Reincarnated as a Duck: A beast progression litrpg isekai-Chapter 267 - 258: Return from Resonance

Flashing and thundering Materium surrounded the large cave. Lisa was still busy and too emotional about the hours of strange experiences, and missed a lot of details she oh so wished for.

But as it seemed.... it was fine. She could wait.

Her eyes were dead-set on Murai, whose eyes shook, glistering in white and deep, senseless gold. Their opening didn't mean Murai had woken up from the trip of this lifetime. The Resonance took what it had to, and that sort of thing took time, effort, success, and sustenance.

His body shook from the great return, or from the passage from a drastically different space, which was almost sizzling the light of Reality away.

The Singularity happened in a blink, eating the rest of the light around the cave, including Lisa, who panicked as if she felt a threat to her very own existence. She jerked away, playing with nothing and doing... well, nothing was there. It was beyond her, like any existential change. The world dimmed all over, leaving a duck sitting on the ground surrounding a speck of a shaky space that bore a surprising fruit.

The Ultra Materium lost their reason, with many of them crumbling all over the cave, hollering in tearing creaks and noises that were weirdly mechanical. But when a Brightlife anchored to Murai, it wasn't wrong for them to lose. It worked out for them better, as they funneled the link, which was terrifying but very good for many different things.

There was so much his body and blood could handle; one could be surprised by the dedication of his life and the development of this life. This world should bear with it, and thanks to that, many beings moved through death and life and were able to get stronger than in most worlds.

Materium was just a lost, ancient memorial. It had nothing much but value attached to its presence, whereas true Hidden Realms couldn't possess such a heart. But life and the appeal to play with Reality were a different thing.

They wanted it. Oh, some despised or preferred it over all and anything else.

It was odd for Lisa, who was trembling in her form and taking this frozen second for a much longer time than necessary. It didn't shatter her. She was still there, living against what was honorable. She was weaker than what set Anatidaes apart from the creatures defying the heavens, though this was about the souls instead. Realms were about them, after all, and this soul better be better.

Defiant creatures on a single planet didn't denounce anything. Lisa did!

Devoid of anyone by her, it was the Beast Core that clutched that anchor, pulling that shitty Singularity towards Murai on its own and swallowing one gift by trudging every bit of power for itself. It wasn't because of hunger or anything like that.

His Beast Core was simply unable to ignore what felt right, for instincts were inside, while the bearer had always been a lost freak. Taking it was adequate; otherwise, what would happen was implausible in the current universe.

It developed a new spec and layer, taking the mantle of this Brightlife for unnatural feed. Instead of going anywhere else, a regular sense of reason happened next. That was magic, a duty of systematic energies and laws of creatures across history.

Lisa sensed how it was possible. Elemental Affinities have their residues in all eras. Some did not change, though this Epoch had its rules like any other.

Shapers were fine takers of Mana Cores, so the Brightlife wouldn't halt that idea, even if it was a very haughty and old. Murai's Beast Core took it for the fourth Affinity, making him irrefutably defiant for his little life, as well as... well, making another shot at Anatidaes, who had a pretty darn good sense of elements.

Murai had few ideas about it because he kind of missed those points by his principles and lives. In a sense, Lisa thought he had such wicked thoughts about his lives that this one shouldn't seem particularly impressive.

Not only that, but it was abnormal and insane. The body did not become a vessel, though Lisa could tell it was the same thing. It was more like a tolerating and enduring meaning of multiple affairs. Then, the Beast Core took it in, rather than Murai's Will working with its shortcomings, or it was something entirely different.

Could this little lifeform endure the Brightlife from the very Origin without breaking apart? That was a neat idea, but considering there was nothing much there in the very origin of everything, or pretty much everything, yet nothing, maybe it could adapt to this freak. Both, perhaps?

Lisa couldn't guess what was right anymore. Her body and mind lifted her reasons, and something new came next. Lacking pride. Then, there was an acceptance and fears that were better than the eternal torment of trying something that was no longer there.

What Murai got from some Realm became seized like an utmost gift of direct comparison to Heavenly Tribulation, and his body was suitable.

Then his Soul took the rest, shaking the status quo, even if his Will was nothing but the rider of this storm. This specific outcome wasn't something that the King of that Resonance Realm would have ever expected, for it was a situation that very few would prefer.

Even Lisa, anchored to the opposite end of the cave, right beside the entrance, wasn't sure what this signified. She saw the turmoil of that light and pressure, crashing and playing with Ultra Materium as if it were tofu.

Pressing on her sona as if she went through a wild river, she was also defiant and sought changes for herself and him.

It wasn't a change. Not really.

She granted Murai nothing because she wasn't sure what was even possible, so she wasn't even guilty or feeling morally conflicted about anything. She wasn't kidding or lying to anyone; she had no clue what Murai could ever handle, or maybe the question was what he couldn't handle?

