Chapter 342 - Draconix

After talking with Asma and the other members of the group they quickly decided to make their way towards the city of Cana which was the capital and also the largest city in the desert, it was situated around an underground spring which allowed the city to flourish, or that's what Mercury could piece together from Asma's few words anyway

"Let's make camp here… Wait…"

Mercury suddenly felt a gaze as he did his hairs stood on end, he turned around and instantly kicked off the ground, going full speed for about 20 seconds he spotted a group of people, one of which was pointing a wooden staff in their direction which glowed with runes as massive amounts of mana cursed through it

"Oh no, you don't!"

Mercury made a front flip down a dune running his hand through the sand as he passed it instantly forming a spear made of compressed sand which he threw while still in the air, as he landed the spear made of compressed sand stuck the person in the center that was wielding the wooden staff, the other people around were instantly alerted and drew their weapons and acted in a practiced manner to form a human barrier between Mercury and the wooden staff that floated in the air while still churning mana

"MOVE!"

In the next instance, Mercury crashed into the person in the front with his knee meeting and shattering his face along with his skull, the other 6 people instantly attacked Mercury with their weapons, Mercury twisted in the air and sent a head clean flying with a kick before he landed on the warm desert sand, as he did a surge of mana went out and 5 spears made of compacted sand shot up from the ground and impaled the rest of the people present before Mercury kicked off the ground again, as he did, however, he realized that he was too late as a massive but concealed mana surge shoot skywards

"Shit…"

Mercury picked up the wooden staff before he kicked off the ground and returned to the group at breakneck speed, then he instantly kneaded mana into the ground trying to quickly from an underground shelter, but then it happened, Mercury felt it, so did the rest of the ground, they all looked up and witnessed in horror the thousands of meteorites that were crashing down towards them, Julia and Marie both felt their legs go weak, so did Jey that even though she couldn't see them she felt the might of the meteorites, as for Ben he silently closed his eyes, then all of a sudden Asma spoke

"Despair, too early"

Mercury turned his head and spoke

"If you can do anything about this, now would be the time"

"Mmn, okay [Dragon seal level 0]"

Mercury felt his own heartbeat all of a sudden, like a heavy hammer in his chest, then a robotic voice sounded out inside his mind

[Draconix unsealing complete, powering mana forges 1 - 10… Error Mana forge 6 - 10 offline, maintenance required, starting mana forge ignition…]

Everyone felt it, it was as if an oppressive feeling bore down on every living, mana wielding being for miles on end, clearly, something had just awoken, Mercury felt as if his body was being torn apart by the sheer amount of mana that churned through him, it was as if his mana capacity had been field to 11 and the surrounding mana was rapidly being drawn in to fill these reserves

[Threat detected… Auto defense initialized, building spell structure… Complete, deploying countermeasure…]

Mercury looked up at the meteors falling down from the heavens and scoffed before he pointed a finger towards the sky… and then it came, a thunderclap like no other before as blue lightning surged out from Mercury's finger towards the sky and as the blue thunder hit the meteors they simply disintegrated at once, the blue lightning spread from the first meteor to the next and within a few instances the sky was cleared off meteors, they had simply been disintegrated, like morning dew under the blazing sunlight, as for Mercury himself? He trembled as the robotic voice sounded out inside his mind again

[Recoil detected, internal damage rating: 3, starting auto repair sequence…]

"Yeah… I felt that too…"

Mercury vomited a mouthful of blood before he sat down on the ground, Julia and Marie rushed to his side at once

"Mercury!?"

"Hang on!"

"I am fine… Just… A… Little… Tire...ed…"

Mercury closed his eyes and instantly fell into a deep sleep…

When he was aware again he found himself in front of a consol he knew well, he knew it so well in fact that he was able to operate it in his sleep and instantly moved his fingers to operate it to change some settings, this was a standard operating consol for advanced surgery, as he operated it to change some settings he began mumbling

"...Just 28 years of salary left… hold on mom, I'll make you immortal…"

At that moment he realized why the word immortal meant so much to him, was due to his mother who was his only family member, the only one that was still alive anyway, she had been born with a rare blood disease that made her incompatible with normal relatively cheaper immortality implants, these didn't really make the person who had them immortal but cured all, and I mean all age-related defects and diseases guaranteeing that the person who they were implanted in would live past 500 years, this was an increase over the about 120 years which was the average lifespan in Mercury's age, just as he finished setting up the consol the scenery changed and he found himself in front of a crematorium, with a cardboard coffin in front of him ready to be rolled into the flames

"...I didn't make it… If only I had worked harder…"

The scenery changed once more, now it was a pure white space with an avatar floating in front of him

"...Light?"

[That's right]

"...Why did you show me that?"

[I didn't, that was your dreams… Though I saw it too, sorry]

Mercury sighed before he spoke with a wry smile

"Don't worry about it, it's all in the past anyway"

[If you say so… Can we move onto the reason why I am here?]

"Sure"

[The reason I am here is to warn you if you rely on your newfound Draonix power too much you'll be consumed by it, the recoil you felt when you used the negative lightning didn't only harm your body, it damaged your soul too]

"...I have a couple of questions"

[I'll answer what I am allowed]

"Okay… First of all, what's a Draconix?"

[That's your race, I won't go into detail but it's a dragon-phoenix hybrid]

"I see… Then what about the recoil?"

[Basicly a Draconix is built as a weapon, and the soul inside the body just happens to be one of the sources from which the weapon draws power form, this means your soul has been temporarily weakened, if you use this too much then your soul might get chipped or otherwise damged]

"...And then what?"

The avatar's eyes narrowed slightly as Mercury felt a chill go down his spine

[Then I'll be forced to put you down and return your soul to the wheel where it will be mended]

"Duly noted"

[Very well, see you next time]

"Sure, see you around"

Mercury woke up inside a tent, he felt his entire body ache and he had a splitting headache he let out a groan as he sat himself up

"So… Recoil… Great…"

After complaining for a bit Mercury stumbled out of the bed he had been placed on and moved out of the tent, outside it was night, the cold air felt great for his headache and sore body, he stood and looked up at the stars for a bit before he suddenly felt a quiet gaze, he looked over and saw Asma's eyes shining in the dark

"Hey Asma… Are you standing guard?"

Asma quietly walked over and suddenly hugged him, Mercury was a little confused before she spoke

"Worried"

"I see, sorry to worry you Asma"

"Mmn"

Mercury gave her a brief hug and expected her to let go, except she didn't so after letting out a sigh he patted her on the head a few times before she let go of him and took a step back, then she resumed quietly staring at him, Mercury walked over to the fire and sat down in front of it, after a bit Asma sat down next to him, she was still staring at him which made Mercury's headache worse

"Was there anything else?"

"...Feel guilty"

"Why would you feel guilty?"

"...You're hurt"

"I am fine, well mostly fine"

Asma looked down so Mercury patted her on the head until she looked like she felt better, though then he felt into the dilemma that she looked lonely when he removed his hand, so after a bit, he went back to patting her on the head only to repeat the cycle a few head pats later....