Master Of None

2144  2144. Tracking Difficulty

From what the party could see, the entirety of the earth elemental plane was something that would take them months, if not close to a year to pass. That meant that the true earth sage had been an amazing help in allowing them to move so quickly. Just his ability to travel should be applauded.

When Walker caught on that there were markings made by the Earth king on the map of earth, he focused on them. They were intricately carved designs. Each representing a monster or important figure. But as he looked with more determination for the immortal king, he found a large group of figures moving together.

Some were small, and others large. But there were plenty that looked skeletal or like zombies. "I would say that is where they are. But where are they headed?"

As much as Gil was able to spot them, he still had no idea how and where their target was going. Especially since the immortal king had brought some unusual undead. Walker also somewhat followed Gil's thinking. They had made it all the way here, but what was the immortal king doing in the earth plane and how did he know where to go?

As much as Walker chalked it up to mana sense, he realized that the immortal king had walked significantly deeper in to the earth elemental plane than away from it toward something else. It was an odd thing to notice. On top of that, the immortal king didn't appear to have a solid direction to move.

"You don't think that it is looking for more things to experiment on, is it?" Remey was ready to crush the immortal king. She didn't like the fact that there were more than a hundred powerful undead with him. Plus more that they might not be able to see or that were somehow hidden.

"You should know that it will be easy for you to travel through the earth elemental plane. Those who live here are stubborn and prefer to remain where they are rather than explore. The other planes should have a lot more activity." The true earth sage was giving them much needed advice. The more that they were prepared for the better.

"We are here, the immortal king is there. Any recommendations for reaching him before he had gone too far?" With Walker being so serious, the others were preparing themselves for the journey there and an imminent better they were sure that it would be a little more troublesome than whatever they had thought.

"We can send you off. I will not fight, that is not what I spend my time doing. If I get involved, the other sages may sense it and wish to come explore what may make me move." The true earth sage was not being rude in the least. From what they had all realized, the balance here was very important.

That was the result of not having a focal point though. The elemental planes were embroiled in balancing wars between one another. After all the time that the world was cut off, those wars had ended. That balance had been found. Now things would be even more balanced. But they still had to make sure that they did not cause any unnecessary roughness for those they had yet to meet.

"It appears that the wind elemental plane and the earth elemental plane boundary is there too. You may need to venture within the air. Can all of you walk on pure wind mana clouds?" this was a dramatic difference as the true earth sage pointed it out.

"How is that possible? The map changed?" Onyx looked closer to see if he had just lost his mind. He was very unsure of what they had witnessed when it came to the earth map.

"Ah, I forgot you are not used to the elemental planes. They must always be shifting. Especially with the bridges to the world open again. Now we flow with your world. The world is the unity of manas after all. Or at least that's how the sages see it. A place where the balance of manas should always be evident."

Now this made sense. "I get it, just like in nature and real life, the manas will shift to balance one another. That means the boundaries between the elemental planes are also shifting. This is happening at such a large scale, that we wouldn't really understand it when walking there. That means we could stand still but still be moving elsewhere."

"And that means that the immortal king is also having a lot of trouble finding what he is looking for. Scouting is very hard here without knowing the natural flow of the planes." Gil's understanding made him begin to alter what he thought of the elemental planes. He had to change his way of scouting if he wanted to follow the immortal king at all.

"I'll need to see if I can follow mana more than physical signs. The wind elemental mana plane might be different. There are pure wind clouds and not solid earth beneath it. So I will need mana to travel there I assume…"

Gil's rambling made the true earth sage look fairly impressed. It was like watching a student grasp a complex subject in ways that they had not expected them to understand. He hadn't taught anyone before, but now the true earth sage felt that he might wish to. Might wish to show off the earth elemental plane more.

We should leave then. We might run in to monsters or other things that hold us up. But we might also need to figure out how to move through the wind elemental plane." Su pushed everyone a little. This was going to be tough.

The ideas about the boundaries between elemental planes were clear. But the environment might not be. It could be made of various fused elemental manas. All making the monsters there and the terrains hard to handle.

"I will send you off then." they followed the true earth sage out the passageway that they had come. The earth king was not there fully any longer, but there was a moment where the heart mana seemed to vibrate slightly. The earth king had heard it all and watched it all. He would keep witnessing what these beings would do within the earth elemental plane. Decide whether they would be ideal allies as the world settled back in to the flow.

When the true earth sage gave a wave, the earth shifted up again as it had before. The party was on another fast moving earth platform with the true earth sage behind them.

It was very odd how easily the Earth king and the true earth sage could change everything around them. Walker felt that he lacked this speed when it came to utilizing mana altogether. If he had that speed, it would mean his closeness and understanding of that mana would be higher than anyone else in the world by a hundred times over.

There was a great deal they learned by meeting the true earth sage. That some beings had been in the world and come here before the bridges had been broken. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Those beings would have perished or changed to become part of the elemental planes. Hence the true earth sage. But what if those who were born here?

There was still a lot left to wonder about. The abyssal and heavenly serpent race. The dragons. Elementals. And plenty more that Walker was sure existed here somewhere.

Focusing on the surroundings, Walker spotted the larger shapes of different monsters. Enough that he could gain all around appraisal of them along with their names for him to record later for the records of the earth elemental planes explorations.

Giant copper elephants, ebony worms, and even a monster called dust hare which was an elemental made of stone dust. It had the shape of a rabbit but was entirely made of earth elemental mana and stone dust.

These monsters had been here and would always be here. Their understanding of earth mana was well above anyone in the world. Not just because they were made from it, but because they absorbed and learned from the pure mana here.

That was the largest factor Walker caught on to. Just being here would strengthen them. It was strengthening him. Su was also showing signs that her natural earth affinity was growing.

Walker saw smaller earth spirits popping from the ground to look at her. She had affinities for all manas, but she had earth well before those. Now it was showing as her body gained earth mana faster than other manas. She would definitely be a more powerful guardian with denser earth mana to use.

That was all until the point as the earth platform the true earth sage made was slowing. Simply because they had started to feel a Breeze and the change in their surroundings.

…