The idle conversation at the table was interrupted by Adam's stunned voice. "Wow."
Everyone was currently eating lunch, but looked up at... well nothing really, as this third level didn't have an observation window.
Sister Quan wiped her mouth. "What is it, Adam?"
He seemed... distracted? "I... well, I guess I have good news. Sort of."
The lead guard focused. "What is the situation?"
Adam's voice was a little dull for some reason. "I am entirely positive that the 'White Tower' is not a tooth, though I think it may be confirmed to be some form of bone now. Though one with a VERY odd texture."
Considering that he had lost all stored momentum hours ago and had to craft new propulsion by gripping the tiny openings in the tower to generate thrust... well, he had been climbing for over a day now. Something with a tooth that long would be beyond monstrous.
One of the other guards just didn't care. "As long as we aren't climbing INTO A DAMN MOUTH I consider today to be nothing but pure victory."
Adam hummed. "Might want to hold off on the celebration for now. I was planning on reaching the top of the White Tower to hopefully find a safe spot to meditate and examine this thing... But uh."
Rockette popped open a sheet of Crystal, showing the outside to a listening crowd.
"Based on the second, angled white column connected to it? I think this is a skeletal leg."
...It was beautiful.
At some point, Adam had passed the lowest level of cloud coverage... below, the odd gray mist from the corpse bog bubbled and rolled like a strange potion, or a cursed sea. Here, clear blue skies made the white columns glisten!
...All of them.
Adam stood on a marble white surface, as if the vertical nature and rules about gravity were annoyances for other people. Near his side, connected with white fragments... a SECOND, equally massive white pillar was connected, and angled away to vanish into the distance...
And farther in the background? Several dozen white 'threads', likely more of these bone pillars, reached into the heavens... and angled in towards some unknown center.
The lead guard was stunned. "How... how tall IS this thing? It can't be man made, it just can't be!"
Little Tianshi blinked. "Mr. Whiskers says it might be something called a 'Bone Walker'. And that they shouldn't exist here."
Everyone turned to stare at the tiny whiskered lizard... who was idly chewing on a blue and yellow berry.
Sister Quan glanced at the thin white spokes leading off... somewhere. "Does he know anything about these... 'Bone Walkers'? Are we in danger?"
The little girl shrugged. "According to him, he only heard tales of these things from his parents. They are SUPER old stories, and most just talk about how they show up in places doomed to die." She took another bite of her sandwich. "No one is sure if they are called to places of death or if they CAUSE the disasters."
She shrugged. "We should be fine though, Master can do anything."
Adam hummed. "I... I guess I could consume this thing." He frowned, the high winds making it a tad hard to hear. "But then I would have a giant whatever this is inside Rockette, and that sounds gross. Can't eat it, and it is WAY too big for most fights or whatever."
With a nod, he lunged toward the second, tilted white pillar that headed towards the Cursed Mark's call... and began to pick up speed. "I'll decide what to do when we get to the main body. For all we know, it may have died already."
Tianshi hummed. "Mr. Whiskers says that in the legends, 'Bone Walkers' absorb the energy and body parts of the dead to grow in size. So he isn't sure they were ever alive to begin with."
Adam winced. "Gross. Yeah, not going to bring this thing inside, that is just icky."
One of the... less courageous guards was close to fainting. "Can we NOT climb the legs of a giant zombie multi-limbed monster from legend!? We were farming and stuff a few days ago, let's go back to that!"
His neighbor snorted. "STILL better than directly climbing into something's mouth. I swear I have been having visions of... and the teeth just... drool everywhere..."
Adam chuckled. "Well, let's not rule it out until we get to see what there is to see first!"
The arguments continued, but as the boy flew along a white road in the sky over a gray ocean of chaos, the sky shone bright and the wind was crisp. Which was good.
Based on how long it took to REACH this level so far, they likely had a long journey to traverse.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan was meditating.
Unlike Tianshi, who was new to this whole cultivation scene, THIS Sister had experience!
