Pandora Unchained - a Cultivation Progression Fantasy

Twigs cracked and disintegrated as Sorin made his way through the ancient trees of the North Parnassus Forest. Vines twisted out of the way, and plants that should have been immobile uprooted themselves and relocated upwind of their location.

All but the most potent poisonous creatures scattered, and those that remained stood by obediently. This deference, Sorin now realized, was a hidden benefit of the Ten Thousand Poison Canon. He wasn't just an apothecary—he was the ruler over all things poisonous.

Sorin bent down and picked up a Weeping Bell Blossom, a two-star alchemical plant that was often used in three-star recipes. Lorimer zipped out of his sleeve located three more minor treasures, and delivered them to Sorin for storage in his Apothecary Medallion.

"My section is clear," Sorin said, using Gareth's heroic ability.

"So slow?" came Lawrence's voice. "I swooped in and stole everything ten minutes ago!"

"You weren't even there ten minutes ago," said Gareth. "My section is clear, and by the looks of it, so is Astley and Fenrig."

"It is not much of a challenge with Sorin frightening off everything ahead of time," Fenrig complained. "Fortunately, he cannot frighten away three-star demons. Not that we run into many of them in the first place."

"Three-star demons are the overlords of the forest," said Astley. "You can't expect them to form clusters unless an item of particular interest, like a historical ruin, is involved."

Sorin felt a tingle in the back of his mind as he crossed some sort of barrier. "It seems our luck is quite good. I spot four three-star demons in an underground cave up ahead."

"Everyone, converge according to my directions," said Gareth, issuing orders via his mental map.

Lawrence was the first to appear from a tree-shadow not far from Sorin. "It doesn't feel that dangerous. Let me scout things out." He zipped off towards a small burrow a hundred feet away and vanished into the dark tunnel.

Astley, Gareth, and Fenrig flew in two minutes later. As Flesh-Sanctification cultivators, flight was now a legitimate travel option and could avoid many troublesome encounters. "Will we finally have a good fight on our hands?" Fenrig asked Sorin.

"I think so," said Sorin, having sensed a powerful energy signature among the three using his affinity for Violence. "Let's see what Lawrence's scouting turns up."

Several minutes passed without any word from Lawrence. Their map didn't update either, an odd but not unprecedented development.

"Is he not coming back?" asked Fenrig impatiently. "Maybe he got scared after seeing what was down there."

"Reee!" said Lorimer.

"Oh? You're saying the coward is not a coward?" said Fenrig. "Perhaps. Changing one's nature is difficult, but he is trying."

Sorin's heart suddenly skipped a beat, prompting him to summon a golden spear and a swirl of poisonous needles. "Trouble is coming."

"Why am I not surprised," said Gareth, nocking an arrow. "Fenrig and Sorin, prepare to engage. Astley, prioritize control." Astley said nothing but summoned a trio of tentacled monsters with mind-shattering auras. They reeked of madness and distortion.

A shadow flashed across their field of vision, revealing a panicked Lawrence. The land trembled as the rogue transmitted image after image to the rest of the party. "There's three of them, and they seemed to be fighting over a glowing rock," said Lawrence. "I took it away to help them out, but out of nowhere, they attacked me!"

"These images are practically useless," scolded Gareth. "Are these all vines?"

"It seems all three of them are a similar kind of plant," said Lawrence. "The biggest one had teeth."

Sorin sifted through the demonic encyclopedia he'd memorized and quickly found five potential candidates. "Was their bark leathery or glistening?"

"Leathery," answered Lawrence.

"Were the teeth hooked or incisive?" Sorin continued.

"Incisive."

That narrows it down to two candidates, thought Sorin. Fortunately, Lawrence brought back a souvenir.

He made a grabbing motion, peeling off a poisonous cloud from Lawrence's body, and inhaled it. "Potent acitoxins and manatoxins in the form of a light miasma," muttered Sorin. "Barring unknown species, there's a single creature that is consistent with all observed traits."

"It's a Creeping Hydra Vine," concluded Gareth. "Which means that those three demons fighting over the crystal are actually a single one."

"How was I supposed to know," said Lawrence. "Should I not have stolen the crystal?"

"You did good, Lawrence," said Fenrig, brandishing his axe. "Keep up the good work. Hydra-type creatures are always a worthy adversary!"

A mound formed beneath them as the Creeping Hydra Vine pushed its way upward. Sorin and his companions scattered as the earth exploded, revealing hundreds of thick vines and three toothy heads overlooking them from above.

The Creeping Hydra Vine immediately ordered its subsidiary vines to attack the ant-like thieves. Fenrig hacked away at the vines on one side while Lorimer zipped from vine to vine, biting them in half. Their quick but decisive actions bought time for Gareth to launch himself into the treetops, Lawrence to vanish into the shadows, and Astley to direct her summoned creatures to restrain the three main vines.

