60 Inception of a Technique Part 4 (1/2)
The cave they entered was narrow with only enough room for two people to walk shoulder to shoulder. Of course, the garish armor party could barely walk single file. It seemed that the stream of water had dug this path, changing a small crack into a hallway.
John was following at the back of the party. Due to the large size of their armor, he couldn't see ahead at all. The cave passage seemed to go on for miles. As they continued deeper and deeper, the air started to become unbearably humid. After a few hours, they finally reached an opening in the cave.
As they exited, John sucked in a cold breath. It was like they'd just entered another world. The cave ceiling was covered with yang stone creating a greenhouse effect. Even better, the sun never fell, allowing plants to thrive. From the entrance, one could see that this wasn't the only stream that poured out into this cavern.
But the most surprising sight was the endless red guts covering the floor. The Forlorn Mucus Fungus had long infested this place. He was already dreading walking through this slimy goop. ”Did you guys truly trudge through this?” John asked in disgust.
”Of course not we flew over,” the woman with a bird on her chest replied as if it was obvious.
John made a sour face. Even though they were powerful, they weren't strong enough to defy gravity. If they had been, they wouldn't have trudged all this way just for him. Which means they all had some external device powered by inscriptions and spirit stones. But how could he have such an extravagant item? He was lucky to have spare spirit stones, let alone a personal vehicle for eating them up.
Falcon saw Johns perturbed face and laughed, ”Don't worry, friend. I prepared a side seat for you on my vehicle.” He then releases the vehicle from his interspatial ring. It's a fancy rocketed shape vehicle with a sun emblem and flames along the side. A box was tied to the side with rope for John to ride in.
”Thanks,” John curses.
”Don't worry, it wasn't a problem!” Falcon said while patting John's shoulder.
As they fly over the endless sea of guts and slime, John clings to his box as it shakes and shifts precariously. If he falls at this speed and height, it'd be quite dangerous. John couldn't help but imagine his mangled body covered in slime below. 'I should have left that invitation to be fertilizer,' John cried to himself.
After flying half a day, the ground had begun to change. John sighed in relief; they could Finally go back to walking. But to his dismay, they continued on. He looked down at the ground and frowned. The wind from the five vehicles was causing the plants down below to shake, and if he wasn't mistaken a dusting of neon green was floating out. ”Isn't that Welting Snile fern?”
Falcon glanced down and then shrugged. ”Looks like it,” he replied.
”Yeah isn't this bad?” John complained.
”Why?” Falcon asked quizzically.
”The poison,” John reminds.
”It's not that bad just ignore it,” Falcon dismissed.
”No, it's deadly. I'm sure of it,” John explained with haste as below was starting to become a neon green dust storm.
”We didn't have any problems before,” Falcon
John points at himself in frustration, ”I'll have a problem!”
Falcon looked over at John and said, ”We'll just fly faster and get away then!”
”No, that's,” John started to protest but was cut off by the speed doubling. ”That's not how this works,” John cried, but it was too late, and his voice was left far behind them.
Behind them a massive green cloud formed turning this underground world into a neon one. As they continued to speed away, it seemed like a flock of dragons was chasing after them consuming everything in their wake. John was holding his breath as he looked at the massive death cloud behind him.
”Hey, we're going to land!” Falcon calls.
John turned around in shock. 'You caused this death dust storm, and now you're going to stop. If you want to kill me just smack me damn it!' he cursed.
Ahead of them was a large lake covered in Waterwheel Spine divine plants, creating a no-fly zone. They landed next to the lake and left their crafts. The impending doom cloud coming from behind made John slouch in depression.
”It's just a weak poison stop making such a fuss,” The man with the oversized armor chastised.
Falcon flashed his bright smile and slammed the man with oversized armor on the back. ”A few more hours won't hurt just throw up a shield, and we'll wait out the poison,” Falcon negotiated.
”Seriously Falcon this plan of yours is getting ridiculous,” The oversized man complained.
One of the other men gruffly retorted, ”What's getting ridiculous is you complaining. If you don't want to explore the tomb, just go home.”
”Fine!” The oversized man said and through up a domed shield around them.
Finally, John could relax. Everyone stored their flying vehicles back into their interspatial rings. They then settled down to wait out the poison.
”It's time to show your worth,” the woman with the bird on her chest said to John.
John shook his head. ”I don't know what you're expecting, but I'll do my part,” John acknowledges.
Falcon gestured to the lake ahead and said, ”First we need to get past this death trap. It's impossible to fly over as you might imagine.”
John shrugs and looks over. ”As you already know they attack whatever passes over them so staying low to the water would be best. As long as you avoid the mature Waterwheel Spine's, there shouldn't be a problem to pass through,” John explained.
”You don't think we thought of that already?” the oversized man snapped.
The woman with a bird on her chest nodded, ”We've attempted to fly over them, under them, and even just hacking our way through. Every time we lost a few people. If we weren't desperate for a new solution, we wouldn't have set up such a huge and expensive event.”
Falcon added, ”The water is too pure containing too much of its original essence. If it wasn't so dangerous just this would be worth the trip here. But for us, it is just a hindrance.”
John rubs his head as he racked his brain. 'The Waterwheel Spine needs water so if we could drain the lake… No it's too big. Digging around might work, but that would take significant manpower and time which they clearly want to avoid,' he contemplates. ”Hmm, perhaps…” John mumbles.
Falcon looked at John with anticipation and asked, ”You thought of something?”
”Perhaps, could you collect a few living specimens?” John inquires.
”Sure, just getting a few isn't a problem,” Falcon responded.
The four that weren't holding up the shield went and collected a few of the plants. ”Alright hold one above the other and repeat the demonstration from back at the banquet,” John ordered.
Falcon nodded and prepared to defend his hand. However, the lower plant did not attack due to having a fellow of its kind in between. ”I see they won't attack each other! We could collect them as a shield,” Falcon said excitedly.
John shook his head and lectured, ”It's not that they won't attack each other per se. It's just that they attack based on the energy produced by the thing above them. The goal isn't to collect them and use them as a shield because there could be an opening or some may die along the journey. Then the defense would be gone. We must mimic the energy they produce.”
The woman with the bird on her chest responds, ”That makes sense it's not like they have eyes so how else could they decide friend from foe.”
”Mimicking energy isn't a simple task though,” one of the other exhibition members reminded.
”The only other paths require manpower or ridiculous martial power. If you were willing to do either I wouldn't be here,” John contended.
”We're stuck here until the poison dissipates so we might as well give it a try,” Falcon encouraged.
After half a day, they managed to get the gist of creating a ball of energy that mimicked the plant's internal balance. It was easier than expected since it was a plant that relied so much on aqua energy. Most animals and even plants have a far more complex energy signature.
With the poison gone, they continued on their way flying over the deadly lake. John clutched on to Falcon's vehicle with all his might not wishing to fall and be skewered. After five days the number of Waterwheel Spines dissipated. Steam rose up in front of them becoming thicker and thicker. The denser the steam, the less Waterwheel Spines grew until there were none left.