Adam just stood there, enjoying it.
Solid. Land.
The poison mist was still around, so technically this was the outer boundary of the Corpse Bog... but the lack of movement? The ability to just... stand still?
Marvellous.
Even though his recent travel was several inches above the floating surface, he STILL felt like he had 'sea legs'. Like the ground was shifting, as his body tried to counteract nonexistent movement.
Just... just a few more minutes.
He would continue running until out of the mist... maybe a bit further. THEN he could aim towards the Burning Sword Sect, find some sort of town on the way, get directions, buy supplies, purchase some more normal plants, maybe find some useful bushes, trees, and who knew what along the way...
But for now, Adam just wanted to enjoy solid land.
Breathe in... And out...
Right.
With a wide grin (But no longer unnaturally wide! Progress!), Adam spread out his domain, forced energy to be converted into momentum... and...
Ready? Lean forward, dig feet in a bit, clawed fingers getting contact.
Set. Generating momentum using Qi on his domain to resist gravity and compress the ground was still being tested, but should work for this!
And... GO!
His body vanished into the distance!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Sister Quan and the few guards that cooked stared at the... 'Cake'.
The one to her left frowned. "How do we store this?"
Considering what a damn HASSLE it was to make this dish in the first place, it was a good question. Because 'cooking' with these eggs became tricky from the get go... They had to lower the temperature at careful rates, because even when 'cooked', the Fire Eggs somehow warmed up the other items mixed into it.
In other words, something conceptual was forcing other ingredients to ALSO need below room temperature to get things going. And if the 'cold' (but still warm to the taste) cake was NOT kept cooled down?
If stabilized, the dessert was mostly solid at ambient temperatures. Heat it up even a tad too much? It sort of came apart.
A test where they put the cake in an oven? They ended up with ALL the cake ingredients separated... the raw egg mixed with the now unmixed flour and salt and... yeah.
But if they tried to 'cool' it, the thing overcooked.
...Huh.
Sister Quan sighed. "Just... just get it to a stable temperature and store it in one of the rings. Adam plans on examining the storage treasures eventually anyway, so once he somehow makes something a billion times better out of sweater lint we can have him add a time dilation shelf or something to the pantry to store these 'cold foods'."
A guard grumbled. "Nearly burned myself on this 'cold food'. We NEED better names for this stuff."
Another was grinning. "Easy to clean up though, yes? Put the pans and bowls on the heater, then pour off the raw ingredient residue. And if you somehow 'burn' the thing, comes right off with a bit of heat too. No more scraping or elbow work... I love it!"
Sister Quan hummed. "If we make stuff outside of these caverns, we need to find a safe way to get rid of waste material. It would be fine in the summer, but in winter it might catch the trash piles on fire."
Another guard was looking at the list. "Well... I guess that cake is tentatively a success. Not like the meringue attempt." BIG flare up, one guard lost eyebrows. "So far, fried eggs were both easiest to do, easiest to store..." Burn it in the freezer, leave it on the plate until it reaches the perfect doneness you prefer. Lovely. "So what is next?"
Sister Quan tapped her chin. "Well, the bread turned out alright. Even if something in the cake mixture made it a bit finicky, the more basic loaves were great." Hmm. "Should we try to make egg custard?"
The battle against the nature of cooking continued. Results were varied.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam enjoyed another white 'poison berry'. Letting them grow for a week really made the flavor (and poison levels) much better! No seeds inside either, which was a bit odd.
Had a bit of a breakthrough with the Soul techniques, once he fully realized that OTHER people's Souls were less complicated than his own. Drastically reduced the complexity of the useless techniques when that came up.
If Adam's Soul was a city, most people only had a dog house.
...Which, considering that dogs here could be the size of a mountain, didn't say much.
Huh.
Right, if Adam's soul was a massive lake, most people would be a bucket of water. Not a big bucket either, more like the ones used to carry fish back from a day trying to get lunch.
Not those huge fish either, just... normal sized fish?
...What the hell was the size of a normal fish here?
Point was, normal people's Souls didn't have all the fiddly bits that Adam's had. And that was BEFORE Adam mutated himself using all the data from the Yang poison attack.
