Unusual Enemies - A LitRPG Adventure (The Whispering Crystals, #2)

by Mills, H. C.

  I link it up and let go, holding my breath. The spiral shifts and wobbles, as the initial flow lines dissolve, and it turns from a rigid spiral into a continuous whirlpool of Lavi that keeps spouting out compressed Lavi from the bottom, which quickly decompresses as it is given space, forming additional Lavi.

  A window pops into view.

  I did it! And it doesn’t hurt!

  This time, I actually dance.

  Seconds later, done with expressing myself through the art of dance, I flop down on the bed, happy, yet confused.

  This spiralling whirlpool of Lavi that’s now spinning under its own momentum, fed by a single flow of Lavi, shouldn’t work. I mean, before, I was the one forcing the Lavi inward, and it protested heavily, yet now all of the Lavi is flowing inward by itself, even compressing the Lavi in the middle somehow... but why?

  There must be some kind of attractive force coming from the centre of the whirlpool, binding it all together, but where is it coming from? Is it the compressed Lavi, that’s somehow attracting more Lavi unto itself, causing it to compress further? A kind of Lavi gravity... Lavity?

  I shake my head, smirking. Still, I was kind of expecting to come across something weird here, as what this Skill promised from the start was basically free energy. Moreover, free Lavi, which is supposedly only formed by the combination of Yin and Yang.

  How do plants do it then?

  Ugh, enough. I’ll save these questions for when I can ask them.

  “Hey Suri...”

  [Congratulations, Emma,] Suri chimes, apparently waiting so as not to disturb my thought process.

  So thoughtful!

  “Thanks! Can I see the Lavi Flows Window, please?”

  [Sure thing.]

  My Lavi Font is currently only creating 1.5 Onkh Lavi per minute, not as much as I’d hoped.

  But wow, my net intake is currently 14.5 Onkh. Meditating here would be great for my Lavi Pool.

  How much of that net intake will be left during the next Trial, though?

  Let’s see, there won’t be a Crystal of Lavi in the ceiling—at least, I seriously doubt it—so that takes me down to 9.5. Then there’s the fact that we’ll mostly be under-Hydrum, and my current Lavi intake in Hydrum is only 7 Onkh per minute, so that takes it down to 4. Add to that the second mode of Boost Physical and it drops to -1.

  Mmm.

  Of course, that’s on breakfast food, meaning jicca nuts and birberries. If I eat Trigot meat, I can get 1.5 Onkh per minute more, bringing me up to a net +0.5 Onkh per minute. That doesn’t leave me a lot of wiggle room, but at least it’s net positive.

  Still...

  “Hey Suri.”

  [Yeah?]

  “What would half a Skilldream for Lavi Font level 2 cost?”

  [25 Trial Points.]

  Well, I did just save 25 Trial Points.

  What can I say? I’m a gambler.

  At first, it seems like my luck holds true. The second level of Lavi Font just adds a second flow into the spiral from the opposite side, which sounds easy enough.

  Unfortunately, just steering the second flow into the spiral doesn’t work, as it quickly clogs up and bursts apart when I try. My guess for why would be that the centre isn’t compressed enough, and therefore can’t provide a big enough attractive force to keep the spiral from, well, spiralling out of control.

  It can’t ever be easy, can it? Guess I’ll have to start from scratch.

  Of course, this spiral is much bigger and more powerful than the previous one, and having to split my focus over two flows does not make it any easier, despite the fact that I have some practice with that thanks to the second level of Boost Physical.

  An hour and a half into my training session, things are looking grim. Despite my best efforts, the spiral keeps collapsing in the final tenth or so. I just can’t compress the Lavi far enough, slow it down enough, and most importantly, bend two flows at once, fast enough.

  [I think you should give it up for now,] Suri unexpectedly chimes.

  “No,” I state flatly.

  [Emma...]

  “I said ‘No,’ Suri!” I snap. “I spent 25 Trial Points and four hours on getting this second level. I’ll figure it out.”

  [While your pig-headedness has often turned out a boon, in this case, it’s clouding your judgement,] Suri chimes calmly. [You need to face facts. You’re not ready for the next level of Lavi Font, and you’re now wasting valuable time better spent honing other Skills. Now do me a favour and give up.]

  Suri’s words are like a bucket of cold Hydrum to my face.

  I groan, hiding my head in my hands in frustration.

  [It’s okay, Emma. The rest won’t even have to know you failed, because you didn’t spend any more than you said you would.]

  I failed. The words, perhaps meant to soothe me, sting. But Suri’s right. I have better things to do.

  And I guess the others don’t really need to know about this. At least, not right now.

  I roll my neck. Apparently, taking two Skilldreams in a row—with intense, Meditative practise after each—is murder on my neck muscles.

  I restore the single-Lavi-Flow spiral of Lavi Font’s first level with little difficulty.

  All right, so it wasn’t a complete waste. I still learned a thing or two, got some good practice in manipulating Lavi, and who knows? I might figure this second level out on my own at some point.

  Still, spending 25 Trial Points and having nothing concrete to show for it sucks. And as Suri said, it’s not like I didn’t have anything else important to do.

