Chapter 294

  It's Always Something

  As someone who is smaller than most pets, you build up survival instincts. These are minor things that help you realize when danger is coming.

  Danger in my case is the apparent overly excited form of a lunging Promoppo eagerly wiggling and jumping up at me.

  Telekinetic Shield.

  Fortunately, by reflex alone, I was able to put up a barrier and block the giant multi ton centipede’s movements almost instantly.

  Or at least I was able to do so once.

  Dizzy.

  Of course, the amount of energy required to push back a massive creature the size of multiple football fields combined was a bit more than I anticipated. A fact that was emphasized by the way I suddenly felt dizzy from the over exertion of Telekinetic energy from its singular resting pool.

  Headshake.

  The entire process left us both disoriented, but for drastically different reasons. Me, I was disoriented due to the sudden loss of energy. The Promoppo was disoriented due to the fact that its first jump ended a lot faster than it intended to.

  Which of course, meant that rather than stopping, the Promoppo took in its current state and tried again, but this time with much more force.

  Poof.

  Before I even realized what happened, my body moved on reflex, casting Teleportation almost instantly.

  This time, while moving a much shorter distance between hops, I still felt my mind expand when I entered that realm in between where I left this plane of existence and reappeared. The sensation is still odd, as if for a moment I can once again see the entirety of space, where I am able to glimpse its secrets, only for my mind to once again shut off, as I reappear here.

  Poof.

  I arrive, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck rise up, as I momentarily feel the gooseflesh form from pure inspiration. That odd awe like wonder that seems to captivate your thoughts in ways you can only yearn for later. And yet, I can’t help but notice that this is the second time that this feeling of complete awe has settled over me, after Teleporting.

  While my actual time away was measured in microseconds, a fact that is provable by the way the Promoppo is still rising up dozens of feet into the air, before reaching its apex, only to look around confusedly for a moment, before falling back to the ground.

  The sight might otherwise be comical, if it wasn’t for the sense of wonderment that is coursing through my body.

  Of course, I am not alone with my own emotions and reactions to the actions of the giant gigaton Promoppo pouncing around the area.

  Intense Fear.

  Disperse.

  While all I did was a matter of Teleporting out of the way, the other Teleiotís, the original Di-Mes and Ma-Mes variants that wanted this jumping centipede creature are now running for their lives.

  In a sight that might otherwise be comical to future generations of people who would root against the possible rise of mechanical murder bots, the smaller Teleiotís are now running for their lives to get away from the overly enthusiastic Promoppo’s romping nature.

  WHA-THUD!

  The creature landed like a wild bull in a dainty China shop. Promoppo’s impact alone was intense enough to send out shockwaves of force that knocked over otherwise fleeing Teleiotís variants.

  “Calm down!” I shout.

  This is done in an effort to try to both protect the minor Teleiotís who are getting caught up in the rampaging nature of the Promoppo’s exuberant prancing, and to hopefully allow the smaller Teleiotís to get away, while I move forward like a cobra charmer to keep the dangerous creature from noticing other targets.

  I fly forward, but at a way that causes the Promoppo to curl in among itself, while looking at me. This makes the creature both smaller in area taken up, while also having the benefit of making it so the Promoppo will not make another lunging charge at me. At least I hope it won’t try to jump at me again.

  Overly excited.

  Massive fear.

  I don’t know what it is about the communication patterns of the Teleiotís that makes it so I can easily understand what they are saying. Perhaps it is because they are creatures that I helped bring to life. Or maybe it is the fact that they all seem to communicate in mana.

  Their communication patterns are interesting, by charging mana in different ways and then dispersing those charged clusters of energy, the different species of Teleiotís are able to communicate with and amongst themselves.

  The only real difference in the way the creatures communicate is scale.

  For while there are dozens of smaller Di-Mes and Ma-Mes running around and excreting mana enriched signals, it doesn’t seem that the Promoppo is aware of their fear. That or maybe being so new, the Promoppo hasn’t begun to understand the differences in energy dispersions yet.

  Wiggle wiggle.

  Still, the oversized Promoppo is clearly excited, a fact that is emphasized by the way it giggles and gyrates, while releasing mana that seems to emphasize its magical pheromones.

  Seeing the creature, I am once again reminded of how Meta Linguistics makes up almost 80% of all communications. And no, Meta Linguistics is not communicating on social media platforms, but rather the proof that movements, actions, and body posture account for the majority of communications, while the actual words that are spoken only account for the remaining 20% of all communications.

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  Realizing this, I decide to try to emulate the energy patterns and mana resonances that would help me communicate with this Promoppo to calm down, before it hurts other Teleiotís, or worse, if it hurts me. I am way too small to be pounced on by a converted gigaton war machine turned hyperactive puppy.

