Master Of None



"You can use the light elemental crystals to get stronger?" Walker knew that the mages and many other system users had a way to use the light elemental crystals. Even Alice could coax the elemental mana from the light elemental mana crystals to help her healing songs. 

"Yes, we have ways to pull the light from them and enhance our bodies. It comes at the cost of the crystal because it makes it unstable. These weaker crystals are ideal for it since they are not as useful in other places." The flying light swordsman of the Rize empire knew well that they were limited. 

While Walker didn't know it, the angels of the Rize empire had their own rankings inside of the general rankings from angel, to archangel, and higher. The angels within each elemental hall had their own standings that allowed them to have access to certain things. 

This went from elemental mana crystals, armor, weapons, and so much more. They wouldn't get access to certain qualities of food nor would they be able to take on certain quests. It all came down to the carefully controlled flow of information and education that the Rize empire believed in. 

Because this was the way the angels of the Rize empire grew up, they believed it too. But they also had their own core beliefs that elemental prowess was the key to the world. That should have been the end all be all for them. Yet, the addition of the Fel empire had altered that and caused many fights and wars. 

Now with Genesis intervening, the Rize soldiers saw their chance to get more things they could use in battle. They had been sent because they were lower ranked and would not have the risk of causing a war if they were lost to some undead. The empires would still fight but the strength of the Rize empire would not be massively brought down as it would be if higher tier soldiers were sent. This was similar to the Fel empire but they had sent their life mages and a unique healer so that they could show off and attract the Genesis empire to them. 

While this made the Rize empire out to be a villain, this was just the product of years and years of being pushed to one side of beliefs. The Fel empire was no different with their solitary and research focused attitudes. They were less emotional and could not make the proper moral decisions at times because of their beliefs. There were many downsides to either empire's beliefs. It just came to a heading here where some of the angels that met Genesis had seen new potentials. 

While these may have been the complicated cases, Walker didn't hesitate to ignore any underlying issues he could sense. He had no knowledge of most of this because he had not been able to delve in to the true cultures and inner workings of either empire. The tasks at hand had covered everything that they needed right now. The entire Genesis force was completely focused on helping either empire and then pushing to capture the criminals they were after. 

"Take whatever you need, but any extra can be brought over to me so that I can take them out when Alice needs to sing. I know there is plenty of light here now, but starlight will not be enough for Alice to sing for a long time when the sun sets." As much as Walker felt the sun would set here, he was certain that something was amiss in the desert. It had been many hours now and the sun had barely moved. 

"You understand it now? I can tell that you have understood what is going on other than the curse affecting the sands and turning them in to this white and water stealing sand." Rise spoke to Walker for the first time in a little while. Just as Mordant had been worried about the ruins and the potential that the ruins would be tainted, Rise had been focused elsewhere. 

"The sun here isn't moving. The desert seems to have an odd mana around it causing the day and the nights to be longer. It is even slowing more although time for us is passing. It is not normal under any sort of natural means." The entire party and group of royal dragons stopped after hearing this. Eleven the Fel and Rize angels were stopped in place. 

They had all been so busy with pushing toward storms, battling monsters, and avoiding other dangers that they had not realized that they had just been trudging along for more than should be normal. Their sense of time had been entirely lost to the slow moving sun and the intense heat that worse away at them. 

"You're saying that it may have been more than just a few hours. It could be days and we are somehow still in the sun." Ethan softly mumbled. His fellow Fel empire angels all understood that this would be some form of time manipulation. A greater and worse possibility since they had nearly no knowledge of it at all. 

There shouldn't be any time mage strong enough to do such a thing. Time runes weren't even possible to craft because the form and idea of them was too wild. It was all just theory for the entirety of the Fel empire. Their research would take many generations just to get close to properly manipulating a small area of time rather than an entire expanding desert. 

"So you're saying that just the space and time of the desert are somehow being manipulated? These undead may have messed with this entire place in a much worse way. But maybe it's not space and time at all. What we know is that they messed with death mana. Isn't life and death part of space and time naturally? Something needs space to grow. Something needs time to die. Wouldn't there be a cost for messing with death mana?" Gil sounded like he was some wise monk having a brilliant idea. 

Everyone heard it and wondered what the cost would be. "To use life mana, I had to pull at my own life mana inside me. The cost of abusing it could definitely cause issues to me. I know that. But if used right, I can help everyone and even attract more life mana to me. Not that I can yet. What about death?" Walker had a barely surface level understanding of both life and death. They were some hard things to scratch when it came to knowledge. 

"Exactly, so what if they went against the death mana and forced themselves to stay here? They worshiped some god of death instead of a life bringing goddess. You said that at the waypoint temple. So basically, the natural flow of things got angry and they were cursed, right? But since they haven't been dealt with, the curse expands. Pretty much a natural retribution or something." Remey made it even more blunt. 

From what she had said, the entire group could think wider. Everyone always believed nature and the will of the world to be the end all be all. However, they could be wrong. What if it was greater. What if the elemental planes were not just the sum of everything? What if it expanded more? The thought was hard to conceive since no one really had the knowledge to understand it at all. Yet, what if? 

"If this is all the results of what they did while they were Alice, then they probably had some messed up senses and twisted minds. They came back as undead and whatever bigger and badder undead that controls them is following the way they worshiped causing things to get even worse. I think that makes a lot more sense." Walker believed that their theories had a lot more basis now. 

"We saw a lot of proof. All of this can be somewhat explained. Messed up nature because the natural cycle is broken. Elemental manas not acting as they should, the sand and the heat, then add in the way the sun isn't moving properly here… it's all this area and it could spread to everywhere if left alone." Su knew that things were harder to understand since the sun still could set and fall properly outside the desert. But if space and time were brought in to it, then anything could be possible. It was just a bigger mystery. 

"That means we should all start saving these light crystals. Ignus, you should look for figure crystals too. If the sun sets, we are in for a very cold and dark night." Walker realized that this was the ideal time to prepare before they made another push toward the ruins. The moment the sun set in this cursed desert was the moment that things would begin to shift away from their advantage. It would be all against them and in favor of these undead. 

….

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