Death Arch!
Standing before it while sporting a deep-seated gaze was Wally, his breaths long and slow. His muscles constantly twitched, producing thunderclaps as they were fighting against the Transcendent influence plaguing his body.
As his muscles compressed, moulded, and blasted into nothing the Transcendent influence, Wally felt his presence gradually climb higher and higher. However, once it reached its zenith, he purposefully stopped.
His ears twitched as he turned around to stare at the figure of Zhya who had appeared a dozen kilometres away. In patience, he waited until the latter was in earshot, "Can the leader of the Quip Clan afford to go on trips?"
"This takes precedence," Zhya said as her eyes trailed across Wally’s figure, from head to toe, as soon, her lips curled up ever so faintly, "You’re there."
"You’ve reached it."
"I have," Wally spoke, his gaze lingering upon the Death Arch, "It feels unreal. All I need to do now is to take a step forward, to cross the chasm and become the sole wielder of absolute power."
"It feels strange," He muttered, pointing at the curtain of night extending endlessly beyond, "Such a scary place the Sandy Grey Void is, terrorising every living being. This is a literal border of death for everyone, including me."
"In the past, that is." His body trembled in excitement, "I don’t know how to classify this feeling, Sister."
"The moment I take this step, I will truly become unfettered, no longer bound by the notions of Continents and the like." His lips quivered as he turned around and stared at Zhya, "I’m partly terrified of myself, but am also excited."
"Honestly speaking, I don’t think I am ready for what comes next."
"The Sandy Grey Void is a big unknown," Zhya said as she patted her stomach, "As someone with grey sand in her body, I can say this with assurance,"
Her gaze hardened as she uttered, "Never underestimate the Sandy Grey Void. What borders Sumatra is its weakest version. The farther you go from Sumatra, the farther from its protection, the stronger the grey sand’s properties get."
"I understand that," Wally shuddered, "What I mean to say is that...Sister,"
"I no longer feel fear when I gaze into this unknown. It’s unnerving."
It was a strange sensation, in that the subject of his fears could no longer scare him. Wally had achieved such a growth in terms of power that his mind couldn’t keep up.
"Then, will you not take that step?" Zhya asked.
"I have to, irrespective of what I feel." Wally smiled wryly as he stared at Zhya, "If I don’t, then the Cooter Clan has no future."
"But I am afraid, Sister. Afraid of the existence I would become when I take this step." Wally pointed at his mind, "And that terrifies me."
’He isn’t just making this up.’ Zhya frowned in all seriousness as she observed Wally, ’He’s truly shaken up mentally. Is it truly that terrifying?’
’Is it...’ She thought, ’I thought it might be on the same level as the Empyrean Supreme.’
’This is good. If he’s this shaken up already, then the payoff would be worth it.’ She thought and approached him, to stand beside him in silence, ’Then, I only need to prop him up mentally, enough that he could take that step without hesitation.’
"Let’s go," Zhya uttered, "We will explore the Mystic Tentacle Ruins."
"Okay," Wally nodded and approached the Death Arch and placed his hand on it. Prana radiated out of his being and seeped into the Death Arch as sand rose into the air next to him, forming into a clump that gradually expanded to form a three-dimensional maze.
"Is this...the map?" Zhya observed the route curving across the lump, in all directions, ’Is it located in a place similar to the Ravaged Federation?’
"Is it alright, Sister?" Wally asked once the clump finished forming, turning into a map that was a dozen times his body size, "It will take us a while to get there."
"You don’t have to worry about that." Zhya said and patted the fist-sized Homing Satellites hanging at her hips, "I came prepared."
"They will carry us through the entire route. We only need to sit back and relax." She pointed at the Mystic Biome Bomb in her possession, which had enough Prana to form a small spark, "It has more than enough to last us the entire trip multiple fold."
"How much of the Quip Clan’s wealth is concentrated in your belt?" Wally smiled wryly as he stared at her hips, "I wonder, in terms of wealth comparison, how much is the difference between our two Clans now?"
"You really want to know?" Zhya raised an eyebrow.
"Will it make me feel depressed?" Wally asked.
