This place could not be more different from White Mountain region. There, winter still held sway, and the snow would remain in its place for another two months at least. Here…
His senses were filled with the gentle roar of ocean meeting shore, the smell of salt and seaweed, and the shining expanse of sapphire-blue water, making the horizon perfectly flat. Before him stretched a pristine, white-sand beach and beyond, the Ocean King’s domain, wreathed in clouds at the very edge of sight. Behind him, a deep, green jungle yawned.
“Incredible. All the way to the Sapphire Strait!” he gasped, gripping the bag of materials to his chest. He was not at all used to going around shirtless, but he found himself uplifted by the feeling of the sun on his skin. His own bathing suit, Master had bid him to make out of an odd synthetic material, a rather difficult substance to produce. Though it only consisted of a pair of short pants, it still covered more skin than Master’s own suit.
She waited patiently for him to finish gawking. Eventually the apprentice broke himself from his reverie and turned to receive his next instruction. His teacher, however, remained silent, looking out at the rolling waves as if trying to confirm something.
Something popped into his head. “Master,” he giggled, trying to cover his mouth, “I don’t suppose you’ll be taking anything out of your sleeves this trip.”
Saying nothing, she locked eyes with him. She retained unblinking eye contact as she reached into her bikini top and pulled out an entire folding chair, clicked it open, and flopped it down on the sand. A giant umbrella followed, and she took up a glamorous lounging position, shedding the flotation device.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, you should have seen that coming. Now! Take a seat before me.”
He obeyed, finding the warm sand quite comfortable.
Master cleared her throat, then pointed out to the waves beyond the shoreline. “Seek wisdom from the Souldrinker, who dwelleth beneath the waves. Learn from him, and bringeth back such as you have learned.”
The words sounded familiar to him. Even through the haze of his memories of home, some part of him held onto that old scroll. He clapped his hands together excitedly.
“Yes, yes, second chance for your family honor, or whatever! Did you make that Water Breath Amulet to specifications?”
He nodded and produced the artifact from his bag. The amber centerpiece, covered with impossibly tiny formations overlaid with clear resin, reflected and multiplied the coastal sunlight. She inspected it for a moment before nodding. “That should do for a couple of hours at a time. Everything else?”
He patted the bag. “All prepared!”
“Wonderful. Out you go, then! Shoo! I’ll be here waiting.” She unfolded a reflective screen with three panels, pointing them at her face and upper body.
Huang Jin was no stranger to swimming… probably. He had vague memories of a beach vacation with his sister and mother at some point, but the whole scene consisted of indistinct shapes and shadows, now. Then again, swimming would be a failure state on this assignment. The enchantment on the Water Breath Amulet included clauses and radiants which would decrease relative buoyancy, and protect the eyes and ears as well, allowing the wearer to breath, see, hear, and walk beneath the waves.
The sand and silt under the waterline squished and sucked beneath his feet, but that was nothing compared to the uncanny feeling of water closing above his head. Close to the shore, he could hardly keep his feet. Even below the surface, waves pushed him this way and that, and his undersized body could do little to resist. Before long, though, he managed to move deep enough to escape the whimsy of the tide.
Then, a whole new world opened up to him. Sunlight from the surface high above filtered down in an ever-moving patchwork, turning the bare sand into a hypnotic and soothing carpet beneath him. Whalesong echoed through the blue, perhaps from dozens of miles away. Fish dodged about this way and that, a great-mouthed grouper passed lazily by his side… but all of this paled in comparison to the reef.
A kaleidoscope of colors and a labyrinth of twisted stone, crafted and coated by life growing like moss. The corals were beautiful and fascinating, though some had a habit of stinging like jellyfish when touched. Each was a breathtaking wonder of nature, deepened and amplified by the powerful qi of the Ocean King’s domain.
It was no easy task to navigate the rainbow hues of the living jungle barefoot, but the light of wonder did not leave Huang Jin’s eyes even in his caution. Education gave him some clues about where he could safely put his feet, without which the whole enterprise might have been lost many times.
Crabs, some as tall as he, scuttled alongside and then leapt away when he turned his attention to them. Dark shapes cast shadows from above… and some were more interested than others.
That strange qi-speak- a method of transferring pure thought through pulses of energy- passed through the prince’s mind. it sang.
The dolphins danced through the water above his head, each no less than nine feet long. These were, in many ways, the ‘citizens’ of the Ocean King’s realm. They couldn’t quite reach him, positioned between two large and gnarled outgrowths of coral.
He smiled and waved at the pair, sending his own thoughts toward them. He did his best to mimic their pattern of speech, being no stranger to trading with intelligent spirit beasts.
The pair reacted with delight, swimming around each other in rapid circles.
the other joined in the chorus.
As it so happened, the prince had something for the occasion, though he had not intended it for this exact purpose. He reached into his bag and withdrew a red length of rubber tied to a rope, waving it in the gentle current. It wiggled back and forth like a worm, right where the two dolphins could see it.
