IDS Yīnghuā - Log 4.0: Frog at the Bottom of the Well (井底之蛙)

"We shouldn't divide the team," The Empress chimed in, speaking in meatspace for the benefit of the two Aos'Si and the Archangel. "Whether to stop the young lord from making contact or to prevent him from becoming 'departed', time is short. We don't have the luxury of...being the only ones to bear responsibility," Zhuli smiled at them all. "This will be several small-team searches, with the other teams being sent to other likely search areas." Waving a hand, a hologram appeared in meatspace, illustrating a sensor sweep of the Aos'Si extinct volcano city and the lava tubes running deep into the sea.

"Oh, how pleasant a surprise! It's almost as good as what what we have!" the towering alien continued to smile. Bending over, one of the avian alien's hands reached out and began plotting out the various sites they had to choose from. "These all continue to lead to The Dragon." Looking at the display, there were a total of five lava tubes that descended under the waves. 'Looking' up from its mapping work however, Lucifer did choose to reply to Reina. "Events are not as dissimilar to what I have previously foreseen as I would like," the Archangel politely pointed out. It essentially couldn't get paid if everyone died. "We effectively averted the war portion of the bad timelines, but apparently not the 'don't wake up the stupid thing' part," its posh voice swore.

It reared its head back in surprise and covered its beak from sight with a spare hand.

"All Aos'Si know of the legends." Lady Nimue answered Reina's other question through lips that had grown sour when the Archangel referred to Nimdorn as a 'lynch-pin'. "I had also thought all Aos'Si knew better than to wake a sleeping dragon, but I am apparently very wrong." Hugging herself ever so slightly, it was clear she was angry, but not at Reina. There wasn't much time to reflect however. The entrances to Viz's containment center opened, and several special forces squads began to assemble while chongwu came in and began swapping out their suit modules for them.

"The back is heavier than I thought," Hoshiko tugged at her collar. "Get me a breastplate to balance it out," she ordered one of the chongwu. Eyeing the special forces soldiers though, she spotted the other squad leaders bearing swords in smart-holsters. "And a vibro-jian with smart holster," she enviously added. With the weapon placed on her back, she took a laser rifle and powered it up.

"Oh finally," Lucifer snapped her fingers.

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Empire of Daqin,
Pínqióng (貧窮) System
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The sense of vertigo and disorientation went as quickly as it came for the Daqinren.

"Report!" Hoshiko broadcast to them all, their feet landing on hard rock in the pitch black.

"Ugh. Too cramped," the archangel remarked with distaste. "Let there be light!" Small orbs of sunlight appeared along the lava tube's interior, lighting the way. It continued to float in its 'loafed' form again. As it did this though, Hoshiko, Wen, Aitana and Sakura immediately noticed the telemetry coming in from the rest of The Empire, and automatically networked with the others that didn't have advanced sensors.

"Red leader, standing by!"

"Blue leader, standing by!"

"Green leader, standing by!"

"Purple leader, standing by!"

Their sensors could 'smell' the scent of the sea ahead, and more importantly, the lava tube didn't continue on far. It terminated into a pillar, leading down and into a white fog.

"Commence operation," Hoshiko urged them on, nevermind she wasn't sure if her own squad was ready.

With everyone around her, Hoshiko opted to host their virtual lobby, a sandy beach with clear waters, cheery sun and palm fronds springing forth. It wasn't technically too far off from where they were actually at, following the lava tube under the ocean, but she felt she needed it. "All the rock, water and distance between us and the other teams is keeping bandwidth down," Hoshiko noted. Clad in a dark bikini with electric blue flames and a yellow sarong, she absentmindedly kicked at the water lapping at her toes as she shared that revelation. The other squad leaders couldn't do more than speak and listen, showing only as floating icons. "Let's keep comms between teams to a minimum."

Red Team was lead by Ru Zhuan, a Shā Pí (沙皮) dog type of all things. But the rest were tigers. A man by the name of Song Chen lead Blue Team, while another by the name of Zheng Bo lead Green Team. It seemed that Liu Shi of Purple Team was the only woman besides Hoshiko that was a leader. "Mother-Empress talked about getting to bear responsibility," the princess muttered to herself, voice trailing off. "They're all Han."

