Chương 90: Chapter 88 - Crazy Vey.

"You get the cores, any that you can find the core vault for, and when you are strong enough, you get to the central vault and release me." The orb had regained some of its smugness. It wants freedom? What is it then, some kind of trapped creature?

"What are you? Really""I am an imprisoned spirit, from a place you wouldn't know even if I repeated the name in twenty languages" it brushed off her question with indifference.

"Why were you imprisoned?" Nythera kept her eyes locked on its every pulse.

"Because I'm useful. I'm not the only thing Aurendor locked in a box around here, far from it. Many other machinations were made using trapped spirits and souls. For autonomous functions, it turns out that something that can think and use flux is quite useful" it said dryly.

"Fine, but if you betray me, I'll blow my way through every core vault and then through you" Nythera watched for any reaction. The doors swung wide open.

"It is me who should worry about betrayal, be warned. I am not as helpless as you might think." the orb dissipated into nothing. Alright sure, I bet it's helpless and that it's bluffing. I'll free it if I feel like it. maybe. Within was a darker core, dense, solitary, angular. Domain Core Absorbed! Karaveth (Epic) +30 Constitution, +30 Endurance, +15 authority. Nice job Nythera, another domain worth more than most kingdoms. Am I spoiled? No, everywhere else is just shit.

Isn't this rank usually the capital of an Empire? Why are there so many in this place, Epic Mistvale, Epic Karaveth, Mythic Myrraval. She smirked. I want Legendary next. Everyone was jumpy, the tension in the air worse than she had expected. Desmond was unable to guide them back, leaving it to a mute quarry worker.

"Be ready in case they make a move, they might try to seize the core" Rowen hissed half way back as they passed yet another group of workers. They would not lift their gaze from her, transfixed. People hid from her in the streets of Grand Karaveth, but unlike this time, she could feel them taking glances. Takes some time to adjust to a new lord, doesn't it? They made their way straight for the docks, where The Sea Empress sat, untouched.

A guard broke from ranks, walking up to her nervously, handed over a letter to Rowen, then retreated. Rowen cut the seal and read the contents to Nythera.

"Miss Nythera, At this time I and the other councillors cannot see you off. We cannot risk your authority powers being used on Karavethian leaders. Send the ships soon. Corryn" That rat bastard, no wonder Desmond wasn't there. Well at some point they will need to stop being cowards and talk to me face to face. That point is not today.

"Rowen, should we stop by Myrraval and tell them about the new agreement?" Nythera was already pulling her ship into the air.

"Do not worry, I already informed Lance with the array. Let us depart for the new world." A glimmer of pride was in his eyes. Nythera checked the message exchange. 299: "Nyth lord now, send ship two, lumber, grain" 395: "Two each? One each? Nythlord dead not?" 299: "Nythlord dead not. Two each. We rock get" This is painful to read, at this rate I will need to host my own language classes.

As the ship drifted through the sky, heading for the looming white wall on the south of the seas, Nythera decided to check Boxy's contents.

[481 Sparks] [57 Embers] [70 Rations] [1 Communication array] [28 parchment] [5 bottles of ink] [3 quills] [12 chunks of high purity aetherite] [1 Record from the mines] [3 Dead moon skill tome] [27 Upgrade Token] [1 Augment Token] [40 Fusion Token] [1 Quartz giant guardian braincore] [4 Heavy Quartz Ordinance] [6 Thanaphyte Ordinance] Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. [27 Quartz Ordinance] [1 Quartz??? Detonators] [293 shards] [1 Mistvale geological report] [513 Enchanted rings] [50 Aetherian Ingots] [23 Augment tokens] [12 Comms batteries] [5 Mushroom Flamerounds] [9 Shroom Blue rounds] [5 Control passes] [1 Brown Mushroom Round] At the bottom, there was an amalgamation of confused runes. That would be my map, the map I stole and Oswin's map. Wow I have a lot of stuff… I am not a hoarder, this is reasonable.

A third of it is weaponry, which is good, I think I can probably fight Obros-Ka again with this many shells. I should find a chance to sell some stuff, one can never have enough money. As the ship glided, passing the spot of the battle, no evidence remained, eaten or sunk, the corpse was gone. The flowing river disappearing into the mist pulled their attention up. Will Myrraval be ok without me?

"Hey Rowen, maybe we should go check on Myrraval one more time before we go, just to be sure." her eyebrows creased in worry.

"Nythera, they have been fine for decades without you, they'll be fine now." Rowen snorted "If they knew a little girl was this worried about them, Queen or not, they would be ashamed." She sighed "What about we go to Voltherra or Volkion instead? They have ship depots and weapon refineries, we could really use that." Rowen cocked an eyebrow "Are you daft? Do you want to be scorched within moments or struck by lightning repeatedly?"