  Trying to use Infuse Toxic Energy into Hydrum or my spear, for example. Practising swimming like a mermaid in the living room.

  Well, what’s done is done. I better go see how the others fared, before my ass and the bed become One.

  Hey, you never know in this place.

  CHAPTER 19

  Whispers in the dark

  I WALK THROUGH THE small hallway to the living room, only to find the door at the end won’t open.

  “Ehm, Suri?”

  [Would you like to go in?]

  “Well, yes?”

  No sooner have the words left my lips than a deluge of Hydrum comes down on top of me from a grating in the ceiling.

  “You, ugh,” I sputter as the hallway fills up.

  [I what?] Suri chimes in an innocent voice.

  ‘All right, well played,’ I subvocalise at her after releasing the last dregs of Aether from my lungs.

  As soon as the hallway is full, the door separating me from the living room grinds open.

  I swim through normally.

  Alec glances at me, interrupting his under-Hydrum spar with Jacob to wave at me.

  his cheery voice suddenly erupts in my mind.

  Damn, he tethered me quickly. I didn’t even notice either, those tethers are really thin.

  I send back after concentrating for a second to form and cast a tether back. I suggest with a grin, cracking my knuckles.

  I watch him chuckle without sound.

  He waves at Jacob, signing ‘Show her!’ somehow coming off a little sarcastic and gleeful.

  Jacob looks back and forth between us with a dry look on his face, signing something along the lines of, ‘It’s impolite to whisper in public.’

  I shrug, and wave as if to say, ‘Go on.’ That one doesn’t take any supernatural translation.

  Jacob sighs inaudibly and uses a few consecutive signs to convey a longer message. ‘I took half a Skilldream. Haven’t figured it out yet. Hard to practise, lack Qi.’

  I suppress my urge to frown at that news. It’d be a bit hypocritic
al for me to judge him, after all. Actually, he stands a good chance of succeeding, now that I think about it.

  I break off the tether linking me to Alec and throw a new one towards Jacob.

  Jacob nods, a brief flash of relief passing over his face before he turns to glare at Alec, who’s smirking at him. ‘No, actually,’ Jacob signs, ‘she’s not yelling at me telepathically.’

  Alec’s face falls.

  I snort, but only succeed in blowing a little extra Hydrum out of my nostrils. Anyway, like I’d just start yelling at someone over something like that. Ridiculous.

  Jacob shakes his head, and raises his shortsword, pointing the business end at a target with his arm stretched, signing, ‘This is how far I get now.’

  A look of concentration comes over his face, followed by a flash of yellow from the crystal tied to his wrist.

  The sword shoots forward, but its flight—swim?—is neither fast nor stable. It twists end over end until the pommel finally hits the target left of the centre. The way it sinks to the floor after just looks kinda sad.

  Jacob shakes his head.

  I swim over to pat him on the shoulder. I suggest Telepathically.

  Not sure if the flywheel effect still applies in this realm, actually, but I guess we’ll see. Also, the viscosity of the Hydrum may be an issue.

  Jacob thinks for a second, then nods at me and goes to fetch his sword and continue their spar.

  I spot Dave over on the couch and wave at him, but he’s still busy studying his crystal.

  A door grinds open, and out swims Kaitlynn. The moment she spots me, she makes a beeline towards me, grinning happily.

  ‘Emma, check this!’ she signs before lifting a hand and aiming right past me at a floating target.

  My eyes widen, but before I can communicate anything back, the Focus Crystal tied to her wrist lights up with an ominous red glow.

  An ear-piercing, high-pitched whine follows. A visible distortion of the Hydrum stretches out from Kaitlynn’s hand towards the target, which shakes intensely for a few moments, before the Focus Crystal’s red glow runs out.

  I massage my ears with a pained grimace. Kaitlynn smiles bashfully, signing, ‘Whoops.’

  Alec signs, ‘Metaaaal!’ with a huge grin. Well, either that or he means to say that he wants to cosplay Spider-Man next. It could go either way, knowing him.

  I shake my head ruefully, as I extend a tether towards Kaitlynn.

  She sticks up a thumb. ‘You got it!’

  Dave comes swimming over.

  I nod at him. From the corner of my eye, I see Kaitlynn do the same. Hmm? Can Dave tether multiple people simultaneously now?

  That does seem like the logical next step in Telepathy. I’ll have to try that later.

  Dave swims past us and enters the hallway towards his room.

  Kaitlynn signs at me, ‘Did everybody else get their Skilldream already?’

  I sign in the affirmative by blowing a silent raspberry at her.

  She narrows her eye at me and continues signing with a rude gesture. ‘I’m out of Qi now. Gonna practise Telepathy.’

  I send.

  For some reason, I can’t help but want to show off a little, now that Kaitlynn’s here.

  I inhale as much Hydrum as I can and wrest control over the copious Lavi inside, even exchanging some of it with my own. Next, I exhale through my nose and shape a slightly glowing tail around my legs.

  Kaitlynn watches with wide eyes as I kick with both legs and shoot forward.

