Sylver Seeker

Chapter 225: What Goes Around(1/2)

After Sylver had returned from his Fobur Plateforged rescue attempt, 11 days had passed.

As of last night, there were 7 mountains left. 7 chain links that were breaking down one by one.

Sylver was sitting in a somewhat odd location, but this way Bruce didnt have to wait too long before he could rift through the giant Ki bubble Sylver, and his garden of fungus occupied.

Getting a mushroom to react to Ki wasnt very hard.

At least not for a man of Sylvers skill.

If you can call semi randomly mashing together various strains of fungus, until something that changed color in the presence of Ki appeared, skill.

Sylver had initially tried using local plants, but it turns out that even the ones infused with Ki, couldnt sense Ki.

Sylver ended up learning a fair bit of cultivation alchemy and discovered that they basically used the dried-up roots, eyeballs, and what have you, the same way mages used spell components.

The various ingredients functioned like catalysts. Which meant that, even though they conducted Ki like nobodys business, they couldnt sense it. They produced a negligible amount of heat, and in some cases produced a faint light, but none of the plants Sylver had access to could be used to sense Ki in the manner Sylver needed.

On top of that, what minimal reaction there was, was far too slow to be used as a counter to cultivators rifting through Ki bubbles.

Sylver needed this thing to react faster than he could. He needed this fungus to handle the rifting cultivator even if Sylver wasnt aware he was being attacked.

Sylver felt that ever so familiar wisp of softness brush against his face, as Bruce yet again appeared behind him. The furry-looking mushroom growing in the palm of Sylvers hand wiggled around and changed color, about 2 seconds after Bruce would have sliced Sylvers throat open.

Bruce sat down, which was the silent signal that the bubble of Ki that Sylver was occupying was getting too hot. Bruce was a very quiet boy, and he did as Sylver asked without questioning him.

Mora was inside the house, sleeping inside a cocoon/hammock, Ria and Spring were playing poker inside Sylvers workshop, and Sylver was sitting on top of a tree in the garden, with about 40 mushrooms covering his head, back, and the top part of his arms.

As the mushroom in Sylvers palm turned into liquid, the one on his wrist slid into his palm and puffed up as it absorbed the failed attempts liquid remains.

Hed been in situations like this often enough to know that there wasnt any real rush. Owl wouldnt attack Sylver right away, he would wait for Hound to lick his wounds, and only then would he attack.

If he attacked at all.

Still, Sylver gradually put everyone on high alert, magically fortified the sect as much as he could, and then prepared an ambush.

Then an hour passed.

Then another.

Then day turned into night.

And then night turned into day.

And while Sylver was content to hide motionless underground, the living members of Fausts sect needed to eat, sleep and rest. In the end, Sylver allowed everyone to go back to what they were doing, and the cultivators were split into two teams that stayed on guard in 12-hour shifts.

Frankly speaking, Sylver wasnt in any particular danger, with Mora acting as backup, he was confident in his ability to, if not win, at the very least escape.

And even if they caught him, so what?

Faust was halfway to Tuli by now, and since teleportation magic didnt work on Anastasia, the chances of her getting here fast enough for the emperor to impregnate her before all the mountain tops finished falling was just short of 0.

By all accounts, Sylver was done.

The closest thing he had to a real problem was all the people in Sylvers sect that could be taken hostage.

The people that had been Fausts responsibility. Except Sylver had been the one who ordered Faust to leave. So, because of that, Sylver was responsible for them.

And even though Sylver only knew a handful of their names, he wasnt about to allow anyone under his protection to die.

Aside from pride, there was the matter of Edmund.

Sylver didnt have a single doubt Edmund would understand that he did the best he could, but Ed would have that stupid fucking look of judgment on his face. He wasnt even aware he was doing it, which made it infinitely worse than if he simply openly judged Sylver for his failure.

It wasnt as if Sylver was going to murder all of them preemptively, to make his life easier, but it was like walking around with a massive hole in his armor. Sylver wasnt accustomed to having such an obvious weak spot, the whole point of Lola turning Arda into an impenetrable fortress was so that anyone that couldnt defend themselves, could be sent there to be defended.

The only real solution Sylver could think of was to hand the second group over to some other sect, so they would stop being Sylvers responsibility. But it turned out that the second group was a package deal if Sylver wanted to maintain ownership of his sects headquarters.

Fausts sect had 2 groups in it, the first was the main group, the cultivators that had been brought over from the sect Sylver had defeated and handed over to Faust.

The second group were the various craftsmen and farmers that belonged to Faust, but at the same time, could very easily get up and move to a different sect.

The guards, Fausts sect had 22, were in the second group, they were powerful, and a couple were even above level 300, but their allegiance wasnt the same as Michaels, or Bruces.

The guards would defend everyone inside the sect, but their combat ability decreased to nothing once they left the area that belonged to Faust. Even if Faust was defeated and a different sect took over, the guards would stay the same. They came with the land, to put it simply.

The cultivators, on the other hand, the children Faust had uncrippled and then trained, were directly loyal to Faust. Normally the two different groups would have a lot of intersection, the wives and children of the cultivators would live amongst the second group, but since Faust essentially just replaced the previous sects head, the people in the second group didnt care too much if Faust was replaced by someone else.

Anyone with any real ties to the previous sects cultivators had left at the same time the defeated cultivators did.

Still, even with that in mind, if someone in the second group died, it would be a mark against Sylver, regardless of how little he cared about them.

On top of that-

I. Found. Them, a voice squawked right into Sylvers ear.

He was very gentle as he picked up the small bird and moved it up to his face.

Are you sure? Sylver asked as Bruce stood up from where he had been sitting. Sylver gestured for the boy to leave, and a moment later he was gone.

I. Am. Sure, there was a long pause. You. Will. Not. Like. It, the sparrow with a glowing eye explained.

Let me guess Witch hunters? Priests? Sylver asked as the bird ruffled its feathers.

Chrys had gotten a lot better at guiding the birds she was controlling, as opposed to simply puppeteering them.

Monks, the Chrys bird said.

Ah That would have been my fifth guess Sylver mumbled as he stood up, and in a single shake of his arms, dislodged the various mushrooms growing on him.

Sylver extended his shadow into a perch for the sparrow to sit on, as he nudged Spring to finish losing to Ria, and considered whether or not to take Mora with him.

Sylver hadnt simply sat on his ass for those 11 days.

Well, that was mostly what he had done, but he did it while Chrys was searching for Owl and the others. Sylver didnt quite understand how exactly Chrys was searching for them, but both she and Zelvash assured him that she wasnt in any danger.

Information gathering wasnt Sylvers forte, and while he would have preferred that Chrys continued to practice her magic in the safety of his house, he didnt have any viable alternatives.

It was either let her find them for him or ask the dragon for help.

Or the witches, and their spirit.

Sylver didnt want to bother the dragon more than absolutely necessary, and he didnt trust any kind of spirit, let alone the type to work with witches.

Sylver couldnt say if the reason he wanted to find Owl and the others was because of his bruised pride, his paranoia, or because he wanted to know what could possibly be so important that they didnt bother finishing him off.

Granted, there was a chance they werent aware he had survived, less than a handful of people had seen him since he returned to his sect, but Owl didnt seem like the type to need word of mouth to find this sort of thing out.

More than anything else, Sylver had a bad feeling about leaving that particular group to their own devices. And the thought that they might interfere with Edmunds rescue sent a chill down his spine.

Sylver informed Michael that he was leaving, and told him to do as they had discussed if Sylver didnt send word by sundown.