Ascent and Descent

Late afternoon the next day, Kai found himself dangling from the cliff face.

The face was sheer enough that it was practically a completely vertical climb, but though he had reservations about scaling it at first – he never had been the fit type to climb at the gym, let alone climb a whole goddamn mountain, and getting rid of that mindset all at once was hard – he got used to his newfound strength.

Manifesting the suiko's muscles meant that he was much stronger than before, maybe two to three times, and the creature's long claws were both strong enough and sharp enough to dig into the rock, letting him hang pretty comfortably.

It was a thing about him that he hated heights, so he stopped himself from looking down after a certain point. Probably a good thing considering it got him to put all his attention to his goal: the spring lying way atop the cliff.

He peered up. The top was still a way off. He was a bit over halfway there, and he had been climbing well over an hour.

If he looked down now, he was sure that the clearing and stream would be tiny splotches in his vision, but the last thing he wanted to do was go under a dizzying bout of height induced fear.

Instead, he thought about the kappa. They had given him as much fish as they could in the morning, and when he started his climb later that day, they had cheered him on, telling him to come back safe and to show the big yokai who was boss.

Their enthusiasm bled into him a little but it did not blind him. He knew how dangerous this was. At any given moment, the bigger yokai could come out and annihilate him into a pulp.

Thankfully, his climb was silent, any sounds of his approach covered up by whistling winds and the roaring crash of the waterfall pouring down beside him.

He would have liked to be able to use the suiko's invisibility, but he could not activate it for more than thirty seconds before his head grew light and his mind got tired.

His system had said this was an issue of power – he did not have enough of it to fuel the invisibility.

Power, apparently, was something independent from his biomass stock.

Something inherent within him but not tangible. Trying to ask his system about how to increase it was left with it telling him that it could not register his inquiries.

Funny how selective his system was with knowing some things and not others, but whatever. He made do with what he had.

And so far, if his suspicions were right, then he did not have much to worry about bar being ridiculously unlucky.

He had seen the yokai fly off in the morning and watched it come back in a obscured mass of black clouds as it usually did. Like Aya said, in the morning, it did not carry back prey, but branches and large leaves.

Seeing that immediately made Kai reminisce. An image from his past life. Chicks that had fallen off a nest, their necks broken as they wasted away on cold pavement. But before then, he had taken to observing their nest, watching as their mother built it up and maintained it piece by piece.

The behavior of this yokai was remarkably similar, and the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It brought back prey to the spring in one piece, never eating it as it caught it. It never left unless to hunt.

And, as he learned further, it was not native to this mountain.

When inquiring further about this world, he learned that the kappa did know little bits and pieces from what the suiko had told them.

This mountain they were on was one of three that revolved around each other in floating orbits. It was the mountain that floated at the lowest elevation, and it was the safest.

The middle mountain was filled with strong and vicious creatures called oni that sometimes roamed to the lower mountain to hunt. The high mountain was a mystery, shrouded in fog and clouds, but the kappa said that the gods lived there.

Kai had asked what the gods were like and what they did, but the kappa had never seen any personally. They had zero idea about these supposed deities, just that they were mysterious and strong and did not descend their mountain much, if at all.

He put that information in the back of his head, then, because if gods were not going to descend and mess with him, then he had no reason to worry about them either.

Instead, he noted with interest that the bigger yokai was from the middle mountain and that it had come here all of a sudden in the past year.

The behavior lined up with a creature raising its young. What better place to create a nest to nurture its young than somewhere safe like here? Not to mention its movement and hunting patterns lined up with the theory too.

That meant that when the yokai left to hunt at night, it left a nest of vulnerable young behind.

Optimally, he could get up there, pluck a bit of biomass from the young, and then leave before their mother ever knew what happened.

A solid plan, thought Kai as he continued climbing while the sun started to set, the once bright yellow light of day growing redder and dimmer around him. Provided his theory was right, of course.

It was entirely possible it was wrong, but even if he was wrong, he could at least explore the spring area without the yokai disintegrating him with lightning bolts to maybe find something useful or remnants of it to ingest.

Who knew. If it was a bird type creature, maybe it shed feathers. Would definitely make Kai's life a lot easier if it was the case. He was willing to eat droppings too if it came down to it.

Could not afford to be picky if he wanted to survive, after all.

========

As the dark of night unfurled over this new world, Kai waited. He was almost at the top of the cliff face, but not so far up that the yokai would notice him once it flew out for its hunt. Once it left, he would move.

One thing that surprised him was how much physical stamina he had.

Like damn, just a week ago, when he was pretty normal, he would get gassed sprinting for more than half a minute. Now, he could probably run a marathon easy peasy.

Then he had to remind himself he was still nothing compared to the dangers around him, and that took his mind off patting his own back.

Kept him cautious. Sharp. Aware.

He felt vibrations running through the cliff face, rattling down from the top and traveling through his claws and his body, shaking his very bones.

His heart lurched in his chest as he felt insurmountable pressure weigh down on him, as if the entire might of a thunderstorm, an uncontrollable force of nature, was about to reduce him to cinders with the force of a thousand lightning strikes.

He knew that this feeling was not targeted at him. It was just his instincts telling him to run. He took in a breath and channeled his invisibility.

A thin ripple made its way around his body, and as it did so, his skin became translucent, melding into the rock and air around him.

Static electricity crackled in the air as the yokai flew off.

Up here, up close, he could only widen his eyes in utter awe at the sheer scale of the thing. It must have been the size of a two story house, utterly dwarfing him.

A massive collection of dark, angry, crackling clouds knit together with bolts of golden yellow lightning. And now that he was near, he could make out two glowing eyes in the cloudy mass.

Large, circular yellow eyes that flashed with crackling electricity, the pupils black and beady, cold and cruel.

