Chương 109: A Spark of Genius

Two days after his failed attempt to pierce the tornado that might be hiding these new undead forces, Joe sat alone on one of Yggdrasil's low-hanging branches. The bark was cool beneath his palms as he leaned back, eyes distant. The soft pad of paws on the grass below broke his reverie. Bravo's heavy frame appeared first, and Alice followed close behind. Joe dropped down to meet them as they approached.

"Hey, Alice. You're back?"

"Yes, we just got back. Corel told me what happened." Her voice was quiet, heavy. During the whole New Eden disaster, Alice had been locked inside the training gate with the brats. Only now had she emerged to the news.

"I'm sorry to hear about Sarah. I always enjoyed our talks. I… can't believe what happened. Was there any sign of her?" Joe filled her in on everything he knew. He gave her a few moments to absorb the information, watching the shadows on her face flicker. He wasn't sure how well she was taking the news, but he still had a few questions he wanted to ask.

"You mentioned a gate before, when you first arrived, one that changed Malcolm. Do you think it has anything to do with these undead?" Alice shook her head firmly.

"No. That was a different gate. There were no undead in that gate. I'm sorry. I have no idea what could have caused this. Felicia and I never saw anything like it before we left. It's hard to believe he let a gate last over a year and break open like that." Joe gave a weary smile.

"You don't have to apologize. I was hoping it was a different gate. I… just don't know where to even start. We have no information. No leads." He tilted his head back, staring up into the sky as if it might hold answers. Too many dead ends.

"Felicia and I are going to Heliopolis," Alice said after a pause.

"There are friends… we want to look for. Maybe we can find some more information." Her voice wavered, and a tear slid down her cheek.

"Shit," Joe mumbled, stepping forward just in time to catch her as she collapsed into his arms. She clung to him, sobbing.

"I should've realized, you probably lost a lot of people you knew. My head's a mess. I'm sorry," he said, guilt cutting through him as he wrapped his arms around her.

"It's fine. I understand," Alice whispered, but she didn't let go. She held on, burying her grief in his chest until the sobs finally slowed. When she gathered herself again, wiping at her eyes, her voice carried more confidence.

"We will find something. The city had a lot of people involved in its running; someone has to know what happened. Felicia and I will uncover the truth." Joe managed a small smile.

"Thank you. But don't push yourself too hard. If you need time to… mourn, take it. Don't force yourself into gathering information." She nodded, gave him one last tight hug, then swung onto Bravo's back and headed toward the house. Joe watched her go, the weight of her words and her grief settling heavily on his shoulders. Feeling low, Joe decided to pay a visit to the old Volduran seer, Zevra. Maybe she could help him untangle the thoughts gnawing at him.

But first, he needed a gift; otherwise, she would scold him for showing up empty-handed. He returned to his house long enough to cook some meat and vegetables from his garden, pulling from his stockpile of cuts he'd saved. He added a few small purchases from the pillar store to round out the bundle, then set off. Corel was nowhere to be seen, so he went alone to Zevra's home, seeking a chat and maybe a little guidance.

"Progenitor, what brings you here today? You took your damn time! I've been waiting for a whole moon, you should have arrived hours ago!" Zevra barked in greeting the moment he leapt up onto her branch. Of course, she had already known he'd be coming. Joe chuckled as he walked up to her door.

"Greetings, Zevra. May I come in for some tea? I brought new teabags, I think you'll enjoy," he said with his best smile.

"Pfft. I bet all the females fall for that grin. I'm far too old for your flower-coated words. Go in, the water's already waiting." She waved her cane and ushered him inside.

"It only works on some ladies," Joe muttered, heating the pot of water with a flick of mana.

"Yes, yes, tragic for you. Bah," Zevra grumbled, clambering into her favourite chair. Then her tone softened.

"Now tell me all about that eater in your arm." Joe nearly dropped the boiling pot before catching himself.

"How in the world do you know about that?"

"I'm a seer. I know about everything." Joe shook his head. No way she knew everything; she had to be bluffing. Still, he poured two cups of herbal tea, handing one to her before taking the seat opposite.

