Chương 25: Stable Connection

Aaron sensed the gargantuan map opening before him, and knew it had far more potential than anything he'd have used Mycelaric Expanse for. Its predecessor, Mycelaric Tuning was already okayish, if not as incredible as his other Secondary.

Mycelaric Tuning worked to pair plants, where he could grab one and look through it to find the other, like a security camera Mycelaric Expanse, though, made several key differences; now, he didn't need to pair a plant to see through the ability, link himself to the plant in question, and he'd be able to see through his mind's eye. It was more streamlined, without the required middle-man of a seed to use- now, the ability itself served as the monitor used for the camera.

That's why it resembled a ball of mirrors when he saw it within him, because it was reflecting off itself. And it held… many places it could reflect. It seemed that his Primary was pretty much just throwing seeds left, right, and center, because if he wanted to, he would easily have been able to follow his path back. Tapping into a random node as a test, he saw the usual featureless tunnel, a nothing particularly noteworthy. Strangest, though, was the large cluster of lights moving rapidly about the tunnels.

The only plants he knew could move were the plant monsters, so he found this part incredibly strange when all his known monsters were right here. There were three groups of mobile nodes, all in the same general area, all going in the same direction- somewhere towards him, though not exactly locking on his location. Nervously, he checked one of the nodes from the central one, feeling the image open in his mind; a picture flashed in his head: faces, figures, people.

Before he could take in any more though, he was hit with an excruciating pain behind the eyes, getting knocked out of the vision instantly. He gasped, opening his eyes as his head rocked back.

"What? What's wrong?" Julio was the first to ask, but the others jumped to their feet as well, looking around wearily.

"Nothing… nothing," he said, rubbing his temples to massage the headache away. Julio looked at him intensely.

"Your nose is bleeding." Aaron blinked, rubbing his upper lip and watching it come away red.

"Oh… I think I know now why the System gave us Primaries to start out with." He went to wipe it on his shirt, only to realize he didn't have one. His tattered jeans were his last article of clothing, and it was honestly a miracle even they were intact, considering the holes in them were his Primary had punched through to grow out of.

'Actually, how did they even survive it disassembling? Did it just keep them in its mass scrunched up, and when I freed myself, I just put em back on or something?'

"Have I been almost naked this whole time?" he muttered absently, wiping the blood on one of the plant shavings on the ground.

"Aaron, that's really not important, what happened?" His eyes came up, and only now did he register how sluggish his thoughts were coming to him.

"I think… I overdrew from my ability. I strained it too hard," he said, but that wasn't the full image He hadn't considered it before, but Mycelaric Expanse consumed energy, and with his Primary down, he'd need to provide it some… but he hadn't really gotten energy production down, and when he tried to use the ability, it had nothing to burn through. That was also likely why the System gave them Primaries, despite knowing it was sub-par. How would he know to create energy for abilities, if he had none?

How would he use any ability at all? His Primary gave him a powerful middle-man that allowed him to instantly draw from a generator without having to go through some intense training. More than that- the nosebleed told him it wasn't exactly healthy to overdraw from his energy, so it might have actually killed him to train like that on his own.

The only other instance would be to discover a Primary on his own, something that made energy by feeding off his emotions, but the only other power he knew of that gave energy rather than took it was Windwhipped Seedblossom, and he'd literally pried it from the jaws of an unstoppable monster.

'Damn, do all naturally occurring Primaries happen like that? No wonder only a single cannibal had one, I only got the Mushki tongue because I already had a Primary to help me! Actually, how did that cannibal get it!?' Julio seemed relieved by his answer, "Alright man, be careful." Aaron nodded, "I will. Now that I know what to expect, I think I have an idea of how to get around it, it'll just take a little experimenting."

He sought out Windwhip, looking for the energy that he knew it could create; it hadn't seemed opposed to supporting him before, but now that he was back in his body, he hadn't even noticed when the stream cut off. It was much harder to get a reading on the Windwhip now that he couldn't just cut off his senses. He tried accessing where it was, but he wasn't so much as able to bring up the image of it.

After multiple attempts and multiple failures, he had to accept that the Secondary was out of reach for now, at least until he got his Sensitivity higher. Experimentally, he summoned a whip, bracing for pain and receiving none as it likely used its own energy- he even managed to summon a second whip considering his Weight was 1. 2. The others gaped at him as the two whips began twisting about around him, but he quickly absorbed them once more, and turned his sight back to energy production.

'Now… how do I go about doing this?' The time within his Primary was his largest clue, as it taught him who he was, and what he wanted. Pushing through the haze of energy was an enlightening experience that tempered his mind and forced him to question what it really, really wanted, to ask himself if all the agony was really worth it for his goals, and have the answer be a definitive yes. So, how did he create that flicker of energy required? Well… He grinned,'Could it be so simple?

