The Bastion emerged from the Mystic Realm and blocked out the midday sun, casting Red Vine Peak in a looming shadow. Purple flames rippled across the jagged black rock that made up the ship's hull while Willow blazed with soul flames as if he were a chimney atop the behemoth that was as long as Ashlock was tall.
Something poked its head over the side of the Bastion and gazed at Ashlock with liquid gold eyes. The black scales and mischievous grin were enough to key Ashlock in on who this new face might be.
"Is that you, Kaida?" Ashlock asked the creature, and it nodded. "You certainly look more... handsome? Grownup?"
Kaida tilted his head at him in confusion at his compliments and flickered his pink tongue while hissing softly but then shrunk back into the ink lake and out of view.
Chuckling to himself at the ink snake's antics, Ashlock told Willow to park the Bastion where he had been a day before.
The Bastion slowly drifted over to the eastern side of the mountain, which faced out to the farmland occupied by villages of mortals, the wall that still had a large hole due to Nox's escape, and then the endless wilderness that spread out to the horizon.
Ashlock noted that there was now a second tree on the Bastion that was growing out of the ink lake and was around a meter high. There was no sign of the boar's corpse, so the baby demonic tree had likely consumed it all to fuel its rapid growth.
"Kaida, stop hiding in the ink and come over here," Ashlock called out once the Bastion floated parallel to the mountain peak.
The ink lake rippled as a head poked out. Kaida's head had grown in size and taken on a more dragon-like appearance with a more square jaw compared to the roundness of a snake, and he also had black fins from his forehead that ran down the rest of his neck and body.
His body was still snake-like, apart from two muscular arms protruding a meter down his body from his head, which he was using to grip the side of the ink lake and haul himself out.
Letting out a yawn, Kaida slothfully made his way over to Ashlock by pulling himself along with his new arms, which ended in claws while the rest of his body lazily trailed behind like a meandering river. It looked like Kaida was coated in a fresh sheen of ink that glistened in the sunlight. Ashlock expected him to leave a trail like a snail as he came over, but that wasn't the case.
"The evolution description did say Kaida's body would become one made entirely out of divine ink where even his scales are just hardened ink, so it makes sense that he doesn't smear his body on the ground as he moves." Ashlock mused as Kaida stopped before his trunk and looked up at his canopy with curious golden eyes and then glanced to the side at the floating book Ashlock had been reading.
If Ashlock had to guess, Kaida was now around ten meters long and far thicker than before. His scales were also layered like a tiled roof or armored plates rather than as intricately connected as snake scales.
Kaida coiled upwards and arced his body to reach for the book.
Ashlock released his telekinetic hold on the book, allowing Kaida to grab it between his claws and inspect the words. Kaida studied the book for a while, and after reading a few pages, he tilted his head to the side as if confused.
"Kaida, can you read it?" Ashlock asked. Granted, the book wasn't written in the ancient language, but he assumed he would still be able to read it due to Ashlock's {Language of the World} skill that Larry seemed to also have.
Kaida nodded.
Judging by the fact that Kaida wasn't speaking, it seemed speech was something a summon became capable of at A grade.
"What's the problem then?" Ashlock asked.
Kaida stayed holding the book in one claw while ink gathered in the palm of his other. This ball of ink then consolidated into a black scale like the ones covering his body while he carved a single runic word with his thumb.
'Confused.'
"The book's contents confuse you?" Ashlock asked, and Kaida nodded. Okay, they were getting somewhere. Kaida could read. He was just struggling to understand the concepts outlined in the Azure Clan's Warp Strike technique manual, which made sense since it was confusing even to Ashlock despite the fact he had spent days pondering how it would work.
Kaida also hadn't read anything before, and Ashlock wasn't sure what Kaida's level of intellect was. Previously, he had shown somewhat childlike innocence, especially around Diana, whom he seemed drawn to somehow.
"Say Kaida, forget the book for now. Your evolution should allow you to make arrays and talismans from those ink scales. Why don't you try making a few?" Ashlock suggested this to see what Kaida would come up with and where his capabilities lay. Ink Qi didn't seem very defined other than its ability to manifest things into reality, and he wanted to see how far that went now that Kaida had evolved.
Kaida placed the book on the floor, the black scale in his other palm rippled, and the word 'Confused' in the ancient runic language disappeared from its surface. Kaida then stared off into space and seemed lost on what to do.
