At the deepest part of the Celestial Lake where the walls of water towered highest, he turned slowly, listening in to the ambience of the controlled rush of the wall water, feeling at peace.
"Okay… Wooh! I'm ready… I am ready."
"Calling Out To The World, they call it."
"I'm Imuru!... And I'm requesting authority over the Celestial Lake!"
…..
….
…
..
.
"T-This is awkward…"
There was nothing, just silence, and Imuru was left awkwardly gazing at the waters around him.
"Thankfully no one's around…" He said with a flushed red cheek.
[[.....]]
[Celestial Lake Authority Requested]
"Ah!" Imuru stepped back in surprise. "It worked. It actually worked?! Yes please. I requested it, Imuru, the Great Demon Lord they call me." He winced. "Uh, Great… Voice."
The walls around him began to suddenly shrink, and in fear he stretched out his hand to stop it, but it instead began to be adsorbed in Imuru's body, to his dumbfoundment.
[[.....]]
[Permission Processed]
[Requester Analyzed… Determining
State… Will… Soul…]
Imuru felt a shift, his attention being drawn to the empty sky, his hand shaky.
{|…..|}
{|For Safety New Owner Of Celestial Lake,
Partial Absorption Is Recommended}|
{|Do You Wish To Continue|}
{|Yes|} {|No|}
The voice came with its tone of intrigue, and far broken from the previous voice that spoke.
It didn't take long for Imuru to start to understand what it meant, he couldn't handle a full absorption, as an obvious answer came to mind as the effects began to show his eyelids felt heavy and unbearable to keep open, and he began to huff and puff.
With the last breath he had he spoke the one word. "N-N—No… No."
{|Excellent Choice… Continue Evaluation}|
[Celestial Lake Request; Granted]
[Necessary Skill Shall Convert To
Specialized Category]
[[....]]
[Skill Gained: Celestial Lake Domination]
[Sub-Skills Of Celestial Lake Domination:
Ganation; Celestial Lake Aura | Celestial
Lake Water Blade Explosion | Celestial
Lake Perivállon Restoration | Celestial
Lake Heal | Celestial Lake Empowerment
Celestial Lake Coated | Celestial Lake
Great Vortex
[....]
[.....]
[...]
[[Substituting Excess Power For Additional
Skills And Resistances]]
[Skill Acquired: Analyze And Assess]
[Skill Acquired: Sensory Field]
[[...Assessing Condition And
Circumstances For Necessary
Resistance…]]
….
[Fear Resistance Attained]
….
[Paralysis Resistance Attained]
….
[Fire Resistance Attained]
When it all came to an end, the waters shook violently. Urin o' that had hurried over upon sensing the strange reaction stood atop the walls, as he and Yosho stood on the lookout for Imuru; the elf champion having a nervous sweat rushed down his eyebrow. Urin o' audible gasped, seeing Imuru, but all his worries were washed away, based on the look Imuru held on his face.
Imuru exhaled loudly, Yosho rushing to his side. The parted Celestial Lake walls collapsed splashing some of the contents onto Imuru and Yosho.
"That was a success! Yes, yes, yes… Unlikely to be enough to stop the Demon King's, but to stall them for everyone to escape…" Imuru cheered internally, resting his hands on his hips, as he burst out into proud laughter.
After an exhausting time yesterday with his meeting with Lizard King Murk and his visit to the Kingdom Of Fernum, still didn't dampen Imuru's spirits with him excitedly awakening early the next morning eager to test out and validate each of his new skills he had received. Knowing he likely had a long day ahead of him, this was something he needed to find time to assess for future reference when he's stuck in a combat situation.
In an unknown location out in the Sacred Forest, Imuru did some morning stretches; hands on his lower back, he brought his waist round and around in a circular motion, eyes shut, soaking up the morning sun in this little clearing. He bent over, his eyes opening partially, then shooting wide open as he saw someone watching him from behind through his legs.
Straightening himself up with a flick of the hair, in his white, horizontal blue-striped shirt, turning around to face no other than Pone the Bee. Imuru stared at the bee on the ground, as it casually cleaned its wings.
"Erm…" Imuru's head moved along with his eyes darting around. "You know you're acting weird right? Watching someone like that is really creepy. At least flap your wings next time, or something. You had to purposely sneak up on me, since it seemed you used your feet instead of your wings, I wasn't able to hear you."
"So. What do you want now? Just watch me? I don't have any food on me…" He stepped back in a hurry, raising a hand, "and I don't have any food residue on my mouth. I haven't had anything this morning… okay?" Imuru lowered his hand, "alright. I'm sure we have an understanding."
