Elder Cultivator

Chapter 832

Further and further the group of five traveled, finding a few more isolated groups along the way. There really was very little interaction among those of different shapes and sizes, except for rare travelers like themselves and those interested in violence. It was amazing they still managed to communicate.

They came upon the sandy shores of another great lake, but this time Three Squeaks truly couldnt sense the far edges, or even much of the shores on their side. It seemed to extend forever.

This lake is unfathomably big, Three Squeaks commented.

Bad water. Salty, Meep commented.

This is one of those what do you call it Half Oink said. Youre supposed to split them along with the clouds.

Three Squeaks shook his head. I assume this is related to your sword training?

Crossed Antennae pinched his natural energy, drawing his attention. Then she signed the word, reminding him of it.

Ocean, right, he nodded. A big, salty lake. Well, slightly different because it should be connected to a lot of this. Do you know what this means?

We have to swim a lot? Half Oink postulated.

Three Squeaks shook his head. None of us can swim continuously without stopping. Our journey in this direction comes to an end. And in truth we should return home.

But Im not done exploring, Half Oink commented.

I know. Well take a different route than before. But we have to report back to make sure everything is alright, and if were going to be traveling everywhere theres a lot of back and forth that has to happen. Besides, Id like to get more travel food so we dont have to scavenge in other peoples territories as much.

Cant leave yet, Meep said sternly. Have to get sea plants.

Hows your swimming? Three Squeaks asked. Actually, nevermind. A bunch of it washed up on shore.

Oooh, look at that! Half Oink said, charging towards something in the sand. It looks tasty! She dove her head into the sand and came back up with a mouthful of something she was happily chewing. Then her jaw dropped open, releasing a slimy monstrosity. Its not tasty! Its soft but its sharp! I dont like it! The warthog started running around wildly, eventually diving headfirst into the sand as it sloped up. Without her momentum, she ended up on her back, her mouth open. Owwwwww

Let me look, Meep said, grabbing the squishy thing with his energy and dragging it next to her. Three Squeaks hadnt thought it was a danger because it was just some goop. Nobody would eat random goop. He thought. Squishy, he said prodding it with a claw. With dangling bits.

Three Squeaks approached and focused his senses. I sense something as well. Can you guys pick it out? he held the princesses towards it.

Stingers, Fearsome Mandibles signed. Very tiny.

Hmm, I can sort of make it out, Three Squeaks said, though it was difficult. Its like ant sized for ants?

A small percentage of our size, Crossed Antennae agreed.

Well make it staaaahp! Half Oink complained. It hurts bad!

What have you learned? Meep said.

That this hurts!

I think hes telling you not to eat random things you find on the ground, Three Squeaks said.

Yes. Things on ground are for me.

None of this is making it hurt less! the warthog complained.

Can you help, princesses?

They shook their heads. Too small. Cant grasp things that size.

Well, one of us will have to do it. Half Oink, its your mouth so just use your energy.

I caaaaant! It hurts!

Now that he thought about it, hed seen her with a broken tusk and lion claw marks down her side and she hadnt complained. It might be very painful. Okay, just hold still. Meep and I? he looked at the other meerkat. Well try to pull them out.

I pull Meep said. You hold still.

Good plan, Three Squeaks said. The old fellow was better at precise energy control. He worked with small things sometimes. Three Squeaks just tried to hold Half Oink still- she was doing her best, but her mouth and tongue were twitching. He tried to clamp his energy down around her tongue without squeezing, while still leaving room for Meep to work.

It was an extremely slow process. The first one only took a few moments for Meep to extract, but it was even thinner than a hair. Fortunately, he was able to reach into the flesh and disentangle it with his energy. But the process was too slow, even for the patient Meep. Will take forever. Many thousand.

Jutht yank th-hem outh! Half Oink lisped.

Meep did so. How did that feel?

Three Squeaks let go of her for a moment. Didnt feel anything, but most of my mouth still hurts so just do it!

Meep began grabbing them, five, then twenty at a time from what Three Squeaks could tell as they piled into a shell hed scrounged up. Even in groups, Three Squeaks could barely make out their form- though he did begin to see something building up in the shell.

An hour or two later, it was all over. It still kinda hurts, Half Oink said.

Poison inside, Meep explained. Dont understand. Have to heal.

Its still a lot better, the warthog said. Even if her whole mouth and tongue were swollen, one of the irritants was gone. The other would purge itself eventually. She could be felt slowly trying to do just that, though it was also on a small scale and had only barely pushed into the bloodstream where it could be easily filtered.

The ocean is dangerous, Three Squeaks commented, looking back towards it. We will have to come better prepared, if even dead squishy things from it are like this. Who could even have killed this?

Anyone, Fearsome Mandibles pointed out. Its very soft. Anything could try to eat it. Thats one reason to have this sort of thing. The other would be for hunting.

