The Primeval Era-Chapter 104: Replication! II

After she said this, golden light flared from her body!

Tendrils of Mana wrapped around a shocked Masamuk, pulling the slime toward Damian before either of them could react. And then, with force that couldn’t be resisted, she flung the two of them down the mountain!

As they passed through the canopy of Ancestral Pillars, Masamuk had a gaze of unwillingness painted across his obsidian form. His body shot out a tentacle, wrapping around the kneeling figure of the Inkanyamba and pulling the Behemoth alongside them.

Three beings tumbled down the mountain together.

The blue flames around Damian flared as he steadied himself in the air. He twisted his body, caught his balance, and began controlling his descent rather than simply falling.

They avoided smashing into trees as they descended, weaving between massive trunks and ducking under branches that could have impaled weaker beings. The forest blurred past as they dropped lower and lower, the peak of Mount Vorrath shrinking above them.

Damian settled his beating heart.

"Why did she send us away so quickly?"

He felt like he had an inkling of why, but...

BOOM!

An instant later, his body trembled.

He felt terrifying auras rise from the peak of the mountain and begin barreling toward where they’d just been. Not one or two. Many. Powers that made even the Inkanyamba seem small.

They were coming to investigate.

They were coming to find out what had happened.

And if they found him there...

Masamuk had a heavy expression as he looked at Damian with a complex gaze.

"That is why."

The slime’s voice was quiet and weighted.

"You have just healed Tiaret, First of Her Name. On this mountain and many others, she is royalty that even your Anointed Ones in the human lands can barely compare to."

His crimson eyes held emotions that seemed too deep for a slime to possess.

"She... is the love of my life."

...!

He said the last words almost silently.

Almost as if they were taboo.

But Masamuk refocused soon after, his obsidian body pulsing with renewed intensity.

"They cannot know how she was healed. You will be captured and killed at best. Or devoured by Noble Beast Shamans who will try to understand how you did something that even the grandest healers under these Sacred Mountains could not."

His crimson eyes burned.

"You... who are you, really?"

Masamuk turned his full attention to Damian as their figures disappeared into the forest below, rapidly shooting out into the distance. Behind them, auras blared with investigation and demand.

Damian had no answer.

But he did control his skin to grow another layer of flesh, covering that golden tattoo on the back of his hand. The inscription vanished beneath new skin that sealed over it like a secret being buried.

He wondered.

If he flooded it with Mana, would he also transform into something of such terrifying power like Tiaret? Was that only a portion of what her Land and Sky Physique could do? Could he take that form whenever he wished, becoming something that forced Behemoths to kneel?

He shook his head.

He could figure this out later.

For now, he focused on Masamuk and spoke aloud.

"Your woman said you would help me with whatever I wanted."

His dark blue eyes met those crimson ones.

"You wouldn’t be going back on this, right?"

...!

His words caused Masamuk to be dumbfounded momentarily.

Then the slime’s expression shifted.

It gradually became proud and excited, as if everything that had just happened was finally sinking in. A whisper escaped from him that grew into something joyful.

"Right... my woman!"

The obsidian body pulsed with stellar blue points that danced like celebrating stars.

"She’s healed! Haha!"

Masamuk looked at all of this from a new perspective now. He looked at Damian up and down, reassessing the human before him, seeing not a fool who had stumbled into their domain but someone who had accomplished the impossible.

The slime floated over and came to rest half of its body on Damian’s shoulder.

It looked at him with an intense gaze.

"You have saved the love of my life, and for this, I owe you many things. Even if she hadn’t told me, I would help you regardless! Okay?"

Its voice grew warm with gratitude that seemed genuine.

"From this day onward, you, Sacred Human Shaman, can be lucky to be considered a friend of Masamuk!"

Its crimson eyes gleamed.

"Now, your problem was with a human Imperator, right? Okay! We will solve this together!"

The slime bounced slightly on his shoulder.

"Let us get out of here first though. With her healed, she will be surrounded by many, and some do not approve of me and her. Once the situation cools down, she will call for me. Until then, I am free! Haha!"

It looked at him eagerly.

"So what do you need done?"

...!

As they weaved across a thick forest at the base of Mount Vorrath, an obsidian blue slime of terrific power bounced on Damian’s shoulder.

At this moment, he’d succeeded in forming a terrifying relationship with a lineage of unique Primal Beasts.

And even he didn’t know how tremendous this was.

What he did know was that Uncle Adam and the others would be safe.

"Ensure that no Primal Surges are continuing first."

His voice was calm.

"As for now, let us go back to my tribe."

There was much to be done.

He also needed to confirm something with his power and cultivation.

Because if he was to truly become strong enough to face the armies of the Murderous Saint alone, to crack their skulls with his own hands...

What better way was there to do this apart from collecting the rare Land and Sky Physiques so few had?

Something he’d been looked down upon for never having in the past.

Something that had marked him as worthless, as crippled, as unworthy of his bloodline.

If he could now have as many as he wanted?

His eyes flashed with cold ambition.

Not once did he stop to question, could one even have multiple Land and Sky Physiques in their bodies?

Even if he did question, the next question he would ask was simple.

Who decided that?

Who decided that one could only have a single Land and Sky Physique?

And why would he have to follow them?!

---

<Territories Unclaimed: A Survey of the Threshold Lands>

Many Unbound Tribes dwell in what the Shamans called the Threshold Lands, that vast stretch between Mount Vorrath and the Crimson Reaches where neither beast nor empire holds absolute dominion.

To journey from the Sacred Mountains near Vorrath to the Purple Stone Tribe, one must cross the Veiled Forests and traverse the Plains of Shattered Bones and Stones.

It is a distance of perhaps forty leagues, yet it spans the divide between two worlds entirely. The Dominion of Crimson Stone’s influence fades three days east of the Sleeping River.

The Obsidian Throne’s shadow does not reach past the southern tree line. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

The Covenant of the First Stone has never claimed these middle territories at all.

And so, many Unbound Tribes persist in the spaces between, tolerated by beasts who could destroy them and ignored by empires who see no value in stone that yields neither Mana nor tribute. They are the forgotten. They are the overlooked.

These Unbound Tribes like the Purple Stone Tribe and its Tribesmen are, perhaps, the freest people in all the Lands of Stone, though freedom purchased through insignificance is a fragile thing indeed.