Chapter 13: Frostbite and Fuse-Wire
The unnatural cold of the **Heavenly Lock** gnawed at Kai's bones, a constant counterpoint to the searing pain radiating from the violet cracks spiderwebbing up his arms. **77% Stability.** The Skyrend Gorge sprawled below, a treasure vault guarded by a dragon. Elder Mo Gan's late-stage Foundation aura pulsed like a glacier's heart, chilling the air further. The massive drill – **Project Emberfall's** core – loomed over the excavation site, its complex mechanisms whirring with ominous purpose. Sixty-seven hours.
**<< SP: 345. Acquisition Penalty: -50% Active. >>**
**<< Primary Objective: Sabotage Drill. Acquire Skyrend Ore (50+ lbs). >>**
**<< Secondary Objective: Purify Roc Blood for Meridian Stabilization. >>**
**<< Recommendation: Try not to implode. Would be messy. >>**
Kai retreated into the skeletal forest, finding a shallow ice cave. Time for desperate alchemy. He summoned the **Portable Spirit Refining Kit.** The corrupted **Stagwing Roc Core Blood** in its vial pulsed with sickly gold flecks against viscous black.
**<< Purification Protocol Initiated. >>**
**<< Method: Violet Qi Polarity Inversion + Geothermal Venting (Simulated). >>**
He placed the vial in the kit's crucible. Hands on the Qi conduits, he channeled his Violet energy, *not* as raw power, but as a precise, high-frequency vibration – an inversion field. The kit hummed, amplifying his intent. The black blood churned. Golden corruption hissed like angry serpents, rising as vapor. Kai forced the vapor through a condenser coil cooled by ambient Choir-frost, crystallizing it into malignant golden dust. The remaining blood darkened to a deep, rich crimson, radiating potent, if volatile, life-force.
**<< Purification Complete: Stabilized Roc Blood Elixir (Crude). >>**
**<< Effect: Temporary Meridian Stabilization (+10-15% Stability). Duration: 4-6 hours. Side Effect: Temporary Sensory Hyperactivity (Pain Amplification). >>**
*Pain amplification. Perfect.* Kai downed the elixir. It burned like swallowed coals, but warmth spread through his core. The violet cracks dimmed slightly, their jagged edges softening. **Stability: 86%.** A fragile reprieve. His senses sharpened painfully – the creak of distant ice sounded like cannon fire, the scent of snow like acid.
**<< Temporary Stabilization Active. Countdown: 05:59:59. >>**
Now, the distraction. He needed chaos. Pure, unadulterated chaos. His gaze fell on the crystallized **Choir Corruption Dust** – pure, condensed essence of the golden eye's malice. The Alchemy Primer screamed warnings: *Unstable. Reactive. Chaotic Resonance Potential.*
He mixed the dust with powdered Spirit Moss (amplifier), a drop of Sunfire Pollen residue (ignition catalyst), and encased it all in a thick shell of frozen Stag Blood and river clay. He molded it into a rough sphere the size of his fist. It pulsed faintly with contained golden light, radiating wrongness.
**<< Improvised Device: "Discord Orb." >>**
**<< Effect: Unleashes localized Chaotic Qi Surge upon detonation. Predictability: Low. Area of Effect: Moderate. >>**
**<< Detonation Trigger: Qi Pulse or Physical Impact. >>**
**<< Handle with extreme prejudice. Or throw it very, very far. >>**
He crept back to the gorge rim. The Sect operation was in full swing. Inner disciples supervised laborers hauling raw Skyrend Ore towards carts. Mo Gan stood immobile near the drill, his frost-rimed robes untouched by the unnatural snow, his eyes scanning the gorge walls with glacial patience. Kai focused his painfully enhanced hearing.
"...ore purity insufficient for the main conduit!" an inner disciple snapped at a laborer. "Load only the indigo-silver veins! The rest is slag!"
Slag. Discarded piles of lower-grade Skyrend Ore lay scattered near the gorge's edge, away from the main operation. *His* target.