"My foresight shortens, but fear not! This is only the outer boundary!" the Archangel proudly declared in meatspace. As though to emphasize this, Wen's bats quickly found their flight through the fog slowing. Behind them, Aitana felt like she was lowering herself into clouds that condensed into thick soup and then stew the deeper she went. Seeing Lucifer descending with the vanguard, Hoshiko pressed forward as well, and together, they felt like they were being swallowed. Just when it was at its thickest, it began to thin, and through the fog, they could see ground.

Ground, darkness and small motes of light.

What looked like a hard, rocky plateau was not far off, but the jungle like fungoid shapes of the canopy below looked like it would catch their fall more softly. However, it was also the most brightly lit landing area. Meanwhile, what looked like a small lake or large pond would have also let them land without too much of an impact, but the splash would be particularly audible considering the liquid, and there was the depths itself to deal with too.

"Purple Leader reporting, we've encountered some sort of permeable membrane, and are...tiger paddling to delay our descent. Over," Liu Shi's picture icon's border lit up as she spoke.

"I'm thinking about hopping on the canopy," Hoshiko eagerly eyed the almost bouncy looking fungoid tops with glee. "What about you guys?"

As the rest of the Daqinren made their way down, bit by bit, it soon became apparent that things were not as they seemed. Like the first ones down, the descent through the mist was slow. Abnormally slow, but as Xian lit up her light, the advanced sensor bearers saw something she didn't. The 'fog' refused to burn off, and shone like infinitely fine gossamer threads to their networked minds. Their passage through them 'broke' the threads, only for them to reform in their wake.

To Reina, it tasted like silk.

Having eschewed the higher earthly plateaus, they all landed on the fungi-tops with a bounce, the Archangel following along. Given one of the bat-scouts sent up to that area for a better vantage vanished in a blip of pain, their choice was likely the best one. It was not entirely reassuring though. Underneath the canopy they stood on, something sensed their presence, and the clopping sound of hoof-like feet could be heard retreating. It sounded ominously familiar, as though they had heard it before.

Looking through the others' sensors, Wen could see how space and time faintly shivered and fluttered from the wake of said something fleeing. It had 'mana', but seemed that everything else it passed or left behind did too. The sensors perceived the flight like a shimmering ripple in the water, bouncing off of surface after creature after growing thing and so forth, all of which made their own little ripples. It all muddled into incoherence, but there was some calm elsewhere though.

Having landed with the vanguard, Reina could see that the 'motes' of light all varied in color and source. Strange, crab sized insects scuttled about, signaling for company, while others waved a lure meant for the unaware. Fungi cast their faint, inscrutable glow across the hollow, just enough for the Daqinren to see. Looking around Wen's scrutiny of the nearby lake and its shore had his eyes settle on a peculiar sight. A mushroom-like top had apparently broken off to float on the water, and resting on it was a lamb-like creature which mewled every so often. The shroom-top was too far from the shore for it to swim, and for the Daqinren, they would have to wade up to their waists to reach it.

Reina caught the faintest whiff of Aos'Si, somewhere past the lake that their fungi-forest bordered, and perhaps into the mouth of the distant cave. The question was how to get there. Safely.

"I wouldn't say you have to hop from mushroom to mushroom that often," Hoshiko replied at their virtual beach. "If we stay up here in the canopy, you can stretch out and reach things way better than the rest of us," the tiger princess pointed out. Hearing her sister-in-law though, Hoshiko leaned in very close and asked, "You have recordings? You can rewind and play them, right?" she smiled. Hoshiko was sure Jun had brain cells to use, but she just couldn't prove it yet.

"I apologize, I say 'fear not' out of habit," the towering archangel replied to Reina. "Your guess is correct in that The Dragon itself is a source of befuddlement. It not only hoards massive amounts of mana, but can hold Nodes of Odhrom'nimloth in one place to continue gorging," Lucifer elaborated. "This sheer quantity is troublesome, as where there is mana, there is magic, exponentially increasing the possibilities going forward." The avian alien bent at the waist so that the two were at roughly eye level "We should be very concerned, as my predictive abilities - and therefore my ability to protect you all - are hampered." It pointed at Reina's chest. "Fortunately, even without me, you have some degree of protection."