"Mmm, this does smell good. You did bring some of those biscuits I like, didn't you?" Joe smiled as a packet of bourbon biscuits appeared in his hands.

"How could I forget?" He set them out on a plate, and Zevra's expression shone as she bit into one, savouring the chocolate.

"Now," he said between chews, "how did you know about the 'eater' in my arm?"

"I saw a vision," Zevra replied simply.

"You… and that." She tapped her cane toward his arm.

"Feeding on a giant beast. I also saw what followed. Don't let it crush you. We all do terrible things to survive." Joe nodded, forcing down the memories of the people he had been forced to kill.

"What is an eater?" he asked quietly.

"Oh, I've no idea. I just called it that," Zevra admitted.

"I felt its hunger as you did. That kind of hunger could kill. You're lucky to still be breathing." Her tone darkened.

"Be very, very careful. The spirits around you are dark and filled with malice. Touch them too long, and you will not survive unscathed." Joe grimaced, knowing she wouldn't like his next question.

"What if… I need to feed it again?"

"No!" Zevra snapped, louder than he'd ever heard her. Her cane struck the floor with a sharp crack.

"You cannot. You must not feed that thing again. It will bring nothing but dread." Joe shook his head.

"But if it can help me find my friend, I'm willing to take the risk."

"Stupid boy!" Zevra roared, waving her cane at him.

"You're toying with forces you cannot begin to grasp. Are you trying to get us all killed?"

"It's not that bad… is it?" Joe asked cautiously.

"How do you know it isn't?" she shot back.

"How do you know it won't be the end of you?" Her gaze held him unflinching. This was not how he'd envisioned this conversation going.

"I don't know any other ways to break through that tornado shielding the undead."

"There are always other options," Zevra said, leaning back and sipping her tea with maddening calm.

"You're not thinking. Use your brain, not your arm." Damn it. More cryptic words. Use his brain? He thought he was. He tried to puzzle through it: how do you pierce something strong enough to reflect his strongest skills? Something that refused to yield to attack? It was an immovable object. As his thoughts churned, Zevra happily munched biscuits, little legs swinging while she smiled at his frustration.

"Tell me about the resource grab," she said suddenly, breaking his concentration.

"The resource grab? Oh, uh… right." He scratched at his chin.

"It was… interesting, actually. That's when I first met most of the strongest people out there fighting the good fight. And when I realized just how absurdly strong some of them really were." He recounted the events, the clashes, the victories and defeats, the strange alliances. As he reached the end, he faltered, memory tugging at him. He remembered that strange distraction… the sudden shift when he noticed the foreign mana that bled into their bubble.

The certainty that if he didn't stop it, something terrible would happen.

"And how did you stop it?" Zevra asked.

"I poured my own mana into the bubble. And ejected the foreign mana out."

"Then what?"

"Then I kept pouring until the bubble popped…" Popped. His eyes widened, and he shot to his feet.

"That's it! I just need to make the tornado pop! Zevra, I could kiss you!"

"Go kiss Corel. You're not green enough for my tastes," Zevra said with a sly smile. Joe gave her a deep bow and his brightest grin.

"Zevra, if you ever need anything, just ask. Now I need to…"

"Not so fast," she cut him off, lifting her cane.

"You'll do something for me first."

"Anything," Joe said at once.

"You must go alone." The words caught him off guard. Alone? Why? He searched her face, wondering if her words came from a vision.

"Okay… but why?"

"You must go alone. Or you'll find nothing alive inside." Her voice carried a weight that silenced any argument. Joe's breath hitched. As far as he knew, Zevra had never lied to him, never been wrong, not once. That could mean only one thing. Someone was alive, inside the tornado. But if he brought anyone else… they would not stay that way. He didn't understand the reason behind that, but he accepted it.

"I'll do it," he said, standing.

"Did you see anyone else inside?" Zevra nodded.

"More than one person?" Another nod.

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Go now," she added. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Now?"

"Yes. Do not delay… or…" she did not finish her sentence. Joe didn't hesitate. He turned and sprinted from her house, pulling out his skyboat and blasting southwest, alone. __ After Joe left Landradad, a small leprechaun clambered out of the cabinet where it had been watching. It peered up at the old seer.

