At this point Ava had half picul of spoils; twenty jins of purple crystals, fifteen jins Black-Yellow Centipede corpses, ten jins of dead Thunder Vipers and five jins of random plants. She would like to get metals but beggars can’t be choosers. Metals can only be found by chance and not sought after.

Among her minions, none were as informed as her to get said stuff. Metals would be last on their list as they had no reason to. Dabbling in directed evolution or figuring out ‘dao’ to make up for it will take too much time. She decided that doing what she knew best was better, for less headaches involved.

Her other half was doing exactly that, creating equipment to get metals inside the molten earth down below albeit the first production was still a distant prospect. Either case, Sulaymun Formations would greatly expediate her objectives. She then shifted her gaze to her minions, thinking something else.

They were chittering among themselves, excited over their victory over those damnable Black-Yellow Centipedes. Ava thoughted; the desert up above had none of their kin. She knew how mere mention of ‘black rock’ source had stirred many pursuers. Her minions now may elicit the same kind of greed!

Ava thus explained it to her followers, only to meet with swift rejection; the path beyond is hers alone? Unthinkable! Her two minions were reluctant to let their messiah go unescorted, insistent to follow her anywhere and everywhere. They went as far to pin her host down in place, not allowing it to move.

The Post Human was irked and wanted to kill them but she refrained. She assured them that even if her current host had died, she was still with them; the monolith was another her. The clincher was her promise that she would now make a suitable Broodmother for these evolved Azure Centipedes.

Her minions finally relented; when they thought of it, it was true that the boundless deserts above didn’t have any centipedes like them to speak of. Ava had also told them on how intelligent beings would aggressively hunt novel creatures. And so, if they go with her, it will only incite endless trouble!

They raised their antennas in skepticism given Ava herself was also one of them now. How would she fool such greedy purveyors? What, will Master morph into something else now? Unexpectedly, she told them she will do just that, by changing her form into a creature that can be found in the desert.

Her minions gave her some space, curious on how she would do it. She started by tapping the ground a few times, flattening it in particular dimensions. She tapped again and several corpses appeared in place. Her action confused the evolved Azure Centipedes; what can she do with such corpses anyway?

Kshak! Blurg, blurg, blurg!

Gurgling noises came from squirming corpses, each stabbed by bloody strings from her host. They grabbed carapaces of dead Black-Yellow Centipedes, red flesh of fishes and mangled Thunder Vipers. The crowning jewel was an intact viper’s head, the now dead snake that pleaded for her mercy before.

The bloody strings turned taut, bringing the connecting corpses close. The dead flesh came alive, seething and writhing as said strings sewn them together. Putrid pus and undesirables were belched out before new skin grew to cover the gaps. At this point, Ava commanded her host to come closer.

A brilliant sphere was ejected from her centipede host and melted into this new ‘lifeform’. For the untrained eyes, her new host was no different than a Thunder Viper; it was half-zhang long and had jade-like black scales. Her first movements were awkward as she was used to have legs to get around.

Ava’s previous host had gained its clarity and joined the other two minions, puzzled on what had just happened. Its brethren explained it all, although it was still confused. She didn’t mind them as she was more focused to master her new form. Eventually she got the knack of it, slithering her way at random.

Her attempt to spit lightning had failed; a ball of lightning appeared in her mouth before rapidly deflating like a punctured balloon. So, there was a limit on how far she can mimic the real viper. Nevertheless, she didn’t get discouraged; it was enough to be a clay tile rather than a broken jade!

Ava failed yet again when she tried to talk as only hissing sounds came out. Did it mean the memories she extracted from slaves she helped to meet the dao were wrong? They had met with talking beasts before. Perhaps not all vicious beasts can talk except for select few. She put the matter aside for now.

Ksh, ksh, ksh, ksh…

She turned around, seeing her minions clamouring at her. They had long abandoned the thought to convince her to stay and now asked her on what to do next. Should they continue to hunt other vicious creatures or hold the fort here for her? All three were itching to duke it out, to fight more monsters!

Ava reply however disappointed them; she told them to come back whence they came. One of them even swayed its tail side to side in anger! She gave it a side eye, causing it to back off. The Post Human thus lectured them that their numbers were too insufficient. Right now, they were just courting death!

