Merchant Of Yliaster

Maxwell was walking through the forest curiously, looking around with his new senses. He felt like a child discovering the world for the first time, as he saw an incredible number of mana types collide with each other, create new mana types, and disintegrate, in real time.

Prima sense had a much smaller spectrum when it came to mana types, as the sense had difficulties seeing the difference when there was a complicated mass of particles, but his new sense was on a completely different level.

Just as he was staring at a particular tree needlessly hard, he saw his connection to Blueberry pulse. Immediately, he was alarmed, as this was something the bird shouldn't be capable of unless she was really desperate.

Maxwell could do it due to his soul energy manipulation, but the bird would need to overcharge the connection with mind mana and mental energy instead. That would immensely drain her for sure.

A flow of information entered his mind, being very slim in volume. Blueberry couldn't send anything big, so she chose a small message, it seemed. His eyes, though, immediately widened as he saw the message.

Shergoth's Kin - Level 63

Maxwell's mind immediately whirled into action, and the world slowed down to a crawl. It looked more like time completely stopping with his current stats, but he couldn't appreciate this for now.

He focused, and his body got infused with a mana type he preferred not to use, as it was too dangerous. Right now, though, he didn't care.

Space mana infused his body, and Maxwell felt himself get faint. He found himself detached from the world, and he had to stabilize himself by controlling the mana. He lifted himself up, pulling his legs from the ground, as they seemed to think that it didn't exist.

He started to fly in the direction of the rift, his speed surpassing any prior moment. Even with his enhanced sense of time, the world blurred, but he found the speed inadequate. Blueberry was in danger, and it would be too late if the Shergoth's Kin was any similar to Great Phyr.

Not enough, He thought, and decided to try something. He closed his eyes, imagining himself moving away. With the delusion, the imaginary scene immediately appeared before his eyes, but he was not done.

He felt Etherium Soul activate, and an immense amount of soul energy was released from the depths, and Maxwell embraced it.

Immediately, his sense of self took a hit as he felt strangely detached from his identity. At that moment, he felt like he was not one, but all. For a moment, Maxwell considered resisting the trait, but it felt wrong somehow. The trait was a part of him, and it actually felt right to let the unknown change happen. He knew instinctively that it wouldn't be permanent, so he let himself go.

The change of identity didn't change the mission. And the guide continued to imagine. They imagined runes of reduction appear on their path, releasing the purple glow of space mana, and they imagined the distance shrink, excluding the parts that didn't belong to the necessary path.

The process was simple, and it was not something Maxwell hadn't done before, but the containment part of the imagined scene was new. The guide didn't check the real world, and completely focused on the scene they were imagining. They felt the skill activate, and found themselves not having a doubt that the scene was real.

Mana disappeared in droves, and the guide found themself before the rift, hanging in the air. Was this a delusion? Would it matter in the end? Questions didn't matter for now, nor did the landscape behind his form vaporize due to the movements the space they belonged to made.

Extending to the distance Maxwell first received the message, the air was covered with the green hue of etherium, as it rewrote the world, shrinking the space down. Maxwell stepped into the rift, a momentary sense of self kindling in his consciousness. Was this his imagination? Maybe he was still floating above the forest? A fleeting thought passed through his mind, but the rational part crushed it.

It was apparent that this was how the skill operated, and Maxwell didn't know what to feel about it. In the end, he chose to ignore the matter for now. His figure was glowing with the same green light as the landscape, and Maxwell realized as an afterthought that a quarter of his hp was gone.

Did I lose the physical parts? He thought as he welcomed the heat. The desert was still the same, untouched by the pandemonium he left behind. Once more, he let himself dive back to the greater consciousness, this time, intentionally. The feeling was surprisingly pleasant, as his perspective widened once more.

His figure trembled, lifting to the air like a purple mirage, and the guide's delusion was actualized.

One moment, the desert was serene like always, trapfishes waiting for food to come into their range, and several members of the ecosystem were fighting in a battle of life and death under the sands.

In the next moment, the world came to a halt, before the fabric of space started to move. Mana moved, and space was shrunk as more and more runes appeared on the now closed new space. The runes appeared as a stream, as the distance became the periphery, and all meaning of distance was lost.

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A light shone, and the otherworldly sight was covered with a green light, as if it was shielding the sight from mortal eyes. Etherium worked, as it was activated for the first time to save one connected to it.

More and more soul energy appeared from Maxwell's soul, his own energy getting dwarfed as the distance kept shrinking.

The guide was standing on the periphery of the phenomenon, his identity long lost in the blizzard of soul energy.

They moved for the first time in an unknown length of time, the concept losing meaning as their perspective slowed down the world more and more. Their body was glowing even more, as it looked more like a green sculpture made of light, tinted with the light of space.

They took a single step, and the world whirled.

