When Kagome and Inuyasha jumped back into the 'Bone-Eater`s Well', Adam didn't even bother to get up.
His power was scanning it anyway, and the raw amount of spiritual energy (tainted or not) was more than enough to keep him happy just lounging around here.
When he woke hours later, he found that at some point someone (Probably Kagome's mom, she was awesome) had picked him up and placed him on a pillow, which was resting on a towel.
So... back to sleep.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
It had been... several days.
At some point, the small white flower blossoms had swept around his pillow throne and began to fill the boundary surrounding the well. Not enough to completely cover the ground, but it was noticeable.
He didn't need to sleep, negative energy didn't force him to go to the bathroom, and he didn't get thirsty.
So... he just slept next to the well.
Kagome's bro, Sota, had come around a few times to give some head pats. Asako had actually brought her own pillow and hung out for an hour or two while drinking tea. It was nice.
The old man (Grandpa!) would stop by to gather more blossoms for his own needs.
But days drifted by as he siphoned literal years of decay, sadness, death and despair.
His second power guided by his spiritual soul was almost automatic, nearly missed as he drifted away and consumed with glee.
'Purification.'
Using the kami he gained and produced to refine the spiritual concept of a creature to a more pure state. It was odd... a bit like sorting. If he wished he could actually purify evil into a more refined form just as easily as he could refine purity or cleanliness.
It was about... analyzing an object, person, relationship, or concept. Then, distinguishing some part of it as an impurity...and cleansing that impurity.
Used on a soul, it could clear outside influence or remove unwanted traits.
Used on a metal alloy, he could rip it apart into the pure metals used to smelt the bar.
It was surprisingly flexible, and meshed well with 'Tithe'. Portions of the purification process would be sent to conversion, consume, and all the other abilities that could use free energy. It showed up in his Gate soul as the white rope that the 'Tithe' charm hung from, and seemed to bind the Gate in some unknown way. Neat.
Anyway, it was loads of free power with no ethical issues. Eating a well of despair was a surprisingly simple way to rapidly build up spiritual power without having to eat humans or demons or force kids to have nightmares.
Honestly, he was strong enough that he could probably find ways around eating, drinking, sleeping, and so forth ALREADY. But when a feast of darkness just... sat there? Dinnertime!
It was a bit embarrassing to realize how much of an effect it was having on the barriers though.
With 'Purification' combined with 'Consume' and 'Conversion', tainted energy was being drained rapidly... which created a 'flow' or 'current' of power towards the shrine.
And any positive energy was being held by the outer ring on the shrine, with further buildup within the Well and the house thanks to their own rings. Any negative energy was being converted, mostly consumed by Adam himself, then released into the ever growing ward system.
Anyone with spiritual sense would see something like a growing tornado, sucking in sadness, strife, fear, and other energies from miles away. Funneled like black soot into the shrine, where it was shredded into white power and white blossoms.
Point is, very minor spiritual creatures were following the flow of energy and finding this place to be something like a paradise. One of the tiny red haired wood spirits, something 'Harmony' informed Adam was called a 'Kijimuna', had actually got its courage up and petted him!
It was nice.
Not sure why exactly all the creatures were treating Adam as boss here though. Maybe they recognize the barrier energy as his? Even now he could feel various creatures and spirits claiming sections of the shrine as territory. They were not being a pest, so not his problem.
He felt the growing power charges gather as his scan/feast continued.
The well was... odd. It wasn't like a tube, with one end mystically leading one into the past. It wasn't a tunnel, that one could travel through to reach a new world. It wasn't a set of gates or anchors, that could open a connection to join the two for a pathway.
It was like having two pockets in the exact same point but not.
If you put a coin in pocket one, that coin was already in pocket two because they were the exact same pocket... even if pocket two was 500 years in the past!
The framework of spiritual magic that allowed this was fascinating. And pretty. The spiritual power was provided in the past from corpses and the power was given form in the future, when Kagome first traveled through... but due to how both time spans connected, that order was not needed. In a way, it was very much like quantum entanglement, in that one change appeared on both particles at the same moment regardless of distance.
Well, not really, in fact those two things were silly different. Why was he thinking about that stuff anyway? He wiggled deeper into his pillow, trunk absently pushing flower blossoms off his belly.
It was like more like... um. Two possible realities where only one thing changed, and that change was also the joining point of... of... something.
Anyway, the well was fun to examine as his power drained away the spiritual corruption.
Oh, and while including the converted kami, the faith his soul generated, the power 'Tithe' was adding, AND the darkness being consumed from the well... the shrine was ALSO donating energy directly to Adam!
As a being both physically present AND spiritual in nature, most prayers or hopes being directed to this shrine that didn't directly specify a cause or deity just... floated on over to him.
More, there were multiple visitors to the shrine over the last few days that had noticed the convincing 'statue' near the well... and some asked 'it' to watch over their dreams or guide them from sickness.
