Power Overwhelming

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The four reincarnators had been given a brief tour of the enormous ship. To many others, meeting so many strange new species might have been odd, but for reincarnators, it was business as usual. A slight oddity could perhaps be found in the fact that there was so much unused space on the ship. The vessel could house tens of millions of people without any trouble, and the ship only had a tiny fraction of that as crew. It seemed they had not chosen the ship because it matched their needs perfectly, but because it was the best they had available.

They also met some of the more important personnel like the three officers that had been leading the previous battle Amaterasu, Xiaoli, and Yrala. Apparently, Selendil, the leader of the group, had purposefully stayed out of the fight to allow the three officers the opportunity to train in commanding the Dhar ships in combat. The first two could be confused for humans, but apparently were a little different in their home galaxy. Amaterasu was a genetically engineered superior version of a human, their kind being called the Illum, while Xiaoli was a cybernetically enhanced version, called Cybran. Yrala’s species was known as an Eriad and looked a lot like a redeemed demon, and the four reincarnators had seen her kind in other universes under other names. She had grey-ish blue skin, stood over two meters tall, and looked a little like Selendil in fact. She had some thinner and smaller tentacle-like appendages hanging from the back of her head, and she had long hooved feet and a humanoid face with a pair of large glowing eyes and a pair of horns on her head.

All three of the officers received them with some reservation and guardedness, but they were also mostly positive and welcoming. The science officer was a serpent with a pair of large and colorfully feathered wings, making him look like a tiny Couatl, which was apparently what their species was called. He was the enthusiastic and curious type and had a warm welcome for them. Not quite as warm as the medical officer, who in turn tried to hit on Karna as soon as she made an appearance, and didn’t seem too daunted by the refusal. The odder members of the crew had among them living plants, not just Shinzen but actual Treant-like creatures, and sentient oozes called the Zlorth. The reincarnators had been quite sure the Zlorth had been the oddest part of the crew until they entered the largest open area in the ship, the hydroponics. There they were proven wrong.

"That's…not possible." Hope stated with an expression that seemed to be struggling with incomprehension and amusement.

“That’s what I keep telling myself as well.” Selendil, the Keeper agreed, though for some reason kept looking away from the scene drawing everyone else’s attention. Not that the others couldn’t understand the reason.

“That’s…a mountain, right?” Valor asked, struggling with his words. For once, his smile was nowhere to be seen, replaced with confusion and incomprehension.

“So it would seem.” Envy responded this time. She was handling the situation a little better than the others, but only a little.

“Why is the mountain wearing something that looks like a huge maid’s apron?” Valor asked something they all were wondering.

“I don’t think that’s the detail we should be focusing on.” Hope pointed out, even if she too wanted an answer.

“Why are the mountain and Wrath running at each other with arms open, like they were old friends or long-lost lovers?” Envy was quick to point out the main issue.

“I think the most intriguing question is, how is the mountain running in the first place, what with not having any feet? Or more importantly, how are we all getting the impression that it—she wants to give Wrath a hug? What with it not having any arms either.” Valor brought up another issue.

“The mountain communicates by magically broadcasting images and concepts.” Selendil quickly added to explain how they all had the same idea.

“Why are both of them running in exaggerated slow motion?” Hope asked the real question. “If they keep going at that pace, it’s going to take hours before they reach each other.”

“You’ll lose if you mind it.” The Keeper commented once again, staunchly refusing to pay any attention to what was happening.

“Do the two know each other? The mountain is sentient, right?” Valor kept firing off important questions.

“Eh, I wouldn’t bet on it just yet. For some odd reason, I’m getting the impression that the mountain is quite playful. And the fact that I just called a mountain playful is wrong on so many levels. Wrath is also someone who can get swept up in such things. I'd give it about 50/50 odds that the two noticed an opportunity for something like this and just went with it.” Envy speculated.

“Oh, you have one of those people as well.” Moonshadow commiserated, not being able to divert her eyes from the unfolding scene.