"You made one that made a simple explosion before," Ashlock suggested. "Start with that, and then we can build up from there."
Kaida nodded and looked down at the scale. Scratching with his claw, he wrote out the runic word for explosion. Nothing happened until Kaida inserted some more Qi into the scale, causing the carved-out word in the black scale to glow with heavenly light and promptly explode in his face, consuming all the ink and making Kaida recoil a little in surprise.
Ashlock suppressed a chuckle as Kaida had done the same thing to Stella a while ago and laughed at her for it but had now done the same thing accidentally to himself.
Kaida recovered a moment later and hissed angrily at his paw where the ink scale had been. There was also a notable scale missing from his neck area, exposing the ink-like skin below. However, there was a hardened ink scale slowly reformed from the top.
"Are you able to generate ink Qi by yourself?" Ashlock asked Kaida. If so, that meant Kaida was in the Star Core Realm, and they didn't have to worry as much when practicing these techniques.
Kaida nodded as he curved his head to look at the missing scale that was slowly regenerating as he must have felt the harsh mountain wind on his exposed skin. It was almost like watching an ink waterfall in ultra-slow motion as it reformed.
"Okay, let's try that again. Write out 'explosion,' but turn it into an array by adding something else like a condition or timer so it doesn't explode in your face again."
Kaida nodded slowly and then got to work on it... or he should have, but he seemed lost. Either Kaida lacked imagination or simply didn't have a vast enough worldview or experiences to draw upon for inspiration.
"Don't worry if you can't think of something. Let's work it out together." Ashlock sighed as Kaida looked at him with pleading eyes and started hissing. "Concentrate, okay? Write in a circle 'three seconds,' and then in the middle of the circle, write the runic words for 'explode.' The actual layout and what you write aren't super important. I suspect your intent when creating the array will matter far more, as that scale is crafted out of your own divine ink, which should have a deep connection with heaven."
Kaida looked back at the scale in his hand with interest.
"So write out what I suggested, and in your mind, picture the scale exploding after you have had time to throw it."
Kaida got to work while hissing happily. It took far longer than the first time, and he seemed to be concentrating intensely while carefully crafting out the words into the scale.
After around five minutes, he seemed to have finished.
"Good. Now activate it and throw it up in the air away from both of us." Ashlock instructed.
Kaida did as told. He inserted some more Qi into the scale, and the circle of runic words reading 'three seconds' lit up with a heavenly gold hue. Unlike last time, it didn't immediately explode. Kaida threw it up into the air, and a moment later, the words 'explode' in the middle lit up, and a tremendous explosion went off.
Ashlock felt the force hit his trunk to little effect; his branches groaned, and some of his leaves were blown off. Kaida was thrown a meter or so onto his back and was left gazing up at the sky.
Flocks of birds all around took to the sky in a cry of panic due to the sudden boom alongside his leaves that drifted along with the howling mountain winds.
"Well, that was a bit more powerful than last time," Ashlock said to Kaida after everything had settled. Kaida groaned in return as he rolled onto his belly, heaved himself up with his arms, and shook his head as if dazed.
"What did you do differently? Was it the amount of focus you put in? Or did you insert more Qi than last time?"
Kaida used the tip of his claw to quickly scratch into the mountain stone, 'Both.'
"I see... how interesting." Ashlock mused. "So the amount of detail or thought that goes into creating the array and, more obviously, the amount of Qi you insert into the scale to activate it dictates how devastating the effect is."
It was sort of the same for him. The more Qi he put into his techniques naturally increased their power. Still, unlike Kaida, who just had to convey his intent when carving out the runes, Ashlock had to spend hours or days meditating and conversing with heaven to develop a technique they both understood.
"Wait, does that mean if he can better convey his intent, the explosion would be stronger?" Ashlock did recall that the system notification regarding Kaida's evolution mentioned something about gaining heavenly insight from words written in ink.
"Ink Qi should let him use any element he wants so long as he understands it and can put intent behind the words carved into his ink..." Ashlock used telekinesis and picked up the technique manual about Spatial Blades since Warp Strike required a weapon, and although Kaida could probably make a sword out of ink and wield it if he so pleased, that was for another time.