...Which was all the more galling to be behind the child in practicing the 'Gentle Rebirth Body Cultivation Technique' (Version 3.5322). Each new revision of the jade slip increased her conversion rate and reduced the pain and strain to the body... but Little Tianshi was just so talented at this!
Still, there was nothing better to do.
Adam's trip had lost its audience fairly quickly. He was endlessly running on a white pillar of bone, no background or audio to listen to, no changes... even existential terror at being so near such an impossible beast got boring over time.
So SHE was focusing on her own improvements.
Working for so long with Adam, he had long ago mapped a cultivation technique or two to modify her own path, to simplify it, remove issues or bottlenecks that would have been expected... and after a long time, she would eventually be able to swap over to the (ever popular) 'Houtian Realm Seventh Order Essential Cultivation Method.'
You know, AFTER Adam got around to designing it. He hadn't reached Seventh Order yet, after all.
And while she would LOVE to just give up her cultivation progress and swap to his amazing 'Houtian Realm Fourth Order Essential Cultivation Method' NOW, the complex issues of her past cultivation methods made it too dangerous.
There were too many weaknesses, uneven enhancements... so Adam had made a series of techniques that would, one after another, address and fix those problems. And she WAS using them.
But for now, she meditated.
Within her thoughts, her Martial Spirit, the Three Eye Crow, was flying through her meridian routes. Unlike Adam, who could control his internal energies individually and on the most basic level, SHE had to cheat a little by using visualization tricks like this to guide the heaven and earth spiritual energy down each correct path.
At the same time, she forced herself to address an internal concern... a personal doubt that had begun to bother her at night.
Her spirit... just felt so lifeless compared to Rockette. When not directed, her Martial Spirit would, at best, fly around her during meditation and open its beak to consume spiritual power.
That was it.
It didn't hum with crystal tunes at night, or offer a warm drink on a cold day, or grant absolute dominion of reality within a modifiable radius to the user.
And that had never been an issue before. She had seen THOUSANDS of Martial Spirits, from bushes to beasts to swords... any intelligence was low level, reactionary, or even near a comatose state. They would breathe, or the limbs would wiggle... but nothing more.
And that had been fine.
Now?
Her Three Eye Crow was not just some meditation tool, or useful attack method.
It was a reflection of herself... and it felt so dull. So lifeless.
Thus, while she didn't slack in training each method Adam gave, while she didn't stop working and practicing to use both her new and old abilities, to gain ever more control and precision... she also spent some time each session like this.
Just... meditating.
These birds, while being made mostly of flames, were known for one thing more than simple attack damage.
It was their vision.
The third eye was unable to see light, but possibilities. It improved concept contemplation, could theoretically see seconds into the future to help avoid damage in a fight, detect discrepancies in a situation or conversation. Maybe more... they were hard to study.
She just... hadn't bothered to spend time attempting this.
It took time.
Just normal cultivation took years, simple abilities took months if you were a prodigy, each step was agonizing... so who would spend decades examining their own Martial Spirit for no gain?
But Rockette showed that her Crow could be... more. Tianshi showed that a Martial Spirit could improve, or even shift form without a full 'Evolution' at the various cultivation stages.
And... in the end, it was a reflection of herself. And she expected more from herself.
Time drifted.
She watched her flame fly with wings of determination through her meridian route, not trying to add more spiritual energy than was arbitrarily collected, not trying to strengthen her system... just, watching her Crow fly.
As the path became more and more traveled... she encouraged the spirit to fly free. To shift a tad farther around this bend, to swirl in that area... to just explore her spiritual network, without forcing change or improvement.
Sister Quan was unaware of how much time passed this way, but the sudden call of the guards broke her from her meditative state with a shock!
Adam was nearing ANOTHER white column, another section of that impossible limb they were climbing!
As she left her cultivation cave, she failed to notice the faint eyes following her exit... Three flames closed back to slumber as her Martial Spirit returned to her system.
It would support her like always. Together.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam crouched behind a bone spike.
It had taken half a month of high speed travel... but everyone in his Martial Spirit could see the main body of the Spirit Beast he was climbing. Assuming it WAS a Spirit Beast.