Timing was everything. He needed Mo Gan looking elsewhere. He primed the Discord Orb, feeling its chaotic energy buzz against his palm like angry hornets. He aimed not at the drill, not at Mo Gan, but at the **Icefang Wolf Pack** he'd sensed earlier patrolling the upper gorge rim, far across the excavation site.
He hurled the Orb with all his Mid-Stage strength, enhanced by a sliver of Violet Qi. It arced high and silent through the snowy gloom.
***THOOM.***
The detonation wasn't loud, but *wrong*. A sphere of distorted golden light bloomed amidst the Icefang Wolves. Reality seemed to warp within it. Wolves yelped, not in pain, but in maddened confusion. Their coordinated pack mentality shattered. They turned on each other, howling, biting, their frost Qi flaring erratically. One, driven berserk, charged *towards* the Sect camp, trailing chaotic golden sparks.
**<< Distraction Initiated. Threat: Tier-2 Spirit Beast Pack (Enraged). >>**
Chaos erupted. Alarms blared from spirit stones. Inner disciples shouted, drawing weapons. Mo Gan's head snapped towards the disturbance, his aura flaring, a wave of intense cold radiating outwards to freeze the charging wolf solid mid-leap. His focus was locked on the maddened pack.
*Now.* Kai poured Qi into **Void Shimmer**. The spatial hop tore at his stabilized meridians. **Stability: 83%.** He reappeared behind a massive slag pile near the gorge edge. The discarded ore pulsed with dense spatial Qi – heavy, but not pure enough for the Sect's drill. Perfect for SP.
**<< Skyrend Ore (Low-Grade) Detected. SP Conversion Rate: 2 SP per lb. >>**
He grabbed chunks, shoving them frantically into his spatial pouch. Ten pounds... twenty... thirty... His senses screamed. Footsteps pounded nearby – a laborer fleeing the wolf chaos, stumbling towards his hiding spot.
**Void Shimmer.** Another hop, further down the slag pile. **Stability: 80%.** The cracks on his arms flared violet. Fifty pounds! The pouch strained. **SP Gained: 100 (After Penalty). Total SP: 445!**
**<< Objective Partial Complete: Ore Acquired. SP Threshold Reached. >>**
He needed the sabotage. The massive drill. Its central power core glowed with concentrated Earth and Metal Qi beneath complex shielding. Vulnerable, but unreachable past Mo Gan and the inner disciples now regrouping.
His eyes locked onto the **ore conveyor belt** feeding raw Skyrend into the drill's processing maw. Workers had abandoned it during the chaos. The belt itself was mundane, but the ore... He still had the crude injector syringe from purifying the Roc blood. And he had the **Discord Orb residue** clinging to his fingers – pure, unstable chaotic Qi.
A brutal plan crystallized. He scooped up a handful of snow and sludge, mixing it with the Discord residue and a final drop of his own Violet Qi – a volatile paste. He loaded the injector. Using **Heavenly Step** amplified by his fading stability, he blurred to the conveyor belt's intake point. Ignoring the grinding machinery inches away, he jammed the injector nozzle into a chunk of raw Skyrend Ore just entering the belt and squeezed the plunger, injecting the chaotic sludge deep into the stone.
***Void Shimmer.*** He vanished as shouts rose – an inner disciple spotted him. He reappeared near the gorge wall, gasping. **Stability: 77%.** Pain spiked, amplified by the elixir.
The injected ore chunk rode the conveyor into the drill's processing chamber. Kai watched, heart pounding. Seconds ticked.
***KER-RUNCH!*** ***HISSSSS—ZZZAAAPPP!***
The drill emitted a tortured shriek of grinding metal. Sparks, not the usual silver-blue of Skyrend processing, but *golden and violet*, erupted from its intake vents. The harmonious thrum of its Earth/Metal core stuttered, replaced by a discordant screech. Warning sigils flared crimson across its surface. The drill shuddered violently, then ground to a halt, smoke pouring from its vents.