Thankfully, those eyes did not settle on him, instead peering forwards as it flew away, rapidly blending into the night.

He waited, mentally counting up ten minutes. The monster would come back in two hours, but he did not have the entirety of that time to explore. He wanted to leave an hour early to make sure he had climbed down enough not to be in the monster's line of sight when it returned.

He knew he could turn invisible, but he truly did not want to risk being smelled out or sensed out in some other way.

For now, though, he had to hurry the fuck up and make the most of his time.

======

Kai balanced moving as quickly as possible with being sneaky when he reached the alcove. His heart beat fast, even if he had an hour to spare because in the chance that he was unlucky and the creature came back ahead of schedule, he was dead.

Zero questions asked.

He would much rather leave sooner rather than later.

First, there was the spring.

It was the size of an indoor swimming pool and beautiful in an otherworldly way. Unlike the stream water below, the spring's water glowed, infused with a warm energy that made his skin tingle.

Hot steam rose from the spring, making the air foggy and warm, and when he breathed it in, he could energy seeping into him, filling his lungs and spreading from there throughout his body. It felt like being close to a warm fire during a freezing winter.

Comforting and alluring, making him want to dive into the spring and let the waters nourish him.

But he held back, circling behind the spring while using up whatever power he had left to make himself invisible.

The back of the alcove had what he expected – a nest.

A really big nest. Its walls were twice as tall as he was. He blinked as he looked up at a bird's nest built out of tree trunks and giant leaves that dwarfed his whole body.

And at the center of the nest, lying atop a bed of matted grasses and leaves, was the ugliest damn baby he had seen.

It was like the type of abomination you would see a mad scientist pop out of some rusted chamber. It had the red face of a baboon, the striped body of a tiger, and the tail of a scaled green tail of a lizard.

A mish mash of several different creatures that did not at all seem to match up well together.

Not like he was here to admire nature's handiwork or lack thereof, though, so with slow, sauntering steps that glided over the grass, he made his way to the nest. The baby was big, as big as Kai, but it was sound asleep, curled up in a compact ball as its chest rose up and down with quick and little breaths.

To reach the baby, he would have to climb up the nest, and that would make noise. He looked around for a few seconds, trying to see if there was a better alternative.

Some fur here and there to eat.

A cursory glance showed nothing.

Well, thought Kai as he rolled his shoulders. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

He scaled up the nest little by little, making sure to sink his claws into soft parts of the nest to minimize sound.

With agonizingly slow movements that made every second feel like a year – a feeling infinitely exacerbated with the constant threat of death looming over him – he climbed over the wall of branches and leaves and hopped into the nest on a particularly soft and soundproof patch of grassy, leafy bedding.

Good. He watched as the baby did not mind him, continuing to sleep. He was just a few feet away now. Just had to reach out and shear off a little bit of fur. Then he would leave. In and out just like that.

Neither child nor mother would ever know he was here.

His clawed, invisible hand inched forwards until it hovered right above the baby's head. With a flick of his wrist, he scythed off a patch of fur and caught it in the air.

That was when the baby woke up. It had not heard him, that was for sure, and its nose did not twitch or indicate it smelled him, and yet, it still sensed him. It opened up one of its beady eyes. The eye did not train on him, but even then the fur on its hackles raised in alarm.

He had a single instant to decide what to do. The baby was weak, he could feel it. It did not have any of the same pressure its parent did.

One plunge of his claws into its neck, and it would die before making a sound.

A mother losing her child. The thought struck him, and it froze his arm for the single second it took for the baby to rush backwards and howl. An ear-splitting, shrill howl that made all of its fur stand up as lightning raged throughout its body.

The lightning did not reach Kai, but it was not meant to. It instead glowed with the intensity of a miniature sun, so bright that he could see absolutely nothing.

A light meant to signal for help.

"Just my fucking luck," groaned Kai as he stumbled backwards, hitting the back of the nest. He turned and leaped up, stabbing his claws into the nest with desperate and climbing out.

He was still blind as he fell out, landing ungracefully on his back.

He willed his eyes to heal. The system's familiar voice rang in his head.

>>>

Host restoration initiated.

Stock: 95/100

>>>

His blindness faded and he knew from the skies darkening and rumbling in the distance that it was a real good time to start running. He ate the tuft of hair he cut from the baby and sprinted to the edge of the alcove, peering down through a haze of nausea at the insanely long climb down.

>>>

New sample consumed. Analyzing…

Bloodline gained. Experience to reach the next level obtained. System compatibility and functions calibrating. Once calibrations are complete, the system will inform the host.

Addendum: Even at level 2, the host's level is too low to utilize this new bloodline fully. Will the host degrade it or break it down?

>>>

"Degrade it. I need to use it now. Move the kappa bloodline to storage." said Kai as his mind started racing, his eyes darting from side to side to look for a way out.

>>>

Request accepted. Processing…

>>>

Absolutely ridiculous to think he could start on a climb now. Not enough time. He waited a few seconds as he felt the bloodline's power flow into him, letting him know what he could do.

He grimaced.

The creature was called a Nue, and its flight required power to use.

Made sense. The baby did not seem to have any wings. If the same was true for the mother, then the creature did not fly with physical means.

He was hoping to make his getaway by flying, but it looked like that was not going to happen because he had no power left to fuel any kind of flight. He had used it all maintaining his invisibility.

There was another way out though. He heard the roaring of the waterfall beside him and sighed.

Did he really have to do this?

Another rumble in the sky, much closer now, convinced him that yes, he did have to do this.

He ran to the waterfall and jumped into it, manifesting the waterborne suiko bloodline once more to cover himself with scales and maximize his survivability in water, because water was where he was going to land once he fell a casual hundred plus feet down.