His Soul had formed all sorts of new, odd bits now. Defensive hooks, spikes, thicker panels... maybe a few sockets and such.
Oh, and the Four Eye Flame Bull (Chickens?) had Souls as complex as a damp rag in this comparison. Considering their mental ability, it wasn't too surprising.
Worst of all? Their mind and Souls were only that advanced AFTER his meddling.
...So yeah, Adam may have turned all their eggs into super genius mutants. It might even be enough to raise the resulting beasts up to 'Mentally challenged animal' rather than the lack luster ability of the mutated parents.
Seriously, he had assumed these animals were slow mentally when purchased due to old age and the general 'I don`t care about anything' attitude that tends to come with it.
Turns out? The whole SPECIES was so dumb that they couldn't recognize danger when it was riding on the cart behind them, scaring off animals in every direction for miles.
At least he wouldn't feel guilty about eating those eggs now.
Eating another berry, he considered the future of food within Rockette.
Would he eventually carve up these bulls for steak (Chicken?) sandwiches? Maybe.
Considering how odd the eggs worked in the kitchen, the various butchering results might be impossible to eat in the first place.
Better to build up a Bull House (A Cow Flock?) of egg layers. Get a stable supply, even if the most useful part of the egg turned out to be the shell instead of the bizarre insides.
One of the guards even found a procedure where using Soul Water, some heated crystal tubes provided by Rockette, and some condensation chambers? They could now separate out the Salt from the Fire Salt, even if the process released a lot of spiritual energy in the process.
Because the flavored salt was lovely, but not every recipe appreciated the extra tastes involved. And some things reacted poorly to the energies included with Fire Salt anyway... so good to have a more basic alternative.
True, the final result seemed a bit too... pure? Maybe because they were using Soul Water in the process... the stuff might count as conceptual salt. More study would be needed at some point.
Meh, it worked well enough and could probably be sold or traded at some point. Not that he really needed more money right now... the extra seasoning option was more valuable really.
He absently had 'Momentum Redirection' swerve his missile like body towards a small grove of trees with some kind of fruit growing on it. His domain was large enough at this point that they were already being consumed by his blue flames as he passed by... Rockette would add it to the Soil Grid for testing later.
What did they need, once they found people again?
Little Tianshi mentioned getting some 'boring' cows so they couldn't run out of cheese again. Poor child really didn't know how annoying it was to convert milk into the other stages. Then again, she was focused more on cultivation than on churning... maybe milking could be a chore for her? Give her some life lessons or something.
Sister Quan was focused on the seasonings. While Salt was a rock and a bit hard to gather for those far away from natural saltwater sources, Pepper and many other seasonings were plants... not that Adam had a lot of samples of those.
The Sect's shop sold mostly seeds and plant trimmings belonging to cultivation resources, after all. Most Cultivators didn't even bother to eat later in life, so focusing on 'useful' plants was logical he supposed... but having seen all the strange results those plant seeds had in his Soil Grid, who KNEW how powerful some mutated ginger could become?
Maybe some transplanted mint actually hid the secrets to future power, and everyone just missed it due to focusing on glowing apples or whatever.
Adam blinked.
People!
A group of a hundred or so, playing with some small Spirit Beasts! Not too far away either!
...Oh.
No, the people were being attacked.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
"Shit." Xe Dian hurled another ice spike at one of the wolves too close to the supporting fighters. "Shit shit shit."
Her other hand yanked back one of her 'Teammates', the massive group of younger Sect followers that leadership had thrust on her to keep alive while trying to get the damn mission done. "If you can't attack from distance, then STAY OUT OF THE WAY!"
They whined when traveling, they sounded like a herd of cats when being 'stealthy', they ate food supplies at double the rate of their damn clients and their one job, THEIR ONE JOB, was to not get in the way while she kept their damn dumbass selves alive!
A stomp had her Martial Spirit, the Ice Panther, activate Instant Soul Transformation and combine with her Qi system. White ice fur began forming over her body as she hurled a massive needle of frozen water through another pair of wolves getting too close to the trade caravan weak points. "REGROUP ON ME!"
No one had died yet, but the fight was young and this pack was clearly being guided by a more powerful Spirit Beast hiding in the background for a good moment to strike.