  With all the space here, I can finally try to really build some speed, going in circles around the room. Alec and Jacob watch too, with dropped jaws.

  On a whim, in between two breaths, I activate the first mode of Boost Physical with a quick yank, to give my next kick a little extra oomph.

  Unfortunately, my tail can’t handle the added stress, and it rips and disintegrates.

  Shit.

  I play it off coolly, as if this was my intention, and use my remaining momentum to coast back to Kaitlynn.

  She mouths ‘What?!’ at me, shaking her head in disbelief, before signing, ‘That was so cool! Ah man, I’m so jealous of your Breath Control.’

  I take a moment to bask in her adulation, before narrowing my eyes at her, an idea beginning to form.

 

  If being under-Hydrum could help me practise my breathing, maybe it’s time to give teaching the third level of Respiration another shot.

  While Kaitlynn practises according to my instructions, I turn my attention towards my only Qi-based Skill thus far: Infuse.

  The first thing I try is to Infuse some outflowing Hydrum near one of the grates in the floor, to see if it’ll work at all. Something that has been puzzling me a little is that I’ve never seen Toxic Energy in the different bodies of Hydrum I’ve encountered thus far, while I’m also pretty sure Moonshade Sap is in large part made of Hydrum.

  Cold flakes of Yin Qi dance beneath my skin towards the Focus Crystal around my neck. It lights up with a dim blue glow, which quickly changes to a vibrant purple, as I transform the gathered Qi to tendrils of devouring Toxic Energy.

  As I try to force the tendrils into the Hydrum, however, I’m met with resistance. As if the Hydrum doesn’t wish to be tainted, or perhaps refuses to become One with Toxic Energy?

  I try pushing harder, and harder still, focusing all of my intent on it, until eventually, a sliver of Toxic Energy snaps away from the crystal, shooting into and forming a perfectly round drop of Toxic Hydrum, which is quickly sucked away.

  Interesting. But even doing this much left me a little lightheaded, so it doesn’t seem like a viable way to use Infuse under-Hydrum.

  Luckily, I was prepared for that.

  I swim over and grab my spear.

  Last time, I figured out that it was actually very easy to Infuse my spear, but doing only that would be rather pointless, as the Toxic Energy would just slowly drain out into the surrounding Aether. Instead, I need to maintain control over the Toxic Energy, so I can then later eject it from my spear into a stabbed enemy.

  And so I get to practising, using the smallest amount of Qi I can use at a time—a single Onkh—and trying to maintain control over the energy inside the spear as long as possible.

  It is not easy. Very different from controlling Lavi.

  Lavi is—literally—alive. It likes to move randomly, almost joyfully, and all you need to do is give it direction.

  Toxic Energy is a little more difficult to direct. It behaves erratically, at one time rushing towards something, at another dragging its heels, like a fussy toddler. It keeps worming out of my grip, like, well, a toddler, again? Maybe like a squirming, greased up toddler, that won’t learn until it slips out of your arms and bashes its head open on cold hard reality.

  I think I just killed that metaphor. Also, I might make a bad mom. Great.

  Anyway, I’m making some progress, but it’s slow going and tiring, and I’m quickly running out of Qi.

  It doesn’t seem likely that I’ll be able to extend the duration of my control to something truly useful with the time I have left here. Is there another way I could use Infuse perhaps?

  What about Infusing an enemy directly?

  Probably not an option in most cases. I’d really rather keep my enemies at least a spear’s length away from me.

  Wait, what if I used my spear not as storage, but as a conduit? Could I Infuse something through my spea
r in one go?

  Intrigued by this idea, I make my way over to one of the floating targets, kept in place by chains attached to the ceiling and floor.

  I stick my spear in unceremoniously, like—yeah, no, I’m gonna lay off the metaphors for a while.

  Like before, my Toxic Energy enters the spear easily, but this time, I attempt to push it immediately onwards into the target.

  There’s some resistance, but nothing like with the Hydrum. In fact, it’s working surprisingly well. Some Toxic Energy lingers in my spear, but most of it ends up in the target. I remove my spear and find purple strands of dried vine around the cut I made.

  Success!

  I practise this for a while, but eventually, inevitably, my Qi runs out. I take up swimming again, trying to strengthen my tail to the point where it can withstand my kicks with the second mode of Boost Physical active.

  At some point, Jacob tires of sparring, and joins Kaitlynn in her breathing exercises, hoping to reach the second level of Respiration, and I take over as Alec’s sparring partner.

  It takes a bit of practice to swim while holding my spear, but soon I’m swimming circles around Alec using only my legs, free to take stabs at him from all sides.

  Forced into a defensive position, he can’t do much more than turtle up and try to fend off my stabs with swipes of his own, lighter spear.

  On a whim, I reach out to him with a tether.

  He stares at me for a second but is quick to react.

  I nod, coming to a stop for a second.

  Alec smirks.

  I fire back, causing his eye to widen comically.

  But he doesn’t.

  Alec’s first bolt of lightning strikes me on the thigh, even though I’m going full speed. Like last time with the chief, my muscles cramp up and twitch. It hurts like a mother, worse than last time actually. Guess there was more juice behind this one.