Wouldnt it hurt its own mouth? Half Oink asked.

Only if it had one. I think this is the whole thing, her antennae gestured vaguely to the lump with tendrils coming out of it.

Meep nodded. Can digest things in bag.

Please be careful with your samples, Three Squeaks said.

Very careful, Meep said. Only poisoned self once

I know thats not true, Three Squeaks said.

Acci dentally this week, Meep clarified.

I dont know if that counts as careful, Three Squeaks admitted.

Didnt poison self hundreds of times, Meep said proudly.

Where was he even fitting all that stuff? His bag wasnt that big. Wait Did you get a storage bag from Anton?

Meep shook his head. Made it. Almost no chance of explosion.

And by explosion you mean?

All of bag insides becoming outsides.

Three Squeaks sighed. Well, just be careful with that. Ill go get you some plants. He definitely wasnt going to touch any of them with his hands, though.

As he walked along the sand, he saw some sort of leafy thing with pods full of air for some reason. He would drag it along with his energy on the way back. There was some sort of fat leaved thing growing in the sand.

Before he got there, however, he walked a bit further along the shore, with the waves sometimes reaching up to his waist. So pretty far up. He saw it depositing things further along while dragging away other things, including sand. Some of the sand washed away and left behind a small thing with a shell. A crab? No, the shape was all wrong. It was long instead of wide. It looked directly at him, and he looked back. He only sensed its energy as it dove into the wet sand, burrowing out of sight.

Wait! Three Squeaks called. He thought about trying to scoop it out but that would be too much like an attack. It was very weak, anyway. But he might be able to find it.

He sank his senses into the sand. Below a paw length or two, it became very difficult. Air was so much easier to sense through. But he could still do it. He was just somewhere around a thousand times worse at it. Without even exaggerating, he thought that was correct. His distance was measured in meters, maybe ten at most and only in direct lines. But even with that, he managed to stumble into several, no, dozens of the long crabs, just barely picking out their energy.

Not because all of them were weak, but because they all hid it. And they also reacted to his senses, despite them being fairly subtle. Given their reactions, he pretty quickly stopped, moving away from the wet part of the sand just in case they wanted to band together to fend off the invader he might look like. But after waiting for a bit they didnt seem to come. His passive senses could potentially pick a few of them out in wriggling in the top layer of sand, but he might have been fooling himself into finding something he expected.

He would just leave that, and go grab some of that plant to sample. And a bit of anything else he noticed. There were a number of round, flat things. Was there a creature in there? Not anymore, at least, just bits of sand. But they had a little hollow and a hole in the bottom, and things didnt achieve that shape accidentally.

When he dragged the plants back to Meep, the other meerkat at least pared them down to a few parts of each thing. He didnt have limitless space, it seemed. Furthermore, he wrapped each plant in a specific leaf, tying them inside with thin fibers. Need many small bag next trip. No touching.

There were a bunch of little long crabs in the sand, Three Squeaks commented. Or, are I guess. And I think theyre sapient. They at least actively use energy.

We should talk to them, Fearsome Mandibles said.

They seemed to prefer staying hidden, Three Squeaks said. I dont know if we want to bug them. They might get angry. And there were a lot. I dont know about you, but I cant defeat a thousand first or second rank cultivators.

I would not be a good match for anything with a shell, Fearsome Mandibles admitted. Even if it was vaguely my size.

Plus your legs are still recovering, Crossed Antennae poked her sister.

They are fine, the first sister said. I will return to full power. No, a greater power soon.

Yeah, well, Three Squeaks looked over at the ocean. Lets try not to let either of you get squished or washed away or something.

We can swim, Fearsome Mandibles protested.

But can you fight against the waves?

There was no response to that.

This isnt a good place to camp, Three Squeaks said. Even if birds cant eat me, Id rather not deal with them. Lets make our way back into the treeline and then plan our route from there. We can circle around to the north or south on the way back. If we head far enough, we can explore entirely new area just adjacent to what we already saw.

How far? Meep asked.

Yeah, Half Oink said. Like, our senses, or your senses?

One horizon, Three Squeaks decided. As far as you could see with an unobstructed view and a little height. That will let us focus on new areas, and I will be able to keep track of where we went before.

New plants, Meep said with his own subdued level of enthusiasm.

Hopefully well find tasty things, Half Oink said. Or something to fight.

Three Squeak didnt think theyd find much of the latter, which was the whole point. He had at least brushed his senses past the places they would be walking on their route back. That didnt mean there would be nothing, but they should at least be able to avoid running into a pack of hyenas or something. And if there were any, theyd probably be low in natural energy and not much of a threat- not that they lived in places like this. There were things like foxes and big cats that would be more threatening.

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