He frowned slightly, wiggling his hips on the pillow. On second thought, healing those people and consuming their nightmare seeds was probably why the number of local Baku related prayers had gone up.
Well, no big issue. Probably.
His spiritual soul Gate was changing, oddly enough. Once the snow globe of faith filled the bottom with flower blossoms of kami, the pile began to compress. Large flowers shrank to tiny specks. Not sand or rice size, but like... buttons.
Millions of buttons.
If anything, compressing the kami into the smaller forms increased Adam's unconscious draw of faith energy nearby significantly.
Idly, his right ear flapped over to scratch his eye. Becoming a sinkhole of faith energy was... probably a big deal. And he should probably get up and do something about it. Eventually.
Then again, consuming the energy didn't lower the amount available really. It sped up the conversion and purification process, it encouraged even more energy to arrive, it increased the resonating between all the tiny units.
It was strange stuff. The more faith you had, the easier to inspire more. As long as you didn't waste the starting capital, it had an exponential growth curve really.
Squirming on his cushion, Adam chose another stream of black despair to snack on. This stuff was more sticky than the rage or denial pools, had better texture.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Life was better, Asako decided, when you had tiny elephants.
She finished folding the laundry, breathing deep. Crisp, clean air, far cleaner than air should be this deep in the busy city.
According to Father-in-Law, who had been having fun examining the 'Spirit Barrier' set up by the little Baku, the new 'defenses' were less meant for security and more for healing. Detoxification.
It was only because of how strong they were that they had also become strong defenses against the darker parts of society.
That stranger who had been seen weeks ago lurking in the neighborhood had not come back, nor had that group of delinquents that occasionally fought for territory. And when she left for grocery shopping, she noticed that even the vegetation on the few abandoned properties seemed healthier. Stronger. Her herb garden was doing fantastic!
She gathered the basket and moved inside, humming.
It wasn't obvious to those without a life steeped in spiritual matters. But the air itself seemed lighter after these few days.
She noticed that kids nearby the shrine felt safer. Were more willing to play in the sunlight. Couples took more walks, although she wasn't sure if they knew why it seemed like such a good idea.
And the wildlife variety had picked up. Birds were visiting more and more often, and when walking near the back of the property she saw a fox exploring the taller grass. Most likely a fox.
It was probably for the best that she was unaware of the number of people visiting the hospital for minor wounds and burns over the last few days. Several gang members had severe hand issues when their weapons almost exploded from heat, and one man who arrived screaming in pain turned out to be a fairly famous child rapist who had been in disguise... although that guy might not live long enough to enter custody.
The strange phenomenon was creating a low level wave of communication in the city, as the lowering trend of reported crimes became more noticed. Some attributed it to the hard work of local officials, others claimed a new gang was moving into the area and was wiping out competition in preparation.
Most odd was how a young man selling peanuts from a cart found a surge of customers when he traveled near a local shrine. He wasn't sure WHY everyone kept buying a couple of bags without eating one, but money was money and this area of town was looking much nicer these days anyway.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam blinked at the bowl filled with peanuts. "Squeak?"
Sota sighed. "Look, I said he doesn't eat those."
The three visiting girls were ignoring him completely, as they used their phone to take photos and video of the cute thing.
Sota frowned at the continuing questions. "He's a pygmy elephant that Grandpa is taking care of because of how much he looks like those mythical Baku spirits." "No, he has a special diet from the vet. He won't be able to... No, STOP adding peanuts!" "Seriously, I just finished telling those last two girls that he... please back up, don't crowd him!"
Adam blinked at the growing group of girls. Had... they been here the whole time?
Sota sighed, seeing the Baku wake up. "Alright, he's awake now. Can everyone please back up a little? We don't want to scare him. Grandpa says he shouldn't be handled by strangers."
Why was Sota always stuck with the strange jobs? Apparently Grandpa was worried problems would come up if someone didn't watch over the Baku. Which was initially boring, as all the tiny thing did was... sleep. And wiggle. For days.
Then Sota's luck ran out, and one of Kagome's visiting friends from school popped up with more homework for her 'sick' friend to handle later, and nearly stepped on the darn thing.
The cute was too strong, and more friends were called.
He held out a hand. "Look, could you all just back up and... NO, he does not eat peanuts! Why are you getting more peanuts!?"
Adam blinked at the crowd.
He looked at the growing mound of peanuts, overflowing the bowl.
Adam didn't even have a stomach. What was the point of this?
He absently picked a peanut up with his trunk, causing the crowd to go silent at his movements.
Hmm? Oh. It counted as an offering! This thing was FULL of energy!
Sota groaned as the tiny elephant instantly shoved the large peanut into it's tiny mouth, devoured one instantly before giving a tiny burp-squeak.
Crud.
The crowd's massive squee of adorable fanaticism washed over the unlucky child as several girls dashed off to get more cuteness-pellets and the others rabidly recorded the scene.
Sota gave up and headed inside to get adult backup. Maybe mom or grandpa could help.
