142 The Nagging Troubles of Survival 3 (2/2)
”Enough, ah.”
An Fei shook her head, patting her cheeks with both hands as she balanced herself on the thick branch that supported her body.
The young girl stretched her limbs with a mighty groan, directing a final glance towards the diminishing rays of sunlight with a frightful yawn.
…and with a short verse spoken in an unintelligible, forbidden language that projected in a form akin to divine bells, the delicate figure that had branded a mark of terror onto the inhabitants of the Wu Ji Forest had vanished without a trace.
Not even the shadow remained behind, though the target in question had long since lost said shadow.
–
”No… redwood would suffice; the material isn't lacking in strength, nor is it easily corroded nor damaged by moisture…”
A young girl murmured to herself as she sat on a floor of sky-blue crystal, her body illuminated by a soft golden radiance that surged from the ground. In her right hand, danced a dry brush, whilst her left shuffled around several sheets of pristine, soft paper.
Unexpectedly, An Fei was not residing within the seventeenth platform within the Archives of Time, where she had usually confided herself in for the past few months.
Instead, the young girl had found herself roaming a platform several levels above, though she remained parading before a row of books as usual.
If it were not for the archaic number engraved onto the wall just outside of the door that granted passage into the platform, An Fei would have assumed that it were the long-accustomed seventeenth Archive.
The design of the platform and bookshelves, the arrangement of furniture and decoration at the center of the platform, and the multi-colored radiance emitting from the row upon row of books, all were the same.
When she had first stepped onto the twenty-third platform, An Fei's initial thought was that the Sanctum was playing a prank on her.
…not that it hadn't already toyed with her emotions by a considerable margin.
The twenty-third platform amongst the Archives of Time, could be described in a single word. The ledger at the base platform described it as such, and the young girl could only agree with wholehearted emotion.
The twenty-third Archive of Time.
.
Put simply, the archive's books contained the foundational aspects of manipulating the base materials of any given environment, before extrapolating them as per the user's intentions.
How to temper materials to ensure increased durability and tactile toughness; how to arrange materials in a specified pattern of construction to achieve a desirable effect or ward off an unforeseen or undesirable consequence; the books that the young girl discovered within the twenty-third platform possessed everything related to the assembly, arrangement, and manipulation of the natural elements of the environment.
Such was the book that was pried open on the ground before An Fei, the large sheets of white, pristine paper with sprawling characters that spelled epochs of innovations and designs that had been developed.
”In a naturally-formed rainforest or environment proliferating with fibrous herbal life, the fundamental aspects of a shelter… must not only accommodate for the regulation of internal temperature, but also the special circumstances of the environment…” the young girl read in a dull tone, her chin propped up with a comfortable pillowcase.
”The rain encountered within a forest endowed with spiritual essence within a mortal realm possesses the natural properties of the world's assembly of… spiritual essence. Thus, immortal existences, unless dispatching a mortal soul, must ensure to prevent the encounter of any rainfall whilst remaining in such environments…”
An Fei couldn't help but reveal a devastated pout whilst skimming the passage, her lips soundlessly emitting a curse.
The young girl knocked herself on the forehead, before reaching out towards the grindstone.
”Accumulated groundwater sources or streams disperse the pooled spiritual essence post-rainfall towards the deeper core of the world. Hence, immortal beings must ensure that following a period of rainfall, consumption of liquid obtained from such sources is to be abstained until a period of two weeks has passed…s”
The young girl neatly placed the brush onto the ground besides the disordered stack of paper, before directing a glum stare towards the book splayed on the crystalline surface.
Without warning, An Fei buried her face into the pillowcase nestled against her bosom, a pitiable groan surfacing from her throat.
”I can't encounter spiritual essence from outside, I can't eat food infused with spiritual essence originating from outside, and I can't even be hit by a single raindrop whilst outside… please let me leave this – wu – forest already, ah!”