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SoK Chapter 177
🕑 Added 2025-07-09 15:00:13 +0000 UTC***
“Get back!”
As TJ made the command, he spread the wind shield that he created in front of his people. As the strangely solid water continued to fly in every direction, TJ transformed into a coatl and felt the surge in his Attributes and Wind Manipulation Skill level. Then, he was able to keep the potentially disastrous attack from spilling over and killing some of his followers.
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t say anything.” Even before anyone said anything to her, Sarah was raising her hands with an uncomfortable chuckle. “Really, I don’t know why this is happening.”
“If I had to guess, then I guess he decided to show off a hunt? And who knows if I’m even close to correct… but that doesn’t matter. Stay together, we’ll continue retreating back a bit, and before too long we’ll decide if we just go entirely around the lake or if we speak further with the Ahuizotl. Clear?”
“I don’t think that continuing to be in contact with this monster is going to be a good idea.” Seth’s tone was dry as he hefted his crossbow over his shoulder. “I mean, even if it does have a good relationship with you, it’s still a monster, you know? Like, it wants to eat people. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a wolf and a goat that were best friends, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen now either.”
Several of the other people nearby nodded in agreement, and TJ shook his head.
“At this point, you need to know better! Everything can be prey to everything. If you, as a Copper, kill, by some miracle, a Gold tiered monster, then you managed to get something that will put you head and shoulders above every other Participant, probably ever. You’re just as dangerous to this Copper Elite monster as it is to you. It doesn’t have anything to do with some previous understanding as to what is ‘prey’ and what is ‘predator’. You just gotta get it out of your heads at this point, because you’re dangerous, and will become more dangerous! If you don’t learn this lesson, then there’s no way that you’ll be able to survive. And I’m done explaining it over and over.”
TJ stopped speaking, and he saw as many of the other people who had seemed ready to complain about his relationship with Acalan went silent. TJ watched as Tempe Town Lake seemed to grow larger, the waves slapping higher and higher as whatever battle continued under the surface grew to a crescendo. A small part of him considered what he might have done, had he taken Divinity Mastery instead of Wind Scythe. Maybe he could have dived into the water and killed both Acalan and whatever he was fighting now.
But that was foolishness. He hadn’t taken that Skill, and he wouldn’t take it for a while to come. More and more, he was saying that he needed to specialize in something, and the Nascent Storm Serpent was going to become something that Kukulkan never was. From what limited understanding TJ had of what his long gone divine predecessor was, Kukulkan, as a coatl or quetzalcoatl, or whatever his original Race had been, was basically a dragon. More than anything else, he was a monster that had ascended to Divinity. TJ, however, was going to be more than that, and specializing in certain things would help him to do that.
It was merely another two minutes before the waves started to calm and, bit by bit, the strange shards of water fell into the lake and disappeared. Looking around, TJ could see that the lake had definitely gotten several inches deeper and was crawling onto the land. Even so, there was nothing he could do about it.
“It won’t be long before you do that.” Farid’s voice pulled TJ from his musing.
“Until I do what?”
“Until your every action and your presence extends your Divine Authority. Actually, you do that already, do you not? You can create storms as well and make the terrain better for you when you begin a fight, like you did for the Tutorial Boss. And us as your followers now get a measure of that same benefit.”
“I suppose you’re right… I don’t know how I feel about that to be honest.”
“Almost all of our days have been spent questioning ourselves and our futures. Frankly, I have had enough thinking. Perhaps that is why I have devoted myself to you. You do the thinking, and I’ll do the following. If you need me to destroy, then I will destroy. If you need me to revitalize, I will revitalize. The round of Samsara will come and continue turning, and I will be your instrument to act with as you please.”
TJ forced a smile on his face as he accepted Farid’s words. For now, the Acolyte was correct, in that TJ needed to stop overthinking everything. Sure, he was now the nominal, literal, and spiritual leader of this small group of followers, but he was also just himself. He would refuse to lose himself in that as he continued forward, though his Bloodline and so much else seemed to want to pull him that way. After all, what had brought him victory and success in the Tutorial? Himself.
“Everybody, stay back. If you have some way to scout out the water safely, then do so. If you do not, then I demand that you stay here.”
Nobody responded at first and TJ nodded quickly. He only realized at that point that he had been just sitting around as a coatl, not using his magic or Skills to protect his people, just sitting around. More and more, the form was feeling natural, though he still feared the emotional outbursts that the transformation seemed to encourage. Without thinking further about it, he leapt into the sky to look down on the lake and see what was happening.
