Lady Farren gazed wistfully at her old wooden bow. This ancient, refurbished weapon had served her well throughout the years, but now, it was time for her to move on.
She caressed the brown, intertwined Darkwood vines and gently poured her Dao Heart power inside it. Immediately, the bow string emanated a green light underneath all of its creases before the knots on its end began to untie and shrivel.
The Darkwood slithered through her hands, circling through her wrist and onto her arm, before crawling to the Compound Bow in her back.
Darkwood and Mithril, two mythical items thought to have been lost in time, began to feel each other's presence and resonate, creating a palpable cadence of beats in the ground.
The intertwined dark vines automatically weaved itself on the Compound Bow's mechanisms, lengthening itself to fit perfectly to the weapon's needs.
The string knotted itself, finishing the transfer of power.
The difference was immediate. Both the natural aura of the Darkwood and the Mithril conflated with each other, creating a synergistic explosion that seemed to multiply the weapon's effective power.
Katarina's hair stood on end.
She had just witnessed the creation of one of the most powerful weapons she had ever seen.
The nascent willpower and spirit of the weapon was effervescent. It was like a newborn monster just waiting to be unleashed with inexorable zeal.
That 'Compound Bow' matched the quality and power of their own weapons back in their organization. Theirs were ancient, well-preserved monsters that achieved its ferocity through thousands of years of history. Meanwhile, this weapon almost reached that same level of power while still being in its nascent, unadulterated stage. It still had room to grow.
And this weapon was just casually given to Lady Farren by Michael.
"I had another spare," he said.
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…
Michael decided to pull out all the stops to rescue Lyra. His Drone manifested in front of him, dropping its invisibility.
This was their fastest means of transportation.
"Get in," he said to them.
Katarina stared at the Drone, confused. With a simple command, nanoparticles began to ooze out of the Drone's frame, quickly increasing its size and volume to become ten times its original size.
Once again, Katarina stared at the Drone, thousands of thoughts racing through her head.
'That's been here the entire time?'
Michael showed them the way inside the Drone's Pocket Dimension, transporting all of them inside the Control Room.
Lady Farren had already been inside the Drone once, so she wasn't that shocked.
"Show me the location," Michael said to her.
He stood in front of a large table with a holographic 3D map of their current surroundings. And with an outward pinch, he zoomed out and showed the entirety of the Queens region.
Lady Farren studied it for a second before pointing to a location further north of New Sparta.
Immediately, the Drone took off into the skies and zoomed at incredibly fast speeds. And inside the Control Room, they saw the bountiful acacia forest of the Elven village blur in the screens on the wall as they left New Sparta behind.
With the new [Double Blade Propeller] upgrades, their speeds rivaled even that of jet engines. And as they reached higher in elevation, the Drone's speed picked up even more as wind resistance lessened.
Katarina silently watched her surroundings, seeing the landscape of the Queens region blur beneath her feet.
And within less than ten minutes after their ascent, they finally reached the location on the image.
He saw a small hill in the distance where the perspective would perfectly coincide with the image.
"This is the place," Katarina declared.
"How did you know?" he asked her.
"Because I can't sense them."
Michael piloted the Drone to descend, eventually reaching the giant rift in the two tectonic plates in the land.
From a cursory glance, it truly did seem like the place was totally desolate. He didn't see any signs of Light mana signatures on the ground nor did he see the heat signatures of Maugnetics.
They all exited the Drone, finding themselves standing on the very edge of a steep cliff overlooking the abyss.
"Let me handle this," Katarina said.
She raised her hand, Aubilty Power oozing out of her very presence. Michael watched as a pristine, brilliant diamond vambrace manifested around her arm.
And with her Nascent Spirit-ladend hand, she wrenched the air, warping the very fabric of reality itself.
Her immense physical strength tore through this tangible fabric, creating an otherworldly fracture in reality. And even in this small and narrow vista, Michael was able to catch a glimpse of a fortified stronghold where the rift in the tectonic plates were supposed to be.
Beyond the rift and atop a floating island stood a fully fortified castle with ramparts surrounding it from all sides and bastions jutting out on the four corners.
Even upon a superficial glance at this castle, he saw hundreds of Light mana and Aubility Power signatures materializing in his vision.
Tens of soldiers walked around the parapets, briefly checking through the gaps in the battlements as they patrolled the area.
The entire castle itself became a galaxy in his vision.
Michael was completely shocked to see an entire settlement hidden away from reality with no one the wiser.
Whoever created this was definitely someone beyond the Body Formation realm. Only a Nascent Spirit cultivator could hide this from his sight.
"Follow me," Katarina said.
By now, diamond crystal-like structures had formed around the rift, solidifying the doorway to this stronghold.
She confidently strutted inside, her face devoid of any consternation.
Now, Michael would have been a little bit reluctant besieging a castle, guns blazing, all by themselves. But seeing the unperturbed look on Katarina, he felt a little bit better.
All three of them stepped inside, finding themselves facing a twenty foot tall bulwark as their first obstacle.
"I'm going to create a distraction while both of you find Lyra."
Before Michael could even ask any questions, he felt a tremendous shockwave by his side as Katarina transformed into her Nascent Spirit form instantly, catching all of the soldiers' attention.