Imuru rested his hands on his hips. "Hey, you know if you want, you can stand and watch. Just be careful though, I'm gonna let loose a little," Imuru stretched up his hands, "Its honestly been awhile since I have… Hmm… when, when… yes. That time I fought that creature… Cryip—something, Yosho called it. If I were to guess, more probably exist in the Sacred Forest. It's a big area after all, I wouldn't be surprised. That would be worrying—to past Imuru. Now Imuru is on a whole different level," A hand on his right hip, he leaned over in that direction, doing the same for the other side, "ohw~yeah… whole different level…" With arms held on chest, he twisted his upper body in place in a full twist to where he no longer could, leaving his feet planted firmly in place. "And now, it is time for me to test that here," He started to jog in place, "and now. And it will be awesome… likely. If Yosho, Arken… Damn, any Dark Devider would freak out in glee and thrill. I think they'd even be more excited than me. Hmph, weird how that works huh?"
Imuru brought his hands together in a slow steady cadence: first a firm first meeting an open palm, then transitioning softly to palm-against-palm. He repeated the cycle with moving meditation, drawing out each exhale to match the deliberate press of his hands. With every repetition, he pushed the silence further, lengthening the intervals of his breath until the movement and the air became one long, rhythmic pulse.
"Now let's test this out."
Imuru made his first move, not a skill, but a natural feature of his first ever evolution he overlooked; wings. He sprouted them in an instant, smiling gleefully, looking over his shoulder at them.
"Hey Pone look at this, isn't it cute? I can fly like you now… Just without the buzz~..." Pone tilted her head perplexed. "Okay, sorry," He slouched, refocusing his attention back and forth, "I'll stop being weird… Tch, now I'm the one being weird, I think there's a saying for this."
Like a natural part of his body, he retracted his wings. "On to something more important… Celestial Lake Domination."
[[
[[-Celestial Lake Domination-]]
In silent grace, a silver light manifested; bringing forth a portion of the Celestial Lake. The water hovered above Imuru, until he reached out, gesturing it down with a finger. Glancing back at Pone from the corner of his eyes, he moved the portion of water, swaying it from left-to-right.
"Down… Up… Hmm. This seems like it would require some time to master," Imuru shrugged his shoulders, "good thing I got time today."
With careful manipulation, Imuru turned with the Celestial Lake portion to Pone. He aimed it at the stationary bee, then tried to push it forward in an aggressive motion… It moved; just very slowly to Pone.
The portion bounced off from Pone, making its trajectory return to Imuru. "Not what I expected… not what I expected at all…" Imuru shook his head at himself. "Alright."
With the portion back to him, Imuru took a few deep breaths, using his hand, to turn and manipulate the portion, trying to get a better personal understanding of manipulating the portion in front of him.
"Just put some thought and imagination into it~... Wow." At the last second of the runway though, the portion morphed into the form of a water spike. "There we go. Arg! But the level of control, it's like I have to manipulate every molecule inside this thing. For efficiency in combat and usefulness in combat, It makes sense."
Imuru aimlessly rotated the now water spike, spinning on his feels, and carrying it along with him. With a thought, then a motion of his hand separated the water spike to smaller ones. Aiming, he fired one at a tree, the level of speed nearly causing him to fall over as the tree was torn to shreds from the force of the singular spike pacing through.
"Uh. What?" Imuru blinked, surprised by the casual damage he caused without intent. "I think I get it, kinda."
A few minutes later Imuru came up with the idea of utilizing the water portion for some tactical use. By splitting it into smaller portions, he used them to leap from one portion to the other in rapid succession; stopping a few seconds later.
"And there… talk about utility," Imuru said, dropping to the ground, "I can see a lot of use for this. What do you think Pone, pretty useful right?"
Pone flapped her wings for a split second answering with the sound of a buzz.
"I knew you'd agree… great minds think alike as they say…" Imuru said, brandishing a cheeky grin.
"On to the next."
[[
[[
[-Ganation; Celestial Lake Aura-]
"Woooh~Wowwy~..."
An aura—Silver shimmering that seemed to have small bubbles emerging off the aura. There was no initial thought for what use this provided; Imuru was more interested in how flashy the aura looked on him, so of course he seeked an opinion from his only observer.
"Pone," He spun around on his heels, "check me out! Pretty fancy, huh?" Imuru said with a childish change of voice.
The black pool that is Pone's eyes seemed to narrow; with Pone tilting her head. From her point of view there was nothing to be seen on Imuru… he just looked as he's supposed to. Imuru stood there waiting—waiting for an answer.
"No?... No wing flap… Hmm," Imuru cupped his chin. "She must be unable to see it then? Oh, well."
"So you must be wondering what this strange aura is around me, you're wondering? First, let's pretend you can see it. Now it's not some cool looking aura…"
Imuru paused to murmur his grievances, "I hope others can see it too."
"On a serious note, it strengthens my defences, and even provides a few extra resistances, like: Fire; already have that but double fire resistances doesn't hurt. Lightning; now this is what I call a good draw, I now fear no thunder nor lightning. Water; I would say self-explanatory, but. Wind; very intrigued to see how this works. And last but not least, prevents me from getting my own Perivállon forcibly absorbed."
"That's about it… Not bad, not bad at all."
