reached out and began pushing the light mana back. Before he started to use his skills to seal it slightly.

”I can take the mana in to this golem body and mix it with the multi dimensional storage spaces, but that doesn’t feel right. The light mana is weaker and it is just mana. I think that it would easily mix with the world.” As he said this, Walker felt it even more.

Something in his mana senses and his gut told him that this mana could be sealed and dropped right in to the world. Not dangerously, not disruptively, but perfectly in sync with the world. ”The mana is younger, it needs something solid to let it take its proper flow. I think it being broken actually helps it better.”

”If it had a monster or a race living inside it would be different right? Nothing developed inside it yet so it wasn’t anything. It’s like an empty scroll waiting for someone to start writing.” Walker nodded since Su had summed it up perfectly. His senses told him all this as well and he had no reason to think he was working. Instead, he was prepared and acted as he believed.

The small elemental plane easily became sealed causing the manas about to clash with it to be pushed back naturally. Walker didn’t even need to keep spending more and more mana to protect it, he had given it protecting himself and the small light elemental plane easily moved with him in his temporary bond with it.

Both of them waited a few moments seeing the degrading manas around. Three elemental planes recently formed were eaten away and the mana was returning to a chaotic flow. Something they had not witnessed like this before.

”They could have all developed, but if we were not traveling through here, we would never have known that they were consumed and allowed to be food for monsters. Out here even the very foundation forming can become food. It’s hard to think about.” Even if he contemplated that more, Walker wondering would not change it or the fact that this was most likely happening in the grand expanse of the unknown beyond this either.

”I can not protect everyone and everything. When I move, I protect what is behind me. I move forward and more behind me is safe. Walker, we projected that small light elemental plane and it will strengthen the very world we were born in.”

A deep breath rose in Su’s chest before she smiled with a soft and honest touch to it. ”We did very well.” The shields in Su’s hands seemed stronger than before. Her will was wrapped around them proving she was seeing the path forward. Taking more of a duty to protect, discover, and pursue what she may also protect.

Clearly accepting that she would be unable to protect all things, all beings, all events from whatever fate brought them was important to her. She knew that if she dwelled on it she would live with those feelings of loss and disappointment eternally.

But.

If she accepted it, she moved forward.

She found more to protect.

”You advanced your quest to improve your class again, didn’t you?” Walker knew it. He could tell just by the feeling around Su and how she had understood more about her real goals. Her real duty to herself as someone who truly with all their heart wished to protect what she could.

”I can’t hide much from you, even with your golem bodies. It’s really annoying, you know?” She made a small huff, it was a little too much like when Midnight was moping about, but Su spent a lot of time with Midnight and the two had to act a little similarly at times with all that time together.

”By the way, what are those moving lights in the distance, they don’t look like monsters.” the change was at the right movement, Walker hadn’t noticed them but Su had been staring off right in their direction as they appeared.

’Elemental meteor

This is a mix of manas and broken elemental planes moving through chaotic mana based areas. It was formed during a clash of multiple elemental planes and moved erratically.

While it does not have any control of where it moves, it is said to be valuable to the right beings if they can control or alter its path. Many powerful beings will even leash them to slowly absorb and harvest their manas and materials until they are entirely degraded to nothing.

While they are a natural force of mana and strength, they often only last on their chaotic movements for three hundred years at most due to the bleed of mana from collisions and constant clashing with chaotic manas.

There are materials only related to their origin at a clash of elemental planes that can be found...’

”I can’t stop that thing. It’s a force of nature I can’t handle yet.” Walker knew that Su understood that even without him saying it. But saying it out loud felt more final. Like he was sure it was the case overall.

”It’s beautiful though. There is nature out here, we just don’t understand it because it doesn’t even have a set form that we could track. I like that.” The two were reveling in the feeling that they would always be looking at the unknown here.

No matter what, the outer elemental planes would always have a sense of mystery. A massive unknown that expanded for who knew how far, that contained mysteries on top of mysteries.

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Repent now and go here,

Drop those golden tickets!