Chapter 232 – Soaring (Two)

Thud─

A foot slipping from a branch.

A body soaring toward the open sky.

Air at a height forbidden to earthly beings clings sharply to every inch of skin.

Haa.

Every sensation in the body is unnervingly vivid.

Lowering his head reveals the ground spread out dizzyingly far below.

A fall would mean instant death.

Slowly, he feels his body descending.

One meter… three meters… eight meters….

The moment his falling speed began to swell like a snowball.

Zzzt!

The wind orbs condensed in the exhaust ports of the flight device shattered and exploded.

The released gale generated immense propulsion, and the boy corrected his posture to ascend.

─────!

Higher, even higher.

Upward, further upward.

Thanks to the pair of wings attached to the device, adjusting his center of gravity for directional control wasn’t difficult.

The boy’s body, rapidly climbing, entered the black clouds blanketing the sky.

His vision darkened abruptly.

The black clouds touching his entire body looked like tangled threads scattered haphazardly, like undulating wool, or like factory smoke.

An instinctive sense of their harmfulness made him hold his breath for the moment.

He just needed to endure until he broke through the thick clouds and rose above them.

‘Above the clouds.’

The yellow Mana, resonating with the boy’s excitement, overflowed from the gem.

Crackle! Zap!

It flowed over his skin, flashing into electric currents, or was injected into the device, becoming fuel itself.

Then, sensing something, Ray instinctively twisted his body.

Swish─! Whiz!

A slender projectile, narrowly missing his body, pierced through the black cloud and vanished beyond.

It resembled a giant needle.

And, if his eyes weren’t deceiving him.

‘Crimson black…?’

Vicious, who had invaded Rael Row, immediately came to mind.

There was no time to think deeply, as more needles came flying in succession.

Swish─! Swish──! Swish─!

Evading the relentless attacks while changing posture, he increased his ascent speed.

Perhaps due to overloading the output, the flight device emitted an incessant clattering sound.

Swish─!

Dodging the last needle, he emerged from the clouds.

Exhaling the breath he’d held, the boy could see it.

A certain object, diagonally below and opposite, also positioned above the clouds like him.

‘The sun…?’

It was a massive sphere.

Entangled red and black Mana were devouring each other’s forms, drawing patterns that seemed to flicker like flames.

Unconsciously, he thought of the sun, but soon realized it wasn’t.

‘Not the sun. That’s a fake.’

Not a hint of warmth emanated from the sphere.

For a moment, Ray felt a strange sensation, as if the sphere was watching him.

He soon noticed.

The red and black Mana of the sphere had, at some point, taken the shape of eyes.

The boy gazed at the sphere.

The sphere gazed at the boy.

“So this was it.”

Suddenly, the boy parted his lips.

“Doctor, the reason you could track my movements. I thought it was strange. There were several moments when surveillance through Homunculi alone shouldn’t have been enough to track me. So you were watching the ground with this. What’s your purpose? What are you trying to do by creating such an artificial object in the sky?”

As expected, no answer came.

Only the Mana gathered before the sphere was being shaped into needle forms.

Whoosh! Crackle!

He immediately generated and launched Lightning and flames, but they were deflected by a repulsive force emitted by the sphere.

‘Ordinary attacks seem useless. And these needles… much sharper and larger than the ones flying earlier.’

On the ground, he could have easily dodged using Electrification, but now, suspended in midair, maneuvering was difficult.

Moreover, even with Mana injection, the flight device’s output continued to drop.

“…….”

He turned his head back.

Looked upward.

The underside of the island, slanted like a top, loomed majestically.

…Not too far, but.

‘Still lacking a bit of distance.’

Having made his judgment, Ray heightened all his senses, focusing intently on the needle taking shape below, rushing toward completion.

And the moment it was fired.

Swish!

Timing it perfectly, he formed a Ward at maximum output on a single point beneath his foot.

Kwaang!

A sharp pain shot through his sole.

Simultaneously, he felt his body being propelled upward by the recoil of the collision.

Whoooosh!

His rising vision.

Increasing altitude.

Not missing the opportunity, he maximized the flight device’s output.

─────!

The wind from the exhaust ports burned its last breath as the device’s rattling intensified.

Watching the rapidly approaching island, he stretched his hand toward the cliff, the boundary.

‘Just a little, just a bit more….’

Thud!

Successfully grabbing the edge, Ray enhanced his muscle strength and swiftly pulled his body up onto the cliff.

Instantly sensing Mana movement behind him, he immediately rolled his body.

Kwaang!

Contrary to expectation, the explosive sound didn’t originate from where he had just stood.

An additional needle that had flown in was shattering and dispersing far off in the empty sky.

“…A Ward.”

Ray belatedly realized a transparent blue Ward was surrounding the island.

It appeared stronger than any Ward he had seen before.

And wherever the black clouds touched the boundary, they vanished as if being sucked in.

Perhaps that was why there were fewer clouds gathered beneath the island.

Mesmerized by the sight of blue devouring black, Ray suddenly wondered.

‘…The needles and clouds can’t pass through the Ward.’

Then how did I pass through?

Just then, his chest burned, and a thought echoed in his mind.

[Open the door! Open the door!]

[Master, open the door! Open the door!]

[Bang bang bang! Bang bang!]

“…….”

Ray remembered he had blocked the entrance/exit of the yellow gem.

