Ashlock felt the prank was in good taste but still felt bad.
"What was that for?" Stella complained to the ablaze tree in the center of the ink lake that Ashlock was inhabiting while shaking her fist.
"I apologize. I was testing Quill's ability to use ink Qi, and we just so happened to conclude our test as you walked in," Ashlock said through {Abyssal Whispers}.
Stella rolled her eyes as she paused at the shoreline, "Uh huh. You know I felt your presence pass over me as I entered, right? I know when you are watching." She crossed her arms and seemed somewhat vexed, "Don't lie to me."
"Fine, fine," Ashlock said, "It was just a joke and a good test. You didn't even manage to react to the flash. Imagine if you had been an intruder? That would be a rather effective attack."
Stella pursed her lips, "That's true... I didn't feel any light Qi until it hit me."
"See? It's a good job that we tested it. It would have been pointless if you knew it was coming!" Ashlock tried to justify it as best he could and seemed to be slowly convincing Stella as she sighed.
She was about to open her mouth to say something when she was interrupted by Kaida slapping his tail on the ground and laughing by hissing.
"Kaida, stop laughing. She was just about to forgive me," Ashlock said directly to the snake. He had been so close to forgiveness just for Kaida to piss her off even more. "Look, she is glaring at you now."
"If you keep laughing, I won't return your books, you know?" Stella looked deathly serious.
"Kaida buddy," Douglas pulled Kaida's head into a hug and whispered into the Lindwyrm's ear, "When she gives you that death stare, I would be careful. The last time she looked at me like that, I found myself hanging through a portal a thousand meters up."
"What did you say?" Stella looked between the two.
Kaida stopped hissing and exchanged a look with Douglas. The two seemed to enter a brotherhood, and they fist-bumped each other. "Who had taught Kaida how to do that? Was it Douglas when they had been building the floating platform earlier?"
Neither seemed willing to answer Stella's question. Kaida quietly slithered past her and into the rock-filled ink lake. Making sure to avoid splashing near Stella, who was standing on the shore in mostly white clothes, which Ashlock found rather brave.
Maple, who had been sleeping on Stella's head, smacked her forehead before rolling over and back to sleep.
"Don't hit me. How am I being unreasonable," Stella grumbled as Kaida swam around the boulders in the ink lake and then curled his ten-meter-long body around Quill.
The ink tree seemed to find the sensation of a divine ink Lindwyrm wrapping around him rather pleasant, like a warm scarf.
Ashlock decided to change the topic, "Douglas, sorry to ask more of you, but would it be possible to fix this place up? The tribulation destroyed much of the ceiling, and all these boulders are in the ink lake."
"No need to apologize, boss. This is my job, after all." Douglas raised his hand, and the purple gemstone of his telekinesis artifact lit up with power. Boulders began to float up toward the ceiling, and under Douglas's power, they softened like clay, and Douglas was able to gradually repair the massive hole in the ceiling.
While he did that, Stella stopped making a scene and quietly went to place the books back on the shelf. Nobody else seemed to notice, but Ashlock saw how she had meticulously remembered where each book had been before.
She then deposited the eight large Midnight Inkwing eggs into the ink lake. Ashlock still needed to decide what to do with them as they showed no signs of hatching.
"I should let Larry eat at least one of them to see if it will enhance his S-grade evolution." Ashlock pulled on his tether with the spider, who was prowling through the trees on the mountain range, searching for any bounty hunters that may be lurking.
"Larry, come to the Bastion in the center of the hole," Ashlock told the giant spider, "I got a snack for you." It was almost funny how the spider suddenly looked excited as he crawled back to Red Vine Peak at high speed through the canopies. Hardly ten minutes had passed when Larry arrived at the edge of the hole and was faced with something he had likely never seen before.
A five-meter-wide disc of stone covered in runic lines was docked in a circular cut into the side of the massive hole.
"Stand on that stone platform. It will carry you to the other side." Ashlock explained and then held back a laugh as he watched Larry apprehensively crawl onto the platform as if he were scared. "Now put some Qi into it, and the thing will move."