"No, not really" The ship drifted lazily down the wakepath, without the selva sail to properly steer, she had to be more careful. Might as well try Vey's little gift. Activating Mist-Shaper, Nythera poured flux in an attempt to affect the mist of the walls of the wakepath. First one hundred flux, then three hundred, until she was pouring in thousands. Not even a twitch. Well I guess I probably shouldn't start with lethal, immovable mists of doom on a level one skill. It was worth a shot at least.

*Ping Her communication array in her cloak went off. 395: "Shell go, inside island. Explore" What is Shell? Like seashell? OH Shelly is going to the interior? Well she's classed now, I'm sure she'll be fine. … I want to turn the ship around. Lazily drifting forward, Nythera pulled the ship sideways, keeping it well away from the glowing beacon of flux that was the city. She pulled the ship up to a patch of empty woods, far away from the city.

"Talvik, watch the ship and keep it out of sight. If you lose it, I will finally find out what you taste like." Nythera hissed at him.

"Worry not, I have pilot qualifications." Talvik flew down onto the console. Rowen and Nythera hopped off, and the duo once again found their way hacking through undergrowth and ducking under tree branches.

"We find a path, head west until we hit the city, and then find something that can let us communicate." Rowen's sword came down on another unfortunate bush.

"Do you think they will have anything for that? You can't just waltz up to some random shop and buy a linguistic artifact". Rowen looked at her with pity "Actually, in major cities you can according to my father. But it's not something for commoners." And so they went into the new world. … Veymur wisped through the mists, turning into a shroud of fog that passed through all. Within moments, his long journey ended.

"Luck! I have come to discuss an important matter with you." He called out, using the form of a big, brutish man. Luck's abode clicked into place, a cabin materialized around Veymur.

"Hey Vey! What's up? Do you need something?" The kid came out of a side room, skipping merrily.

"Why in the blazes didn't you give the girl an artifact?" Veymur looked down at him with disappointment. Luck was cowed, forced to look away.

"By Hel, Vey you know I hate when you use that form. It's mean to use Dad's form to scold me. I forgot ok, but don't worry I got something good." he grinned and pulled out a small mallet.

"Thats the Mallet of Unrestricted Devastation isn't it? The sibling of the Hammer of Industrial Rot." Veymur looked at Luck with as much condescension as he could muster, like an angry parent.

"You want to give a strata one girl a starlit artifact of annihilation? Just picking it up would instantly kill her."

"Oh, in that case how about this? The Pendant of Power has been sitting around collecting dust, but it's a fine artifact." The light from the pendant turned the room into a dazzling sun.

"Put that garbage away you moron." Veymur snapped his finger and mists came to obscure the pendant.

"Fine then Vey, what did you have in mind then? Mr. wise man of the mists" Luck stuck out his tongue mockingly.

"This pendant is the one that saps stats permanently with every use, isn't it? Are you trying to kill my blessed?" Luck scratched the back of his head "Are they really so weak that this curse would work? Why even bother making such weaklings your blessed. Silly Vey." Veymur ignored him "Do you have anything more suitable?" Luck skipped in a circle around the room "How about this? Or this? What does this mortal use?"

Luck went through a dozen artifacts, tossing them into various corners of the room, he jumped up onto the couch and pulled up a screen. Veymur sat down on the other end, directing the screen. Nythera, screaming "FIRE" at the Obros-Ka as her ship rocketed across the sea came into view.

"Yes, as you can see, she uses a most curious construct, old-Aurendorian heritage. A Bastion family-line if I had to guess." Veymur gobbled down a bunch of misticles from a bucket.

"A Bastion line? Dracassic then? So I need to find something to help a construct user, hmmmm" Luck stared at the ceiling in thought.

"Dracassic? Possibly, the heritage skill is stunningly pure if it's older than that. I doubt she's of Eldrosian blood. Regardless, it is only fitting we help her, don't you think? Besides, she carries my blessing." Veymur puffed up his chest. Luck's eyes were glued to the screen.

"What strata did you say she was? That cannon has a lot of firepower, I didn't realize your plaything was already strata three." he muttered.

"She isn't. This fight was weeks ago, she took down a nasty bug messing with my mists. She is strata one." Veymur waved him off. Luck's face became grim "strata one? Vey, I know you like silly games, but this girl is dangerous, why forge a new weapon? Are you Crazy Vey now?"

"She's done most of the work herself, I am not sure how. At the rate she's doing we could see a rival to Axis in a few decades." Veymur reluctantly answered.

"Uh huh, self-made, sureeeeeeee. Well it's not my business if you are trying to make another great war or a new realm. So how about a flux item then? Could always use more of it." Luck pulled a small cylinder out of his palm, radiating with intense energies.

"No, she has enough flux. Do you have anything that matches the equipment she already has? Something… weaker than your usual affairs. Even Flare artifacts would overwhelm her." Veymur dismissed the cylinder before the house was incinerated. Veymur rattled off items from a list "A ring from Red, A quartz-kraken rod, a fire cloak, peregrine circlet…" Luck rifled through his little baggie.

"I might just have something in here, what should I do with it? It's only a cinder rank though."

"Place it somewhere she can find it."