Chapter 233: Chicken Nuggets (1/2)
With the emergence of the suns, Ilea watched closely what happened to the lakes of mist when the light reached their borders. Eating the last of her meal, she quickly scanned the surroundings to find the closest crack in the land. Putting away the box, she jumped off the mountain and glided down the steep side of it with her wings out. The sunlight was hidden behind the mountain but coming up on the crevice, Ilea saw how the mist was already dissipating. Miststalkers danced around before they too vanished, particles of mist floating up in the air, the last of their existence shimmering in the light that finally rose over the mountain.
And as quickly as the mist had vanished, black clouds formed and purple lightning started impacting faraway hills and mountains. Ilea watched a cloud form only a couple hundred meters away, deciding it was safe to traverse the chasms again. Jumping down, she felt the air rush by from the first lightning impact of the newly formed death cloud. Are the mist creatures in there? Just turning into lightning stalkers by day?
A little apprehensive, Ilea scanned her surroundings as she stepped down into the thin crevice. No mist could be seen, not even in its nooks and crannies. Which meant traveling was somewhat safe outside during the night and in the cracks by day. If one considered the dangerous beasts manageable.
Ilea saw the first animals and small insects move out of their hiding spaces among the rocks and cracks, eager to find food and water now that the mists were gone. Not exactly an abundance of resources around here. She watched the animals and started walking northwards. So far she had found the Dragoons that she could definitely kill but they were below her level, meaning it wasn’t exactly profitable leveling wise. They were interesting opponents but without an ability to seriously hurt her combined with the low level, she wasn’t particularly interested in hunting them.
Neither did they seem to be around in high numbers. A rustling resounded behind her but she couldn’t see anything when she turned, neither did her Sphere. Checking for anything in hiding as if she was looking for a rogue, she found nothing. Smiling a little, she imagined Eve trying to sneak up on her here in the north. Shaking her head, she walked on and continued her considerations. The Miststalkers were interesting but as long as they came in such high numbers she wasn’t sure if she should approach them. Her resistances were high of course and she could gain levels in her mist magic resistance at least but it wasn’t like they’d go anywhere.
That was if they appeared again the next night. Ilea had only seen one day and night in the north so far and while the purple lightning had returned she didn’t know if the mist did. The gray birds freaked her out but without having fought against them she might just find them the way to level up here. Coming into another section of the crevice, Ilea sniffed the air and activated all her buffs, blinking behind a rock she could see through her Sphere. Looking around, listening and waiting for a minute, she couldn’t make out anything but the smell of a recent fire was unmistakable.
Rushing through the glen, she found it. A crudely prepped fireplace, cold ash remaining. Bones of an animal lay to its side, free of any meat. Checking her surroundings again, Ilea instead activated her Hunter’s Sight, looking for any clues regarding the maker of this fire. There was of course the question if she really wanted to look for whomever had prepared it but the potential benefits of getting to know someone who knew their way around the north were obvious. Might even be worth the risk. She found half faded tracks in the sand.
Boots… She surmised, meaning that it wasn’t just some half intelligent ape creature able to make a fire. Well it could still be but the ape wore boots at least. Following the trail proved difficult, either because it was older or because the mists and stalkers had danced over it for a whole night or three. The trail continued into a small cave opening, darkness staring back at her when she entered. The Sphere taking over, Ilea walked through the narrow corridor before she heard a stream flowing, seeing it a couple meters later.
The water flowed down into the unknown, further than her sphere could see. The space wasn’t big enough for her to glide down with her wings, Ilea instead climbing down through the small gap between the water and rock. After a couple meters she could already see the bottom further down. Coming out as quietly as she could, she found the following cave to be a little brighter. She couldn’t make out the light source as of yet. Trying to stay quiet, she walked through the opening cave, finding a large fissure in the stone at the other end of it. The water flowed down a small creek that had formed over the years. Just another crevice?