Larry let out a strange growl in surprise when the stone platform glowed with power and lurched forward. It slowly floated across the eight thousand-meter-deep hole, and after half a minute, it had docked on the other side.
Realistically, Larry could have jumped the fifty-meter gap. But watching a giant spider traveling by a man-made floating platform was quite the spectacle.
Larry made his way across the small open courtyard at the front of the Bastion, which led into an empty entrance hallway with Kaida's cultivation cave behind thick wooden doors at the far end. Elaine opened the door for him, and he joined the others in the spacious cavern.
Ashlock used telekinesis to float one of the eight eggs over to Larry, which drew the confused gaze of everyone in the room, "Eat this. It will help your upcoming evolution."
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"Thank you, Master, for your consideration. You are most kind." Larry opened his maw and engulfed the ostrich-sized egg in a single bite—shell and all. A sickening crunch followed as Larry chewed the egg and swallowed.
There was no system message confirming the consumption of divine flesh.
"Strange, why didn't it work?" Ashlock wondered. "Maybe he needs to eat more?"
Floating over another egg, Larry happily devoured it much the same way as the first. Still, no message appeared. "There are six eggs left... worst case, eating these eggs gets Larry closer to his S grade evolution, so this isn't a waste either way."
Ashlock floated over another egg and then another... He kept going until Larry had eaten all but one of the eggs.
[Larry has consumed the flesh of a divine being]
"Ha! It worked!" Ashlock cheered, and he still had one more egg to spare. "I think leaving this one alone to see if it will hatch is best." He concluded while ignoring Kaida's puppy eyes and hungry look. While Larry had been left out of the Mystic Realm to defend him, this greedy snake had eaten a divine scrambled egg buffet. It was only fair that Larry got priority here.
"Larry, I will make sure you get to enter the Mystic Realm this time, which opens in under two weeks." Ashlock told his loyal pet, "Hopefully, you will be able to hunt enough prey to reach the S-grade evolution. So make sure to eat well."
"As Master wishes," Larry bowed oddly toward the tree.
"Boss, should I leave a wider hole in the ceiling now that Quill has grown larger?" Douglas asked, drawing Ashlock's attention. Now that Douglas pointed it out, Quill had grown during the short tribulation, so he was taller, and his canopy spread further.
"Yeah, leave it like this," Ashlock agreed, looking at the half-fixed roof.
"What should I do with the last few boulders littering the ink lake then?" Douglas asked. The boulders were around a person's height and drenched in ink, which Douglas had been depositing back into the ink lake from the other boulders he used to fix the ceiling.
Ashlock was about to tell him to rid them of ink and dispose of them when he remembered the empty hallway leading to Kaida's area. He had planned to fill it with furniture and whatnot, but wouldn't statues made from stone enhance the grandeur of the place?
"Would it be possible to make statues of all the main sect members in the hallway? Kaida could help you style them as they are covered in ink."
Douglas grinned, "That's an excellent idea. Who should I include?"
"Stella, Diana, Elaine, Kaida, Larry, Maple, and you." Ashlock listed everyone important that came to mind, "If enough stone is left over, make one for the Redclaw Grand Elder as well. Just make sure to leave enough room for future statues too."
"Got it," Douglas nodded and gestured for everyone to follow him with a hand wave, "As much as I love you all, I haven't memorized all your faces and bodies—wait, that sounds wrong—whatever. Just follow me. I need you to model for me."
Elaine laughed as she followed him into the hallway, followed by the rest. Ashlock's gaze naturally followed via a root that went throughout the Bastion's interior.
"Alright, since this is Kaida's library, he can decide where he wants his statue," Douglas said to the group. "Any objections?"
Nobody had any, and to their surprise, Kaida wanted his statue to be over the door's archway, so his head looked down from the top of the archway at those waiting in the hallway or walking through.