No, that's not the right question… it IS that simple, because I said so.' He opened the map of nodes and, knowing it would hurt him, cast his vision back to the same spot he'd chosen before. A deep ache wormed its way into his brain, but he wasn't immediately ejected, a very slight wisp of energy sustaining the vision just enough for him to get a better view.

This time, he saw the full scene, and even recognized the platform they rode on as the same style of vehicle the cannibals had, but the most telling part was the people. Based on where he was looking from, he could tell that he was on someone's back, likely sticking to their clothes, and the people in his direct view were a few strangers that he'd glimpsed helping in the scavenging right before they'd departed from the cannibal camp.

He was elated to see them, because that meant they really had gone and gotten help, and now they were on their way over to him. He felt the vision start to collapse, the pitiful amount of energy he could provide was not enough to sustain it for long, but right before he did, he noticed that one of the people within view glanced at him in confusion. Snapping back to his body, he again massaged his temples, thinking over what he'd seen.

'Is it possible that they can see me when I look through the seeds? What does it look like to them?'

"Good news, help is on the way," he told the others, and watched their faces brighten, "I came here with a few other people, and it seems like they're on the way now." Celina practically jumped for joy, squealing, and the other two were too happy to even make fun of her for it.

"And what about the monsters?" Julio asked, and Aaron startled for a moment, glancing at them. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Oh yea, I forgot." He rolled his eyes, but Aaron quickly brought his Sensitivity into focus again, searching through Mycelaric again. It was sickeningly interesting to know, but his ability told him that corrupting others wasn't a trait exclusive to his Primary when it took over, he could really, actually implant a seed in someone and overwhelm their bodies to take over their minds. Would he ever do this? Hell no… as for any situation he could think of.

At the same time, though, he couldn't entirely discredit it either. He'd exhaust every other option first, but he wouldn't say"I will never ever do anything morally reprehensible," because that just wasn't how it worked down here. If he had to use that part of the ability on a cannibal to save Squeaky, he absolutely would. Through this part of him, he sensed many tethers to the monster horde nearby and, counting them out, found that he currently had twenty eight monsters under his control. Not only this…

but they were dying. He clicked his tongue as he felt it, but apparently, his Primary had been what they were feeding off of before, and they still were, except his Primary was producing pennies compared to before, so all of its energy was being siphoned away.

'That's probably why it's still writhing, it invested too much in maintaining the dominant position, and now it's suffering for it.' At the same time, this wasn't good. Yes, creating monsters was reprehensible, but now that he had them, it would be stupid to let them die. So he threw his vision into his Primary once more, seeking to understand, and asking if there was any way he could help.

The Primary barely responded, too weak to do anything, unwilling to pity something that'd tried and succeeded in taking over his body. It sent out a desire to reconnect with him. Not in a reconciling way, but literally to link back up with his body; apparently, after he'd burnt away the parasites covering him when he ousted it from his body, he'd also removed the link the System formed between them that let it feed off his emotions.

He briefly considered continuing to let it suffer, but not only would this be bad for the monsters, but he wasn't sure if the Primary would suffer damage from being starved, and he didn't want to lose access to one of his most powerful tools, even if he was still a bit pissed at it. So, resolving to free his Primary from the weight of its own decisions in a moment, he opened his eyes.

"Alright, it'll be pretty easy to control the monsters, but I'll need to wake my Primary up again. Help me get rid of the last of the plants, and I'll explain to all of you what each of the stats do, and the consequences of drawing too heavily on your abilities." They started helping him out, but Freddy said "Honestly, we aren't too sure how to use ours, but it seems a lot different from yours." Aaron nodded, "Yea, the System grouped everyone by powers, so everyone has something just a little different… I think.

There might be others out there with Primaries, but nobody that I know other than those I came with. So, what did you three get?"

"Something called a 'Spark of Warping,' and no, it's not as cool as it sounds. We can't do anything with it. If it helps at all, our Sensitivity started at one." He hummed thoughtfully, "I see… all my stats started at zero, so I guess that'll be our only hint. Alright, let me read out the words I saw when I first glanced at my Status, and then all of you can describe yours to me line by line. * {Sensitivity: 1. 2} -> {Sensitivity: 1. 1} {Weight: 1. 2} -> {Weight: 1. 1} {Corruption: 1. 1} -> {Corruption: 1} {Corruption: 1} -> {Corruption: 0} When his Corruption dropped to one, His Weight and Sensitivity fell back into a more normal range- though still higher than what he'd had before. Once his Corruption dropped to zero, nothing else changed, letting him keep a small fragment of the power he'd once had. He was more than happy to give it up for the security of not losing himself again though. Looking over his full Status, he verified the stable changes that'd come.