A small rustle from the bushes drew the attention of Pone and Imuru. What came walking out was a Gray Persudo, the gray wolf having an intimidating size, in comparison to Imuru.
"Awe. Hello there good boy." Imuru opened his arms welcoming the wolf with some intense caressing. What are you doing here, huh? Did you come to watch me too? You want to be a part of the audience? You adorable one you."
The Gray Persudo took a step in a direction, spinning around to lay down on the ground. Imuru raised a curious eyebrow. "... Ohw~... Let's roll Pone, we have somewhere to be."
One the back of the Gray Persudo, and Pone buzzing behind, Imuru was off, gripping onto the Persudo tightly. Internally he sighed, "I guess my free time is over. If I were to guess, it's probably Lizard King Murk. Hmm-Mmm. The Fernum elves are there, so it's good for him to personally meet them. Next thing to note, is that I should probably send a few Orcs to deter Murk from trying anything, knowing him it's a good idea."
"My overall plan for the Sacred Forest is to get everyone on my side, and use them as buffers when trouble arises. This way, my people would be safe, and I'll probably be left with little to do—mostly thanks to Roll, who I will have handle further diplomatic issues that arise from any of the Great Forces Of The Sacred Forest, unless I'm specifically requested."
In just a few minutes close to half an hour, Imuru reached back within his territory. The Persudo pace slowed to a walk, breaking from the forest out to Imuru's loud and crowded front yard that had been expanded for development. Standing at the front of Imuru's home was Murk—making himself acquainted with the three Fernum elves craftsmen, there to complete their objective of providing Underground City Of The Lizard men with the transportation platform; as per Imuru's wishes.
"Roll, Yosho," Imuru greeted, climbing off the back of the Persudo. "It's good to see you Murk. What brought you here this early?"
"Luck," Murk replied, gazing at the elves unblinkingly. "It has been quite some time since I've seen anyone from that kingdom. I am curious how the years have treated the royals," Murk spoke in a mumbled tone, sounding more ominous with each word spoken, leaving the elves and Imuru's companions weirded out.
"If you mentioned me, nothing of interest was spoken, right?" Murk inquired, shifting his head slowly to Imuru.
Imuru's lips pressed to a thin; and a deeply suspicious look formed on his; Yosho and even Roll picking up the same reaction. At that exact moment, Pone landed and gripped onto Imuru's back. A thought pops into Imuru's mind. "I'm starting to think… he might just be a villain…"
Despite his thought, Imuru got to answering Murk's question. "No, no. We didn't speak of you much," He lazily flashed a hand dismissively, "our conversation was primarily about Fernum."
"Hmph."
Murk processed that little bit of information for a few seconds. "...That's a surprise…" he muttered under his breath.
"In any case," Imuru turned to Roll, "about the thing we spoke about…"
Roll smiled and gave a nod. He turned, calling over a pair of Orcs he had on standby for Imuru. "For the… comfort of the elves, I'd like to have these two accompany them," Imuru requested to Murk.
"Comfort?" Murk repeated, maybe a tinge offended, a clear sign anyone could tell by the sharp clip in the tone of his voice.
"No, no," Imuru raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I don't mean it in any way personal. You just have to understand it's for them to have some familiar company around."
The conversation was cut short by the arrival of a certain person Imuru had been waiting for—and had become deeply concerned for their safety.
Linira came around the corner, her expression characteristically unreadable, but her presence alone was enough. Imuru's shoulders visibly sagged with relief, the tension of unspoken concern draining from his frame. A wide smile briefly crossed his face.
"Linira, she's back…" Imuru thought, actually surprised. "...And alive. Wait—is that dark? Eh, whatever, that's fine I'm happy to have her back, another capable leader to split some of the burden from Roll."
"Lord Imuru," Linira bowed deeply in his presence. "Please forgive the delay. Gathering the others; and explaining our circumstances proved to be troublesome, but they are now all under your command as you wished."
Murk flashed a look over to Imuru, as if to ask 'who was this' it was clearly no simple Dark Devider if he had to guess. To provide an answer, Imuru cleared his throat. "Erm… This is Linira. She was a part of a settlement of Dark Deviders that attacked our town, but the issue had been resolved."
"Also Linira, this is one of the Great Forces Of The Sacred Forest; Lizard King Murk, a pivotal member in our alliances." Imuru introduced. "Roll can catch you up on what's happened since your absence."
"Forgive my manners, Lizard King Murk," Linira bowed to the Lizard King.
"Finally. Linira's back…"
Imuru's thought process shifted, rapidly thinking of his next course of actions.
"That should be it. I can make the move. Who to bring along? I could take Forcent—Forcent, he's inside asleep… No, it would be a safe bet to bring my strongest along with me. Yosho is usually an automatic pick… Ah~a… Hmm-Mmm; I could bring Arken along too, but the trouble he'd cause?" He rested a hand on his hip, leaning onto it, thinking over his decision, "well, I'll bring him."