Douglas's hands became wreathed in brown soul flames, and he got to work shaping the rock into a noodle-like shape while stealing glances at Kaida. Since the Lindwyrm was ten meters long, the rock wasn't enough to make a life-sized version, but that didn't matter.
After ten minutes of work, a very realistic ink-black stone head of Kaida was jutting out of the wall above the archway and gazing down at them with empty eyes.
"Looks kinda creepy," Stella commented, earning an angry hiss from Kaida. "Hey, I was being honest. Oh, I know! Maybe put these inside the eye sockets? They match your eyes." Stella's spatial ring flashed with silver light, and two palm-sized glowing yellow stones appeared.
"What are these?" Douglas asked as he took them from her.
Stella shrugged, "I bought them ages ago as reading lights. They weren't costly or anything, and I have more."
Douglas put them into the empty eye sockets of the stone head, and Ashlock had to admit it completed the piece as the two glowing eyes now illuminated the hallway and drew focus.
"Okay, who is next?" Douglas asked.
"As the first members of the sect, I think Stella and Diana should be on either side of the door," Ashlock suggested.
"I like that idea," Diana agreed, "Which side do you want Stella?"
"Right side," Stella went to stand by the archway and tried to strike a cool pose by crossing her arms. Deciding it wasn't quite giving the impression she wanted with Maple sleeping on her head, she picked the squirrel up and held him tightly in her arms.
"Alright, stay still," Douglas said as he set down an ink-coated boulder beside them, and using his earth affinity, he began to morph it into a surprisingly accurate replica.
"What do you think of this?" He said after a few minutes as he turned the statue around so Stella could get a good look.
"Do I really look like that?" Stella squinted and began touching her face and then pinching her nose. "Huh, maybe I do. Strange."
Kaida slithered over and added detail with his claw, such as shading, making the statue look scarily realistic. Douglas then picked the statue up with ease and carefully placed it where Stella had been posing, so it was to the right side of the doorway and looked down into the hallway.
"Does my smile always look that cruel?" Stella asked, "And why do I look crazy? Also, is Maple even able to breathe? I swear I wasn't holding him that tight."
Everyone exchanged a look.
"Anywho, Diana. You ready for yours?" Douglas said, ignoring Stella's question.
"Sure," Diana replied as she also went and struck a pose. She had her right leg up against the wall and was holding a dagger, with its tip resting on her chin.
Ashlock struggled to see Diana as the same person as before. She used to be a short girl with tomboyish black hair. But now she was taller with long black and blue hair that ran down her back and nails that curved into sharp claws.
Perhaps smartly, she was hiding her fangs and wings from being in the statue as that would give away her existence as a demon in case any foreign people were invited in here to see Kaida for whatever reason.
Douglas and Kaida repeated the process they had done with Stella's statue, making it look shockingly realistic, and then Douglas placed it on the left side of the door.
Up next was Larry, who wanted to be on the right near Stella. Meanwhile, Douglas and Elaine chose to have their statues beside one another on the left side near Diana, with Elaine sandwiched between them.
With a leftover boulder, Douglas completed the right side with a statue from memory of the Redclaw Grand Elder and promised to make revisions if the man ever visited.
"Now this looks way better," Douglas grinned at his own handiwork while standing at the entrance to the hallway. "Especially Kaida's head over the archway and body slithering down the sides. That was a good idea."
"You did great work as always," Ashlock agreed, "However, could you go into the city and purchase some shiny gemstones like the ones Stella provided for Kaida's eyes? I think that would greatly improve them."
"Sure, I can do that," Douglas nodded.
[Time till sundown: 3:54]
With some time left until the end of the day, Ashlock wanted to figure out if he could teach Quill spatial techniques such as Spatial Lock, and he also wanted to ask Elaine more about void Qi.
"Elaine, can you stay behind? I want to ask you some questions, and I think your insight into ink Qi could be useful."
"Sure!" Elaine seemed over the moon for being asked to help.
Kaida and Elaine reentered the cavern while everyone else left to fulfill their duties or cultivate.