"You tested my patience," the avatar of the system seedling scolded.

"I told you not to say too much."

"I don't see why it matters to you," Zevra huffed.

"You gain nothing from letting those humans die. At least now he has a small chance to save one of them."

"That was not yours to meddle with. I allow you to live here only if you remain impassive. What you just did was not impassive."

"Bah! If you want me gone, just remove me, you crazy little thing. Otherwise, leave. You're ruining my biscuit time." The avatar vanished, and Zevra calmly turned back to her tea and biscuits. Human food really was delightful. She'd have to take some home when this cursed integration finally ended. She sipped, but her smile faded. A part of her still hoped Joe would make the right choice… and find his friend. If not, she shuddered at what it would do to his mind.

She still needed him to help her complete one important task that she couldn't do without him. __ A few hours later, Joe reached the massive tornado. He stowed his skyboat and sprinted the final stretch to its base. The long journey across the continent had given him plenty of time to form a plan. He doubted it would be as simple as pouring mana into the storm until it burst, so he had resolved to try a more unorthodox approach, something that might disrupt it just enough for him to force an entry.

At the roaring base of the tornado, he raised his arms and closed his eyes. Relief flickered through him when the void in his arm remained silent; it seemed the storm wasn't considered food. Focusing, he activated Mana Stream. The wreath of mana flared into being around him, pulsing in time with the thunderous winds buffeting his body. Next, he shaped two bubbles of mana over his eyes and opened Mana Sight.

The bubbles would dull the pain from the torrent of mana ahead, allowing him to look without being completely blinded. After another moment, he triggered Dao Sight and forced his eyes open. Light flooded his vision, a brilliance so overwhelming he nearly recoiled. Every speck of mana within the storm shone like a blazing constellation, an unending cascade of colour and motion. He held his gaze, refusing to blink, letting the bubbles of his stream filter out the worst of the glare.

At first, it was only blinding white. But as he softened his focus, letting his eyes drift, the chaos began to separate. Slowly, distinct flows revealed themselves. Streaks of blue, threads of yellow, rivulets of pure white, each twisting within the screaming winds. And between them, shifting patches of nothingness. They looked empty, yet Joe sensed they weren't. Something was there, something not mana, invisible to his sight. For now, he forced himself to ignore it.

Instead, he followed the streams, searching for order in the storm. And little by little, the picture changed. The chaos of the tornado gave way to something else, something structured. It was no longer just a howling storm. It was a river. A vast, multicoloured river flowing in endless motion. The image struck him, so like his own Mana Stream, yet impossibly more complex. Not one flow, but four… no, five. Jammed together, or no, not jammed, woven. Interlocking perfectly. A weave.

The realization cleared his mind, like a gate opening. Pain exploded inside his skull, white-hot and merciless. Joe gasped once, then crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Ding! Congratulations. Two skills have fused. New skill obtained. Joe awoke with a skull-splitting headache. What the hell had just happened? His thoughts swam as he pushed himself up from the ground. Torrential winds howled around him, reminding him where he was, the tornado.

He blinked and focused on the notification still floating in his vision. His skills fused? He pulled up his status and scanned his list of skills until his eyes landed on something new. Sight of the Farmer. He activated it. This time, there was no blinding glare. No searing pain. Instead, the storm unfolded before him with perfect clarity, as though the world itself had been scrubbed clean. He saw the weave of mana within the tornado, each strand as distinct as a thread on a loom.

He saw the foreign black substance writhing between them. not mana but something else entirely. And faintly, just at the edge of his vision, he glimpsed… something he couldn't yet understand. He shoved that aside. What mattered was the weave. And even more, the faint traces of Dao etched into the mana itself. Dao on mana? He didn't understand it, not yet, but instinct told him it mattered. A plan sparked in his mind. He spread his arms wide.

His Mana Stream shot out from one hand, latching onto the winds circling the tornado. He poured mana into it, forcing the stream to expand and wrap wider and wider as it was dragged the full circumference around the tornado, and connected to his other hand. A perfect circle sealed around the storm. Joe released it, and the circle snapped upward, tightening around the tornado like a band of purple and blue light. Again. And again. And one more time, he repeated the move.