Before giving him the book, Ashlock wanted to test something. "Kaida, imagine trying to carve through reality with your claws. Go on, raise them, and pretend."
Tilting his head as if Ashlock were crazy, Kaida raised his claw and slashed down, creating a whistling noise.
"Good, now imagine you can do that at range. Sending your claws through space to cleave through someone or maybe even a wall." Ashlock tried to help him picture the technique.
Kaida slashed his claw down a few more times while glaring at one of the demonic trees in the distance.
Funnily enough, Ashlock felt a wave of concern through the root network from that offspring, so he had to reassure it that everything should be fine.
"Okay, good, now try to write Spatial Blades in the ancient runic language on an ink scale while imagining what I just told you."
Kaida closed his eyes and slowly carved the words.
Ashlock watched in anticipation. A simple explosion could be seen as fire Qi, but you could have explosions of just air or water if they were heated in a closed container. But Spatial Blades was most certainly a technique that relied on knowledge of reality that Kaida shouldn't have. So, how far would some simple teachings from him go toward Kaida making a talisman of ink that produced the intended effect?
Finished with his work, Kaida looked to him for guidance. Ashlock found it rather cute how Kaida kept looking at him for advice, and he wondered how much he would pester Diana for help once she returned.
"Alright, now aim it at the sky and activate it," Ashlock instructed.
Kaida eyed the scale in his hand with some understandable nerves as he aimed it at the sky. He inserted his Qi, causing it to flash with heavenly golden light before the ink condensed into a single point. From this singularity, an invisible blade was born, and it ripped a small tear through space before dissipating.
It was... weak. That attack could have maybe killed some Soul Fire Realm chickens, assuming Kaida could even aim at them. But that wasn't important. The attack proved that Kaida could manipulate and slice reality despite not cultivating spatial affinity.
"Mhm, I wonder if ink Qi works through Daos? Just like Stella with lightning? Stella can't cultivate and improve her body and soul with lightning Qi, but she can still wield it, albeit at an amateur level compared to someone with a lightning affinity, as she doesn't know any techniques to harness its true power."
If that were true, so long as Kaida improved his comprehension of various Daos, his ability to use techniques through his ink Qi would improve. "Now, let's see if he can really acquire heavenly insight from words written in ink," Ashlock mused as he floated the Spatial Blades technique manual before Kaida, who was looking at the three missing scales on his neck with concern.
"Don't worry about those. You can cultivate the scales back quickly in the Mystic Realm after this next experiment," Ashlock said as he laid the open book before Kaida. "Now read this with intent. Use your heaven-granted abilities to try and discern the meaning hidden within the ink."
Kaida stooped his head low to inspect the pages. He flipped them carefully with his claws a few times but didn't seem to understand the content. It wasn't until he placed his paw on the book out of frustration and inserted some Qi that something happened.
The ink on the page glowed and rose off the page. Kaida blinked at the floating words in awe as they drifted into his mind. Kaida closed his eyes for a long time, so long, in fact, the sun was about to set when he finally awoke from his dazed state.
"Oh, you're awake." Ashlock put down the Warp Strike book he had been reading for a few hours. "So? Up for trying again with some new insight?"
Kaida didn't even need Ashlock's encouragement as he was already summoning a new ink scale to his palm. Even though half a day had passed, the first missing scale on his neck wasn't anywhere near to being reformed. This didn't bother Kaida as he summoned his fourth one for the day and began etching in the words 'Spatial Blade.'
"Hold on, don't fire that here," Ashlock summoned a portal that led to the wilderness. "Fire it through here."
Kaida slithered over. He squinted through the wobbling portal, then at his carefully crafted ink scale he had spent half an hour on. After some back and forth, he slowly put his arm through the wobbling portal while clutching the scale as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
To Ashlock's relief, the portal didn't do anything to affect the ink scale.
"Okay, go for it."
Kaida nodded, and Qi surged down his arm. The second the ink scale collapsed into a singularity, he reeled his hand back as if scared it would consume his hand.
What followed was reality being ripped apart by five invisible blades of immense power that cleaved through space, leaving scars in the air as they traveled and then impacted the lush meadow below, leaving deep fissures in the earth as if some godly dinosaur had gone to town on the land.
If the previous attack Kaida had performed couldn't kill a chicken, this one could wipe out a town, and Ashlock was darn impressed.