Seeing that the situation was under control, Sorin ducked past the Creeping Hydra Vine's defensive vines and arrived at its three main trunks. One of the main heads bit down on his position, forcing Sorin to defend with Nemesis—but not before sending out a Python Coil laced with all five of his poisons.

Sorin was not a match for the demon in a physical confrontation, so he immediately retreated as his poisons wormed their way into the creature's system. A map of the creature's anatomy lit up in Sorin's mind as his poisons fought back the creature's innate poisons and infiltrated every inch of its flesh.

"Autogenesis," Sorin commanded once he gained a preliminary understanding of the Creeping Hydra Vine. His poisons began frantically consuming vital energy and used this energy to reformulate themselves to take advantage of the hydra's weaknesses.

"The Hydra Vine's vitality stores are deep," Sorin explained to his companions. "Its body is unstructured, and its three cores are constantly shifting. Picking them out mid-battle will be impossible. What's more, I've determined that it isn't a single creature like the Demon Encyclopedia would have us believe. Instead, it's a symbiotic composite. Its cooperation might not be perfect as a result."

The first priority was stabilizing the team. Fenrig was self-sufficient, as his attacks dealt a lot of physical damage. Much of that damage would splash over to nearby vines. Lorimer was also fine on his own, as his tough body was difficult to hit and impervious to weaker attacks and poisons. The other three members of their team were having an unfortunately hard time, however. It wasn't the main heads that were causing them problems but the lesser vines sent out to distract them.

Flesh composition and anatomy are 99% like the Creeping Hydra Vine's main symbiotes, Sorin Analyzed. Formulating multiple conflicting poisons. Adjusting. Reworking spell matrices.

Sorin had Nemesis assume glove form and raised his hand. Each finger began to glow a different color, creating an unstable orb at the center of Sorin's palm. "Five Poison Apocalypse!"

The orb exploded, spreading a potent dose of poison that infiltrated all creatures in the area, including the hundreds of vines and even Sorin's companions. Autogenesis immediately kicked in to augment the attack against the vines and disable the poisons delivered to his companions.

Rotten plant matter spattered on the ground as nine out of ten vines were disabled. Gareth shot down the larger vines that had been sent up after him and then began bombarding the Creeping Hydra Vine with storm-infused arrows.

Lawrence had long been invisible to the hydra, but because of the vines in his proximity, he'd been having difficulty launching any sneak attacks. He took advantage of the opening brought about by Gareth's storm-infused arrows and lopped off one of its heads. It immediately began regrowing.

Astley was the last to act. Her summoned creatures formed a triangle around the Creeping Hydra Vine and began pulsing with unstable mental energies. One of its heads had been about to bite Lawrence when it suddenly froze mid-bite as a result of nightmarish formation. An arrow took out the head, but it was immediately replaced.

"Lorimer, buy me an opening," said Sorin.

"Ree!" The rat grew several times larger and hopped underneath Sorin. The duo flitted past larger vines sent their way and once again arrived at the three main trunks.

Sorin stabbed out with Nemesis, this time infusing his spear with Madness and Violence. The creature's attacks grew erratic and thoughtless as the cooperation between the three symbiotic demons fell apart.

Their team took advantage of this weakened state and hammered away at the Creeping Hydra Vine's vitality stores. Sorin's poisons built up until they completely overwhelmed the hydra's resistances. The rate at which the poisons were growing now exceeded the rate at which they were purged, which meant that as long as their team could hold out, the Creeping Hydra Vine would inevitably perish.

"Why isn't it retreating?" Gareth wondered aloud. "It should be pulling back underground."

"It can't retreat because my poisons have altered its behavior," answered Sorin. "Expect it to go berserk instead."

"I've never heard of Creeping Hydra Vine's going berserk," said Gareth, sounding unconvinced. Despite his doubts, he didn't hesitate to add to Sorin's warning. "Since there are no records of a Creeping Hydra Vine going berserk, literally anything could happen. Defend if you can! Evade if you can't!"

Lorimer directly retreated from the agitated Creeping Hydra Vine. Fenrig let out a shout as his skin was covered in defensive runes. Astley directly abandoned her summoned creatures and used her Doppelganger ability to copy Lawrence. Both rogues retreated under cover of darkness.

Sorin lacked evasive abilities compared to the rest of his party, but as a Tarnished God Seed that had undergone five forgings and five temperings, his body was abnormally powerful. "It's self-detonating," Sorin said as he watched the creature's anatomy morph and its energy reserves shift. "I'm not sure why it's choosing a suicidal way to go, but I'm not about to let it have its way."

The three main trunks of the Creeping Hydra Vine were combined into a twisted sphere of vines that contained all three of the creature's demonic cores. The cores were currently being pressed together in a similar fashion to Five Poison Apocalypse.

At this rate, the cores will fully destabilize in the next three seconds, thought Sorin as he placed his hand on the vine sphere. He used Grove Manipulator's Touch and Hand of the Twisted Physician to halt the corruption in all three cores in their tracks and forcefully separate them.

