The remaining walk to the fourth outpost was uneventful after that. At the start Finn was a little disoriented, which made it harder for him to interpret the map, but we got there after a couple of hours.
Kira started doing her part of growing the massive upward vine, while and Phinyx scavenged any silver we could find to ease the job for Finn tomorrow. This was the last outpost from which we would be able to barely see Argent’s barrier in the distance, after this we would go to the furthest point from which we could still see Kira’s plant beacon.
Finn just slept, at a certain point he grabbed all the silver we were gathering and he made himself a small, probably uncomfy and cold bed. But he looked really happy, sheltered under a silver sheet. It probably had sothing to do with his backlash.
After gathering enough silver, I got back to studying my notes on the Sense spell. For the whole day I tried to make those twenty small spheres rotate and work in harmony, but I still couldn’t keep my mind on that many things intricately working together at the sa ti, and my intelligence was still stuck at fourteen.
By night, Finn finally got up.
"Alright, ti to make the silver bunker." Finn said while getting out of his silver sheets.
"It’s midnight Finn, we can barely see." I said in a half asleep tone. "How will you build it?"
"I can sense silver without using my eyes, and tomorrow we’ll mostly walk towards the fifth outpost, so it’s fine." Finn explained on a refreshed tone.
I just kept my head against a bag filled with plants that I used as a pillow, laying on the ground. There was so clanking sounds for a couple of monts, but then everything went silent. Whatever Finn did, we would see it tomorrow.
I woke up early, I was now used to training in the morning after becoming a One. After gaining consciousness, I decided to check what Finn had done.
I turned back and walked towards the supposed place for the outpost, there was a massive silver bunker, it was perfectly done.
"Wow, he was really able to do it without sight." I murmured to myself. "But I guess he couldn’t see that he built it around Coco..."
Coco was there laying on the ground still sleeping. With all the clanking and movent how did he stay asleep? I decided to let him rest, he would be surprised once he wakes up...
I walked a little away from the bunker and took out my notebook.
The pages with the diagrams of the Sense spell stared back at , circles within circles. I sat cross legged on the cold ground and closed my eyes.
One sphere.
Then two.
Each one ford a faint pressure inside my mind, like holding a fragile bubble in my hands. I made each pattern spin, working together without colliding.
By the sixth, the strain began.
It wasn’t pain exactly, more like trying to listen to too many whispers at once. The world beca layered. The slow breathing of my companions. The tallic presence of the silver bunker behind .
Seven. Eight.
Sweat gathered at my temples.
Nine.
Ten.
I held them there.
Ten spheres rotating slowly in my mind, everything working in order, like gears turning in perfect sequence. I adjusted their speed, staggered their rotation.
My head throbbed.
The tenth sphere wavered, then it bursted like mist.
The others collapsed soon after.
I opened my eyes sharply and inhaled. My intelligence might still be fourteen, but this was progress. Ten was a step closer to twenty.
Behind , I heard rustling.
Then...
"AAA! I WAS EATEN BY A SILVER SNAKE IN MY SLEEP!"
Coco’s scream shred through the silence.
I turned just in ti to see him scrambling against the smooth inner wall of the silver bunker, hands clawing at nothing. For a second he looked genuinely convinced he was inside a serpent’s stomach.
Phinyx, now awake, started walking calmly toward him.
"Breathe. Calming vibes, you’re not dead vibes." he said, his tone low and steady.
Coco’s frantic movents slowed as Phinyx approached, the vibes started making effect. The panic drained from Coco’s face in visible waves.
"You weren’t eaten." Phinyx added. "Finn just... built the bunker around you... for so reason."
Coco blinked. Looked up at the curved silver walls. Then at the open entrance a few ters away.
"...Oh."
Finn was just waking up, getting out of his silver sheets. "Oh, my bad." He expressed on a calm, quiet tone.
Kira, woke up at a certain point while I was training, laughed softly as she packed her things. "At least you’re protected."
Coco pointed accusingly at the ceiling. "Warn next ti!"
With the morning chaos settled, we gathered our supplies and began moving again, toward the fifth outpost location.
The land grew flatter the further we advanced, the dark water spreading in shallow veins across the terrain. Here and there, silhouettes moved in the distance.
Corruptors.
We spotted them occasionally, twisted and slow , but none reacted to us. The dark water masked our presence well enough, hiding our emotions.
After so ti, Finn stopped and lifted her gaze.
"This is it." he said.
Ahead of us lay the chosen spot for the fifth outpost, a slightly elevated stretch of ground with multiple big holes in the dirt. From here, the fourth outpost’s beacon was still visible.
We had reached it without incident.
Kira didn’t waste ti.
She stepped forward, knelt on the slightly elevated ground, and pressed her palm against the soil. From a small pouch at her waist, she retrieved a single seed.
"Ti to make another one grow." she murmured.
She buried it carefully, both hands covering it as if shielding a fragile fla. A second later a thin sprout pierced the surface.
Then it thickened. While she stabilized the base with smaller supporting roots, the rest of us spread out.
The ruins nearby were sparse, remnants of collapsed buildings. Twisted beams. Broken walls. Scattered fragnts of silver lining that had once reinforced structures before everything fell.
"Jackpot." Finn muttered as he crouched beside a partially buried fra.
Coco and Phinyx began hauling lighter pieces toward the center of the elevated ground. I joined them, pulling loose sheets free from crumbled buildings.
By the ti we regrouped, a respectable mound had ford in the middle of the outpost.
Finn stepped forward, rolling his shoulders once.
"Alright." he said, placing his hand over the pile.
The silver responded instantly.
Pieces trembled, then slid across one another with sharp tallic whispers. It was as if all the silver beca liquid and got mixed together.
Within minutes, a second bunker stood at the heart of the fifth outpost.
He exhaled sharply and stepped back.
"There." Finn said. "Stable. Reinforced."
Coco walked around it, tapping the outer wall with his knuckles. "You’re getting faster."
Finn smirked faintly. "Practice."
Behind us, the towering vine swayed slightly in the wind, its leaves catching what little light filtered through the dim sky. From this height, the fourth beacon remained visible, a thin green spear in the distance.
Two points connected.
We were carving a path outward, one outpost at a ti.
Everything was going well after the silver snake incident. We were missing seven outposts, but surely we will continue without any more incidents...
But then tomorrow ca...
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