"Plenty more than that," Zhya chuckled. "It requires a state of Harmony spanning days just to communicate across our network, which has become so large we have an entire division in charge of just keeping count."
"Alright, alright," Zhya laughed and patted Wally upon seeing his foul mood, "Lead the way, will you?"
"Will the two of us be enough?" Wally asked.
"If you be the shield, and I be the spear, is there anything we cannot handle?" Zhya asked.
"...No," Wally shook his head, "It is better to be safe than sorry. I can’t predict how terrifying a Mystic Tentacle’s Ruins would be."
"Which is exactly why I didn’t bring anyone else. They might hold us back in the event of our escape." Zhya said as the duo boarded a quadrupedal Homing Satellite, which began to move spontaneously after.
The sand was dropped to the ground after Wally recorded the map’s details in an Information Slip. The Homing Satellite began its journey.
A few days later, appearing before the Death Arch was Brangara. He stared at it and yawned, "It’s still here."
In the span of his yawn, his eyes flashed violet thrice, ’The frequency is growing higher.’
’It might start soon.’ He thought and entered the Sandy Grey Void, remaining outside for a few hours before making his return. He didn’t try to cleanse himself of the Transcendent Influence and instead walked through the Death Arch as is.
As he did so, there was a small fluctuation across the border, and the trace grains of grey sand clinging to his hair were turned into regular sand.
Brangara brushed his hair and felt the sand, "It is just normal sand now."
He dripped a droplet of blood upon the grains, and used psychokinesis through it. The blood exerted pressure on the grains and merged them into a small sphere.
There was a flash of heat and light from the pressure as the individual grains fused into a singular whole. Brangara walked into the Sandy-Grey Void and returned a few hours later, carrying some granules of grey sand on his hair.
And same as before, when he walked through the Death Arch, his Transcendent-induced presence ablaze, a pulse erupted from the border and turned the grey sand into regular sand. He used his blood to compress it into a sphere once again.
He repeated the process once more, until he had three spheres on his palm, which began to hover a centimetre above the skin, "Been a while since I last used this."
The three spheres positioned themselves like the vertices of a triangle, harmonious with each other. It has a trace of the pulse released by the Death Arch.
The triangle spun upon his palm and slowly pointed at a certain angle, "That way, huh?"
Skill—Resonant Harmony!
Everything on Sumatra had a presence, no matter how strong or weak it was. Similar to how a magnetic compass worked, Brangara used his psychokinesis to create a protective environment around the triangle, keeping it free from external influence.
In this protective casing, it would basically align itself as if seeking its own presence. It was basically the principle of resonance.
And the three spheres were slightly different from each other. It was a technique Brangara had learnt from a Mystic Tentacle Ruin. The previous time he used it was to chase after the Mammoth Clan Virala. He also used it to find Loot.
This technique was created by a Mystic Tentacle, based on their State of Harmony, ’Back in the day, I didn’t know about a State of Harmony. Since I am aware of it now, I can better understand this technique.’
It wasn’t even a technique, but merely an encasing without presence, one that contained a substance with a presence resonant with the target’s presence.
Mystic Bone Art had a technique that one could use to clean their teeth. It was so simple that it couldn’t even be called a Skill.
Resonant Harmony was the same. Brangara had simply added to it a bunch of sophistication to improve its accuracy and created a Skill.
The triangle danced upon his palm and pointed him in the direction of the Mystic Tentacle Ruins. Brangara started with a light jog and gradually increased his pace once the accuracy of the triangle increased.
He had a few goals to achieve by exploring this Ruins, ’Unlike in the past, I can give attention to detail that I hadn’t done so before.’
With that thought in mind, he proceeded on a route of his own, heading to the same destination as the duo of Zhya and Wally.
...
In a far-away location, far beyond the reach of anyone on Sumatra, deep underground, in a space of its own, was a Brully Inala.
Standing before him were golden humanoids numbering in the dozens, observing his hands like they were priceless artefacts.
"It’s a wonder," Saying so, one of the golden humanoids used a Billakin pickaxe to repeatedly hack away at Inala’s knuckles, "In your arms lie the key to reaching the extremity that we had pursued for countless millennia."
"And I am telling you," Inala grumbled, "Boul Brimgan already achieved it."
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