Blueberry thanked the lizard's body for the first time, as a wave of fire was released from the colossal creature's breath. It was not that the creature was hostile for now, as it was apparently examining her more than actually attacking, but Blueberry was sure that she would be already injured by the creature breathing.

With every breath, the ground turned into molten glass, and the more resistant sand also exceeded its limit. The lizard seemed to have no problem for now, its heat-resistant nature getting enhanced by Blueberry's skill, but she knew the creature would attack her anytime now.

As if she jinxed it, a giant eye locked onto her was suddenly filled with apathy, as if the creature couldn't see what was so interesting about a lizard. Blueberry, while she was offended that the creature found her uninteresting, had bigger problems, as the colossus seemed to follow a simple type of logic. "If things are uninteresting, burn them."

Immediately, a wave of heat launched at her, the creature blowing it towards her. It was not even fire, but just hot air, but Blueberry's instincts cried for her to dodge.

With a surge of overload, she made the lizard's body exceed its maximum speed with leaps and bounds, muscles of the creature tearing themselves apart as it almost teleported to the side, dodging the heat wave.

She felt smug, seeing a faint look of interest in the creature's eyes, but this didn't make the situation any less dangerous. Immediately, the creature improved on the unenthusiastic attack, lifting up a hoof and swinging in her direction.

The movement looked simple, but Blueberry could sense the wall of heat accompanying the unsuspecting limb. She made the lizard bury itself, its limbs moving frantically as they tried to move to the only place left for escaping.

With a sizzling sound, the heat wave crashed to the ground, and Blueberry could feel the lizard's body heat up in real time. Luckily, the layers of sand above them had been enough to disperse the heat, though.

Still, Blueberry was not naive enough to think that the enemy was using all its power. She found the idea distasteful, but she, too, wouldn't use that much power to crush an ant. However, if the ant turned out to be particularly resilient, like a cockroach, she would use more power.

She hoped it would take some more time for the creature to think that she was a cockroach. The lizard dug forward, following the commands of its cruel master.

Fortunately for the lizard, though, its pain came to an end in the following second, as a beam of light pierced through the sand, immediately vaporizing matter like it never existed. A disgusting burnt odor immediately covered the space, and the body of the lizard disappeared, not understanding what had happened to it.

Fortunately for Blueberry, she was a creature of the soul, so she had a minuscule amount of time to actually run away from the scene before the soul of the lizard disappeared. She didn't know the logic behind this fortunate event, but she wouldn't care even if she could think about something so abstract in the terribly physical situation she found herself in.

She launched herself upward, leaving the ground, and her body was immediately assaulted with a wave of heat. Even in her ethereal form, her body was slowly getting burned, the heat transcending concepts due to its extremity.

She examined the enemy, trying to see any way to hang on, but she couldn't find any way. Considering the distance she covered, there was no way Maxwell could arrive here any time soon, so she had better find a way to survive soon.

The creature's mouth was releasing a faint cloud of smoke, probably meaning that the light beam from before came from it, and it was looking at Blueberry with renewed interest, as her real body was exposed to it for the first time.

For a second, Blueberry thought there was a chance that she could distract the beast, gaining some time, but her hopes were dashed immediately, as a ball of fire formed above the creature before flying towards her with a truly astonishing speed.

Blueberry, though, just stayed where she was, and the attack just passed by her, completely missing her. Yes, the creature was strong, yes her mind burned, as if she dipped her brain in fire, but she wouldn't lose when it came to the mind.

More suns were launched, as Blueberry kept floating in the air, and all struck the ground in the distance, some actually getting absorbed by the wall the creature created around them. This meant she wouldn't be able to use the attacks to destroy the walls.

With every attack, the toll on her mind increased, and her desperation got stronger. The creature, after its brief moment of curiosity, was huffing like an angry animal now, apparently not understanding how it was missing.

Under Bluberry's disbelieving eyes, mana moved, and a sun bigger than all before appeared above the creature, this time actually being a shade whiter due to the immense heat. Blueberry didn't doubt that all would disappear inside the barrier if that attack actually struck, so she did the only thing she could think of.

She struck the creature's mind, actually managing to catch it off guard, and she was relieved to see the giant sun starting to disperse as the colossus stumbled, releasing a proper sound for the first time.

It roared, truly sounding angry now, and its eyes actually managed to lock on Blueberry's position this time. Blueberry watched, not knowing what to do now, as the sun reformed, now even bigger due to the anger the giant deer felt.

Blueberry watched, and she accepted the reality. Maybe a few more months would be fun, but she was still content with what she received in the limited time she was blessed with intelligence. The world had been simpler before, and she was happy that she could see beyond the life of instincts, unlike many before her.

She always found the act of crying weird, as humans seemed to do that for no good reason. But she found herself envying them as her world was consumed by light and heat.