He had done so because Lacria, excited since climbing the World Tree, might have recklessly come out during the flight.

“I know, you really wanted to come up here too.”

The moment the entrance/exit opened, Lacria, who came out, flicked its tongue and disappeared into the island’s interior.

Wriggling, diligently.

Without even looking back.

“Normally, it won’t move unless its body is fully charged with Mana. What on earth is over there?”

Ray slowly raised his gaze, following Lacria’s form that had set off from beneath his feet.

And he could see it.

The nameless flowers, trees, and thickets spread across the entire island.

“…A forest.”

Though not as dense and deep as the Last Forest, the scenery unfolding before his eyes was undeniably on a scale worthy of being called a forest.

However.

‘…The plants aren’t green.’

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and more.

Every visible plant, swaying in the breeze, rippled with Mana of all hues before returning to their original forms, repeating the process.

As if traversing the boundary between reality and a dream.

A tingling sensation ran through his whole body at the wondrous, dreamlike scenery.

Thump.

He sat down.

Flap.

He took out his sketchbook and opened it.

He couldn’t take any action other than transferring the scene before his eyes onto paper.

Scratch scratch─

While his hand holding the colored pencil moved busily, he continued his analysis.

‘The Mana is cleaner than even the Last Forest. The quality is higher too. At this level, it might even be considered superior to the purified Mana of the Ring.’

Next, he recalled Gwendel’s words.

「Plants provide us with great help beyond just shade or fruit. One of those is absorbing Atmospheric Mana, purifying it, and then releasing it.」

「You can think of it as a role similar to the Ring. The Ring also absorbs Mana spread in the atmosphere and purifies it, right?」

「There is a difference. Unlike the Ring, purification by plants doesn’t end in one cycle. For plants, Mana purification is like breathing, so it occurs infinitely.」

If the plants were rippling as Mana bodies, just how many cycles of purification had taken place here?

Thousands, tens of thousands.

Or perhaps even more.

‘Of course, it still can’t match the Gem’s Mana, but….’

It was then that he felt something damp touch his ankle.

Looking up, there was a fox at his feet.

Fluffy orange fur.

Judging by its size, it seemed like a cub.

The creature, which had been sniffing, began gnawing on the tip of his shoe.

‘Do animals live here too? Aside from floating in the sky, this is still a forest, so…?’

Ray reached out to pet its fur, saying,

“Are you a friend who lives here?”

Perhaps startled by the approaching hand, the fox cub flinched back.

Ray could see its front paw momentarily ripple with orange Mana before returning.

“So you were a Spirit.”

Strong curiosity and inquisitiveness flickered in Ray’s eyes.

Beings presumed to be one of the ancient races based on mural contents.

Simultaneously, beings nowhere easily found nowadays.

During his travels through Sectors, he had never encountered one, and even in the Mana-rich Last Forest, the individuals he witnessed didn’t exceed double digits.

‘And even those were all young Spirits. Or their intelligence wasn’t developed enough for conversation.’

The Ancient Era and Spirits.

That was the reason he hadn’t been able to gain any particular insights related to them.

He had asked Lacria several times, but it was merely an innocent, ignorant snake that had lived its whole life in the wasteland.

But now, a new Spirit had appeared before his eyes.

And on an unknown island with abnormally abundant Mana.

‘Perhaps more Spirits exist on this island.’

There was a chance this cub’s parents were Spirits too.

Feeling his heart race, Ray opened his mouth.

“Go and bring your parents. We need to talk about you chewing up this shoe and compensation for it. The harshness and reality of society is that being young doesn’t mean you get off scot-free, understand?”

The fox cub didn’t respond to the boy’s demand.

It just circled around, letting out yipping cries.

“I see, refusing to admit your mistake. I’ll respect your principled stance. But baseless principle only worsens the situation. Hurry back and get your parents… Do you want something from me?”

Calmly observing the Vessel, Ray realized the creature was hungry.

Rustle.

He took out some jerky from his bag and offered it.

“Yip yip!”

“Not this?”

This time, he took out a potato and a carrot.

“Grrrr!”

“Not this either?”

Pondering, Ray soon remembered it was a Spirit.

Huuuum─!

Summoning the yellow and green gems, the fox cub’s reaction changed.

The creature, which had been circling warily, jumped right into his lap and tried to rub its head against the two gems.

“Calm down first.”

“Yip! Yip yip!”

When he extracted and let flow some of the Gems’ Mana, it absorbed it frantically.

It swallowed with its mouth.

And absorbed with its body.

Orange, yellow, green.

The cub’s entire body repeatedly shimmered with radiant light before returning.

“…Eats well.”

Just then, Ray suddenly felt a gaze from the forest entrance.

Turning his gaze, he saw a pair of adult foxes looking this way.

Thump!

Ray grabbed the scruff of the cub, still engrossed in its meal, and stood up.

“Perfect timing. See this shoe, all gnawed up? We need to have a talk about parenting and compensation.”

The fox couple didn’t answer.

They looked at each other as if exchanging words, then turned their heads back to stare intently at him.

Perhaps they weren’t Spirits.

If they were ordinary animals without developed intelligence, attempting conversation through Ignition would be meaningless.

Just as Ray was inwardly feeling disappointed.

“First, we sincerely apologize for our child’s misdeed.”

An answer came back.