As she said this, they all became acutely aware of the wax seal and parchment that Lady Nimue had placed upon them. Like something in the back of their minds, it had presence.

"I know I shouldn't," Hoshiko began aloud, eyeing the baby creature stuck in the lake. "But I wanna shoot it so it's not miserable."

Floating in the 'mist' above them all, Xian held a very effective overwatch on the whole area below.

Standing beyond the fungi forest and at the lake's shore, the sense of peace and tranquility Wen felt didn't last long. He reached for that feathered creature's powerful, complex spell that he couldn't comprehend, and tugged at the red motes of power that he could just barely see. Wen could feel the crimson mana grasped in his mind's hand, pulled to his will more successfully than he could have imagined! For a moment, the nerves in one of his legs were held still as though a force had dramatically locked them into place. Just as quickly, he toppled, having only one leg under control, and soon enough, the feeling in his affected limb quickly ceased as his cells slowly began to die, suffocating while their waste products piled up inside their membranes.

"O-hohohoho!" the laughing avian alien towered over the bull, feet just out of ground's reach as it floated still. Moments ago, it quickly spotted what Wen had done - and after pointing this out to Reina and the rest - Luci had swiftly Moved over to where the man was. It was no different than an icon being quickly and smoothly dragged across a desktop, and in this case, just to accost him specifically. "Thou shouldst not play with powers beyond thine understanding!" its eyeless face grinned down at him. One of its many hands waved and cast a golden glow, and in his mind's eye, Wen could feel the crimson motes of change knocked out of his mental grasp as he was healed. "You need to attend class with the little children first," Luci gleefully mocked him. "Assuming any teacher could put up with thee!"

At the same time, Jun suddenly felt the sharp sting of violence.

"Bad cow! Bad!" Hoshiko pointed at the heifer. Buttocks glowed red from the tremendous slap that the pocket-tiger had landed on her. "Clips are cool, and that's the hill I'm dying on!" As she loudly declared this in their beachside virtuality, the majority of the squad moved from fungi forest cap to cap as they circled towards the cave or cavern on the far side of the lake.

"Oh, be still my hearts!" Luci tried and failed to stifle her laughter, unaware of the virtual conversation. Moving back to the rest of the group, she leaned in towards Reina to continue where they left off, a hand held up to shield her beak from the others as though to halfheartedly conspire with the Daqin serpent. "The ancient such as this one seldom care about little people's affairs. However, the young are another matter, and can even be bargained with, paid, or bribed," the Archangel continued to smile, the potential possibilities all too enticing.

In their virtuality, a squad leader's icon flashed as text came in.

"Huh. Purple leader says they found hovels, and some sort of tortoise-like creatures?" Hoshiko remarked aloud. Luci's feathers rose at the mention, but before the towering alien could say more, the warrior princess picked up a nearby mushroom. "Your paranoia is the better thing to listen to with that bleating-thing Reina. Especially if you view some of our older logs The floating mushroom it's stuck on? It's right where we'd be vulnerable due to how deep the water is," Hoshiko pointed out to the scientist. "The thing is sus." Calculating the needed trajectory, she deftly cast it out towards the lamb-like creature. Striking it solidly in the head, toothy jaws suddenly snapped over the scene and vanished under the water entirely.

The mushroom was then spat back out onto the shore by Wen, just as green leader's icon flashed.


Pain shot across Xian's body as ivory claws on long and spindly white limbs darted out of the pale and grabbed hold. Though her suit held her together, the tigress felt piercing spines trying to wiggle into her body. She herself was grabbed and pulled every which way like a doll being tugged back and forward between several children. Though Xian's weapon arm was held fast against her side, she had her other arm free and could see her attackers! Hard, chitinous creatures with impossibly lankly, slender and long limbs fought over her like a piece of food, their mandibles clicking in anticipation!