"How are you doing that?" Alpha asked as he got on one of the carts.
"Use Elmando to make the wheels rotate," Lucius explained, skillfully maneuvering his cart between the trees. The reason he had used mushrooms instead of wood, was because it was lighter and easier to control. If he wanted the cart to be stronger, he could always condense the mushrooms to increase their strength.
"Like this?" Alpha whispered, moving his cart forward at a plodding speed.
"Once you start getting used to Elmando you will be able to push it faster. For now, you can use those two things over there," Lucius said, jumping from his cart onto Alpha's to show him how the pedals worked.
He then adjusted the pedals to accommodate him before explaining how to use them. He also explained how the steering worked, and once he was done, he readjusted the pedals to accommodate Alpha.
After adjusting the pedals for all the other carts as well, the group set off.
"Make sure you use Elmando as much as possible. We'll be using the pedals more on our way back," Lucius explained, the wind muffling his words as he rushed past a multitude of trees.
"How is he going so fast?" Alpha asked in frustration, even with pedals he was slower. To make matters worse, Hannibal seemed to have gotten the hang of Elmando, all he lacked was the mental experience.
"When the others get back, remind me to have the guys from Fabrication and Creation make an easier pathway to the clan-lands, because this is ridiculous," Lucius shouted from in front.
It was becoming more and more difficult for him to weave the large cart in between the trees. In fact, even the tree roots were becoming larger and larger, making the ride a lot rockier, and a suspension system was not something he had the materials to build right now.
"That'll have to do," he whispered, using Elmando to change the shape of his wheels to better accommodate the bad path.
"Oi look!" Alpha shouted excitedly, having built up quite a good amount of speed.
"Alpha, I don't think you should be going that fast," Hannibal shouted from behind him. There was a reason Hannibal wasn't trying to catch up to Lucius.
"Watch out!" Hannibal shouted, right as Alpha was about to crash into a tree.
However, right before impact, Alpha's cart split in two, both parts maneuvering around the tree before forming back together.
"Keep a speed you can handle," Lucius said, slowing down to catch up with Alpha.
"That was you?" Alpha asked.
"I'm not at a level where I can do all that by myself. Some of it was probably Hannibal," Lucius explained.
The rest of the journey went on at a much slower pace. Lucius used this time to mark out the trees he would have the F and C guys chop down for the road.
~Hmm, that'll mean I'll have the get some security for the road itself. And there aren't enough people in the Security department for a road this big," he thought.
~Perhaps I should start bringing in a few of the shrooms?~ he continued. ~If that's the case, then I'll build another road towards the mana lake. Perhaps even a sort of market for more secure trade with the higher-tier sentient creatures,~ he thought, finally reaching the clan lands.
"Okay guys, use Elmando to load the mushrooms onto your carts. Make sure to compress them as much as possible so that we can make the most of this trip," Lucius shouted.
"I'll take up the perimeter," he added, before disappearing up a tree.
*
The group stayed there for about an hour before heading back. By the time they got back to camp, the sun had completely set, however, there was still quite a bit of light as the Radiant Tree still seemed to be glowing.
~Moonlight?~ Lucius thought to himself as everyone unloaded the mushrooms into the storage dome.
~Hmm, moon... light,~ he repeated in his mind, before bringing out his crux. As usual, the sudden stream of information rushing his senses temporarily blinded him. But after casting solar cleanse and slowly easing his way into it, he was able to open his eyes,
However, he didn't dare look at the Radiant Tree, as he was sure that thing would fry his brain.
~Okay, the moon gets its light from the sun right?~ he thought to himself, before attempting to copy the concept. The book he had seen in Pagan's memory had said that imagination was key, so he imagined his crux acting as a sun, in an attempt to power Hannibal's 'moon' crux.
The tricky part was finding a medium for the transfer of energy. For safety, he converted the crux to its 'eased' state, until the light it emanated was a soft blue. Afterward, he attempted to use Elmando to move the wisps of loose energy that permeated from his crux toward Hannibal.
He did not expect this to work as Elmando could only be used on vegetation, and as expected it didn't. However, each time he tried, he could feel something... like a part of his mind he didn't have access to before.
The others realized that he must be doing something important, so they all sat around him once they were done, waiting for him to finish.
~I see, so I have to use Elmando and the crux simultaneously,~ he thought to himself, managing to move the wisps of loose blue energy into a stream.
After a few more minutes he got more comfortable with it. He began moving the stream around his crux, making it seem like a planet with rings. He then moved the stream faster and faster, and with that, a small gust of wind began picking up around him.
The whole time the image of a moon was still playing in his mind, and before he knew it, the wisps converged to form a ball... a miniature crux.
"Moonlight," he whispered, and a beam of blue, peaceful energy shot from his crux towards the miniature moon.
