Tring!
You have earned…
Name: Shocking Sinew
Quantity: 300 feet
Quality: Uncommon
Weight: 3.75 lbs.
Description: Crafting component. Threadlike black muscle fiber. Conducts Energy with near 100% efficiency.
Tring!
You have earned…
Name: Tar Blood
Quantity: 5 gallons
Quality: Uncommon
Weight: 41.3 lbs.
Description: Alchemy component. Volatile and flammable light brown liquid.
Ruwen opened his Void Band to ten feet and let himself sink as he sucked in oil to his Inventory. He had figured out that everyone’s dimensional gear linked to the Black Pyramid, and he wondered what that looked like. Deep under the surface of the devastated city that surrounded the pyramid, he was adding millions of gallons of oil. How did Blapy handle that?
Rami? How does your mom organize everyone’s Inventory?
It’s a secret. Imagine what would happen if someone broke into her vault.
Ruwen spent some time thinking about that. Now I really want to know.
Rami laughed. You and every thief in the Universe. The people with one hundred percent weight reduction gear are the only complicated ones. That’s why each deity has a limited number.
That’s what made me ask. I’m going to grab millions of gallons of this oil, and I wondered how she would handle that.
Probably with a lot of cursing.
That is good to know. I’ll try and avoid her until I can unload it all.
Are you checking out that tunnel? Rami asked.
It’s too smooth to be natural.
I admit it’s curious. You get sidetracked easily, so I wanted to know your plan.
I haven’t forgotten why I’m here, and I won’t explore until I’ve gathered plenty of oil. But don’t you wonder why that tunnel is there, seven hundred feet underground?
Yes, but there is so much happening, and I don’t want you to get distracted.
Ruwen knew he had focus issues. He either spent too much time on one thing, or not enough on multiple items. He had to work on balancing his attention better. I tell you what. I’ll go back as soon as you tell me.
Deal.
Ruwen spent almost an hour moving through the oil lake until his Inventory read he’d collected over ten million gallons, ten times more than he needed. The purpose of his trip satisfied, he sank into the depths of the lake, carefully monitoring his body for signs of the pressure causing damage. But his Gold Fortified body didn’t seem to care.
When he reached the tunnel, Stone Echo displayed smooth walls and a very circular entrance.
This isn’t natural, Ruwen told Rami as he started up the shaft.
No, and whatever made it is likely at the other end, so be careful.
Stone Echo displayed some nodes deep in the stone surrounding the tunnel, and Ruwen briefly channeled fifty Energy into Sixth Sense to get their descriptions. They were all small deposits of precious metals or pockets of methane gas.
Rami spoke up. If this angle remains constant, we’ll reach the surface in about five miles.
This is a long tunnel.
Ruwen’s map flashed red. He zoomed out and saw he’d just left Uru’s Blessing. They were no longer in Uru’s lands, and any memories or experience he gained would be vulnerable to loss until he synched back up. Usually you could only do that by reentering Uru’s Blessing, but he had a spell called Uru’s Touch that took two hundred Health, Mana, and Energy to cast. He’d never had the resources to cast it before, but now he did.
I’m going to double my speed for a while, so it only takes half an hour to get there.
Okay. Since we have some time to talk, I finished two of your queries, Rami said.
Which ones?
Lalquinrial and how to get the Scarecrow Aspect off.
What queries are still running?
Information on the Architect Role and essence patterns in your spells.
Have I told you lately how lucky I am you’re with me?
It doesn’t get old. But I’m afraid I don’t have a lot to tell you.
Well, it’s more than I know now.
The Aspect first. I can’t find any records of anyone wearing one in the Material Realm. But that doesn’t surprise me. To have this happen you need to get your physical body into another realm. That means you are near Divine in power already, and Divine beings divulge as little as possible.
The Plague Siren that had owned this Scarecrow Aspect had reached the pinnacle of Diamond, which supported Rami’s hypothesis.
Rami continued. Most Cultivators and Harvesters project their spirit into the Spirit Realm, and they need a vessel to hold and protect it.
Like a turtle’s shell.
Exactly. Aspects serve as this spiritual armor. Usually only Divine beings can translocate their actual body into the Spirit Realm, but spirit or body, the Aspect would serve the same purpose. It would protect its wearer from spiritual attacks and Spirit magic.
By spiritual attacks, you mean attacks directly against my Core or Meridians?
Yes. So the obvious place to remove the Aspect is back in the Spirit Realm. But I think the Realm the Aspect was created in is also a possibility.
I thought all Aspects were created in the Spirit Realm?
This brings me to your second query, Lalquinrial.
Oh, no. I don’t like where this is going.
Seven Aspects have been created outside the Spirit Realm. All created by the Deity Lalquinrial in the Infernal Realm for his most powerful followers.
Including my Aspect.
Yes. So I believe if you ever traveled to the Infernal Realm, you would appear in your Aspect, just as if you’d entered the Spirit Realm.
Ugh.
Why does it bother you? It is valuable protection.
I don’t like how it appears whenever I touch my Spirit, like a snitch. A demon god created it, and then a Plague Siren wore it. The Aspect makes me want to shower every time I think about it being inside me.
It is also Diamond level protection for your spiritual system. If you fight an advanced Gem level or worse, a Divine opponent, you will definitely need it. And the benefits of the clone alone have been immense.
I know. I don’t have plans to visit another realm anytime soon, so I’m stuck with it.
That’s good, because Lalquinrial will want his Aspect back, and he