Thankfully, this section of the trade route was on exposed ground... they had enough time to pull the wagons together as improvised cover and almost enough time to get these young Sect morons into some sort of defensive stance.
SHIT! She fell onto all fours, dove over three or for idiots in the way, and managed to form an ice blade in time to slice the throat of a wolf about to slaughter a young girl who was crying on the ground rather than fighting. WHY did someone like this even apply for a transport mission if she was THIS terrified of violence!?
This HAD to be another 'helpful' suggestion by that snooty group that always gave her grief. You smash ONE PERVERT into the ground, and the fun never stops.
Dian held back another wince as the dead wolf managed to claw her arm as it fell to the blood soaked ground. "SOMEONE PULL THIS ONE TO THE MERCHANTS!" If she couldn't be useful, at least she wouldn't be eagerly waiting for death out here.
Before the girl was dragged away, she forced the child to look up into her eyes. "I need you to stay with the non combatants, keep them calm. Can I trust you to do this?"
Best she could do right now was give the child something to distract her with, it was too dangerous to spend a lot of time on this. Getting a shaky nod, she jumped as high as possible and used half her reserves to hurl a dozen ice needles at critical areas.
Her Martial Spirit's innate ability was Liquid Condensation, an abnormally strong ability to gather fluid from astounding distances for either collection or use... and right now, she was forcing this dry climate to sacrifice water from everywhere so that her Battle Techniques had enough source material for some harsh ice related lessons.
And her second ability, the reason she hoped to survive this mess? Qi Syphon, the ability to steal energy safely from foes during a fight to artificially keep her body active. Done properly, they could survive this!
Her paw-like hand was suddenly covered in frost spikes as she SLAPPED a wolf back into its rightful place: A crater.
Do NOT fuck with her, damn it!
Time passed like a heavy burden, her body forced to move far too much and give more than possible to prevent these young ones and the wealthy clients alive. Forcing the wounded and near collapsing people to move around the wagons, sacrifice some materials and trade goods to act as barriers and reinforce the defensive line?
Profit would be lost, but at least it had bought some time.
The number of wolves stayed constant. These 'Grass Wolves', with fur that blended far too well with the surrounding plains, were clearly being directed by some sort of Alpha... it was near impossible to determine their full numbers, as only thirty wolves were allowed to attack at a time.
It was why she could hold out so long... the beasts were only replacing the fallen as they occurred, so each death was not truly a victory but a signal for the next, rested and ready wolf to join the fight. Even as she devoured the beasts energy to stay conscious, her muscles still became more and more damaged and her body began to have issues.
It. Was. Demoralizing. "We are doing great! Keep up the pressure and I'm SURE we will make it through!"
She wasn't even sure they were half way done. Internally, her instincts predicted that if they HAD made that sort of impact, the hidden attacker would have launched the remaining troops to finish them off in one sweep... the defenders tired and the defences weakened.
The concept was supported by the weakness of the wolves themselves. Grass Wolves are ambush predators... some other wolf pack must have dominated these to act as disposable shock troops.
...Hopefully another wolf pack. If it was a pack of something more powerful, their survival rate would drop from 'Nothing' to 'Just die already'.
Time seemed to both stand still and pass forever as she fought onward, as her comrades were forced to retreat, leaving her more and more alone.
Shit, her arm wound had opened up again and she was too bloody to safely wrap it. "I need some water!"
A hand offered a large sloshing canteen over. The guy, maybe one of the merchants? Too brave for this situation anyway... best to yell at him AFTER accepting the help. "Thanks, but you should stay back with the others."
Ignoring his expression, she poured the liquid over the wound. It wouldn't do enough, and she would need medication later, but hopefully it would help clean out the debris, dirt, and foreign material that coated her body from the long and endless fight. "How are the others holding out?"
The man hummed. "Several wounded, though I passed them some basic medication and stuff, so they will be fine. Emotionally the entire group seems on edge of course, even against these weaklings."
Damn it, another cocky guy. No wonder he had the balls to wander off from safety, even if she did appreciate the timely assistance. "Weak or not, they have numbers. Get back to the group, if possible convince the OTHERS to ALSO stay back there, and let me do my job. I'll keep us alive, on my honor." Or, more likely, die trying. Damn it.
