Chương 46: Chapter 42: Sinking into Confusion

As much as he wished to stare at the vibrating case, his ginormous, mutated, fleshy arm was finally subject to gravity, and he was pulled down and to the side as it slammed into the leaves, falling right through and into Bwurzix's body. The case flew from his hands, landing on another leaf somewhere, and he found himself pulled along with the arm. When his blade slid towards him, very nearly cutting into his side, his hand caught it as carefully as possible, gripped between his thumb and fingers.

Stiff as a board, he let himself be carted down into the roots, his entire focus on not letting the Mushki feather go, as it would fall straight through him if he did. When he finally came to a rest, sitting at the bottom of a crater in Bwurzix, he breathed a sigh of relief, and gently pushed his sword to the side, leaning it against the edge of the roots as he focused on his new predicament.

His arm, and the near-pitch-black sky, very little streaming towards him; he had no doubt the shadows would soon make their appearances once more, and when that happened… well, he probably had multiple hours before they reached him, but who knew how long it would take to get his arm fixed? Hearing it crunch and chew, he shivered when he realized it was acting, independent of himself, and eating the corpse of the Herald. Just as the Dark Seeker had summoned creatures, so too had he.

At the same time, he couldn't just cut it off; he remembered how every Abyssal attack carried a little important piece, and he wasn't sure if he would weaken himself by doing so. He closed his eyes, searching for that feverish strength, finding it easily now that he knew where to look and how it felt. Within him, he found the wellspring easily, overlapping yet distinct from its Underworld counterpart.

If he thought the Underworld energy felt smokey or gaseous, Abyssal energy was downright invisible, something he couldn't grasp at all, yet felt very instinctual, as if he'd been using it all his life, and only now became aware of it- like breathing. He did it all the time, but this was the first time in his life that he did so consciously. Still, he wouldn't say he was "Good" at breathing, and the same applied to this.

Sure, he'd used the energy for some eighteen years, but he was pretty average at it, and the average person didn't tend to mutate their arms at will. Still, he tried. Feeling around the energy slowly, he learned more about it, and its properties. Though he tried, he couldn't define a shape to it; the more he went around it, the more it changed beneath his fingers, a flowing, warping thing. Not just its form either, he could see that it was physically moving around, transient in a way, never stagnant.

Well, almost never stagnant. There was a single, jutting shape out of the side, the only part that didn't move, and was actually defined; it felt rough, constant, and completely out of place.

'Seems I've found my arm.' To reinforce the notion, he could feel this particular part swelling with a significant amount of power, completely lopsided to how the rest of his wellspring was evenly distributed.

At the same time, he didn't think it weakened him at all; none of his power was within his arm, it was the twisted remnants of the Herald that he'd cast out, its last vestige, and if he reclaimed it, he'd have yet another burst of Abyssal power- which was good news for Bwurzix, who was still fighting against their own incursion, and now that their attention wasn't divided, he could tell they were winning. That still left him with what to do about it.

Now that he knew it wasn't his, should he just cut off his arm and destroy it for power? putting aside that his blood loss would likely be taken care of by his energy, he'd rather not, because he wanted his arm to help fight against the coming shadows. Instead, he simply tried pulling it back in, smoothing out the jagged scar, working it into his transient shape.

While it didn't immediately fix his problem, he found the foreign Abyssal power gradually integrating with his own and, externally, his arm began to shrink. He sighed in relief.

'Man, I wish it was like my dandelions where I could just peel myself out, but this thing is actually attached.' Knowing he had a few hours, he made sure Sensitivity was spread wide, but put most of himself towards bringing down the Abyssal swelling of his limb. *'Honestly, didn't take as long as I assumed it would,' he thought to himself, flexing the digits on his healthy left hand.

Not only that, but it felt like he was thrumming with power, and as he climbed out of the crater within Bwurzix, he felt like it was easier to move his body. Reminded of that, he pulled up his notifications, curious to see if there was any change in his Status, seeing a somewhat confusing sight {Incomplete Stat Gained:???} {???: 0} -> {???: 1} {???: 1} -> {???: 2} Did that mean whatever he'd pulled from the Herald, wasn't actually the full functionality of Abyssal magic?

True, he hadn't exactly cast any spells other than the one, but he'd done that through his Underworld manipulation, not actual Abyssal magic. Perhaps that was the limit? He had to use the Underworld as a crutch to cover the gap left in his powerset? Speaking of, the next notification referred to the joining of magics as well. {Corruption: 2. 1} -> {Corruption: 0} Having expelled his Corruption in an instant, he was left wondering what the drawback would be for this ability.

Corruption was a clear problem, and before now, he simply had to deal with it; he doubted it was as easy as "Now, you'll never have to deal with Corruption again." Perhaps it was just the combination of Abyssal and Underworld that let him purge it easily, only time would tell. Now standing atop Bwurzix once more, he immediately went about searching for his lost case, knowing it may very well be destroyed.

