Sister Quan said no.
Then she put a blanket ban on ALL explosions for at LEAST two more weeks.
Which was really unfair. Explosions are like... super useful.
Like, not really recently, but... there were probably a LOT of times when a good bang was really, REALLY helpful.
Anyway, Adam was slowly getting the job done the slow, boring way.
Absorb material near Rockette in the direction away from most lava. Let the liquid push her forward. Repeat.
Sure, she was sinking further and further below ground. And yes, now the 'vision' displayed on the top floor was generated using spiritual sensing rather than just capturing the visual spectrum.
But Adam didn't need to burn up, progress was being made, and technically Rockette was well hidden... Like, SURE it was safe, but damn it, SO. SLOW.
So when they were far enough away to only char the outer layer of his skin, he stripped nude, launched his body outside, and hurled into the distance while his body radiated ever increasing heat.
It was only a few hours later, once he was safely away from the heat... when one of the guards mentioned that he COULD have worn clothing with his personal flames protecting them.
Which was a bit embarrassing.
He was just so used to the idea that being covered in fire would result in charred clothing, odd smells...
Anyway, now he was only traveling in constant shadow from the ash clouds rather than fleeing at high speed while resisting combustion. That was a VAST improvement!
He now wore some basic black robes with a hood, his body enhanced with Qi, and every step forcing his speed to nearly float over the terrain.
Each step heavily dropped the temperature... heat 'immune' or not, it felt great getting away from the now never ending fire storm. He unconsciously shifted more to the left as he ran.
He hummed. "This... this is far less annoying than riding that wagon. Why didn't we do this before?"
Sister Quan's voice echoed from Rockette on his shoulder. "Well, for one thing we had a lot of stuff to bring with us. Even if you ignored all the things in the storage rings, the Wagon had supplies for a camp to be established."
His Martial Spirit 'Dinged' again. Little Tianshi sounded happy to watch the trip from in there. "Everyone else had to sleep and stuff in the wagon between guard shifts. Not everyone can just run for days like you, Master."
Humph. Wimps. "They need to improve their constitution then."
One of the guards grumbled loud enough for the crystal to hear it. "WE could run that long, but not those we were guarding. And again, tons of stuff to carry at the same time too."
Adam chuckled. "Yeah yeah. Fight for ten days and live without water, yadda yadda."
The lead guard chuckled, her voice soft. "Well, aside from the contribution points spent on all those storage rings..." No clue how much he had spent, but it was a lot. "Well, if we literally carried you three, the wagon, AND the bulls... would it even be a journey?"
Sister Quan's voice was dry. "The epic tale of the Burning Sage and his gentle shoulder ride towards destiny."
One of the few male guards. "His vigilant trip into the unknown while being burped because he was a big boy and ate a large meal."
Tianshi was giggling, but another guard jumped in. "I'd find all this more funny if he wasn't so accidentally competent that we ended up being spectators for most of this whole trip."
Adam sniffed with arrogance. "I'll have you know that I knew exactly what I was doing easily 10% of the time."
Not really, he knew he tended to get distracted... but it got little Tianshi to break into loud laughter, so whatever.
The crowd would come and go, the travel speed was faster and less annoying than the wagon... but eventually the rest went to sleep as Adam just... kept going. Slightly that way now.
He could go back and take a nap inside Rockette... but it was nice out here. Almost three months stuck in one area makes all this freedom so tempting... sleeping, even in the comfortable beds provided in the caves, could wait.
His steps were smooth as he spread his domain up through the ash cover. The air up there was still tainted with energies from the distant volcano... how lovely.
...Wait, where the hell was he heading?
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam made breakfast for everyone and waited until they all had something on their plates. "So we are lost."
Sister Quan paused. "Huh."
He nodded. "Yep. Rockette floated in lava for a while, then I ran a long way with no guidelines or stars or whatever."
Wait. "Hang on, is it possible to determine direction via star guidance?"
A few guards blinked before the leader patted her mouth clean. "No, not really. There are a some tools we have that always point back to our Sect, and some locations have items that are connected to them... but the stars can shift patterns in odd ways."
Damn. Probably because 'orbiting' doesn't really work with a never ending plane for humanity. Not even sure that stars are actually massive orbs of flaming gas here either.
...Then again, he had felt... SOME sort of pull. Not a true calling, more an unconscious adjustment, as if the ground was ever so subtly shifted or tilted towards one direction or the other.
Adam sighed. "Well, we are somewhere. There is still cloud cover so I can't easily tell what time it is without using my Domain to peek through the stuff, and we are too far from any town for me to detect people."
The lead guard nodded. "We can use our Sect compasses, do some calculations, and we will know at least how far away we are from home. Then we can look at the maps, draw a circle that large, and... well, it would help make our guesses less worthless."
Adam blinked. "That seems... nearly not worth the effort."
She shrugged. "You can detect things miles away. The more complicated methods are really really annoying, I would rather have you head in a straight line until you detect a town or city and we can ask directions."
