A Jaded Life Chapter 1241

Filling the crevice was an utterly exhausting task. The walls around were made of a thick layer of Ice coating the mountain’s rocks. If I wanted the foundation for my tower to be as stable as possible, I needed to tie the Ice I was conjuring into that already existing coating. Then I needed to anchor the coating to the deeper rocks. Amusingly, both of those tasks had roughly the sa difficulty, just with slightly different connotations.

Manipulating the coating of Ice was difficult because it had been infused with, quite frankly, insane levels of Astral Power. Without the need for a conceptual change to make Eternal Ice, I was fairly certain this entire crevice would be composed of it, and due to those levels of power imbued into the Ice, working with it was a chore and a half.

The rock beneath it was, comparatively, easier. However, working through a thick layer of Ice was difficult at the best of tis, but here? Here, it was even worse. Due to the Nexus, the influence my affinity to Ice had over my Astral Power was even stronger than usual. Great when working with Ice, not so great when trying to avoid influencing the Ice and working on the layers below it. That ant a good portion of my Astral Power was essentially ineffective while working on the rocks, requiring to work even harder. But with constant work and continued focus, I managed. Slowly but surely, building up the foundation of the tower I wanted to build.

As I was working, I considered what would be needed to conceptually change the Ice I was conjuring to beco Eternal, how I would have to twist things so the tooth of ti would crack when trying to gnaw on my tower, but this was a step too far, at least for now. I would have to investigate further in the future, learn a little more and solidify my conceptual understanding of ti and the extre apex of elental Ice. I wasn’t quite there yet, but eventually, I would undoubtedly get to that point.

At the sa ti, I made sure to future-proof things down here. I wanted this to be more than just a massive chunk of Ice, plugging up the crevice that contained the Nexus. While I was pretty sure that the Throne would allow to wield the Nexus’ power while sitting on it, I had a feeling that imrsing myself in the Astral River, down below the surface, would have beneficial results. I wasn’t quite sure what they might be, but I could tell that closing off access to it would be foolish.

So, instead of a singular, monolithic chunk of Ice, I was carefully adding a stairwell to the Ice I was conjuring, opening up exploration at a later date. If I wanted to walk down those stairs, it would take so ti, but I would be able to visit and explore the Nexus if I so chose.

Plus, I needed to continuously add Runes to the walls and the rocks, increasing the materials’ strength and lessening the chance that anybody who wasn’t would be able to influence these materials. I had no desire to let so future moron who was trying to bring down my tower have the ability to manipulate its very foundation. Instead, the foundation would be fused to the mountains themselves, as enduring as they were and just about as challenging to bring down.

Maybe I should consider anchoring the mountains, too. It might be possible to secure their roots to the very core of the world through the Astral River, but that might be a project for a later ti. I had only a vague idea that it might be possible, nothing beyond that, let alone any actionable plans.

For now, anybody trying to break the foundations of my tower would have to break these very mountains, which was, well, it was good enough. At least for now, it would work out just fine. I would be able to expand on that in the future. Hopefully, once I was done with the entire thing, it would take damage on a continental scale to disrupt the foundation of my tower, aning anybody trying to attack would have to circumvent the protective magic I was planning to wrap around the tower. And with the Nexus’s power at my fingertips, those protective wards would be impressive, especially as I could make their improvent a continuous field of study, similar to a hobby.

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Eventually, after what might have been two, maybe even three, days of constant spellcasting, only pausing briefly to sustain my body, I could see a change in the darkness above . Stars were finally starting to beco visible, the crevice no longer blocking their light. I couldn’t quite tell how far I still had to go, but I now knew the end of this particular work was in sight. At least a temporary end, once I reached the surface, I still wanted to build my tower, but it would an reuniting with the rest of my family.

Grinning to myself, I redoubled my efforts, channelling a little more Astral Power, only to realise trying to hurry would likely an the tether I had been carefully weaving all this ti would snap. So, instead of hurrying things along, I doubled down on my focus, making sure that I didn’t make any mistakes in my exhilaration.

“Mom’s back!” I could hear Luna’s voice above , filled with excitent and monts later, I could see the faint, golden light she could conjure with her divine magic break the darkness so thirty tres above . In that light, I could see Luna poke her head over the crevice, looking down at the barely visible Ice I was constantly conjuring to serve as the foundation of my tower.

Feeling the exhaustion due to the continuous spellcasting creep up on , I closed my eyes, pushing it away to the best of my ability. I could push myself to finish this last bit, then I’d be able to sleep for a bit.

An unexpected sound made open my eyes again, just in ti to see Lia jump into the crevice I was now filling with Ice. She expertly used the walls to push off and slow her descent, her agility allowing her to do so despite their nearly perfect smoothness. It was quite impressive, making blink tiredly as she landed in front of .

“Mother,” she greeted , relief obvious on her face, “You’re alright.”

“How long was I gone?” I had to ask their reaction a little over the top for the ti I thought I had been gone.

“A little over three days,” she replied, “We thought you’d be back in an hour or so, not that it would take you days,” she explained, reaching forward to touch , as if to assure herself that I was real. Her touch was quite pleasant, making realise just how long I had been sitting in the sa posture, unmoving. Maybe channelling that much Ice Astral Power hadn’t been all that healthy.

“Apologies,” I bowed my head a little, the gesture feeling slightly strange given that Lia had taken a clearly submissive posture while I was comfortably sitting on my throne. “Things didn’t work out quite as I had imagined. I’d like to finish what I’m currently doing, then I need to sleep and rest for a bit before I can tell you about my experience, unless you have a pressing need?” I asked, rembering that Lia hadn’t received any Astral Power from since I had climbed into the crevice, aning she might be quite hungry.

“I’m fine,” she responded, shaking off my concern, “We didn’t do a whole lot up here, just keep watch and worry. We could both feel that our connection with you remained, but that only ant you were alive. Neither of us could tell whether you were hurt or needed assistance. If not for the Crone’s insight, one of us might have gone after you, even without knowing if the journey was one without return.”

Thanks to my exhausted mind, it took a mont to parse Lia’s statent, and once I did, my thoughts stuttered to a halt. It was a good thing that the Grandmother had stopped either of my daughters from climbing after . The crevice would have been quite a hazardous place to explore for either of them. But that didn’t tell how the Grandmother had known and, just as importantly, how she had conversed with Luna. To the best of my knowledge, the pair hadn’t communed directly, only with as an interdiary, but apparently, that had changed now.

Shaking my head, I brushed these questions aside and closed my eyes once more, continuing my work. Eventually, I felt the world around open up and realised I had reached the surface. Relaxing my control, I tied everything off, binding the tether to the throne so it wouldn’t snap and then, finally, I could rest. And I knew no more.