Chapter 231 - Greedy Bastard

Oliviala Le'Cruex

The clacking of approaching boots sounded from down the exterior hallway. They reverberated through the small room's only door; a klaxon alarm that made Olive more paranoid every time she heard them. She had just enough time to hop back to the center of the room and resume a meditative stance before the door swung open.

The cardinal's personal seneschal entered, his ensemble and regal air as immaculate as any nobles. Olive cut him off before he could repeat the same question again, “No, I will not be accepting your invitation to supper on the cardinal’s behalf.”

The seneschal sighed, at least managing not to roll his eyes, “Would it not be simpler to allow his grace to take the lead this once, my lady? He is consumed with his most vital work, and taking the time to personally invite you is simply unreasonable.”

Olive didn't bother opening her eyes as she flowed deeper into her faux stretch. It was the man's third ‘request’ in the last hour, and both of them were fed up with the game. Yet both Olive’s and the cardinal's political clout hung in the balance, so the game must be played. If she accepted without him personally coming, she would lower her position to a possibly unrecoverable degree. Afterall, a princess who obeyed once, then refused to do so again, would be seen as irrational and therefore untrustworthy. If she made even a single misstep, she would find any potential influence eroded away within days, if not hours.

“That will never happen, Mr. Robpert. If he wishes for my company, he will follow Imperial protocol.”

Robpert sighed again, “If you insist, my lady.” The stately man bowed and backed out of the room, softly closing her door. The click of a formation bolt sliding into place soon followed.

Olive crossed the room, resting her hand on the door for the hundredth time. She struggled for a brief moment before her mana oozed from the open wound on her wrist, sliding down her hand like wet tar to quest across the powerfully-formed surface. As with every time, she found no easy way to pierce the formation's membrane. 

I was so excited to show this to Jiran when he returned, yet I can’t even beat one measly hunk of metal! How does he make this look so easy?

The pressure of time wore on her like a heavy aura restricting her every move. The clock had been ticking since the moment she was captured, and soon, her only chance to escape would be gone. Upon being abducted, she was well aware she would be forced to drain her mana with menial tasks until helpless. Her first course of action was to apply her mana toward the most optimal endeavor. Before even arriving in Sanctum Santorim, she had silently spoken with her Divinatory entity. The advice she had been given was as vague as usual, and far more jarring. 

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on her task as best she could. Yet her entity’s voice resounded in her skull like a broken bell, uselessly repeating itself ad nauseam, “Unless the seal on your chamber door is broken, and its mana turned to your purpose, you will never be free from the cardinal's clutches.”

Hearing those words the first time had nearly broken her spirit. How could her all-knowing entity say such a thing? What did it mean? Was her father truly dead? Was Jiran? Would they never come for her? How could a simple door be the one and only key to her freedom?

I can’t lose hope! 

She banished the voice from her mind with a snarl. Immediately, the mana outside her body began to unravel and she drew it back into her manapool in a flash. Her hand found the tiny box Jiran had gifted her before the battle for Morothin, securely strapped to the inside of her thigh. The church's death squad hadn’t dared search her thoroughly enough to locate it, and she couldn't have been more thankful for the reservoir of mana packed within its tiny walls. She depressed the tiny button on its side and a trickle of fresh mana flowed through her skin where she quickly claimed it.

If not for Jiran, she truly would have been as helpless as they all thought she was. The thought, and the frustration of her situation nearly brought tears to her eyes.

Ugh, this is far too similar to that cursed cage. Whoever made this door was clearly far above my tier. How am I supposed to overcome such a gap?

With a vicious shake of her head, blond hair was sent cascading across her face. Olive funneled her fear, anxiety, and determination into her mana, solidifying her emotional bridge. She manually controlled the energies flowing out of her body, utilizing every trick she had ever learned. And she would continue to do so until the thrice-cursed door bent to her will.

 Jiran of Madra

Cameron still looked guilty as he craned his neck to question Jiran in a timid voice, “Suit up? Aren’t we getting upgrades too?”

“Hmm. I don’t know. Do you deserve an upgrade, Cammy?”

“Hey! Don’t be mad at me! I didn’t have a choice. You have no idea how bossy she gets when you’re not—” Niya’s head whipped around to glare daggers at Cameron and his tone flipped in a heartbeat, “I mean how lovely she is to everyone, ha, ha, ha.”

Jiran howled at his friend's broken laughter. He wiped a tear from his eye as he turned to leave, “Just meet me at the teleportation pad when you're ready. We’ll see about some upgrades before we leave but no promises.”

The moment he heard the word upgrades, Cameron was all smiles, “Thanks Jiran, you’re the best!” Niya facepalmed with a groan, setting Jiran off again.

The officers dutifully tailed him toward the forest. He dismissed them with a wave, “Colonel Mart, Major Dontin, please assist Colonel Roptere with preparing the army to move out.” They saluted, and he tossed them three crystals from the sack. “Get everyone lined up, when those start to glow, toss them in front of you then head through the portals.

Jiran had no intention of inviting every single soldier into his party to get them through the platform’s teleporter. Besides, the less people who knew about the platforms, the better. Though by this point, it was unlikely that the secret wasn't out.