One of her guards chuckled. "Especially since we can all relax safely until we find someone."
Her gaze turned toward her subordinate, who swiftly went silent. "Meanwhile young Sage, I can use the time spent searching to put my people through some... remedial training."
Several of them gulped.
Adam chuckled. "Well, I guess exploring unknown lands comes with the job."
Sister Quan sniffed. "No, normally exploring unknown lands comes with being lost."
Meh, same thing.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Hours later, and he was sure.
There was something that pulled his attention. Out there, now slightly in that direction.
It was soft. Not a person, or some sort of Simmy designed draw, or even some strange spell or energy or technique... No.
There was just something... home like. Familiar.
His thoughts drifted as he ran.
It was... not like the Burning Sect or the Realms he visited in the past. This was more a new home, like a place he had just moved into but hadn't had time to unpack.
And the source was a kind of resonance in his skin. A song that was too soft, or a touch that didn't quite reach.
It was his tattoos.
They still pulsed with silver and black patterns, though the beat had grown very, very slow. It was mostly not noticeable to others, a sort of movement almost outside of view that made them glance back at his patterns every once in a while.
But these complex shapes had been growing in conceptual power as they constantly consumed the poisons, toxins, hatred, curses, and tainted energies being spewed by the Asura Stone spinning inside Rockette's secluded chamber.
They were true curse marks at this point. If not for Adam constantly forcing his Cultivation Cells to adapt and grow through contact and conflict with those dark energies, his flesh would have melted away weeks ago.
And now, something in those curse marks were being called 'home'.
...How interesting.
Adam's traveling pace was unstoppable, as he crossed rivers, leapt over ravines, and flew up mountain sides only to dash down on the other expanse.
Was he worried? About that unknown call, that distant hum?
No, not really.
The curse tattoos were not all evil or anything after all. Full of resentment, hate, and rage generated from godlike beings that slaughtered each other endlessly, sure... but the power itself?
In much the same way that Life is not pure generosity or goodness, Death is not pure selfishness nor rampant hatred. They were connected, a process, a cycle.
Poison, while bad for those attacked and utilized by those attacking, also protected.
Nature was full of fragile animals and plants that could only survive by killing those who would prey on them, giving up their own life so that their children and fellow species could, through elimination if nothing else, live longer and with less danger.
Deadly creatures that made themselves bright, attractive, obvious... a desperate attempt to say, 'Notice me! And then leave me be or perish.'
Not done deliberately, at least not back on earth. Here? Cultivation and concepts allowed people, plants, and materials to develop towards ideal goals. To alter themselves on a fundamental level.
He blinked as he dove beneath a branch.
Didn't that mean that delicious things became that way because they desired to be tasty?
...Did food here actually have a vore fetish?
Damn it, this is why thinking was bad. Now he had to worry that his pancakes had an odd sexual attraction to the 'most important meal of the day'.
Like... crap. If he was wrong, then who cared, but what if he was right?
Damn, and he couldn't talk to anyone about this because either everyone already knew and were fine with it, or they DIDN'T know and he would give them a sudden, life long, unavoidable mental trauma.
Right.
From now on, ALL food was coming from Rockette's Soil Grid farms. In fact, forget cultivation, THIS would be his focus. He had already been worried about his cabbage screaming or something when he had a sandwich, he didn't need a horny cucumber trying to tease him into making pickles.
More left now. He had to dodge... some sort of snake? Well, it was gone now, Adam had a good pace going and wasn't willing to stop for every Spirit Beast that tried to eat him.
...That would make HIM the fetish fruit in this scenario, right? But he didn't want to be eaten by random monsters or anything.
But... did the monsters KNOW that? Were they only attacking because they assumed humans desired to be eaten, since all vegetables did?
...No, probably not.
Adam stopped mid step, staring into the distance.
What. The. Hell. Was. He. Thinking?
Right, he had been running for like three days now. Or longer.
With a solid nod, he had Ghost Rockette consume his body as she dug herself a soft spot underground, a safe place to spend the night.
It was WAY beyond time for a good nap.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan blinked. "Adam?"
He was being cleaned by random blue flames, his left eye a dull ember, his black tattoo slowly pulsing over his pale, ghost like skin. "Oh. Hi." He nodded. "I sleep now."
She... moved out of his way. "Everything alright? We noticed you seemed to be... very focused."
The boy staggered slightly as he moved to his room. "Cursed Tattoos are guiding me. Should be fun. Also, don't eat food anymore." His body shuddered. "Don't ask why."
Well... that was concerning. "Are... Are you alright?"
Adam was... clearly out of it. "No, sleepy. Also, having strange thoughts about perverted veggies." He blinked. "You didn't hear that." A nod. "Now sleep."
She watched him wander away. Right.
Sister Quan turned to the concerned guards. "We need to let him sleep this off. I don't think he was actually eating or sleeping all this time..." Did he even take water stops?