Four massive circles now pulsed around the storm, stacked high above him like glowing rings. Joe raised both hands, teeth gritted, and he focused his mind and willed them to squeeze. At first, nothing. His mana pulsed and strained. He felt the pressure rising slowly inside his mind. Then… the tornado shuddered. Slowly. painfully, it began to shrink. His circles thickened, straining as they constricted. Joe's lips curled into a grim smile. It was working.

When the storm pushed back, holding its ground, Joe shifted tactics. The rings began to inject mana. Streams poured inward, forcing their way into the weave. The tornado fought back, burning away the intruding power like a body resisting infection. But Joe's assault was relentless. The sheer volume he injected overwhelmed the defense. The storm bulged. The black clouds swelled like a balloon ready to burst.

Joe roared as he funnelled absurd amounts of mana into the roiling storm, every fibre of his being pushing it to breaking. All he could hear was the roaring winds… Then… with a sound like the heavens ripping apart. The tornado popped. The storm collapsed in on itself, bursting apart like a shattered dam. Joe triggered Space Jump. Just like that, the air stilled and shimmered, then the tornado reformed. But it was too late. An invader had slipped through.

__ Mar Vo Droth Rath twitched ever so slightly as the tornado burst, then reformed around his palace. Its sense stretched outward, probing for the intruder bold, or foolish, enough to pierce its death domain. Its mind recoiled. Something impossibly dense was approaching his throne room, its Aura heavier than anything it had ever felt so far on this new world. It did not move from its throne, but behind its stillness, its thoughts raced. Who was this native? How had it dispersed the mana confusion?

And what did it seek? With a pulse, Mar Vo summoned his horsemen. The skeletal riders materialized around him, silent and watchful. The two chained figures on the dais around him flinched in fear, but Mar Vo ignored them. This event had not been foreseen. The human swordsman had sworn no being on this world could oppose it. Yet something was coming. An answer arrived moments later. A human strode into the chamber, head high.

Mar Vo activated Death's Sight, only for its skill to rebound, blocked by the artefact hidden on the human's brow. The twitch of its finger betrayed Mar Vo's irritation. Its hollow gaze drifted to the rows of chained corpses lining the hall, then back to the newcomer. The human's face darkened at the sight, rage simmering just beneath the surface. If Mar Vo had a mouth, it would have smiled. Humans clung so tightly to life. Perhaps this one would prove just as fragile as the two prizes already in his grasp.

__ Joe gagged as the stench hit him. The throne room reeked of decay, the walls lined with chained, rotting bodies. His fury surged, and for a heartbeat, he wanted to unleash everything at once, to burn the chamber to ash. But then he saw her. At the foot of the throne knelt Sarah, shackled and bound, hair matted with blood. Chains dug into her arms and legs, and her mouth was wrapped in a filthy, black-streaked cloth. One leg was twisted at a grotesque angle, and her chest rose in shallow, terrified breaths.

On the other side of the throne crouched a second familiar figure. Joe's heart clenched. Every cell in his body screamed at him to charge forward, to tear the chains away and shield his friend from this nightmare. The faint twitch of a bony finger drew his eyes upward. On the throne sat a bare skeleton, its hollow sockets locked onto him. It had no flesh, no muscle, no sinew. Just bare, white, tinted bones. Joe's Aura burst outward, flooding the chamber with suffocating pressure.

Sarah blinked and looked up, her eyes widening as she recognized him. He tried to offer her reassurance, a smile to tell her she was safe now. But no smile came. Only a snarl, as fury consumed him all over again.

"Let her go," he whispered. The skeleton twitched, as if caught off guard.

"You came all this way for one human?" a dry voice coiled through his mind.

"Yes," Joe said flatly.

"Now let her go." Silence stretched, heavy and suffocating, as the two locked eyes, one pair blazing with fury, the other nothing but hollow sockets. For what felt like an eternity, nothing moved. Then Mar Vo slowly raised a finger, pointing directly at Joe.

