Cultivation System: Elder Edition

Chapter 396

A Vow (IX)

We were just about fifteen minutes or so, per my internal math, away from the exit when Long Tao broke off from the group and made his way over toward me. Others, once again understanding their 'assignment', hurried off further away from us so as to give us space.

"You can always talk into my head," I said.

"Where's the fun in that?" he said. "It's here, Master." He stopped rather abruptly and pointed at the wall left of us. It seemed no different than any other, with perhaps an above-average concentration of weird, hard lumps the size of eye sockets.

"Yes, the wall is here. Good job, Tao'er."

"... the core."

"The what?"

"The Spirit Mine Core. It's beyond this wall. Did you forget?"

"... no, of course not," shit. I actually really did forget. What the hell?! I completely and utterly forgot about the quest!

"Aha, right." It's clear he didn't believe me but, thankfully, whizzed past it without lingering. "What should we do?"

"... will this work?" I procured the Word that Rayce made and handed it over. Seeing as the core wasn't 'coming out' to greet me, it's unlikely it sees us as saviors and probably just wants us to go away.

"Fascinating," he said. "But, unfortunately, no. While immensely powerful, Word is still a transient property; it would be like building a cage out of sand and living through a wet season with it."

"Hm," well, that's... not what I expected. Taking the little parchment back, I put it away and noted to give it back to Rayce once we get out since he'll know when it's best to use it. "Well."

"Hm. Yes."

"Let's go meet it."

"... huh?"

"The core," who knows? Maybe it does see us as saviors, but it's either too shy or it can't move on its own or it's just too stupid to know how. "Let's go meet it."

"..." he blared at me like a goat, and I did indeed immediately realize I probably said something monumentally stupid. But I'd be damned if I retreat now.

Yikes.

I sound fourteen.

"You don't think we should?"

"... no, no. I actually kind of want to see this," he said, shaking his head rather comically as though to disperse the thoughts. "Let's go meet... pfft... the Core."

... alright, I'm missing something. It's not just that what I'm about to do is stupid, it's that he finds it funny. Long Tao doesn't find things funny. He has no sense of humor beyond basking in one-upping others or feeling superior about things.

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He grabbed forward with his arm as the dirt and stone in front of us began to disintegrate, opening up a tunnel that was perfectly sized for him but just short enough that I had to bend a bit.

"It would collapse if it were any higher." I just know he's lying, but trying to bicker with him was... well, whatever. Have fun, you old bastard.

We walked for about four or five minutes in complete darkness as he continued to turn the stone into ash and dust, yet did not have it pile up everywhere somehow, before he came to an abrupt stop. I picked up on why immediately--the rather loose smatterings of Qi seemed to converge into a singular point just beyond the 'wall'. It was dense. Scarily dense, truthfully.

"Feel like meeting it, Master?" he asked, and though it was dark and I wasn't using Qi to see, I could still hear him sneering.

"Why not?" I'm a stubborn old oak, apparently.

"Very well," he seemed to shrug and disintegrate the last bit of the wall.

The flashbang was blinding, but I was prepared, having already coated my eyes with Qi to save them. On the other side was... well, it was something. An entropic web of lights spun like threads, flickering and vibrating like strings of a guitar repeatedly. They seemed to be made of flesh, almost, with a silver hue coating their surfaces and breakaway pieces jutting out like tearaways.

Honestly, it looked as though I walked into one of those videos that breaks down a human body down to its individual connections or that breaks down the brain into neural pathways. And, at the very heart of it, coated in a prismatic shell, was a... something.

It was like an array of bulbous-shaped bundles of gas, writhing out and then back in. Here and there, it would bounce against the shell and contract like one of those plants that would retreat if you poked them.

Through the threadings, which more and more resembled veins and arteries, I could see 'something' undulate occasionally, and they all connected back to the shell itself. The latter would expand like lungs in a rather steady pattern, taking in whatever those veins were bringing and 'transferring' it to the bundle of gas before settling back.

Standing even at the very edge was impressively difficult; though there was no wind, I felt shearing against my face and clothes, with the robes fluttering backward rather violently.

"What do you think, Master? Can you befriend this one?" Long Tao had to shout despite standing right by my side, and I could still barely hear him.

Can I befriend it?

Yeah, no.

This isn't just a core--this is an entire organism that would likely die if I simply 'took the core'. I assume I could probably use the core alone to 'plant' it someplace and create a new Spirit Mine, but... I don't doubt for a second I'd have to kill whatever sentience managed to develop here.

"No," I said--well, shouted. "It's existing happily on its own, so let's just leave it be." 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Just as I was about to turn around and leave, a window appeared in front of me.

[--Eternity says that it can take Core within itself and keep it as-is and growing]

[Would you like for Eternity to interfere?]

[Cost: 8,000 CP initially; 10,000 CP upkeep on an annual basis. You may retrieve Core at any time to create a permanent Spirit Mine Seed]

... huh.

Where is it? Ah! That rather inconspicuous-seeming spider dangling off one of the 'veins'. I mean, 8,000 was steep, but 10,000 annually hardly scared me, to be honest. In a year's time, I'll either be dead or swimming in points, I have a feeling. But giving up half my current reserves--no, what the hell am I saying? It's worth it just to see Long Tao's flabbergasted expression.

"On second thought," I said just loud enough for him to hear me as I confirmed with Eternity. "Why not take the fella with us?"

"Huh?"

I have no clue what Eternity did, but... well, it certainly was well beyond what even Long Tao seemed to think possible. The entire living organism was there one second and the next... it just wasn't. The spider was gone, too, though the single strand of red hair in Long Tao's hair wasn't any more 'stealthy', to be fair.

"..." Long Tao stared at me, his expression... well, there wasn't any. He was just blankly staring at me for about a minute before words slipped past his lips. "What--no, never mind. I will pretend it never happened, and we shall never speak of it again. Let us return." Wow.

Denial? Finally, Long Tao I can relate to!