Chapter 1637 (2/2)

Seeker Thunder Wing shook his head again. “We cannot know when the other Pinnacle Seekers will make it to the final area, so we delay. Six and a half more minutes; I won’t risk waiting any longer than that.”

Seeker Ozaer nodded and the group waited for exactly six and a half minutes at the edges of the spatial wall. Occasionally, Randidly pressed his hand up against the spatial wall and peered into the next area, but truly, the size and complexity of the space meant that he couldn’t sense anything definitive. He lowered his hand from the spatial wall with a frown. Some things could only be explored the old fashioned way.

Meanwhile, the lessor Pinnacle Seekers seemed to crowd more tightly around Claudette. They finally seemed to acknowledged the approaching battle and reacted by engaging in their meaningless drivel with more conviction. Luckily, their reprieve didn’t last forever; soon it was time to move into the next area.

This time Seeker Ozaer led the way with Seeker Thunder Wing and his stuck-up six subordinates following. Unwilling to be left behind with Claudette and her groupies, Randidly brought his four along into the new area; he didn’t mind leaving Lay’mel and Kerwin with Claudette. The now-familiar wrenching seized them and suddenly they were in an entirely new location.

The first pleasant surprise was that this new place wasn’t wet. In fact, the first thing Randidly did was spread his toes with relish and allow the small crevices of his feet to dry out. For a few seconds, the heat was relaxing, comforting even. But as the heat continued to build, Randidly’s expression quickly became serious.

The air only five meters in front of the spatial wall was warping and twisting from the heat, making it difficult to see any further. Those distortions only became more violent the further out Randidly looked until he could barely observe anything at a distance of fifty meters. What he could make out indicated that they were standing on a low slope at the edge of the desert.

The sand beneath Randidly’s toes was large-grained and brittle, baked by the overwhelming heat into a tasteless crust. After standing for only a short while, Randidly wiped the sweat from his forehead. He could feel perspiration forming on the back of his neck.

But what was interesting about this place was that the heat of the desert didn’t come from natural means; the constant friction of the rapidly flowing layers of Aether and Nether was the main source of the temperature. To make matters worse, the constant flows seemed to be happening every meter or so, creating a regular series of barriers that needed to be overcome in order to proceed deeper into the isolated space.

The isolated islands of the outer spaces was done here in the core, in miniature.

Seeker Ozaer was looking around with a frown when Randidly arrived. Seeker Thunder Wing had his hands on his hips and was peering forward; about thirty meters ahead of them was a group of vague blotches that were probably the Engraving Guild contingent. Randidly gestured for his subordinates to remain still and took a few steps forward, toward the nearest layering flow of energies. He reached out and ran his finger along the boundary, observing the way a ripple spread outward from his touch and spread to the surrounding flows.

They were standing in an interconnected energy lattice of some sort. Randidly narrowed his eyes, but the complex interactions of energy made it difficult to see the shape of the lattice in the same way it was difficult to see what was physically present around him. Heat distortions masked everything. He reached out with Left Hand of the Nether Oracle and Aether Manipulation to see how resilient the pattern was. After about thirty seconds, Randidly could only shake his head slightly.

Taking the barriers apart on a small scale was possible, but that was just as effective as scooping out a portion of a creek: more would eventually flow to fill the gap. And based on the density of both energies, the engines that created them wouldn’t run out of energy anytime soon.

Randidly opened his mouth to say something when Seeker Ozaer shrugged and then began to walk forward. As she encountered the first barrier, a small cloud formed an arch in front of her and forcibly pushed back the barrier to create an opening. Spark careened in every direction as flowing energy skidded off the image, but the image didn’t waver in the least underneath the onslaught.

Randidly’s mouth twitched as Seeker Thunder Wing calmly followed after Seeker Ozaer. Well, that is certainly one way to proceed forward…

The Pinnacle Seekers arrived behind Randidly’s group, so he waved his hands and brought his subordinates forward through the cloud arch. Seeker Thunder Wing looked back toward the new arrivals with a heavy expression. “Alright, get in formation. Your previous behavior stops now. Those who cannot find it in themselves to continue… feel free to remain here and die slowly.”

Instantly, the other Pinnacle Seekers went silent.

But Randidly was mildly surprised to see that none of the fawning Seekers, for all their previously playful attitudes, balked at Seeker Thunder Wings words. Their expressions turned serious and they packed together closely behind Randidly and his group, following through the cloud arches. The whole of the Pinnacle Seekers group proceeded forward at only a walking pace, moving forward and to the right. When the final individual in their group proceeded through the layered energy barrier, Seeker Ozaer’s cloud image vanished.

And due to the fact that the last individual in their train yelped from time to time at a premature closure, Randidly suspected that this wasn’t as easy a process as Seeker Ozaer made it appear.

Again, Randidly wasn’t willing to lose a chance for additional practice. So he reached out about ten meters into the surroundings and began to manipulate the flows. He tried tying them up and redirecting them. He tried reversing them to break the pattern. He also tried weaving two different flows against each other.

None of his attempts had any lasting effect. He could break the pattern, but the continued supply of energy would eventually wash his changes away. But that didn’t mean the attempts weren’t valuable.

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Herald (M) has grown to Level 266

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Manipulation has grown to Level 261!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Herald (M) has grown to Level 269!

The Pinnacle Seekers didn’t speak of it, but there seemed to be an implicit agreement between them not to follow directly after the group from the Engraving Guild. They continued up the mysterious slope while moving laterally. After about ten minutes of walking, the slope grew steeper and their lateral vector increased so they were going as to the right as they were going upward. It only took five minutes of this new track before Randidly could make out the shape of another group.

Seeker Thunder Wing turned around, perhaps sensing it as Randidly stiffened. He smiled wickedly. “Don’t worry. Those are ours. After we meet up, it’s time to stop sneaking around. Let’s go bag us a Nether King.”