He left the two after a salute of his own, blasting through the rain to the center of the forest. Mayalyn wasn't there yet, his map showing her near the western edge of the forest where he assumed the People had set up a camp of their own. His chest clenched, constricting his heart at the thought of forcing them out of their cave. But if the Graymin had won the battle, they would already be dead so the precaution had certainly been warranted, even if it was difficult to see them ousted from their homes once again.

Surprisingly, the platform wasn't underwater when he arrived. Despite the deluge, the water level hadn't actually risen around the device at all. Landing atop it, Jiran’s aura noticed that the water was simply vanishing when it touched above a certain point on its surface. He hadn't noticed before, likely due to Knife jumping him and his excitement to be back.

Jiran frowned, wondering where the lithe girl had run off to. She was out of his range so he shrugged and placed his hand on the pedestal’s gem. What used to be a considerable quantity of mana flowed into the device and he hopped through the portal to Sanctuary. 

Elemental Castigation created light that reflected thousands of times through the crystalline surfaces, building in brightness and quickly flooding the room until every nook and cranny was visible. The ship felt entirely different than the last time he’d been in it. While still empty and lifeless, Jiran sensed immeasurable potential lurking behind every crystalline surface. His experience with the Meersvants and their masterium made the crystal pedestals that ran the length of the walls into bountiful mysteries waiting to be unraveled. 

His larger aura was now able to pass through the entirety of the ship, revealing the nothingness beyond its outer hull in every direction save one. Jiran frowned, unsure what he was sensing. Mana flowed into his tap, interacting with his frigid soulwall to convert into Aspect. The much more sensitive energy raced outward, examining the material clinging to one full surface of the pyramid-shaped hull.

Jiran made several discoveries simultaneously. First, the emptiness wasn't actually empty, but packed with subtle movement. It felt like trillions of molecules were constantly bumping into his aspect across its entire surface. It wasn't density or mana, or anything that he was familiar with but his gut told him he didn't want to go out there and find out, if he even could. The ship's walls were incredibly durable, far more so than his current tier’s attributes made his body.

Also, the reason his Manabody couldn't pass through the semi-emptiness was because the framework there was almost non-existent and the constant bombardment of molecules was actually pushing against his aura, holding it back in such a subtle way that he hadn't noticed it before.

Lastly, the material clinging to the hull turned out to be some kind of smooth rock that he couldn't penetrate. Innumerable minuscule feelers had grown out of the hull, latching onto the rock and holding the entire ship in place.

Guess that means the ship is attached to the rock, not the other way around. And we definitely aren’t moving, so is this place clinging to a ceiling? Are we in some kind of massive tunnel? Maybe I'm wrong about this place being a spaceship. Whatever, not the time to be getting distracted.

Jiran headed to the console that allowed him to feed power to the ship and rested his fingers against its pristine surface.

[Basic Conversion Module Interface]

Jiran held one of the crystals from the bag up and a perfectly-shaped orifice opened that allowed him to slide the little mana-battery in. A series of messages populated across his vision.

[Compatible Power Source Detected: 10.00 C.D.U. Added]

[Current Power: (8%) 10 Million C.D.U. Of 120 Million C.D.U.]

Damn greedy bastard of a ship! There goes any hope of getting something useful out of this place for saving Olive. Well, I only need three of these to get the army back to the empire. I’ll keep two more in case we need to get back here quickly. The rest can go into the bottomless pit.

Jiran quickly slotted the rest of the crystals into the console, a sour taste in his mouth the entire time. He briefly considered draining some of his Armament but shook his head. He hadn't even used his own mana and he felt robbed. If he did, the frustration he felt would only grow.

There's a good chance I'll need everything I've got considering where we’re likely heading. Now isn't the time to be spending my mana on chances and what-ifs.

With a final glance around the mostly empty room, Jiran took his portal back to the valley. Mayalyn and Knife were waiting for him. In a surprising turn, Knife barely even registered his presence. She stood at ease behind Mayalyn with a hand resting comfortably on the hilt of her sheathed blade. She held one of his spears in the other and a long bow was slung over her shoulder.

Jiran lifted a brow at them and Mayalyn responded with a silent, dazzling smile. She walked with liquid grace to stand beside him. His aura and Mana Confluence eradicated the water clinging to them, earning him grateful looks.

“Thank you.”

“You're welcome,” Jiran grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. He turned serious, frowning while appraising her suit, “This might tickle.”

Mana Confluence worked its way through everything but the underlayer, replacing the materials with his newest designs while keeping the special modifications that were suited to her fighting style. He doubted she would appreciate the aura-resistant underlayer as that would certainly affect her ability to sense emotions.

Her suit reformed around her, becoming slightly thicker and more durable. He added formations to each leg that would release constant streams of energy similar to the propulsion waves the Meersvants vehicles used. When done, he stepped back and eyed her up and down.

She pursed her lips, mumbling under her breath, “Not even a little tickle. Disappointing.”

“Very funny. Let’s get the fine tuning out of the way before the others show up. Slowly, and I mean slowly, curl your toes while flexing your feet.”

Mayalyn nodded and followed his instructions, then released an undignified scream as she was launched into the air far faster than any tier four had a right to move, “Jiiiiiiiiiiraaaaaaan!”

“Oops,” He leaped after her while Knife roared with laughter.