Chapter 100: Crossing The River
Ruella raised the question as her hands rested at her hip. Her depressed countenance was reflected in her doubt. She stared at the river and the village repeatedly.
Lee was having an idea of his own. D could only stare at his amorphous mass of thoughts forming and reforming, inside his consciousness chamber.
'D, I don't know if it would work, but I'm giving it a try.'
Without waiting for D's response, Lee raised his hands and brought his palms, upside down, in front of his chest.
*huff*
Letting out a breath through his mouth, Lee picturised an airball in his hands. As he let more and more Mana out of his reserve to form it, transformation took place as it began to condense into a pseudo-solid state.
The translucent sphere rose up into the air as Lee guided. The uncommon amount of Resolve he had, played vital in making of the cloud. As it began to puff up, Lee applied Mana to flatten it. His imagination gave shape to a thick and solid air platform!
[To compress air to such a degree has used 240 Mana. You are picking up a thing or two.]
'It is not done. Yet!'
As D witnessed, the compressed air platform stood suspended in the air, just above his head height. As the ladies also noticed the cushion like object, frost began to form underneath the cushion. The layers of ice slowly build up its foundation over which the air cushion stood.
[DOUBLE ELEMENT STACK!!]
D was well accustomed with fourfold element stacking. But he did not expect Lee to think of double element stacking so soon. Then D realised that the situation had played a vital role.
[Compressed air has weight, so it will touch the ice foundation. If the air freezes, the feet will suffer. What would you do then?]
As he expected, Lee created a faint layer of heat between the cushion and foundation. A whole apparatus floated in the air, with pale blue ice at the bottom, translucent air cushion at the top, and the faint red heating effects in the middle. It was large enough for Lee, An, Mia, Ruella, Fero and the antelope, to stand on it without any wobbling or capsizing.
The constructed setup unfortunately, and suddenly, fell down at the most beautiful moment, where all were enjoying it's structural beauty. The air cushion dispersed into the air and the ice block fell on the ground with a thud. Since it was his maiden ice block, it easily shattered after the fall. Small chunks of ice were all that was left without ample Mana. The ice easily melted, which pointed at his lack of proficiency.
D explained that the depleted Mana reservoir was the reason. He added that the consumption to perfectly sustain this shape for an hour is three quarters of Lee's hourly extracted amount.
'Convert 10000 Essence to Mana!'
Upon Lee's command, D deposited 20000 Mana in his storage. Step by step, the previous process was repeated, and the boat like structure was formed. Due to immense Mana consumption, Lee promptly lowered it into the river.
If it was a simple block of ice, the Ichidila might have smashed it. But this time, Lee took ample precautions for the comfort of his passengers. He made the foundation much wider and long than previous. The condensation rate was also maximised. D warned Lee that the Mana cost will increase exponentially. After adding another 20000 Essence to Mana, he continued to pay attention to his work.
The ice was lowered into the river, and the pseudo-solid air cushion sandwiched the heat against the ice. One by one, they boarded the temporary transportation, and Lee used a gust of wind to propel them towards the other side. He planted his legs firmly into the ice block without breaking it, and ejected powerful bursts of air from his hands. Of course, everything was powered by Mana.
The scene of a weird shaped object floating on the river shocked the villagers. To add more astonishment, there was a man and women on it. Some villagers assumed that these approaching figures are not probably aliens and are some other beings. Some picturised Lee and his party as superpowered, possibly friendly, beings. Expectations and rumours flooded the minds of the villagers as the ice block was only 40 metres away from them.
The Ichidilas swam around the ice block, but saw no way to catch the sailing humans. As they passed halfway through the river, those predators became aggressive. They began to disrupt the flow of motion, and tried to break the ice.
Lee was initially cold to these actions, but soon grew annoyed by them. He handed over the Mana output to D, and took out his bow. His anger exited as skyrocketing arrows.
*whish whish*
Two arrows were shot upward into the sky and the bow went inside the Inventory. The sizzling at the tip of lightning-attributed Lightning arrows came down as they were homing onto the two beasts. A complete silence was followed by the arrows entering the water like a kingfisher. No disturbance further arose, as the high dose lightning knocked out the two troublesome Ichidilas.
[*peep peep* You have arrived at your destination.]
D made a funny announcement, as the ice block touched the other side of the river. The party descended from it and took steps towards the village. Before that, Lee dispersed the air cushion and increased the heat's intensity, which melted the ice at a visible rate.
"Fero, stay passive."
Lee said to his hyena as he walked towards the crowded villagers. Fero nodded and giggled in response.
The villagers eagerly came towards Lee. Some were afraid to come forward and see the sorcerers who crossed the river with weird magic. But a good portion of villagers were interested to know who they were and how they did it.
"Greetings. We are wandering people who came across this village by chance."
Lee gave a vague introduction of who they were. The response came from one of the villagers and the conversation flourished.
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Name: Lee
Age: 20
Title: Grim-reaper, Soul Liberator.
Fame: 3908
Essence: 97861 (6 A.M.)
Money: 7416 Gold, 2396 Silver, 86 Copper
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Spouse: An (+)
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Companion: Fero (+)
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Health: 320
Strength: 320
Vitality: 320
Agility: 320
Defense: 320
Endurance: 320
Sense: 320
Intelligence: 320
Resolve: 325
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Cultivation: Peak Core Formation Realm
Qi: 0/1100
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Mastery: Rookie level
Mana: 48386
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Immunity:-
• Greater Poison Immunity (1887/1000000)
• Medium Lightning Immunity (6623/10000)
• Medium Air Immunity (4136/10000)
• Lesser Sedative Immunity (35/100)
• Medium Fire Immunity (2411/10000)
• Medium Water Immunity (1067/10000)
• Medium Ice Immunity (1791/10000)
• Medium Rock Immunity (756/10000)
Affinity:-
• Greater Poison Affinity (12131/1000000)
• Greater Lightning Affinity (15354/1000000)
• Medium Fire Affinity (136/10000)
• Medium Water Affinity (0/10000)
• Medium Ice Affinity (664/10000)
• Greater Rock Affinity (11975/1000000)
• Greater Metal Affinity (11974/1000000)
• Medium Sand Affinity (286/10000)
• Greater Nature Affinity (11984/1000000)
• Medium Air Affinity (2375/10000)
• Greater Sound Affinity (12371/1000000)
• Greater Dark Affinity (11998/1000000)
• Medium Light Affinity (0/10000)
• Medium Death Affinity (286/10000)
• Medium Gravity Affinity (1004/10000)
• Medium Space Affinity (1004/10000)
• Lesser Life Affinity (0/100)
• Lesser Time Affinity (0/100)
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Mastery:-
• Absolute Blade Mastery
• Absolute Nunchuck Mastery
• Medium Bow Mastery (1191/10000)
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Skills:-
• Flight - F (4/5)
• Home Planning
• Spotless
• Information Transfer
• Taming - G (0/1)
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INVENTORY:-
QUESTS:-
MAP:-
SHOP:-
ALTER:-
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(The system skills like View, Foresight, EsGen & EsConv are removed as they are fundamentals.)