The lead guard frowned. "I assumed he was taking short breaks during the other shifts... I will ensure his habits are tracked in the future."
She gave the armored woman a smile. "Thank you, that would make me feel far less worried."
A quick clap. "Well, it is technically time to start making breakfast. Someone will make sure little Tianshi doesn't wake him up?" Another nod. "Good, I don't want him getting out of bed until he sounds slightly less insane and paranoid."
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked.
Right, sleep was important.
His body was technically healthy, and theoretically sleep was optional... but clearly sleep still did SOMETHING useful, as he felt far less dull and bleary.
He wasn't even entirely sure what he had been thinking towards the end, all he had were some notes scribbled near his bed: "Don't trust the tomatoes" and "All pickles are perverts".
The messages were written horribly, like a drunk guy was trying to warn society about aliens but passed out half way through... only 'Research' made it legible.
Side note, 'Research' had presented some results that... he didn't really remember asking it.
Both a detailed plan about how to raise animals without encouraging sexual deviance (What?) and a list of what seasonings would be most useful to produce here in the caverns.
...Well, at least half that was useful. Not that he spent a lot of time thinking about the sexual freedom of animals normally, but why should he care about the emotional or physical preferences when it came to lunch meats?
Uh. Best not to think about it.
He blinked as he exited his crystal bedroom, the sunlight catching him off guard. Around... noon? Maybe early afternoon? Huh.
Sister Quan looked at him with a... slightly worried smile. "Morning! Do you feel better now?"
Adam blinked. "Uh... yes?" He stretched a bit. "Something about being outside, free to run, and feeling that distant pull... it really put me in the zone."
One of the guards finishing her lunch looked up. "Pull?"
Adam accepted a plate of food, some absent thought trying to get his attention as he began to eat. "Mmm. Yeah, The poison and stuff in my tattoos has been looking for something." Another bite, but he pointed to the... whatever direction that was.
Did the sun rise in the East? Like, it didn't actually orbit, but did society all agree which direction the sun should travel?
A cough made him refocus. Right, the pull thing. "Should be fine as long as everyone stays inside Rockette, but there is certainly something over there that is calling the Asura Stone's energies."
Sister Quan sighed. "The same stone that created an underground pit of zombies and poison?"
He pointed again with a grin! "Exactly! Should be interesting."
A couple of the guards exchanged glances. "Sir, do you think the area pulling you is also poisonous?"
He blinked. "Probably?" Well... "Now that I think about it, maybe not. My tattoos are full of curses, rage, depression..." Seeing their expressions, he coughed. "But yeah, probably the area will be poisonous. Yep."
The lead guard hummed. "Well there are only a few places near the Ash Forest considered famous for poison. Death Rose Valley, which is closest to the mission site. Corpse Bog, a fairly famous swamp. The Twisted Mountain, though if THAT is where we are going, it will be a long trip..."
Another guard grumbled. "I heard the Miasma Glade killed a few people recently, so it may be acting up again. And there are a few graveyards and battlegrounds that are constantly full of undead, but I doubt any of them are significant enough to call the Young Sage over any sort of distance."
Sister Quan sighed as everyone began to finish their meals. "Which of them are most unlikely to be useful or interesting?"
The female guard chuckled. "Probably Corpse Bog or Miasma Glade. Though I don't know what could have made the Glade to begin killing again."
She sighed as she moved even MORE food onto a surprised Adam's plate. "Then we are probably heading to one of those. Have any details?"
One of the other guards glaced at the leader who nodded, and spoke. "The Bog is just a huge swamp. Few trees, a few bushes, but mostly a gray moss and murky water. All kinds of snakes and submerged Spirit Beasts, the moss itself has dangerous spores, the water is... not healthy. The dead tend to rise fairly easily there."
She continued. "As for the Miasma Glade, it is a bit more mysterious. A small shrine to an unknown god, and a purple mist that fills the area. Touch it and it has different effects, depending on the person and the time of day."
Another guard chimed in. "Heard about it from a Sect member. Early in the day it simply confuses and redirects people to be lost in the area. The Mist acts like a mild sedative and causes many unprepared people to fall asleep near the shrine. Don't live long after that."
The original guard frowned at her. "Yes, but the other effects are worse. Flesh rotting, incoherent rage and self mutilation, corrupted energy infusion... And worse, new effects can happen at any time."
She glanced back at Sister Quan and Adam. "As for the temple, no one who planned on opening it has managed to return. The one witness who avoided entering himself went mad, refused food and water, and eventually died screaming."
The woman pointed at Adam. "If we are going there, NO ONE ELSE can go outside."
Sister Quan jerked. "I should say not! That sounds horribly dangerous!"
Most of the guards snorted. The Lead actually chuckled. "If it is the Young Sage, he'll be fine."
Adam quickly finished his second portion before a quarrel could start. "WELP! Best get back to running!"
His female Sect friend blinked. "Wait, we aren't finished talking about..."
RUN AWAY!
