The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 333 - Snakes On A Floating Plane (& The Little One Who Sticks Out Their Tongue)
Chapter 333: Chapter 333 - Snakes On A Floating Plane (& The Little One Who Sticks Out Their Tongue)
Elua dipped into a small curtsy at the granted respect, her ’smile’ calibrated to appear modest yet ’pleased’. The fox mimicked the movement with a slight bow of its head that was much less *obvious* than before, so the illusionist let it be seen this time. Only one of them really noticed.
Helace just chuckled to himself and said nothing of their thoughts. But the ancient cultivator was happy with the training result.
’Interesting, so it learns because it realized that the others did not see last time. Since it can detect the difference between itself being looked at and an illusion of itself, even directly over its same location...’
When it came to applications, she figured that its reactions might be slowed by losing the ’extra’ sensitivity that it relied on. The illusionist wasn’t sure how that information was useful, yet. But it was at least progress into figuring out how its abilities functioned.
"Actually, when it comes to use, what is a fox even good for as a pet? Birds are clearly superior."
The connections she retained with the five Whispering Skydancers, that had been patrolling in looping spirals around their party to keep away from the little omnivore, felt much more valuable to her. She was not the only one who felt less about the little canid than about others.
Ryder’s attention had rarely lingered on the fox. The Void Defense Society member had been more interested in whenever the Goltbred heiress spoke of sigils or essence manipulation. There was so rarely any hesitation in her voiced thoughts.
’Like a craftsman that has seen everything, not like a genius making connections. Even if sometimes the matter-of-fact quality remains similar...’
Eventually the camp - a small mobile fortress of cultivators - came into full view. Dozens of heavy tents stood in concentric circles around the heart of the anomaly and the potential battleground. Massive wooden platforms had been constructed above areas where gravity fluctuated most unpredictably on the ground.
With metal plates wrapped and etched with essence-suppressive features to keep the locations both Voidling and Gravity resistant. Considering Elua had essentially penned the design, she was not all too surprised. But the others who had not been here before, or for months, were startled at the scope.
"This is... an extensive transformation."
Qat voiced her opinion, feeling the amusement of her wife. A little illusion of a blueprint did not exactly have the same feeling as standing in the place.
"Necessity breeds innovation. Come, let me show you the control center you’ll be using."
He led them along a main path marked with glowing essence lanterns. Cultivators from the various Guilds nodded respectfully as they passed, many eyeing Qatrand with undisguised curiosity. Even though they came straight here, the tale of her victory over the Voidling leader had clearly made it this way first on fleeter feet.
’Your doubt and admiration are all quite delicious to feel. Though it won’t be long before the first will be gone entirely~’
The central platform rose nearly thirty feet above the ground, supported by thicker stone pillars and metal chains all carved with intricate sigils. An excessive amount of work for mortals... but just within the scope of a hundred dedicated cultivators to get done correctly.
"The two of you can look around the camp, if you’d like."
"Sure thing, I’ll scope out the defenses."
Their archer saluted and walked off at the offer, but the Void Defense member shook his head.
"I’d prefer to see this too."
A single file staircase wound upward around one of the supporting structures. Each step etched with protections against the pulls from the center of the anomalous ritual. As much control as they had of it at this point, it would still be dangerous to overlook potential - and literal - safety steps.
The platform hanging taut held essence-reading instruments that hummed softly in the corners while several senior researchers huddled over a pedestal at the center. A two-dimensional model of the anomaly was rendered on the surface of tightly packed, glowing gems.
A display which was essentially a screen for a moderately simple ’cultivator computer’. It took Elua only a handful of comparisons to the kinds she’d seen in the past - and the examples of ’current’ ideas on the subject while she was in her training period - to feel confident she could manipulate it as she liked.
One figure already up there straightened as the three moved across the short ropeway. His middle-aged face broke into a wide smile beneath a meticulously trimmed beard.
"Little Snake! The star pupil arrives at last!"
