NOVPUBZhen Shi was silent as he mulled over the decision...for all of ten seconds.
There was an ongoing crisis, and he had just been presented an "easy" solution to it. He had to be insane or stupid to not at least try.
"Screw it. Let’s do this," Zhen Shi said as he got off of Tiny’s back and landed on the ground. "If my choices are to die trying and die doing nothing, might as well go for the former...wait, why am I thinking so recklessly?"
"That’s the [Chaos] talking," Aranea explained. "Since you’re now actively wanting to use it, your body is responding in kind. Side effects include reckless actions and casual language."
"That...explains some things. Let’s go th-"
"Kuu!"
"Grunt!"
"Huh? You two wanna come along and learn this stuff too?"
"Kuu!"
"Grunt."
"Okay...let’s go to the arena then."
Now that Patriarch Zhen Shi had officially approved of the cultivation of [Chaos] as an open practice, Aranea and Lucille got to work in making sure that the inaugural lesson was a fruitful one.
However, before they could even do that...they needed to get their hands on some lesson materials.
While the two of them could technically come up with their own syllabus and materials on the spot, they both knew that their lessons would only be applicable to only two of the elders and maybe two of the scions.
For something as big as this, they needed something with significantly more...teeth.
And as luck would have it, Logos and Pathos just go their hands on some big ones.
...
[Curator Logos, Curator Pathos. Is it possible for you two to compose a list of literary material that could be beneficial to teaching other how to make use of Chaos. I know you two did more than simply lecture Jasper and Janice,so I was thinking that we could-]
<=Actually, you’re in luck,=> Logos and Pathos interjected. <=Remember how our lord went through Undertow recently to earn the Storm Queen’s inheritance?=>
[I do...]
<=There are some things in her unlocked section that might be if interest to you.=>
[Oh?]
...About an hour or two later...
"Wait, so that mysterious master of Zhen Liu’s is going to be officially teaching us how to make use of that weird energy that he and his puppets use?"
"Apparently, yeah."
"... what’s the catch?"
"We don’t know."
"Hmmm."
A little after Patriarch Zhen Shi made his decision to began to disseminating [Chaos] techniques, the Zhen Clan elders, most of the scions, and the Raijin Hippo family had gathered in the estate’s training arena.
The facility hadn’t seen much use as of late, due to the impending Beast Tide, but it was perfect for what Aranea and Lucille had in mind...whatever that was.
Despite having been waiting around for about twenty minutes or so, the two secretaries of the Zhen Clan/liaisons with the [Nowhere Sect] had yet to make an appearance.
"Alright, if neither of them show up soon, I’m going to go back to-"
"Sorry for the wait!," Lucille apologized as she entered the training arena.
"We had to get a bigger spider," Aranea added as she followed suit.
"About ti-wait a minute, bigger spider?"
BOOM!
"Whoa!"
Trailing behind the two women, a Giant Rock Armored Tarantula entered the arena behind them while carrying what appeared to be a giant rock on it’s back. However, from what the Zhen Clan warriors could sense, this wasn’t an ordinary rock.
"Huh...am I going crazy, or does the aura coming out of that rock feel incredibly similar to how Zhen Liu and matriarch feel like?"
"It does, but it feels more..."
"Savage."
"Put it down over here," Aranea directed the tarantula.
Thud.
Once the stone was delivered, the Giant Rock Armored Tarantula left the arena as it had fulfilled it’s task.
However, this now left the Zhen Clan alone with an incredibly ominous stone radiating even more ominous power.
Instinctually, the warriors and beasts present both felt attracted and repulsed by the power coming from this stone. This feeling would lean toward the former or the latter, depending on what information gets shared with them in the next few moments.
"Alright, people of the Zhen Clan," Lucille started as she was the most verbose of the two secretaries. "Rejoice! Because after sharing correspondence with the sect master, they have decided to send y’all a care package to assist with dealing with the upcoming Beast Tide."
"Wait, care package? No reinforcements?"
"The sect master believes that y’all should be able to handle the incoming crisis yourselves, but that you guys just need the right tools to do so."
"And this ominous ass rock is going to help us...how?," Zhen Lao, the Third Elder of the Zhen Clan, asked while gesturing towards the aformentioned rock. "Wait, why do I feel like it’s staring at me?"
"This rock is more than meets the eye," Aranea answered. "It just needs a little...input."
After making this ominous statement, Aranea placed a palm against the stone’s surface and began to channel aether into it.
Once she did, the stone took a completely different feeling.
The ominous feeling that the Zhen Clan elders and scions were subjected to before had suddenly been replaced by a feeling that they were being watched by a giant spider that seemed to be in charge of everything. The only one who didn’t seem to be affected by this feeling though was Zhen Jin, for some reason.
The most notable change though came seconds later.
"Okay, other than the sudden change in aura, what else should we be-"
"Wait! Check it out! There’s writing appearing on the stone!"
"Are...are you sure that’s writing?"
Before the eyes of the Zhen Clan warriors, glowing runes appeared one after the other one the strange stone’s surface, being completely unreadable to most of the people present. Emphasis on the word, "most".
"Wait, you guys seriously can’t read that?," Zhen Jin asked as he saw his brothers, nieces, nephews and son stare at the stone in confusion.
"No, we can’t," Zhen Long answered. "What’s it saying?"
"Uh..."
There was actually a lot of words and information being displayed on this strange looking stone in this moment, so Zhen Jin couldn’t accurately describe he was seeing without talking for an hour straight. Which was he decided to focus on one key line he saw.
"Well...it appears this rock is actually a manual for some kind of technique called the...[Primordial Beast Scripture]?"
"That’s a hell of a name...," Zhen Xi commented. "Wait...it’s a technique? Not a formula?"
"Apparently."
"Astute observation Fifth Elder," Aranea praised. "This stone is actually a manual designed to relay to all of you, a technique that is able to channel [Chaos]."
"However, this is not something that can be shared in a conventional manner," Lucille added.
To demonstrate this, Aranea stopped channeling energy into the stone and allowed Lucille to take over. Once she did, the feeling of the stone changed once more.
Instead of a controlling or ominous feeling looming over them, the warriors present couldn’t help but feel as if they were staring down a violent tornado that threatened to tear them to pieces.
The only ones that seemed to be oddly relaxed in the face of this violent feeling was Zhen Ye and Zhen Tai.
Just like Zhen Jin earlier, they could read the stone but the others couldn’t.
Once Lucille removed her hand and stopped channeling her aether, the words disappeared and the original ominous feeling returned. But this time, the Zhen Clan couldn’t help but feel excited at staring at this stone.
They could feel immense opportunity coming off it.
"The content of this technique, what runes appear on the stone, will vary from individual to individual and even change depending on what kind of energy you use to activate it," Aranea explained. "And if you’re wondering exactly how strong this technique is...well, you’re going to have to find out yourself."
"Just know," Lucille added. "That this technique will allow you, on the most basic level, to nullify any and all aether based defenses. I believe you know what this means, especially with the upcoming tide."
"That means..."
"Hold up..."
One of the reasons why high tier aether beasts were so dangerous was the fact that they were able to coat themselves in thick layers of natural aether.
Due to the fact that aether beasts were unable to form things such as [Regalia] or [Astras], they were able to focus exclusively on basic abilities and strengthen them to the point of being equivalent to these more refined applications.
To provide a crude analogy, mortal aether warriors were able to condense their aether into razor sharp knives, while aether beasts could only form a crude club...that could be swung at mach five.
In other words, what aether beasts lacked in finesse, they made up for it in power.
And right now, the Zhen Clan was being offered a way to break through that power.
"Now then... who’s first?"