Her minions kowtowed as she was right; what if more Black-Yellow Centipedes appeared? An elephant could still die when stung by endless ants. Without her leadership, they would only deliver themselves on silver platters to their enemies. Alkharm Wadi was still full of hidden tigers and crouching dragons!

Her followers acquiesced to her demands and left to the shadows. With them gone, Ava entered a different cavern. As she progressed, it became brighter until she encountered a small clear lake. Further out was a five zhang-tall waterfall, flanked by verdant plant life and patches of glowing mosses.

Dews formed on her scales as she drew near. Small critters escaped as her shadow grew larger. Her reflection over yonder became clearer; a jade-black snake poised to strike. Beneath her visage was veritable plants that undulated in waves. A bit deeper hinted at chasms and gaps that led to unknowns.

Next, Ava placed her gaze to the crest of the waterfall; by tracing its source, she was hopeful that she could meet civilized beings to advance her goals. Relying on hearsay and memories from people she dispatched can only go so far. Twas a regret that previously she skipped visiting libraries of Kazar City.

Ava summoned her previous attire, a loose-fitting robe and matching boots. Gasp! This was no time to get cozy! She slapped herself and got out of the robe. The Post Human tapped her attires with her snake form’s tail next, causing them to unravel into number of rods and bundles of braided metal wire.

Kechak, kechak, kechak!

Ava threw tens of such rods with none succeeding. Eventually she got the hang of it and made herself a new path upwards; each rod was firmly secured into surrounding rocks in particular distance respectively. She jumped on the braided metal wire connecting the rods and slithered her way up.

The space above was smaller than the lake below, it was no more than one zhang wide and three zhangs long. Multiple rocks littered the area, flanking the gully that terminated into a rocky wall upstream. She tapped the last metal rod and all said rods vanished including their connecting wires.

Hm? The waterfall’s gully was too uniform as if someone or something built it. It had all the sharp angles and stuff, obviously timeworn and waterworn. Ava peered at rocky debris next, finding some scribbles on them. Did the creatures of Alkharm Wadi make it? No, they weren’t that smart to do so.

Unfortunately, the scribbles were illegible and more likely to be just random scratches. The waterfall source however was another story; when it was combined with her other observations, they suggested that an ancient civilization once flourished here but for unknown reasons, ceased to be.

Then life, being tenacious, reclaimed them. Perhaps whoever ordered Husan to be kidnapped saw him and Ava as obstacles? Herla had told her on how mere mention of ancient relics incite unadulterated greed. Friends turned into enemies. People turned into murderers. All for the sake of some trinkets!

The other theory was that such party intended to use her and Husan for ransom. They obviously had seen feats achieved by her and presumed she was someone important. For better or worse, she had this kind of modus operandi before; she lured them with feats, entrap them and then consumed them.

Ava’s miscalculation was that she got too involved with Husan and co. As the saying went, even though a squirrel is smart at jumping, it will eventually fall. Prior her visit to Kazar, she had seen how the smallest mistakes prelude to disasters. A town was wiped out thanks to someone forgetting to patrol!

Either theory poked holes in her plans; knowing little was same as knowing nothing. She didn’t know about the lost civilization or unknown party. When she weighted the pros and cons, rescuing Husan might be worth it. Whoever backing ‘Count’ seemed to be influential and a tempting target to her.

Searching the old man might be similar to look for a needle in a haystack but no longer; Ava thought it was wasteful to bestow him with Void Gauntlets but they can be tracked down. And if the unknown party was quite greedy, they will keep Husan alive in order to pry his secrets and origin of said device.

Now, where would be Husan held captive? Out of five towns surrounding city of Kazar, Ava down selected to two candidates; Kafaz and Sujk. If Kazar was blade mecca, Kafaz was about gauntlets and the like. Sujk on the other hand dabbled in trades of spices, herbs and professions involved thereof.

Would the perpetrator choose Kafaz? No, a proper organization isn’t a frog in a well. Ava set her course to Sujk town; medicines were both cures and ills. It wouldn’t be strange if there were any that can loose lips. Hopefully the full suit she gave to Husan continued to protect him as loose lips sink ships.

