Chapter 132 Blueprints Aplenty (1/2)
CHAPTER 132
BLUEPRINTS APLENTY
Felix and Lino hadn't ran into anyone else for the following three days. Following Felix's short outburst, Lino would now occasionally come to a halt when they ran across something interesting and give Felix some time to explore. Meanwhile, Lino himself wound find a quaint spot and lie down, taking a quick nap to recharge his batteries.
The days were quite uneventful, but Felix didn't really mind. When he wasn't trying to understand various structures of the ruins, he was attempting to follow his Master's advice over how he can better utilize his best Martial Art [Frozen Crescendo]. Hollowing out the initial parts and giving them just enough mass to carry on the momentum sounded easy enough, but it required him to pretty much re-write the way he used Qi through pathways in order to utilize it properly.
He didn't mind, however, as he found it quite fun; up until now, he mostly just followed the instructions within the Arts blindly, never having an idea of changing them. It was also now that he finally understood what his father meant when he would tell him to 'make the whole Art his own'. The reason why his father could use [Frozen Crescendo] so easily was due to enormous Qi reserves, something Felix simply lacked - not only because of lower Realm, but also differences in fighting styles.
His father was a headstrong type of a man, and it reflected in the way he fought; if he could he'd used the simplest and most effective method over anything else - simply overwhelming the other side with sheer quantity. Felix, on the other hand, was much more of a flexible type; he preferred darting around and firing only when he couldn't be retaliated against, leading to his Qi pathways being considerably thinner than his father's, but his general control of Qi actually surpassing his father's.
Lino didn't meddle any further into Felix's Art after the initial assessment; it was something Felix had to do himself, as it was Art meant to correspond with who he was. Lino himself was trying to figure out how the whole mess of the ruins would play out. So far, he was aware that at least three big players entered - Divine Dynasty, Damian and his forces, as well as Major Ava - most-likely as a representative of her Clan.
He was fairly certain there were at least few other forces, and even more individuals altogether, which made it quite a headache when trying to plan ahead. There was also the case of Eggor and Ella - the very reason he rushed over so quickly. If they were still here, Lino wagered they were someplace toward the center rather than anywhere else. He wasn't really worried about their safety; to say nothing of Ella who has probably gotten much stronger over the past ten years, there was also that old bastard and his items. Those were not something cultivators of Western hemisphere could contend against...
”Woof!” a familiar bark jolted him back from his thoughts; he casually glanced to his left and saw a rather rugged-looking husky with beautiful, silver eyes wagging his tail and tongue at him. Though Lino reacted nonchalantly, Felix was shocked immensely. How did this dog get here?!! He wasn't with us since that inn!!
”Eh? You found something?” Lino arched his brows, growing intrigued.
”E-eh?! Master, you knew dog was here?!”
”... huh?” Lino looked at Felix with slight confusion. ”He was with us the whole time... he left when you sat down to explore a bit.”
”... what?”
”What?”
”What do you mean he was with us the whole time?! I didn't see him!! Once!!” Felix cried out. He was completely assured his Master was playing a prank on him and he wasn't willing to have any of it anymore.
”... eh? You really didn't see him?” Lino asked, feeling even more incredulous at the moment. ”Don't... don't tell me your Divine Sense is so weak that this dog can evade it? I mean... the bastard's got some talent in being stealthy... but... still...”
”... just tell me the truth Master.” Felix said. ”I can handle it.”
”But I am telling you the truth...”
”... fine.” Felix gnashed his teeth angrily. ”Play your pranks. See if I care!!”
”... but you really look like you care...”
”I don't care!! I don't!”
”...” Lino cast another glance at Felix who seemed on the verge of crying and shook his head, thinking how this lad was really quick to tears. He slowly got up and left Felix to that random column they ran across and decided to follow the dog. ”What'd you find?” he asked.
”Woof, wo-wo-WOOOF--woff!” a whole stream of barks came out, alongside river of spit. Luckily, the dog wasn't turned toward Lino.
”Blueprints?” Lino was even more intrigued now. ”Interesting... good find, Basketcase.”
”Woof woof!”
”What do you mean that's not your name? What's your name then?!”
”... w--woof... woof?”
”You can't remember? Whatever. We'll just stick to Nonsense then.”
”Woof! Woof!”
”Fine, fine, I'll call you Non then. What does that even mean...”
”Woof~~”
Non led Lino through the numerous winding roads, blocked off with towering boulders and hills, before finally coming to a halt in front of a narrow entrance leading into the ground itself. Lino quickly scanned it with Divine Sense and found no trace of life inside. Non was the first to enter, followed shortly after by Lino.
Though narrow, Lino was able to wiggle himself through with a bit of effort, finally landing into a spacious room after a few minutes. As there was no source of light, he took out a torch from the void world and lit it up; he couldn't help but sigh, feeling how cruel it was that he couldn't externalize his Qi... even to just shine some light.
The room was actually perfectly squared, with only a few dents in the walls ruining the symmetrical perfection. It comprised of only a bed, a couple of tables and chairs as well as a shelf in the corner. Ignoring everything else, Lino casually walked over to one of the tables that had several sheets of papers spread about. Non himself walked over and leapt onto the bed, snoring sounds filling the room shortly after.
Lino examined the first paper in great detail; the sketches depicted a sort of strange device, with two wheels at sides attached to a massive log of wood - shaped sort of like a battering ram. The wheels were attached slightly before one end of the log, with the other end flattened with the floor. Additional components were sketched out at the sides, some depicting chair-like structures and one even depicting a massive, thigh-thick cannon made of alloyed, mithril-cast steel.
”... eh?” Lino exclaimed softly, confused. ”What the fuck's this supposed to be?” he put the paper into the void world. No matter what it was, it was still a good reference material of nothing else. Moving onto the second blueprint, this one was much easier to understand - it was a shield. However, it was by no means a simple sort of shield.