Valor finally managed to pull his eyes away from the sight long enough to notice Selendil’s behavior. “Is there a reason that you’re looking away?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“That direction does not exist. Both I and Dee agreed that what was happening in that direction is impossible, and that we should remove that direction from existence. What’s more important in the general scheme of things, a single direction that no one really cares about or everyone’s sanity?” The extremely powerful being asked a nonsensical question.

“I don’t think that’s how it works…” Hope replied carefully.

“Considering the alternative, I’m not sure I’m willing to disagree.” Valor decided to go along with it and turned around.

“Bah, denial won’t keep you sane. Just embrace the oddity.” Envy decided and suddenly rushed towards Karna and the mountain.

"Oh no. Now there's more of them." Lilly covered her face with her paws.

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Once the nonsense with the mountain had been sorted, Karna and Hope focused on studying the formation holding the ship in place. It quickly became obvious that the matter was far from simple. The formation had entangled with the ship in a way that would render it almost impossible to set the ship free. It was like tendrils of invisible power wrapped around the vessel. Selendil had managed to move the ship once with sheer power, but that now backfired on her as the vessel was even more entangled with the formation than before, as the formation resisted further tampering. The formation had the power of an entire universe behind it, so even a pair of rank 14 beings would find it difficult to just overpower it now.

“I’ve never seen something held in place so firmly before.” Hope commented, both her and Karna’s eyes glowing with power as they were looked past the walls of the ship around them. “I think it might be possible to loosen the binds the formation is putting on the ship for a brief moment, but the problem is what to do in that moment. Even if it was possible to quickly teleport the ship over a long distance, the formation would just drag the ship back.”

“Yet it has been done before.” Karna pursed her lips.

“The Scourges when they take over a world?” Hope suggested.

“That’s not what I meant. What the Scourges do is a little different. The formation itself still considers the world to be there when it’s assimilated by the Scourges, even if it can no longer draw the same amount of power from the world. Strictly speaking, they’re not moving the world, they’re simply…shifting it a little bit. Instead of being on the Divine Planes, the world suddenly exists in the realm of that particular scourge instead. It would be more accurate to say that the realm extends over the world instead of the world itself moving. Yes, the travel distance to the world becomes vastly different because the dimensions shift, but theoretically the world doesn’t move as far as the formation is concerned.” Karna happened to be acutely aware of how the system used by the Scrouges worked, so she could dismiss that path of thought. “What I was referring to was the Wei-Jin moving a world.”

“Could it just be that the hold of the formation is simply weaker in the Higher Planes?” Hope suggested.

“That’s likely part of it, but I don’t think it’s the whole story.” Karna tapped her lip in thought. “There’s something we’re not seeing.”

“It would likely help if we could study the world the Wei-Jin moved. Or it would actually be even more helpful to study the place they moved the world from.” Hope pointed out.

“It would. We’re not in the Higher Planes though, and I don’t think we have the freedom to go jaunting between the Higher and Divine Planes at the moment. In the future, yes, at the moment, no.” She shook her head. “We’ll need to inform our hosts of the bad news.”

Surprisingly Selendil took the news in stride. “It’s more than we had before.” She explained. “Now we know that trying to move the ship would be a bad idea. We also have some things that could help. I’m also assuming that one of you winning this thing you talked about would allow you to set my ship free?”

“That was the impression we were given at least. For all intents and purposes, they should become omnipotent, so something like this should be fairly simple.” Hope replied. “And I’ll reiterate that we’ll likely know more if and when we get to visit the Higher Planes again. Which might be years from now, but still.”

“Right. So we have leads, which is more than we had before as I said. And it appears that helping you four seems to be key to any solution we might have. We'll have to wait until Dee returns before either of us can go with you, but from your explanation, I got the sense that you didn't need our support right away in any case." Selendil nodded, having her thoughts confirmed.