Looking back, he remembered how the Abyssal spell sank into the Peacemind Vapors Imprint, not his chest as he'd initially thought, and his energy was quickly sucked into the mix. Considering his only other experience with Abyssal encountering Underworld ended with both exploding, he assumed that might be the same here, too. Though, a glowing speck nearby said otherwise. Almost disbelieving, he walked over, and saw the shape of his case- even if it was slightly different from before.

Picking it up, he recognized the metallic sheen, scratches and dents marring its surface; although now, many of those were filled with a variety of purple, gold, and green lights, giving it the appearance of a smooth, undamaged shape. When he ran his fingers over them though, he found that they weren't physical, his digits passing through to reveal the truth beneath: it was still just as damaged as before. The System, as well, responded. {Burgeoning Memorabilia The scarred remnant of a life lost.} He smiled,'I didn't even know that was possible, but at least now I'll be able to keep it. Still, I know it's a bit selfish, but I wish I could've had both. To keep the Imprint and turn my case into a Burgeoning Memorabilia.' He flicked it open to see what'd actually happened to the rest of his joint. {Peacemind Vapors. Stat: Resistance. Allows for one to summon and control a unique kind of smoke.} His jaw dropped as he stared at it. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

'It STILL managed to keep it safe?!' If there was anything deciding what became a Memorabilia, he could see the reasoning instantly in turning his case into one. Despite being a soft, mundane metal until now, it was truly impressive that it managed to last this long and keep its contents safe. Strangely, the red felt material coating the inside of it had turned black, but other than that, nothing was different.

He pulled the joint and lighter out in the same hand, making sure not to separate them as he wasn't sure if it would break or not, and barely had to consider the problem before deciding that he would be absorbing it. Unlike the other times he'd either gained or formed a Secondary, he didn't have Onward Evermore to automate the process this time, but he doubted he needed to.

He'd seen it done, and knew he could; if it was difficult, after all, nobody would have Imprints, as nobody before the System was "Given" an Imprint. Bringing his attention forward, he felt the magical object respond, reaching out to him in a pseudo-living way, pieces of it gradually sliding through his skin- and immediately, he felt a grainy discomforting feeling. Yet, he was not unprepared.

He remembered how his Primary disintegrated all other Imprints, and suspected something like this; the first Imprint was easy, every one after that either had to be brought into line by your existing one, or you had to bring it yourself. So he'd kept his energy close, and the moment he felt the slithering thing enter him partially, he grasped its tendrils. The Imprint reeled back, resisting his grip, and he felt how its energy did not mesh well with all that was in his body.

The two of them fought, and this Imprint was very clearly outclassed by his own energy, slowly breaking down. As it did, the parts he pulled away from the Imprint transformed slightly into something that didn't feel like sand in his blood, a more soothing texture to it; these fragments settled within his mind, and the more he pulled, the clearer it became what they were forming: a shell.

The Imprint fought the entire time, but there was little that could be done, and as the last bits of it were pulled away, he finally caught what might be described as the "Core" to it in the shape of a rigid, asymmetrical pattern. Though confused, he didn't stop the process, observing passively as what looked like a three dimensional crack hovered in space. And, as his energy met this part, it was not broken down, but coated.

He watched as his energy rushed forward, sealing the central part of the Imprint in layer after layer of energy, like a pearl. His mind started to translate the shape into other things, shifting between countless images: a smoking pipe, a dead plant- hell, a forest fire made an appearance.

Dozens of pictures passed by before a joint appeared, but when it did, the shifting froze, locking into place This joint was dragged further inwards, no longer moving, and the rest of the energy- now without its central part- went inert, breaking down easily. The image of the joint was soon placed within the shell crafted from its own body, the rest of it being used to seal its prison shut, and Aaron felt the trigger for how to activate it stream into his mind.

'Damn, brutal. Pull it apart and use its corpse to imprison the mind.' Yet, it worked. Expending a flicker of energy, he watched a wisp of white smoke appear on his palm, floating up and dissipating quickly. From what he could tell, he held significant control over the summoning, and certain properties of the smoke- such as thickness, opacity, heat, etc- but once it was made, that became much harder. He knew there was a way to influence it after creation, just not what it was yet.

Still, he grinned, as now he finally had four different abilities, one for each. Expanding his Status, he opened the dropdowns as well, seeing a bit of new information that wasn't there last he'd checked. {Primary Ability: Onward Evermore Resistance: 2. 1 Peacemind Vapors 1/4 Sensitivity: 2. 22 Mycelaric Expanse 1/4 Weight: 2. 22 Windwhipped Seedblossom 1/4 Corruption: 0 Cracked Plantshift 1/4???: 2}'Ahh, there it is.' There was a limit on abilities, and he'd hit it with his last Imprint.

