NOVEL SIMPLE 16: Nature is watching
With the sect master no longer answering questions, the disciples bought the new technique and returned to their tasks.
The Observing Orb Technique turned out to be a slight disappointment compared to the previous techniques, but none of them felt they could complain.
It gave them the ability to create a floating orb near them, through which they could see and hear. The orb can only move about an arms length away from the user though, so it isn't useful for scouting.
CoDestiny's chat seemed happy though, as they previously weren't getting a very good view of his actions, so this would make the streams more enjoyable and informative.
The main benefit though, is the ability to share what the orb sees and/or hears with other disciples, meaning they now have a way to easily communicate with each other.
JadeBea and and PCliver are making preparations for a farm near the sect.
But instead of a place to grow new plants, they intend to use it as a place to keep Sky Pearl Tulips which they can regularly harvest.
The main difficulty is bringing the tulips to their new location, as they'll have to dig up all the nearby soil in order to avoid damaging the roots.
"Hey, I found something." CoDestiny calls them through the orb. "I was exploring a different direction and found these beetles."
He shows them the corpses of three horned beetles, each around a meter long.
"That's interesting, but why are you contacting us?" JadeBea asks.
"I want to know if there's anything valuable to gain from their corpses." CoDestiny replies. "I don't want to bring them back only to find I've wasted my time."
"I don't know all beasts by heart as there were a lot listed in the bestiary. Hold on a moment, I'll check the library." JadeBea heads off, leaving PCliver to work on his own.
Eventually JadeBea finds the relevant entry and reads out some of the more important parts.
"Barkeater Beetles. They appear in great numbers and multiply rapidly, but usually keep to specific areas. They can't fly, but use their wings to help them jump very long distances. Individually they are usually equivalent to the second stage of Qi-Refining, but due to their numbers it is recommended that anyone under the fifth stage stay away from them. They have a Beast Core but it is considered worthless. Their horns are often used as makeshift weapons by hunters due to their durability, but lack any sharpness. Their shells can be used as armour when no alternative is available. And the wings can be used as a common alchemy ingredient, the sect will buy for 15 SP per pair."
"That's great." CoDestiny says. "I'll bring these back and try making some armour and weapons out of them."
Flora has noticed something strange happening in her forest recently.
First was the disturbance in the Qi, which she had only ever felt once before.
She does hope it's not the same thing happening again, but if it is then it wouldn't have much impact on her.
But then the amount of impurities in her forest forest started decreasing, which is the exact opposite of what she expected.
It would actually be more accurate to say the impurities aren't increasing as much as used to be, and the difference is so small that only a being such as her could notice.
Despite knowing the risk of finding someone in need, and the echoing pleas of her suffering family, she goes around searching for where the impurities are increasing the least.
And that's how she finds a man fighting three Barkeater Beetles.
Her first instinct is to help him, but she holds herself back from Emerging. Even ignoring the risks, there's very little she could do to contribute.
There's something strange about the man though. His soul is only a fragment of what it should be. Could this merely be an avatar he's controlling remotely?
While a technique to do so has always been possible, and is not inherently dangerous, it becomes much harder to keep impurities out. So much so that no sane person would even consider such a technique.
But the strangest thing is that he's actively drawing impurities into his soul fragment, and yet they just end up disappearing.
Such a thing should be impossible. Even the Void Fae have failed to destroy impurities, despite putting in every effort to do so.
This is absolutely wonderful! Can he learn to do this faster? Are there more people like him?
If so then perhaps this world won't be doomed to a miserable fate.
After he wins the fight she hears him speaking to someone else, probably using that orb technique as a relay.
But she doesn't understand what he's saying, which is especially confusing. One of the few requests the Void Fae granted before establishing their rules was that all intelligent beings of the cultivation worlds would come to understand a common language.
Regardless of the risk, she decides to follow him as he brings the Barkeater Beetle corpses back to wherever he came from.
And there she finds...
They're making a FARM!
Oh, how mush she loves farms. Back during her time at the Leaf Sect she would spend all her days tending to farms, helping the harvest by using her abilities.
It pains her not to help these people with their farm. Goes against her very nature in fact.
But her mental connection to her family reminds her what will happen if these people turn against her.
Trapped to increase someone's cultivation. Constantly suffering, with the only comfort being the knowledge that at least one of them managed to avoid this fate.
But if she's captured then she won't even have that comfort, as she is the only free member of her family.
That's why she came to the tainted forest to begin with. It's the last place anyone would ever want to be, even the person hunting her, so she thought she could avoid being lured into Emerging.
Now that she's seeing people again, her determination is wavering. Plus the fact that these people somehow destroy impurities means helping them would be doing even more good than her time with the Leaf Sect.
Somehow she manages to hold herself back and just watch. Fortunately there are none who can notice a Nature Fae when they are hiding.