There was grass growing outside the fissure, soft light breaking in from cracks above. It definitely looked like something Ilea wouldn’t have found if she had simply continued down the previous glen. The way led further down, actually opening up below while the top looked more narrow and even closed off, only opening in certain parts to allow sunlight inside. Wonder if the mists come down here too…
The answer would have to wait, Ilea walking deeper into the unknown, the small stream of water flowing down next to her, occasionally reflecting the sun when she passed a crack above her. The terrain led further down before opening up into a big cave, vegetation abundant, the water ending in a small pond hidden behind ferns. The trail was still there, actually growing more pronounced and easy to follow.
Ilea heard chirping sound before a blinding headache nearly brought her to her knees, the pain spreading through her before she shut it off, healing against the damage done to her mind and body. She had never experienced such a pure force of mind magic before, the attack feeling like a combination of Weavy’s and Eve’s abilities. Fine control shattering her mind with the force of a sledgehammer. Carefully surveying the damage done, Ilea simply healed against it, focusing on her mind as she started meditating.
Her second stage deflected a part of the attack back at whoever was doing this and she hoped it would provoke some sort of response. Her healing was stable and she combined with her recovery of both mana and health, she could simply sit there and take it for several hours. And so she did. The attack didn’t subside, first ten minutes, then twenty.
‘ding’ ‘Mental Resistance reaches 2nd lvl 11’
Might as well stay until it’s at level twenty. With such a ridiculously powerful attack that’s gonna take less than a day. The plan didn’t work out though, the mind magic subsiding another five minutes later. She could still heard the chirping and decided to find out what it was. In the grass nearby right outside her Sphere’s previous radius, she found a small yellow chick, chirping happily as it wiggled a worm out of the ground.
Slurping it down, the cute animal looked at her and chirped again, flapping its small arms. “You’re fucking cute.”
Carefully moving her hand forward, she pet the tiny chicken and identified it.
[Mind Flayer – lvl ??]
Ilea continued smiling and lifted the animal up on her hand. “Sorry little guy, I don’t have any bread with me.” Looking into the bird’s eyes, it chirped again before lying down in her hand. The thing was asleep in a couple seconds. “Aren’t you the cutest murder mage. Mind Flayer… are you kidding me.”
She considered an illusion spell like the electric mind magic cat had used to change its appearance but she didn’t feel any magic coming from the chick anymore. Maybe her identify skill was wrong or influenced by something that had actually attacked her but then again why wouldn’t a tiny chicken have an affinity for mind magic?
If there were hundreds of them maybe she’d at least consider making chicken nuggets, simply for the levels but just one of them was just too cute to harm. I’d get fried if there were even five of them attacking me at the same time. Reminded of the miststalkers, she wondered if there were more of these here. She couldn’t find any with her sphere at least. There were some more worms and insects, all of them dead in the area she could see. Using nukes to kill worms.
A mystery, how an animal so small and cute only in need of some worms and water to live had acquired such an insane ability with mind magic. She placed it down on the grass again and let it sleep, the bird likely exhausted from the magic it had exerted before. Next thing is a worm using earth magic to encase and eat me.
The thought wasn’t too far off but with all the beasts she had seen so far the bird was the most surprising, simply because of its small size. With the lacking Mental Resistance most people had, it wasn’t too far off to think a single one of those chicks could’ve wiped out an entire expedition. Or a single blast of that lightning. Not sure if it’s lightning or arcane but my resistances are in the second tier for both.
The open area continued for a while, the vegetation slowly waning as the water source was left behind. With a final twist, the cave led into a wide open space. Ilea’s eyes opened wide when she looked out over the cave walls, light breaking in from a big opening at the top, flowing down like a golden cascade that illuminated parts of the massive structures. Temples, high towers and aqueducts visible before they vanished into the darkness below where no light reached. Cracks, broken off pieces and rubble told her a little about this place’s history.