They followed the movement with their noses, seemingly delighted.
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Equity reached, the prince gave the rope a good tug. Condensed air expanded in an instant, inflating the thick rubber object into a huge ball. It was designed to give the bearer a sudden trip to the surface in an emergency, and untethered it rocketed straight up at incredible speed.
Squealing audibly, both dolphins raced after it, breaching the surface in a three-fold BOOM. They batted it and chased it until the prince could no longer see them. Still smiling to himself, he carried on in the indicated direction.
The walk to the brain coral took longer than expected. A mile-long swim is nothing to a grown dolphin, but a real sojourn for a child on foot through rough and dangerous terrain.
His destination sat in a relatively open area, a silty clearing in the press of coral. In the center of this sunny patch sat a large, round boulder covered in squiggly ridges of organic matter. Only the profusion of broken shells, mostly from Diamonshell Clams, hinted at the true nature of this brain coral.
Something amazing happened to the living lump of rock before him. An eye as large as his entire head extruded out, opening wide to reveal a W-shaped pupil. Then, the entire rock formation unfolded.
Rolls and ridges came undone and rolled away, revealing themselves to be wrapped tentacles. The spirit beast’s hulking mass spread out in all directions from its carriage-sized head. No longer mimicking a colony of coral, its flabby skin rippled in a dazzling display of deep blue and electric red.
For the first time, Huang Jin could sense its qi. A force well into the Realm of Masters, entirely invisible when at rest. Terrifying.
Then, it ‘spoke.’
The prince shook off his surprise and answered.
Tentacles reached out and wrapped around his ankles, as though they moved without conscious thought. They applied no pressure, though surely the lightest pull would send him tumbling into the silt. Even with this, the boy puffed out his chest and tried to ‘speak’ proudly.
Another appendage nearly touched arm, but held back.
The spirit beast continued to circle him.
The creature’s mantle bobbed this way and that, flashing its dazzling colors even more rapidly as it settled into thought.
It trailed off. Suddenly, its movements became cagey, some tentacles intertwining and others waving about indistinctly. Those strange eyes considered the boy as if unsure of something. It went on,
He’d been getting a little nervous at the change in behaviour, but Huang Jin relaxed. Most spirit beasts bred true, unlike human cultivators, and thus many tried to maximize energy transfer during reproduction.
The prince nodded.
That stopped him cold. Throwing the body’s affinity off by seventy-five percent? Octopi were made of some tough stuff, but that was absurd even by invertebrate standards. It would be even more difficult, given the Souldrinker’s Master-level power.
the Souldrinker insisted, becoming more active again.
The prince turned his ear to the sound of rock scraping against rock as this strange customer scrabbled and searched. The Souldrinker squeezed back into the clearing and extended two tentacles, grabbing Huang Jin’s free arm with one and pressing something into his hand with the other. Once the appendages withdrew, he examined the object.
It glittered in the filtered sunlight, hard and heavy as metal but serrated like the edge of a leaf. A fish scale? No, it was too thick, too perfect. he asked.
The prince couldn’t answer, too distracted by the impossibly valuable thing he’d just been given. The octopus went on,
When he finally tore his eyes from the dragon scale, he found a long tentacle extended, suckers turned upward, awaiting a handshake. After carefully wedging the scale into his bag, he offered his hand, making the commission official.
He barely noticed the journey back to shore. His enhanced awareness allowed him to retrace his steps by memory without any real effort. No, his attention remained focused on the problem at hand: how to mix the promised medicine? He kept his eyes out. A slug threaded its way through the jungle of vibrant, poisonous rock, its back alight with qi-infused sacs. An giant anemone waved its horrible tendrils around in circles, looking to ensnare passing animals. Fish nested within that little knot of stinging tubes, peaking out with vaguely-worried expressions.
So many of these creatures were intelligent, and therefore would have needs that might be gainfully fulfilled. Plans and formulas bloomed in the prince’s mind, but for all that, he still didn’t come up with any concrete solutions by the time he returned to the beach. Once free of the water, he greedily inhaled the salt air. It was incredible, underwater, but dry land and real air were best for Man.
The sun had begun westering, casting its orange light on his Master… in exactly the same position he’d left her in, sunning herself. “Well? What did you learn?” she asked, voice impassive.
“Octopi make for lucrative clients,” he answered, once he’d recovered his breath. “Look!” The prince made his way to his Master, pulling the brilliant scale from its place and letting it glisten in the light.
She slid the sunglasses down her nose to get a better look. “Huh.”
“He said he’ll give me a share of wisdom, in exchange for a potent Yang medicine. I have one week!”
Master continued to examine the scale without taking it from her student’s hand. “Okay, love, wisdom check. What does it mean, to you, when such a powerful spirit beast gives you an object this valuable as a down payment?”
Huang Jin stood as tall as he could and puffed his chest out, smiling bravely. “If I can’t deliver the product on time, I’m dead.”
“Bingo.”
The prince had a very active week ahead of him.