{Primary Ability: Onward Evermore Resistance: 1. 1 *Sensitivity: 1. 1 *Weight: 1. 1 Corruption: 0} Aside from getting a Secondary for both his Resistance and maybe his Corruption, depending on what that looked like, he was at the best point his stats could be.

It was especially good compared to Julio, Celina, and Freddy's status: {Resistance: 0 *Sensitivity: 1 Weight: 0 Corruption: 0} Formatted like this, it was obvious to him that the "Spark of Warping" they talked about was meant to be a Secondary, or around that in the pecking order, because it was also listed under the Sensitivity dropdown rather than holding its own slot like his Primary did. After telling them everything about the different stats, Freddy rubbed his chin, "So, Sensitivity is like…

how we talk to the Underworld?"

"Yea, but the only time I was able to really 'Hear' it was when I had no control over my body and nothing to distract me. My theory is that our natural senses block it out and make us deaf to the Underworld's words." They appeared dejected at that, Celina asking "So it's useless?" Aaron shook his head, "Far from it. Listening to the history of the Underworld was only possible before, but even when I was in control, it did let me shape the walls, or… more likely as the System called it… warp the walls."

They perked up, looking at him expectantly, and he nodded, not wanting to disappoint.

"I haven't tried it since my Primary was deactivated, but now's a good time to see. If it requires energy though… it'll be a much more arduous journey… unless your spark waives the cost, at least…" He shook his head, placing his hand on the underglass and trying to tap into the force he'd instinctively taken advantage of before. Something stirred, though not within him, and he watched the floor gently ripple under his fingers. He smiled, "That's a good sign, no energy required" he said, much to their relief.

'Although, that was a lot harder than I thought it'd be,' he didn't say aloud. While he could feel the resistance, the feedback of something solid when it came to using his Sensitivity, and that told him in what way he could push, it felt like trying to scream underwater to be heard. He could scream, but it felt difficult to get his point conveyed.

He hadn't been trying to ripple the floor, he was trying to dramatically fling them up and down like a waterbed, as he'd done before; while he knew it wouldn't be as easy, he'd barely been paying attention last time, so he thought that if he focused entirely on it now, it would be possible. Alas, it was once again reinforced that "1. 1" didn't mean "1+10%," nor did "1. 8" mean "1+80%." It was hard to get exact estimates, but 1. 8 felt… incomparably more powerful. 1.

1 felt like it was more than seventy five percent stronger- close to double, at the very least; it was "A realistic output for one person to have, maybe a pistol?" 1. 8 felt like "Handheld rapidfire bazooka, good luck stopping me." It was not reassuring at all that he could summon forth this power at the drop of a hat, because that meant there had to be some being out in Floor 0 that accessed 1. 8 unfettered, its host unable to resist.

'Even the silver nosferian was weak compared to my Primary when it took over, and the silver nosferian twisted more than a hundred people and nearly killed me!' If he hadn't broken free, his Primary would've been able to summon a borderline immortal zombie army. All things considered, he'd actually been quite lucky to only run into a single unstoppable monster: the Mushki. He quickly described his experience to the others, trying to keep the anxiety off his face at the new revelations.

They jumped right in, focusing on the underglass walls and seeing what they could do to make it abide by their shape; meanwhile, Aaron finally decided to wake his Primary up. Entering his usual meditative posture, he brought his attention inwards again and onto the Primary, seeing its struggling form. Same as him, it, too, did not stop thrashing despite the waves of pained emotions emanating outwards.

Unlike him, there was no Secondary feeding it energy, and its emotions didn't seem to be enough to flare its strength.

'Compared to me, it's hollow,' he thought, studying it.

'We're supposed to be symbiotic. I'm absolutely ass at getting the most energy out of my emotions, and it can't summon its own energy at all. I'm the gasoline, it's the generator- yes, I can set the gas on fire to make heat, but how much is wasted compared to fueling a generator then hooking a heater up to it?' He sighed deeply.

'Why couldn't you just have been nice? We could've been such good friends.'

"I am willing to let you help you," he said through his Sensitivity towards it, and it paused, listening." But, you will not take over." It didn't even consider the proposal, and he felt an intense rejection. It'd rather struggle than agree to that.

'At least it isn't lying?'

"Okay… how about this. You can try to take over, but if you do, no hurting the people close to me until you've broken my spirit; for as long as I'm fighting to get out, you're harmless." It expressed confusion, his tone wasn't that clear. He spoke slowly.

"Can take over." It affirmed.

"If take over, I will fight." It affirmed.

"You not hurt others." It hesitated." Until you crush me. If I am crushed, can hurt others." It seemed to contemplate the deal for several long moments. It agreed. Nodding, he reached out to his Primary, linking it back with his mind and a satisfying rush of clarity.