Splash!

After swimming a little bit, she overcame the water current. The aqueduct ahead was half zhang tall and wide. To her surprise, it was illuminated at near regular intervals by glowing plants and some purple crystals. Time exacted its price but it was obvious that this channel was a relic of bygone era.

Her snake body clacked and formed sets of gills, enabling it to breathe underwater. A portion of her scales creaked next and some of them were launched ahead. This aqueduct was more complex than she had imagined; she encountered no less than seven junctions and number of big reservoirs of water.

Gudong!

Ava sent a blind eel careening to an underwater wall after it bit her. However, it was tenacious and gave chase. She swatted the nuisance again and this time it was swept away by the water current. Was that the end of it? She pulled her thoughts back; even more of them emerged from nearby holes!

Even if Alkharm Wadi had ancient ruins, it was still a den of monsters thorough and thorough. She ignored the group of eels and slipped past them. This group snowballed into thirty of such things, persistently tailed everywhere she went. It got up to the point where she can’t ignore them any longer.

Bzzt!

With her at the center, a powerful electric field enveloped all of the blind eels. She tuned it just enough to stun them as she had other plans for these creatures. With glug glug sounds, some of her scales launched off and latched on them, one scale for one eel. Under two breaths, all of them were marked.

Her missing scales regrew as the marked eels spread out in all directions. They were now her eyes and ears in this place, to explore mysteries of the aqueduct. Thanks to them, her ascent to the surface was much easier! Unfortunately, some of them were eaten by their other brethren that weren’t marked.

While she wasn’t fully concerned about her new pawns, losing all of them would be a waste. Eventually, the Post-Human micromanaged their movements to avoid predators and dangers lurking in these channels. Four blind eels, half the size her snake form was set aside as seeds for future use.

Most of the time, she made the eels took the long way. Others, she joined them and thrashed the oppositions. Losses were inevitable as she ventured deeper into the maze of aqueducts. From the thirty or so blind eels she commandeered; Ava was left with six sans the four eels she set aside earlier.

Eventually after toiling for heavens knew how long, Ava saw the light at the end of the aqueduct channels! After this peculiar reservoir was a two peoples’ wide chasm connected to an oasis above. Ava dismissed her followers at this point as when one of them came, it violently twitched and died.

There seemed to be a boundary of sorts in the reservoir, with upper waters being less salty but she paid it no heed. Underwater purple crystals had long ceased to be as she navigated in utter darkness. She entered the chasm and swam upwards. It had some twists and turns but otherwise uneventful.

Blub!

Ava emerged into a bowl-shaped lake full of plant life yet scarce fishes. The sunlight was receding across the water’s surface, just in time before she was plunged into darkness again. After waiting the sunset to complete, she looked at the stars and calculated her position; she was hundred lis from Sujk.

She laid low in the oasis lake, waiting until night made landfall. It would be easier for her to sneak around in midst of night. The oasis was distinct from others she had visited before; there weren’t many plants on the water’s edge. This place had gentle slopes and wide circumference, a sign of use.

For first few nights, Ava hadn’t encountered any civilized beings and she took this chance to understand the location. Visitors to the oasis were more likely to enter from the south and set up camp east. From this she figured there might be caravans using it as transit between Sujk and Kazar.

There were occasional visiting creatures but none warranted her attention. At most it would be a couple of wild Javalan Flies or a few Gale Sparrows. Plant life were largely homogeneous, indicating whoever used the oasis had largely stripped it off from useful ones. This oasis saw some healthy traffic.

On the seventh night, there were finally some visitors! Ava had long left the lake and made herself a disguised burrow on rocky land, to listen to ground vibrations. From the footsteps, she estimated the newcomers were twelve in numbers; perhaps two Sand Komodos, six camels plus the rest, people.

Crack! Thump, thump!

The newcomers had just arrived and setting up tents and stuff. Ava silently slithered closer, to take a closer look on them. Based on her conversations with Herla, this looked like a small merchant caravan. They had cloaks and face veils on them, making it hard to see their faces. Their voices however, were clear.

“Abbas, you heard news on the wind? Kazar’s City Lord is pretty furious now, for some reason.”