Her ’mentor’ called out, before striding forward to clasp his spouse’s hands briefly. He seemed to be in quite a good mood. Probably because he hadn’t been in an argument about the way to do things while Jevri was away. When he turned towards the other three, his eyes immediately found a set of pigeon-blues.
"Qatrand er Yecine. It’s good to actually meet you."
"Sir?"
"When she was only your fiancee, if she wasn’t commenting on our work then she was telling a story about you."
The brunette *pretended* to have the ’decency’ of being embarrassed, looking down and scratching her cheek while circling a foot on the hanging platform. At least that is what the others saw.
"See, I wasn’t lying when I said I bragged about you constantly. It was not just our servants."
"It’s nice to meet you too, Master Wohjat. I may not have heard as many stories, since she was only there for so few months, but I have heard them all."
With a small salute, the swordswoman spoke and ignored her cute wife’s teasing. But she was hardly going to leave it at that.
"Wasn’t my husband’s advice on Gravity manipulations helpful? Didn’t you say so?"
"Plenty. Absolutely invaluable, as far as I’m concerned."
As the ’honey’ voiced girl looked for ’validation’, from either of the two older sigilists, Jevri *assured* her quickly before his husband stepped out of the way to lead them toward the centerpiece of the control area.
"No other Gravity user was willing to make the journey to discuss things in person... and somehow I doubt they’d have half as much understanding as someone you recommended. Come, let me show you what we’ve accomplished."
The model depicted the area’s stability shifting in real-time as essence currents flowed near the places they had placed sympathetic sigils. Surrounding it, overlapping layers of sigil networks had places for activating and adjusting the various containment systems. For the Continent, it truly was the closest thing to high technology most of them had seen.
"The blue stones represent the original stabilization array that we were able to identify as existing in the ritual. The green shows the reinforcements we added after your initial analysis."
He gestured to a third layer of golden citrine that pulsed almost rhythmically.
"And this is the modified containment system based on your suggestions, Little Snake. Notice how it creates stable pockets within the field like you theorized?"
Qatrand leaned closer to it all, her training with the illusory tool allowing her to recognize patterns that would have been meaningless months ago. She spotted familiar configurations... designs her wife’s representation had sketched in the air. The Yecine pointed to a particular cluster.
"These formations. They appear to be designed to channel excess essence away from the center."
"Precisely! I’m glad to see your martial success has not dulled your alternative pursuits."
Elua smiled unabashedly at the praise, even if it was not for her. After all, her plans were proceeding perfectly - both her Qat’s reputation for unusual insight... and the carefully crafted trap taking shape exactly as she had intended. Exactly as it needed to.
"And these?"
Qatrand indicated another set of purple gems near the periphery. She didn’t quite recognize the sigils they were linked to, but one man did. Ryder stepped forward to examine the entire console from close up.
"Those are spirit-sensing arrays. Similar to those used by the Void Defense Society to collect information on Voidling movements. But they appear to be modified heavily for this project."
The researchers both nodded at the man when he looked at them.
"Flipping them on, they’ll help us analyze the Voidlings when they are brought into the trap."
"When? Not if?"
He asked with severity, and a casually ’lecturing’ voice took point on the question. Ryder wasn’t actually sure when she had moved beside him and his fingers twitched toward his weapon on pure instinct.
"The nature of this anomaly... it creates essence fluctuations that Voidlings find... irritating. Based on patterns from previous Descents, they tend to target such disruptions. To destroy things useful to us or to see if it can be converted into one of their secondary incursion points."
Having such basic knowledge ’explained’ to him about how the creatures, which his Guild was the authority on, maneuvered during wartime... annoyed the older cultivator. But before he could snark back-
"The whole area really is a baited trap, then."
Qatrand stated flatly... with her pigeon blue eyes narrowing at the ’mischief’ of her wife, as the real Elua pulled away and stuck out her tongue at the Void Defense Society member. Knowing it was likely that the girl was picking a fight because of his attitude toward the Yecine for her sake...
’Sometimes you make it very hard to want to stop you, El.’
This chapter is updated by freew(e)bnovel.(c)om