"No." Something inside Joe snapped. Before thought could catch up, he Space-Jumped, materializing over Sarah like a monstrous guardian. Jingu Bang hummed in his grip, filling the hall with a low, violent vibration. But he froze at the sight of a thin string of mana, running from the skeleton's finger straight into Sarah's skull. If he had struck out, she would have died before he could react. His stomach churned. Could he sever the thread?

"Wait," the voice echoed again.

"Why?" Joe growled.

"Because you don't want the human to die." Joe felt a strange urgency in the skeleton's voice. Like it wasn't quite as confident as it was trying to portray. Maybe this undead monstrosity had a sense of self-preservation. Maybe.. It was afraid of him.

"Let her go." Sarah slumped to the ground, overwhelmed by the force of Joe's unchecked Aura. For a heartbeat, he panicked, thinking that the skeleton had killed her. But relief flooded him when he heard her shallow breaths.

"I can release her," the skeleton said calmly.

"But first, step back to where you stood." Its finger twitched, the mana-thread tautening. For the time it took Joe to take one single breath, he weighed his options. Do as he was told, or… He made his choice and activated Space-Jump. Six things happened at once. The skeleton triggered a skill, the mana thread starting to spark with energy. At that same moment, all four horsemen struck, blasting jet black clouds, which converged toward the spot Joe was supposed to appear at. But Joe didn't move that way.

Instead, he appeared around Sarah, clutching the skeleton's mana thread in his hand. Uriel's light blazed, surging from his hand to the tether, severing it before the thing's mana reached Sarah's skull. At the same moment all these things happened, Joe activated Seeds Will Grow. Vines coiled up from the floor, lashing around each horseman's mount and pinning their legs in place. More vines burst from beneath the throne, binding the skeleton where it sat.

With deliberate spite, a crop sprouted between the skeleton's legs. A vine arched up, dangling two heavy pumpkins that dropped squarely into the skeleton's bony lap. Joe's barding exploded outward like a detonation, wrapping both him and Sarah in a living fortress of wood. A final surge of vines lashed outward, coiling around the second chained figure of Malcolm, the Divine Sword. The shackles cracked and then shattered under the impact.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye as the two pumpkins exploded, shattering the skeleton's bones and sending a spray of shards into the air, which was now filling with purple mana. Joe Space-Jumped once more, shifting Sarah onto his back as his barding shrank, wrapping her in a protective cocoon. A thin vine slipped a healing pill between her lips while he steadied his breathing. Four blasts of black clouds shot from the horsemen, but Joe batted them aside with a mana-wrapped Jingu Bang.

The vines around their mounts tightened, toppling them and scattering skeletal riders across the floor. Joe considered snatching Malcolm and fleeing. But that chance was torn away a moment later as the skeleton reformed, slamming its hand down and driving through the vines to clamp around Malcolm's throat.

"How dare you destroy my throne!" the skeleton roared, its voice no longer whispering into Joe's mind but shaking the chamber itself.

"Leave this place, or watch this human die!" Joe hesitated. Rage burned in him, but reason cut deep. He didn't know what role Malcolm had played in all this. Perhaps he was complicit, perhaps guilty of freeing these undead. Allowing them to kill millions. Or perhaps he was only a victim in all this, like Sarah. A cruel whisper urged him to turn away, to let the man reap what he had sown. But Joe was not so cold, not so callous. He wanted to at least try to save him, yet the skeletal tyrant's words bound him.

"If you teleport, he dies. If you step forward, he dies. If you do anything but walk away… He dies!" Joe stood rooted, staring into Malcolm's eyes as the skeleton held him firm. He searched for some spark, defiance, remorse. All he found was terror. Sarah stirred weakly on his back, a faint reminder of why he was here, of who truly needed him. Her breathing was still weak; she needed urgent care, she needed him. His decision tore at him, heavier than the mountain looming from above.

With leaden steps, he turned his back on the Divine Sword and walked from the throne room. Each step echoed through the hall like a death knell. He had saved his friend, but he also left one person to die. And though he told himself he had no choice, the weight of his decision clung to him like a shadow.