There were multiple reasons Valerio had chosen to walk back to his pod, but the most important one was gathering attention.
If someone or something had noticed the mess he'd caused, he'd been in trouble, and he could not afford to get in trouble right now. And in all honesty, how could he? He had no information about the current citation of the planet, its inhabitants, ecosystem, or its threats.
What if he were caught in the middle of a siege?
What if this were the season of a deadly blizzard?
What if the locals found him, drugged him, and enslaved him—what then?
With those uneasy thoughts still fresh, Valerio climbed over the towering redwoods, his body moving with ease. His cultivation had advanced, and with it, so had his physical prowess. He jumped down the enormous bark of the redwoods and started walking back.
The redwood forest beyond the clearing was the same as before. Incredibly large redwood trees towered over Valeiro and cast him into their short shadows. It was a shame that the sun of this planet was right above his head; there were barely any shadows, even with the grandiose density and height of the trees around him. The air outside the clearing was much better was well, after all, the fall of so many redwoods had inevitably kicked up dust and pollen.
Just after a minute of walking, Valerio realised that walking at his current cultivation was more of a waste of time than not. Walking didn't even feel like it required energy; he may as well be jogging.
Valerio broke out into a jog as a smile crept up on his features.
He really liked the wind hitting against his face.
After only about an hour and a half, Valerio had navigated back to his pod. It would've taken him less time had he not gotten lost. He hadn't been able to find the position of the small clearing.
In his defense, the redwoods all looked incredibly similar, and the sun was at the top of his head at the moment, making it harder to tell where West and East were.
Valerio walked into the clearing, the black-azure pod lay there, with small cracks formed around it on the ground. He walked closer, contemplating if he'd be able to bring it into his void ring.
There were only two important factors when deciding if something could be placed into a spatial artifact: the quality and quantity of the user's Spiritual Lu and the quality and quantity of the item.
For the current Valerio, an object of this size was a slight problem.
'Do I even have enough Lu to envelop the entire pod?'
He wasn't sure.
But he could find out.
Valerio released a bit of his Spiritual Lu, it spread across the air in front of him and quickly dissolved as he stopped controlling it. Though he hadn't used a lot, Valerio could instinctively feel that there was a limited amount of Spiritual Lu in his soul's sea. Additionally, his pod had most definitely been crafted from exquisite materials and maybe even Void Ore, which would make it even more difficult to envelop.
The only reason he believed he just might be able to store it was because, first, he had crash-landed and the pod wasn't in perfect condition. And second, an escape pod was likely easier to store and take out than a normal artifact of the same rank, though Valerio couldn't tell; it was a good guess.
'An educated guess even.'
After a few minutes of self-delusion and motivation, he finally convinced himself that he could do it.
Valerio started spreading his Spiritual Lu around the pod. Halfway through, his body broke out into sweat, his mind exuding a strength well above his level. The closer he got to fully enveloping the pod, the sharper his headache got. Thoughts of giving up become louder and clearer. Alas, a singular thought of rationality kept him going.
It was the thought of having to try again if he didn't push through with his current attempt.
Doing this again? Experiencing what felt like your head getting sliced in two, again?
That was too terrifying.
With a final burst of motivation and an almost animalistic growl, Valerio wrapped the entire pod in his Spiritual Lu and willed it into his void ring.
The pod vanished.
Valeiro saw his pod disappear from his vision, and the agonising headache instantly became unbearable.
His focus vanished into thin air. The lack of a task to divert his attention onto made his consciousness bear the entire burden of the literally soul-piercing pain in his head.
He clenched his fists in the hopes that the pain would redirect part of his senses from his headache to his flesh, but it did not. A single thought ran through his head as he pushed through he pain.
'I can't pass out. I can't pass out. I can't pass out. I can't pass out. I can't pass out.'
He passed out.
He had truly done his best to resist, to stay awake—knowing he couldn't afford to remain here. But the moment he tried to summon more willpower, his mind betrayed him.
Like a puppet with its strings severed, he collapsed.
Unbeknownst to Valerio, a certain lily had started releasing more of its tranquil energies into his soul sea, but in return, losing part of its delicate shine.
All in the hopes of mending his injured soul.
The sea of Spiritual Lu was no longer calm and still. Waves crashed onto the lily pad in the center of the surface. Now and then, a wave would completely envelop the lily pad, throwing it into disarray as its gentle, budding leaves barely stayed attached to it. The [Soul Camera] had already been lost in the waves and moved around to the rhythm of the waves.
But it wasn't just the sea that was in disarray; the skies were falling apart.
Enormous slashes had appeared above the soul sea, which then widened as the waves became more turbulent. The slashes in the skies pulsed with an ominous blackness, the beautiful particles of blue that loathed about disappearing into them.
It was just as Valerio lost consciousness that the waves started to calm, but the scars in the skies continued to widen, or at least they would have had it not been for the lily pad flashing with a bright pink light.
The bright pink light flew towards the widening scars in the skies and formed thin lines that covered the edges of each scar. Once each scar had been outlined, the lily pulsed… and with it, so did the pink lights that had outlined the scars.
With each soft, gentle pulse of the lily, the lights around the scars brightened and contracted, as if sealing the wounds of his soul, and that was exactly what was happening.
With Valerio lost deep in his realm of dreams and his soul slowly mending, he had narrowly escaped the fate of an injured soul.
Alas, the consequences of his earlier actions were not so easily eluded.
A pair of terrified, yet undeniably curious, twins stepped into the wrecked clearing, drawn by the echo of devastation Valerio had left behind.
To the twins, it seemed as if a god himself had descended just to vent their anger on this one clearing.
The great Ying Yang Redwoods that had stood for millions of years were piled up like twigs to be thrown into a fireplace, the lake itself had disappeared and left a crater in its wake. Moreover, it seemed as if all animals had instinctively avoided this place at all costs.
The twins glanced at each other, horror etched onto their faces, as one thought encompassed their minds.
'What the hell happened here?'