  Stern displeasure.

  “No!” I don’t shout, as I don’t need to. Instead, I let my dispersed mana do my talking for me. Mixing Mana, with a golden sliver of Qi, and just enough residual ephemeral energy, aka Pixie dust, I set a tone of not wanting to play.

  Seeing my agitation, and feeling my resolve through my energy, all the gathered Teleiotís just stare at me for a moment.

  During this moment I stop all my movement and just hover in place.

  Somehow, I know it is important that I am not the first one to move. Instead, I just float there staring down at the tightly coiled in on itself Promoppo.

  Sit.

  Seeing me, the Promoppo straightens up, and sits. Or does the centipede equivalent to sitting, where it lowers the back half of its long abdomen against the ground, while using the front grouping of its leg clusters to provide support so that its head is up and pointing directly at me. Though even in this state, I can see it is barely able to contain itself as it seems to slowly begin to vibrate with compressed energy and excitement.

  CALM DOWN!

  I send out another wave of energy, this time all but exerting my will over the Promoppo.

  Stillness.

  At my command, the Promoppo that had been coiled with excitement sits still for a second, before slowly lowering itself to the ground.

  Only once it is laying flat against the ground do I mentally count to three, before nodding to myself and decide to float forward.

  Excitement.

  Seeing me approach, the Promoppo raises its head and all but begins to waggle its back end.

  No.

  I pause my movement once more, and once again wait for the creature to finally gain control over itself. This time it only takes a minor use of Telekinesis to keep the creature from raising its head too much, before it seems to lose its will to resist.

  That’s when I once again move forward, only stopping when it seems to get too excited.

  Controlled exuberance.

  As I get closer, the Promoppo is still excited, but seems more and more willing to wait in anticipation of my arrival.

  Finally I get to where I am right next to the giant monster, a small flea, or maybe a fly in comparison to the giant killer robot made to live.

  Yet, it was a good boy, so I take the moment to go over and gently stroke the monstrosity on its round head.

  Being this close, I use all forms of energy.

  Golden Karma to tie us together. I use mana to do a quick diagnostic of the creature. Flush Qi in its system to see how responsive the creature is to Qi energy.

  Surprisingly, from a quick scan, it is clear that the Promoppo could easily learn to utilize Qi. Perhaps if I have time or the inclination to teach a murder bot to be more effective at killing I might think about it, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

  Then finally I make sure to apply pixie dust directly to the snout of the creature.

  MECHANICAL SNEEZE!

  And I am rewarded with a wet mana and particle infused sneeze as a reward for my efforts.

  “Bleh!” I exclaim, shaking myself off, while wondering how these creatures can sneeze mana. But then I quickly realized that I myself sweat and bleed mana infused liquids and realize it is not that odd. Or maybe my understanding of the world is slightly skewed, regardless of the reasons, I just accept this. Particularly as my soulbound clothing is already soaking in excess energy and using it to further power my own clothes.

  Tremor, tremor, thud.

  I hear something that sounds like a minor earthquake, or maybe a large train passing by. Only to realize that despite being completely still by my hand, the Promoppo is so excited that it can’t help but shake its rear segment and whack that segment against the ground and anything nearby.

  Fortunately, by now the other Teleiotís have run away to a far enough place to be safe from the devastating movements of the colossal Promoppo.

  “Who’s a good boy,” I coo, while releasing mana pheromones for happy and content, while I continue to pet it with energy infused hands.

  Thump, thump, thump.

  Now the Promoppo is overly excited, but still able to at least make it so the part I am interacting with is stationary, which I appreciate.

  With that, I continue to pet, or maybe polish would be a better word, the creature, before realizing that my people are still at war.

  Turning to face the other Teleiotís, I look at them and then speak, “well you have your wish.”

  For a moment I wonder if the Ma-Mes and Di-Mes can work together with the Promoppo, but I ultimately realize that this isn’t my concern.

  They wanted the creature, I got them the creature, now like an absentee parent who only shows up for holidays and when I need something, it is time for me to split.

  “Play nice with each other,” I tell everyone while reinforcing my words with mana pheromones.

  Calm, and gentle.

  With that last burst of pheromones, I finally get a system message letting me know my understanding was correct for how to communicate with these Teleiotís.

  At first, I was sort of sad that I didn’t get a skill letting me know that I learned the Teleiotís language. But now that I’ve had a second or two to process, this skill seems far more versatile and able to be utilized.

  Also, the skill isn’t too terrible in terms of Attributes utilized. I nearly salivate as it is the first time I found a skill that drastically increases my social Attributes through use.

  Though looking back on it, maybe finding more ways to communicate with other people and creatures should have been the dead giveaway for how to find and unlock such skills. Still, this is huge, as I am certain that there are more ways to communicate with these and other future creatures.