He tilted his head. "I mean... sure? But you seem a bit tired. For now, why not let my guards continue to hold off the pack and take a break."
...What?
She blinked away some of the crusted gore from her eyes and looked around properly without defaulting to her spiritual senses. Normally such habits were carefully nurtured, as blinding assaults and debris clouds were common tactics by beasts in the wild... but it did reduce situational awareness.
She saw a number of black armored individuals just... laying waste to the frantically attacking wolf pack. Idle movements slicing entire beasts in half, mild gestures causing the creatures to implode or dissolve into mist.
The guy beside her hummed. "Yeah, I thought about helping out... but my guards have been getting pretty depressed about not being able to assist me for the last few months. You know how it is: Do good on your own for a while, and they all feel relieved. Do good ALL the time, they feel extraneous."
She just... fell back, barely noticing the man (Boy? Fairly muscular for a kid though.) as he provided a chair and guided her into it. "What?"
He nodded. "Saw you were in a bit of a fight, and I was both in the area, completely lost, and looking for directions." His smile was bright. "Got here before anything deadly happened, as far as I can tell. Good luck all around, I think!"
It was over? Really?
With a heavy sigh, she released the Instant Soul Transformation combination and felt her Martial Spirit nearly collapse back into her system, spent entirely, her beastial features fading away. Her Qi reserves were now beyond pitiful, and she felt near systematic shock at this point. "That... that was so hard."
The boy grinned and offered her a warm, wet towel from... somewhere. She forced herself to begin wiping off the layers of filth the constant fighting had bathed her in, weak arms trembling.
He chuckled. "Much more than a simple fight, you basically survived an endurance match! Even after I stepped in here and there to ensure nothing attacked your back, you stayed focused on ensuring not one beast reached your people."
His smile was nice. "Good job!"
...Honestly, even thinking back, she just hadn't noticed him helping. Not consciously. All she could remember was suddenly feeling less pressured, more confidant about attacking, less concerned about counter attacks...
When she asked for water, she KNEW someone was there to hear it, just not with her full attention.
Another blink. "Sorry, I'm still a bit out of it. I'm Xe Dian, from the Frosted Tiger Sect."
He happily shook hands with her. "Chongsheng Adam! I and my people are from the Burning Sword Sect, although we are out on a long term mission right now." He winced. "It has been... quite the adventure so far. Speaking of which, you know the Corpse Bog, that way?"
She looked where he was pointing. "I guess? Why?"
He gave her a serious look. "MASSIVE danger there. Poison aside, there is something that infiltrates intruders and forces them to forget about it later. You need to warn your Sect, as even OURS don't know about it yet. Scary shit."
She blinked. Wait, the massively powerful Burning Sword Sect... DIDN'T know about this? Holy crap. That WAS important then.
Whatever, it would be added to the after action report of this shit situation. "Glad for the assistance, Brother Chongsheng."
He waved her off. "Please, call me Adam. Or if you must, Brother Adam or Burning Sage."
A... strange 'Ding!' came out of nowhere. What?
The guy winced. "Strike that, just call me Adam. I'm not supposed to be known as the Burning Sage by anyone, operational security and all that."
Another 'Ding!'
Another wince. "In fact, forget I mentioned it. Please?"
She couldn't help a small grin as some sort of Crystal Creature with a cute face showed up on his shoulder and seemed to Ding at him in accusations.
Maybe it was some sort of companion Spirit Beast? She had seen weirder.
With a groan, she reached for one of the nearby 'fallback' reserves she had constructed near the battle areas for use during the fight. Should have some clean bandages in there for her arm. "Well, I am beyond grateful for the assist. Mind helping me wrap my arm wound? Can't treat my other issues if one arm is so torn up."
He blinked. "What? It's healed already."
SHE blinked. "Huh?" Glancing at her right arm... the open torn flesh was now smooth and clear. Beyond healed, even past scars and damage seemed gone! "What the... what happened?"
Brother Adam shrugged. "Well you DID just pour an entire canteen of Soul Water onto the area. I'd be more shocked if nothing happened."
...She did WHAT!?