"While we would appreciate immediate assistance, you're correct." Envy confirmed. "Any thoughts as to when this Dee would be back? Because if we're talking about days or weeks, then we might as well wait. This is as good a place for training as any, and we aren't needed back for some time."

“It’s hard to say exactly. She went to make sure all our missing people were returned, which you made sure already happened as the Shinzen were the last. I sent her a message to that effect, but I’m not sure where she is at the moment. With her travel speed, it shouldn't be too long, but that's assuming she wasn't in the middle of something. She does tend to get wrapped up in all sorts of trouble."

“Well, we can wait here for a short time, and if she doesn’t return in time, then we can figure something else out.” Karna decided.

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The four reincarnators found it rather easy to make themselves at home on the enormous vessel. The crew were welcoming and eager to exchange information with people that were more aware of the multiverse as a whole than the usual inhabitants of the Divine Planes. It was much easier to converse with someone already familiar with technology for instance. And despite their individual issues, the four reincarnators were very adept at socializing and making connections with various races.

Karna spent a fair bit of time exchanging stories with Selendil about what had happened to the Dhar after her death, while she in turn told the Keeper about their kind that could be found in other universes. The fact that their kind could be found in relatively few universes was a little depressing to both, but at least their kind wasn't entirely gone. Selendil in turn mentioned her desire to tell the story of her people to others of her kind so that their memory would not be forgotten.

Karna also spent a fair bit of time dodging the affections of the medical officer, and the other members of the crew mentioned that the man named Khaemwaset fancied himself something of a ladies’ man, something most of the females on board didn’t quite understand. He was mostly harmless though and knew not to cross any lines or push too hard, so Karna didn’t punish him too badly. She also got to see the same man try to woo Selendil as well, which ended just as badly, and much more violently.

Valor made quick friends with the Eriad Yrala once it became obvious both of them were military officers and had rather firm convictions about doing the right thing. The two could appreciate each other’s viewpoints, even if they didn’t agree on everything. They talked of tactics and the differences between space combat and magical warfare in a universe like the one they were currently in. The similarities were surprisingly numerous, and the differences could often be found in places where it wasn’t obvious.

Hope on the other hand could often be found in the company of both Moonshadow and Amaterasu. The Illum and the Panther were something like rivals but could bury the hatchet in favor of cooperation and presenting a unified image to these new arrivals. The three could often be found in the hydroponics drinking tea or something similar while enjoying the ambiance. Hours could pass without any of the three saying anything, and all three seemed pretty satisfied with that state of affairs.

Envy found a receptive audience to her humor and sharp wit with both Lilly and Xiaoli. She'd burst into hopeless laughter once she found out that the cat-like species was actually named the Mrrroww. She was convinced that some weird god or other power had been having a bit of a laugh when making and naming the species. The trio could be found in the most unexpected places, usually just goofing off or making a great show of explaining the most stupid details of the various species and situations they had run into.

They all made sure to dedicate time to cultivation as well though. This was the first real opportunity they had to just sit down and cultivate properly since arriving at the Divine Planes. For immortals, their cultivation at ranks 10 through 12 focused around forming and properly utilizing their totem and domain if they had one. As reincarnators, all four of them had already formed at least one totem, which carried over to this life as well, so the most difficult part of their cultivation was already accomplished. Where most immortals would need centuries to rise in rank, the four of them could accomplish the same much more quickly, especially since they could all utilize the best cultivation methods in existence and had experienced all this before.

For Karna especially, her Godling heritage meant that cultivating the divine power of this plane caused her to progress much more quickly. She was seriously considering adding Qi cultivation to her repertoire as now she could do it hundreds of times faster than if she’d done it in the Higher Planes. It would undoubtedly make her stronger, even if Aura cultivation already covered the most important bases Qi cultivation would, but it would also slow her down a bit. Instead of spending 50% of her cultivation effort on magic and the other 50% on Aura, she’d be dividing her attention three ways. Then again she was already going to progress so much faster than most everyone else that the little extra time might easily be worth the potential gain. Something to think about.