**<< Primary Objective Complete: Project Emberfall Drill - Critical Sabotage. >>**
**<< Estimated Repair Time: 18-24 hours (Minimum). >>**
**<< SP Gained: 150 (Significant Plot Disruption). Total SP: 595! >>**
A roar of pure, incandescent fury shook the gorge. **Elder Mo Gan** stood before the stricken drill, his frost aura exploding outwards. The unnatural snow stopped falling. Instead, jagged spears of ice erupted from the ground around him. His gaze, colder than the void between stars, swept the gorge and locked onto Kai's hiding spot near the wall. The brief distraction was over. The laborer had pointed.
"**GNAT!**" Mo Gan's voice cracked like a glacier calving. "You dare?!"
Kai turned to run, to Void Shimmer away – but Mo Gan moved faster. He didn't walk. The ground *flowed* beneath him, carrying him forward on a wave of instant ice. He raised a hand. Not a technique. A **Domain Manifestation.**
The air around Kai *solidified*. Not ice, but **Absolute Zero Containment.** Kai's Void Shimmer sputtered, blocked by spatial frost. His Violet Qi flared, cracking the forming ice cocoon, but it reformed instantly, thicker, colder. He was trapped, frozen mid-stride, only his head and one arm partially free. The cold wasn't just physical; it seeped into his meridians, making the violet cracks glow with agonizing brightness. **Stability: 73%... 71%...**
Mo Gan stood before the ice prison, his expression devoid of anger, only terrifying, absolute finality. "You carry a tainted spark," he hissed, frost forming on his words. "You disrupted the Choir's gaze. You damaged the instrument of fate. You will be unmade. Slowly. And I will pry every secret from your frozen core."
He reached out a hand, fingers tipped with glacial claws, towards Kai's ice-encased chest. Towards his dantian.
**<< WARNING: CELESTIAL MERIDIAN COLLAPSE IMMINENT (Stability: 69%). >>**
**<< HOST VITAL SIGNS CRITICAL. >>**
**<< SP DETECTED: 595. UNLOCK 'BULLSHIT OVERDRIVE' (500 SP)? Y/N? >>**
Kai's mind screamed through the pain and encroaching ice. *Gods or not. Elder or not. Unmake this.* His mental finger slammed down.
**Y.**
**<< CONFIRMED. DEDUCTING 500 SP. TOTAL SP: 95. >>**
**<< ACTIVATING: BULLSHIT OVERDRIVE. >>**
**<< DURATION: 10 SECONDS. >>**
**<< WARNING: POST-OVERDRIVE SYSTEM COLLAPSE LIKELY. MORTALITY PROBABILITY: HIGH. >>**
The world didn't just stop. It **rewound.**
The ice prison shattered *backwards* into swirling snowflakes.
Mo Gan's glacial claw retracted.
Kai stood unfrozen, one second prior, behind his rocky cover near the gorge wall, unseen.
Ten seconds. A temporal reset. A sliver of stolen time.
His meridians screamed at the temporal whiplash. **Stability: 65%.** But he was *free* and Mo Gan was still striding towards where he *had* been.
Nine seconds.
Kai didn't run. He poured every shred of will, every drop of his disintegrating Violet Qi, into **Void Shimmer.** Not a hop. A **leap.**
He vanished from the gorge rim. Not sideways. *Down.* Into the deepest, darkest shadowed crevice at the very base of the Skyrend Gorge, where the unnatural snow didn't reach, and the ambient spatial Qi of the ore was thick enough to mask his signature. He landed hard, collapsing into utter darkness as the last of his strength fled.
**<< Bullshit Overdrive: Deactivated. >>**
**<< SYSTEM COLLAPSE INITIATED. REBOOTING... ETA: UNKNOWN. >>**
The blue interface vanished from his mind. Silence. Darkness. Agony. And the crushing weight of the Heavenly Lock returned, colder than ever. Above, Elder Mo Gan's furious bellow shook the gorge walls, searching for a prey that had simply vanished.
Kai lay broken in the dark, SP drained, System offline, meridians fracturing towards oblivion (**Stability: 62%**), but alive. He'd stolen the ore. He'd crippled the drill. He'd survived Mo Gan.
Barely.
The cost was written in the violet lightning crawling up his veins in the suffocating dark. He had bought hours, not days. And when the System rebooted... the reckoning would come.
**<< ...rebooting... >>**
**<< ...rebooting... >>**
**<< ... >>**