NOVEL NEXT 3:31: Nostalgia
The festivities lasted past dawn. It had started with plenty of foods and drinks, then they ran out of food and Henry just started pulling eels, which were quickly grilled and seasoned before they came back and were washed down with even more liquor.
Of course not everyone stayed until dawn. Plenty went down after a couple of hours, especially the younger ones, and while Henry would have been tempted to slink away after a couple of hours himself, he found himself genuinely enjoying himself socializing, and whenever he got a little tired of it, he'd take a peek through his clones. Especially considering a section of them had made it toward his goal.
Through the eyes of that specific clone, Henry watched the familiar grounds he'd once hunted in and eyed the recovered shoal of squids. There were plenty of small ones being carefully guarded by the larger individuals. Mostly in D-rank, though a few had already broke through to C-rank, then he looked past them at the cliff side that marked the edge of the Sanctuary—what he'd come to learn were pockets of safety and low-energy zones scattered within the Pillars.
Unfortunately, at this point he was reaching his scouting limit. He could shift some Shadows in this direction and extend his reach further in the Sanctuary, but he held off on it. That wasn't his priority right this second. For now, he wanted to locate some high B-ranks to warm himself up to his new rank.
Focusing back on the clone, Henry wondered if he was close enough for an attempt. He ordered his navigator to try and locate the Bahamut whales, just as Velistraine dragged him to talk about some underwater ruins she'd once encountered in her travel.
If it still doesn't work, it might be worth trying to reach the calving grounds, he thought as he left his Octomind to take care of the clones. That space is significant enough that it might help.
After instructing the navigator Octomind to burn one of Maurice's Curiosity conceptual shard to try and find the whales, Henry turned his attention back to the party and to apologetic smiles Velistraine's crew were giving him.
Henry chuckled. It was nice to unwind for once.
***
A few hours after dawn and after the party was officially over, Velistraine announced that they'd set sail in three days. Enough time for everyone to relax a little more, restock and make their last preparations.
For Henry, it meant he had three days to finish up the couple of items he wanted to take care of. His earlier attempt at divination hadn't worked, so he'd made the rearrangement and altered the network so it'd reach deeper into the Sanctuary. He'd hoped to hear the familiar clicks, if he were honest, but there was no trace of the dolphins. Not even when he managed to locate their old home.
It wasn't that he planned on causing a lot of issues, but he did want to slap around Sundots a couple of times and thank him back for that send-off he'd grace them with. Unfortunately, the cave network was deserted, and Henry assumed one thing or another had forced them to migrate away. In any case, that wasn't really a big deal. What was a big deal was that one of his Shadow was now looking down on the field of golden, swaying algae. Where he'd once met the whales.
Rolling hills of swaying algae stretched ahead of him, and Henry took a minute to just, admire it. It was nostalgic, being here once more. There was no trace of the Bahamut whales, as expected, but curiously, just like every other spot he'd crossed with his Shadows, the area was a lot more active than how he'd left it. It was teeming with life.
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Either everything came to the Sanctuary to reproduce during the wave, or everything instinctively got out of the Current and came here. Either way… this is the Wave's effect, 100%.
Henry could see massive shoals of sharks swimming around. Small serpents hiding and ambushing whatever came near them in the algae. He even noticed the handful of curious juvenile kraken watching his clones here and there. One of them—an Arcane kraken—had even swum out of the algae forest to approach his floating clone.
"[Shoo,]" Henry sent it, and it shuddered, colors and limbs rippling with magic. The telepathy scared it off a little, and it slunk away, but it never left. It was still watching him, invisible, though to his mana-seeing eyes, he could see the excess mana Invisibility was producing wafting off of it, clearly outlining its silhouette to his eyes.
Is that how my own Invisibility was seen through?
Henry looked away from the kraken and lowered the Shadow to seabed. Nestling himself on a rock, he took a moment to really connect with the place before he gave the Octomind the go-ahead once more.
"If this place's not enough of connection to find them, then we'll just have to hope for luck," he told it. Without further ado, he stepped back and let the navigator take control of the Shadow and figuratively, Henry watched over its shoulder as it turned its attention to its task. For a boost, Henry channeled a dollop of Thaumaturgy to the Octomind, and as the water around the Shadow began to ripple with magic and mana, Henry held his breath.
Henry had barely begun peering back at the curious beings that had been attracted to the new intruder when gold, cord-like thread surged into existence in his mind's eye, and as Henry looked at where it pointed, he chuckled.
I guess I have a way toward them now. Just need to not lose this instance, he thought. Of course, Henry didn't think he'd maintained a perfectly straight light ever since he'd started on the network. But if Thalis was east, and right here was west, then the whales were somewhere northeast. So he was just better starting his search from Thalis instead of here.
Henry had never attempted to keep an instance of Find the Path active for days, but now was as good a time as any. After all, he had no clue if they were days or months away. But just in case…
Swooping down toward the algae, Henry gently cut a handful off, scooped some sand and rocks, and after encasing everything in a round bony-orb, he cut off the limb and popped it in storage.
Don't know if those would work as well as being here… but it's worth it. Though there's something else I could do, he mused. The issue was that he was leaving Thalis soon, so he wasn't sure he'd be able to see through his clones here. But his Shadows—thanks to the recent upgrades—would not die off just because he got too far. They'd just be disconnected until he could regain contact. He could spread a few out in the area, hide them well and leave them dormant. As his abilities and Aspect gain further level, sooner or later he'd regain contact with the area. That way, if the whales were to come back, he could just pop back in here.
Yeah, that'd work.
Straining, Henry located a few redundant Shadows along the way and dispelled them, then recreated them here, then he spread them about, found good hiding spots for all ten of them—one of which he hid in the old Trickster's home—then was about to send his awareness back to Thalis when he heard a click through one Shadow in particular.
It was the closest one to the mana-jelly territory, where once him and Maurice had fought a C-rank Telekinetic Eel.
Leaving his Octominds to finish hiding the other clones, Henry turned his attention to the one that heard the click and listened. It took a few more seconds until he heard it again, and it was not close by, but now, Henry was curious. Was this something new, or was it the dolphins?
One way to figure it out, he thought, looking down at the clone's arm. Shaping two arms into stick-like, hollow bones, Henry slapped them together a few times, waiting a few seconds before every echoing tap. He heard no clicks in response, but he didn't lose hope and just waited. Sitting on top of a rock, he didn't hide himself, though he did create another Shadow and stuffed it in a nearby cave, and nearly five minutes later, he heard the first click. Then another.
They were approaching, and as Henry worked on his disguise and altered his mana-signature, he wondered what—or who—he was about to see.