While that may have been disappointing in some ways, it was relieving in others that there wasn't a person out there with fifty Imprints walking around- similar to how he worried about an apocalyptic monster on Floor 0. However, like his Stats, he wondered if it would be possible to increase how many ability slots he had by going further down into the Underworld.

Holding his glowing case in one hand and Mushki feather in the other, he went through Mycelaric Expanse to check on Bwurzix; while the giant life form was fine, he felt that the energy being given to him by the other, smaller dandelions had reduced significantly, and popped through to check on several of them… finding half inaccessible. While they weren't dead, they were inert, which alarmed him, so he went through many of the others.

Seeing with mundane sight, he got nothing, so the dandelion in question shared its senses with him, granting a weak, vague mental map of the area, composed of a combination of air pressure, temperature, and something akin to his Sensitivity. The shades were everywhere around the plant, sniffing about, though more shapeless and indistinct than the ones that fought Aaron. The moment he appeared, those around the dandelion stopped, turned, and instantly lunged, ripping the dandelion apart.

"Oh fuck! I'm so sorry! I completely forgot peeking through something made it obvious!" The dandelion sent back exasperation at how badly that'd hurt, but it was luckily akin to just getting scratched up badly, mostly unharmed as the shades failed to tear it up by the roots; still, it told him they'd been closing in for a while, sensing it somehow, and it was only a matter of time.

It also asked to be left alone, so it could go dormant until the sun rose again, where it could once more push from the ground and start growing.

He let it be, sinking into his own thoughts on the issue as he realized that his dandelions would almost certainly struggle from this every single night because of the shadows; however, out of every plant, he was sure dandelions were the last ones for this to be truly detrimental to, and would no doubt recover quickly- so long as the shadows didn't start injecting them with venom, he was sure they'd be fine. When he felt another plant go dormant, he bit his lip, wanting to do something, but what else could he do?

"Bwurzix, how close are the shadow people climbing through you?" NONE (Ignored, left alone).

"What? Really? Why'd they follow me up the first time?" SEE? (Foreign way of seeing?) Scratching his chin, he thought about it.

"You know, it would actually make a lot of sense if they mostly used Sensitivity to see, considering they're mostly magical things that probably don't have actual senses. They're like… really weak walking Imprints!" It was also bad news that none were coming. Now that he was ready for them, he actually needed them to find him, as he wanted to use more of the stones to both feed Bwurzix and kickstart the lifetime of other magical dandelions.

One more night would give him all the materials needed to really get his energy production up. Plus, without a horde of shadows chasing him, how would he get enough energy to repair Onward Evermore all the way? He could tell that his spell was in its final stages of healing, but it was still days or weeks away through natural means, and his own energy production was still lacking. But how would he get the shadows up here?

"Bwurzix, tell me if they start climbing you." Using a piece of his remaining energy, he sparked it out, sending a small flash all across the landscape. Waiting a few seconds, Bwurzix said ALMOST (They froze, they looked towards you, they are still ignoring you). Twice as powerful, he sent out a full-blown flare that took a second to die down. DONE (Arrival, coming, on the way).

"Thanks Bwurzix. How long do you think they'll-" Behind him, something hit the leaf he stood on, making him stumble. Wheeling around, he saw a hole in the ground where, whatever it was, they'd hit Bwurzix and punched right through.

"What was that?!" he asked both audibly and to Bwurzix, wondering if it was something harmful. HUMAN (Squirming, trapped, tied up, okay).

"What?!" WHAT? (Confusion).

"The human! Hold on, I'll see if I can get them out…" HUMAN? (In town? Which specifically?). Walking over to the hole, he started to climb down, vines extending to both support him and reach down into the darkness.

"The human that just fell into you?! Which one do you think?" YOU?

"No, the-" He paused, experiencing deja vu.

"The other one…" He felt like this had happened before, though of course not with Bwurzix, where he'd tried asking about someone and people couldn't remember them. His body practically moved on its own, delving further into Bwurzix as he tried to grasp at the memories. He remembered… asking about the eighth Primary… Someone talked to him and explained what they could do… they helped get things onto the cars… were with him at the front of the convoy…

Then, somehow, he remembered glimpsing them right before he exploded into Corruption as he made Bwurzix.

'They they they, who are they, and are they dangerous?' He remembered them mentioning something about an optional quest and overloading their Primary for a reward, it going terribly wrong, but he hadn't listened. He did know that he felt pity for them though, and that he liked them. They were nice… … He found himself standing atop one of the tallest yellow flowers on Bwurzix.

"Here should be safe," he muttered to himself. Clutching his chest, he could feel his heart racing, but he didn't know why. Something slipped his attention, and it felt important, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't figure out what.

"Safe?" he asked a bit louder this time, "As if this would be safe from the shadows, all it'll do is corner me. I should be down on the leaf." Yet, he remained for a while longer. Hours passed as he remained, muttering to himself, wondering if he was going a bit mad. When Bwurzix told him that the first shadow drew closer, he finally stood up, nodding to himself, and jumped down.