About a quarter mile deeper into the lake, TJ could see the main nexus of combat. Pink spread through bubbles as they flowed to the top of the lake, and TJ continued to watch. There wasn’t anything else that he could do without overly exposing himself to possible death. The monsters, assuming that Acalan had actually gone to hunt something as he suspected, didn’t show themselves. If his ally was the loser of the fight and TJ threw himself into the lake, he would almost certainly find himself in deadly combat, so he held himself back.
TJ heard and somehow smelled the gout of water before it appeared. He dodged, his sinuous body sucking wackwards and coiling into a tight ball. There was no follow up, though, and TJ merely retreated a little higher into the sky as he watched the familiar Ahuizotl pull a strange creature to the surface.
The Ahuizotl was already a strange looking creature, but this other one was something TJ couldn’t quite understand. Its head was basically just a mouth brimming with fangs and strange protrusions while it seemed to have two arms that also had mouths on them. The main head, the one that he thought of as its head, had a ring of beady black eyes that went around the entire circumference of the gaping maw, while the other “arms” lacked the eyes. Its body was slimy and glistened in the light of day, even after being pulled out of the water.
Swooping down, TJ asked Acalan, “Do you need any help?”
A strange thread of water flowed from the surface of the lake and wrapped around TJ’s torso to allow the monster’s voice to resound throughout his floating body.
no, it is my food.
“OK then. Do… Do you want me to stay nearby?”
mmm friends share… but you have not shared food with me.
“I gave you the bodies of the minotaurs. I would count that as food for you, would you not?”
but it is not what i want.
“I don’t know what else to tell you, because my answer isn’t going to change. I gave you food, if you want to give me some, you can, if you don’t, that is fine as well.”
Instead of any words, TJ’s mind was filled with a general sense of displeasure. Then, of resignation and acceptance.
i will not eat your people.
“That’s good. Should we cross with you helping us or should we just go around?”
i will protect your people.
“as we cross the lake?”
yes.
“Sounds good. If you want me to share with you, you can bring the food to the shore where I will happily partake of what you have to offer.”
TJ flew back to the shore and explained, “Acalan got in a fight, he won, and he will be bringing a meal back here. I don’t know if he is going to try to offer it to you as well as to me, but if he does, accept it, even if you don’t eat it right that moment. If you are entirely unwilling to eat any food that he might be bringing to you, go ahead and step at least a hundred feet back from where we are right now. That should, ideally, get you out of his attention, but there’s no guarantee.”
“And what about the couple small children that we have?”
“Luz can stay with me. I'm not sure how, but Acalan can sense the different Bloodlines, and knows that we both have the bloodline of Kukulkan. She will be safe, as he has a relationship with our Bloodline’s origin, as well as some other deities like that.”
Every one of the people who had not sworn themselves to him as well as another five of the people who had not yet reached Copper tier stepped back nearly two hundred feet.
“Do you think that he knows who Xolotl was?”
“I’d be surprised if he didn’t. And even if he doesn’t, my extremely limited understanding is that the Central American gods who had domains to do with the sky have a good relationship with at least most of the Ahuizotl.”
“OK, good! I feel like there’s something familiar about him. Maybe it’s my Bloodline?”
“I wish we had the same bloodline…” William muttered, interrupting TJ’s response.
“Wait, you don’t have the same Bloodline?” TJ asked, “I mean, are you not…?”
“Yeah, we are all blood related.” When Lucy said it, TJ could hear the frustrations and hurt feelings from whatever had happened to the family to force them to have to learn this. “The System says that it’s not too uncommon to have something like this happen. Basically, we both passed on half of our own Bloodlines, but combined, we passed on more of the Xolotl bloodline than either of our own.”
“Huh.” TJ felt his eyebrows narrow together as he said it. More pieces of information that he didn’t know, and possibly never would have known without other people figuring them out.
“Well, once he gets here, that will be enough time sitting around. We need to get across, and set up our new home. Are there any questions or complaints about that?”
A chorus of semi excited cheers went up, though TJ could hear the whispers of concern regarding Acalan’s presence as the one who will be helping them across the water. He couldn’t say he didn’t share the feeling, but he didn’t say as much. Instead, he issued commands as to where some people needed to go, or how others needed to move. And it wasn’t long before Acalan’s head came out of the water, the massive corpse of his foe dangling from his jaws.
He growled something TJ couldn’t understand, and he stepped closer in the hopes he could. Then, Acalan dropped the corpse with a trumpeting cry of victory, turned, and leapt into the water without making any explanations.