  For a moment, I wonder why the Strength is part of the Attributes utilized by the skill, only to realize that you do have to be somewhat forceful with the way you push out the mana pheromones to make it so your voice is heard, or not voice. Maybe so your intention is felt would be the best way to describe the activity?

  Hmm, who knows.

  Anyways, I feel better as I am fairly certain I can use this to communicate with more and more species. I don’t know as many nuances to the skill’s use but that is likely due to my not fully understanding or not having had a chance to practice the skill too intricately.

  For now, I’ve been focusing on base emotion strands, once I get these base emotions mapped out, I feel that I can go into more nuanced approaches towards specific variances of emotions.

  Pausing for a moment, I give one last glance around.

  All the smaller Teleiotís variants are alive, healthy and whole. Then peering at the overly affectionate puppy type Promoppo Teleiotís, I realize he is happy and healthy as well.

  Seeing this as the perfect time to not overstay my welcome, I decide to leave while I can.

  “All right then, you all take care,” I begin, then turning back to the Promoppo, I take on a slightly stern tone of voice, “and you play gentle.”

  The Promoppo almost seems to build up a giant mana tear in its one cyclops eye slit.

  “No, you are a good boy, you just need to be gentle. You are much bigger than everyone around you, and you need to be aware of that.” I reply in a cooing voice, while giving one last tender set of energy infused pats to the giant behemoth of a creature.

  Seriously, what were the Legrand soldiers thinking by even constructing such a device.

  Then realizing that there was still half of the Promoppo left at World’s End, I realize I’ve wasted enough time and taking a deep breath I inhale and then Arcane Geomancy Teleport away.

  Poof.

  Once again, I feel the gentle expansion of my mind, though this time, I can feel part of my mind expanding to one particular part way off in space. I am almost able to understand where and why, when I feel my journey coming to and end and my mind being compressed once again to fit back into my tiny body.

  Poof.

  I the arrive at the exact spot that I left World’s End at not twenty minutes ago.

  Yet, looking around, I can see that the entire scope of the battlefield has changed.

  Here I see that most of the fighting has ended, at least on this front as all the World’s End soldiers that had been desperately fighting moments ago now looked relaxed.

  Well not relaxed, but they all seem to be taking a well deserved break.

  As for the battlefield, there are hundreds of broken, bisected, or otherwise destroyed mechanoid units.

  Even the back end of the other Promoppo lays in a broken mass of metals, gears, and wasted mana.

  For a moment, I think about bringing these troops back to life. Well to life in the first place, I guess I can’t bring them back to life if they were never truly alive to begin with.

  I see them, and realize that I could likely get a second Promoppo to life if I so wanted.

  But then I remember how much energy the entire process took. That was a lot of faith being funneled through me, which I was then able to convert and utilize almost immediately. Even then, the energy spikes were enormous.

  Realizing this, I shake my head as I realize why I was so exhausted from just a minor use of Telekinesis, for my body had been through a lot up to that point.

  Then remembering how exhausting training the other Promoppo to not jump on me was enough to let me realize, I should let sleeping robots lie.

  For a moment, I wonder if I should find or look around for Mallory. With my wide area of coverage, finding her and her team is relatively easy. It seems that even Mallory has withdrawn further back to an area of relative ease to help on any battlefront.

  Seeing that for the moment at least the battle has begun to wind down, I decide to take this as a warning and go back to my abode.

  Poof.

  The expansion of consciousness is enough to let me confirm my initial thoughts on why this is suddenly happening.

  Focusing, I can almost feel my connection to Zero spark to life, as I feel rested and relaxed while traveling through space. These are the same experiences that I feel while letting Zero rest in tattoo form on my arm.

  Relaxing slightly, I realize that the old elven lady did her part, she brought Zero back to full health. Now it is up to me, to fulfill my end of the bargain and go meet her.

  Poof.

  I reappear and feel oddly nostalgic about missing Zero.

  “You’re back!” Penelope exclaims excitedly upon seeing me appear in the middle of the Kujo caverns.

  “Yes,” I respond.

  “This is perfect timing as I desperately need your help,” Penelope stated while grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the Pomeranian Guardians.

  “What is it?” I ask, while trying to resist the tug, but realizing that floating pixies can’t offer too much resistance. Well we can’t offer much resistance, unless we want to play dirty, but I don’t want to do that, not with Penelope at least.

  “It is the water guardian, I think there is something wrong with her.”

  “What?” I ask, only to look and see that Penelope was in fact correct, for inside the little Pomeranian’s stomach were multiple dots of foreign energy congealing inside her.

  “Oh Gods,” I exclaim, horrified by what I discovered.