The hydra vine shrieked with rage as its three main trunks were ripped apart to reveal three toothy heads. They immediately bit down on Sorin's body but failed to do more than penetrate his skin and leather armor. Blood pooled on the ground beneath Sorin's feet.

Sorin wasn't concerned about such wounds. Deep as they were, Sorin had ample vitality reserves thanks to his blood-bound armor's life-siphoning abilities.

As a berserk ability, self-detonation doesn't really make sense for a Creeping Hydra Vine, thought Sorin as he analyzed the creature's main body located underground. Creatures of Madness are more likely to do such a thing, as it isn't a rational response. Creatures of Violence tend to do things that aid in self-preservation.

Sorin had a hunch that the answer lay beneath the earth. He took a risk and scanned downward where the Creeping Hydra Vine's main body was located. Three powerful fluctuations fought back against him, but he ignored the resulting backlash and continued scanning.

Got you! The Creeping Hydra Vine was a symbiotic combination of similar organisms. There were three main organisms and thousands of sub-organisms. These extended in all directions, giving the Creeping Hydra Vine an abnormally large reach for a subterranean creature. Most of these acted according to instructions and had a relatively muted spiritual signature.

One small section of the Creeping Hydra Vine, however, had a relatively powerful spiritual signature. What's more, the signature matched that of the other three vines. The self-detonation was just a cover, he realized. Its plan was to preserve its essence into a clone that incorporated genetic material from all three vines. It would then be able to regrow after the situation blew over. With luck, it would even be able to kill some of our group members and force us out of the North Parnassus Forest.

Unfortunately for the hydra vine, it didn't understand Sorin. Three hydra vine cores were worth a small fortune, but in Sorin's eyes, it was this seed clone that was the real price. He ignored the creaking in his bones and the large amounts of blood spilling out from his body and used his two divine skills to strip corruption from their three cores and direct them into the independent clone.

Sorin's companions had already arrived and were hacking away at the creature to rescue him. Their attacks drastically increased in effectiveness as the Creeping Hydra Vine's power was stripped away by Sorin and concentrated into the seed clone.

This continued for several minutes until, finally, Fenrig hacked off a head that didn't regrow. Two more heads followed, and all that remained were three shriveled stumps leading back into the ground.

"Is that it?" complained Fenrig. "Just my luck. I came to this forest to test my skills, not put half-dead demons out of their misery."

Sorin ignored Fenrig's comments and focused on the seed clone. What an interesting way to preserve life! The clone wouldn't germinate right away, and it has limited awareness. It's inherited the Creeping Hydra Vine's quintessence but none of its intelligence or personality.

This was ideal for Sorin. Three-star plant species were difficult to utilize because they developed awareness relatively quickly. Once a plant's spiritual strength crosses a certain threshold, converting it into a usable ingredient would be difficult, if not impossible.

Having stabilized the seed, Sorin instructed Lorimer to dig 60 feet downward and retrieve it. Two minutes later, he returned with a silver-green orb that was desperately trying to escape.

Gareth hopped down from his perch and stopped just outside the circle of blood that had pooled around Sorin. The earth was discolored, and the three heads that had bitten into his shoulders were rapidly melting away.

"That was risky, Sorin," said Gareth. "The slightest mistake, and you'd have been killed."

"No pain, no gain," said Sorin. "If I didn't take such risks, it would be impossible to secure something so valuable as an embryonic Creeping Hydra Vine."

Gareth didn't try to convince him. "Can you keep going?"

"Of course," said Sorin. "These are just flesh wounds."

"Your arm is literally hanging by a thread," said Gareth.

Sorin looked down and noticed that Gareth was indeed correct. "Don't worry. I'll get better." He used his good arm to pop the limb back in place and winced as his ligaments stitched themselves back together.

"If he says he's fine, he's fine," said Fenrig. He walked up to Sorin and gave him a heavy pat that nearly toppled him over. "True men don't hesitate to take a beating when required."

Gareth didn't bother arguing. "Let's take a thirty-minute rest before continuing. There's a point of interest fifteen miles away. A natural formation found by the Kepler Clan's Elder Calvin that contains a pool of clear water brimming with natural energy."

"Will it be guarded?" asked Astley. "And are there historical ruins to be found?"

"No ruins, unfortunately," said Gareth. "According to the report Sorin provided, Elder Calvin detected three guardian groups and was unable to get too close. He did, however, detect a valuable treasure: an immature Clearlight Moon Vine. Though it's not yet mature according to his calculations, this shouldn't be a problem, right Sorin?"

Sorin nodded. "I'll be satisfied as long as I can get one of its unripe fruits."

"In that case, why don't you go ahead and scout the area, Lawrence?" said Gareth. "We'll strategize once we know exactly what we're up against."

"After cake?" Lawrence said in a hopeful tone. The rogue had already pulled out a picnic blanket and a dessert to share.

Gareth sighed. "Cake sounds wonderful. We'll take a half-hour break before proceeding."