THOUSANDS of bone limbs stretched in every direction! It was less like standing on a stone beam and MORE like being stuck inside a bone funnel, with a squished sphere being held in the center.
It had no front, no back. It had no mouth or jaws, as far as Adam could see.
He was projecting his voice inside Rockette, and having her NOT repeat the responses out loud... stealth was key, here. [Holy. Crap.]
He could hear Sister Quan's stunned voice inside. [What... No, WHY is it covered in eyes!?]
It was true. The squished, potato shaped 'body' of the many limbed spider like beast was COVERED in sockets.
Eye Sockets.
Not just the bottom, which would make sense as the many limbs were in the way to easily see anything, but his Spiritual Sensing ability showed that the ENTIRE monster was either limbs or eye sockets.
And each eye was... odd.
Some were the size of a cat. Others, according to his sensing, smaller than a fingernail. Most were round orbs... others, shaped like barrels or cubes.
Some even seemed to be segmented like insects, or slit, or had hexagons or ovals to see through... it was chaotic.
But the most disturbing feature of the beast was... the blinking.
Every eye had SOME form of eyelid. If it was made of bone as well like the limbs, then it was some sort of shell shaped structure that was able to close the various eyes away from the world...
But when the blink was over, when the eye opened again?
The eyes shifted locations.
Hell, when an eye 'opened', the eye SOCKET was shifting shape too!
It wasn't a frantic movement.
Each individual eye seemed to be open for around five minutes to a half hour, with no easily determined pattern.
But this potato body was large enough to build a mansion on... so there were a LOT of eyes to examine, all blinking at odd moments that somehow always caught the viewer off guard.
Adam heard a weak voice pop up. [I am sorry. Can we go back to scary mouths again? I want to go back to scary mouths.]
He glanced to one of the larger orbs. [Well... if it helps, I think THAT eye IS a mouth. Hard to tell with it moving around, though. Pretty sure I saw a tongue made of eyes inside it though.]
Sister Quan seemed determined. [Tianshi, go work on your homework.]
A whine. [But... but look at all the cool gross stuff out there! I want to see more!]
Yeah, she seemed pretty determined indeed. [Go. Now. Or you have to taste new fruit with the sacrificial guard squad.]
An angry voice chipped in. [I KNEW we were getting odd labels! This is SO unfair!]
Adam tried to freeze. [Shit.]
Everyone went quiet.
Damn it.
The lead guard was hesitant. [Young Sage?]
Adam was having a hard time focusing. [I... I think an eye opened up UNDER my hand. The hand on the leg.]
Everyone's attention turned to his right hand... which was palming a glowing green orb, watching the boy curiously.
Several inside agreed. [Shit.]
The eye felt... hard. It clearly WASN'T a goo bag like with humans, but more a specialized stone or solidified material of some sort. It also wasn't sticky or gooey, which... which was good for Adam's mental stress, if nothing else.
...Based on the fact that nothing was trying to throw him off, attack, OR move him away... maybe these eyes didn't have nerve endings? Right?
Then again, what were the chances that an eye ball couldn't SEE him as well?
He felt tension rise as he prepared to dive off the beast... which would be a bit of an issue. The legs that branched off in every direction were so dense here, that it was a near solid mass in every direction unless he ran off a GOOD distance.
It... it couldn't be fast too, right? Something this big should move slowly or it would like... trip or something. And when a Spirit Beast with over a thousand legs trips, that would be a HUGE deal, right? Would have been a BIG story, everyone would know to avoid the 'tripping trees' or whatever.
Unless no one had survived such accidents...
Nope, not helping him stay calm!
Glancing at the... still motionless eye...
Shit.
Screw it!
With a quick jerk, Adam clenched his hand and YANKED out the orb from the socket!
[WHAT!?][MASTER!][BROTHER ADAM!][Of course he did.][YOUNG SAGE!]
And...
And.
Nothing happened.
Adam blinked at the green orb in his palm... and it blinked back.
Oh. The eyelid is PART of the eye.
...Also: Gross.