He kind of got under her skin, and handled her... so that was impressive, right? Lisa thought so and kept her pace and ideas intact, and yanked everything she could think about right at him.

Whether something worked or not, it seemed to be a trial of life and error, while death wasn't cheap. She knew killing him wasn't an option.

It was more like a shot into the darkness. An almost literal one, devoid of clean changes, but if anything made sense, the Old Ones were never fine to be underestimated when used or tossed into Somewhere.

"What kind of Light found a way in?" She asked herself. "What kind of monstrosity caused this madness?

Lights Realms... are what? What variant is this? Is that it, or is it like those bastards of Order? Which Strand did he grab? Him... of all. Oh, dear madness. Isn't this making much more sense?"

The storm and pressure were brewing in this cave for too long a second, tolerating a little duck and playing with many veins of Ultra Materium. Only one of those things cracked in the light.

Minute by minute, Murai's Will was turning more vigorous and stronger, not becoming one with that ancient light, as it was impossible. The body was taking on this mantle like a muscle, acting as the Core desired and what Bloodline allowed. Against the Mother's wishes, it went on until it reached the point of no return.

Murai ended up like a duck enveloped in the sun itself, hovering there above the ground and surrounded by chunks of Ultra Gems the size of a person.

The Singularity ended right there, creating a halo of influence that categorized extremely senseless success that soon turned to mist and light that blibbed to Murai. Light came out of him, washing his face and eyes, and beak and feathers. From many places in the cave, the light formed shining patterns, and the earth shook.

Materium fueled this process, as the Brightlife was very brittle and feeble, devoid of light, as it was light that found its beginning in the Void. Darkness? Chaos? It was nothing.

Just a tiny touch was all it needed, as it once held the life of all light. It was that freaking old, Lisa realized. Little or maybe like a seed? Then, she realized the weight of Reality, and her body truly feared these consequences.

The body of its new vessel took it better than anyone would anticipate. Almost too well, frankly. There was no pain, breaks in the mana space, or the Beast Core itself. It howled internally, flaring in newly found Affinity that dimmed Flame and Sharpness, though both were still suitable because one Affinity prevailed above all else. Universal one, that is.

The Water was weak, as it almost thinned too much in this process. Droplets here and there still made it clear, but from Flame to Sharpness, a new storm brewed around the Beast Core.

It remained a mysterious and overflowing source of waves, anchored to just a single thing that was hard to quench.

The little—almost too little—Beast Core allowed the Brightness of a great quality to orbit and rest closely.

With strange sensations, Lisa watched how that little duck bathed in that light, yet deep down, what was beyond it was coming, shuddering her mind, and it wasn't over.

Lisa was unable to feel it from that far away, but her mind wouldn't betray her. She charged up her eyes until the cracks spread to her chest. She was unwilling to see it from start to finish.

And she saw it. Whatever mass or quality was inside those heavy veins was absorbed into Murai's body, yet most of it sizzled away as if dispersing to nowhere or letting something grow from a seed into something better. Or was it about that former halo and dust that settled and blibbed to... where?

The Core remained in the Initialization stage, though she wasn't sure of its limits at the moment. It shot up to a different peak, giving Murai's body and life a new transformation, which shall soon grow this little beast.

Whether it was bad or not was obvious.

It wasn't insane. The birth of a new affinity out of Resonance was nothing rare. It was among the most optimal ways for Shapers to gain vast benefits according to their testaments, strength, talent, and effort.

Many mages considered it a work of luck or Fate, which made every test of Resonance kind of abnormal or typical, but that depended on society and worlds, or Epochs as a whole.

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This one pushed a different kind of thing, and Lisa, who had a lot of acceptance, ridicule, and words in her soul, witnessed it.

It was this heavy, yet here it was, acting as if Murai had devoured a Divine Artifact or Essence of Grade 2. That was wrong, she knew. Her own form and feeble options made her cry in terror as she realized her assumptions were mostly wrong.

It was that Brightness in his core that looked at her back. Then, her sight cracked, making her realize this vision of mana didn't make sense.

Something foreign and new was turning a tide in his body, making mana calmer, mana space expanding, and his Beast Core had grown a lot without much transformation.

The weirdest thing was that his Artificial Core was separate, and nothing about it changed. The Resonance did not touch it once. Nothing did. It was still there, revolving in pure mana.

"This is just a freaking Resonance. No Evolution. No shred of Core went further or apart. He isn't here for it, doing it. The defiance is not clever. It just lives and plays with actions, so could change in Affinity be so vast?" She murmured, waiting until the light subsided, which took almost an hour of a very tense time.

A time that she kept up in her eyes at all times, no matter how sorry, feeble, or terrible her soul or body felt. That went on until the last tremors cracked the earth even more, revealing many hidden veins around the cave that had no chance of being consumed. The whole cave was starting to break, creaking and setting dust and rocks around.

Light skipped a beat, dipped, and it was all but gone. Murai's Will completely returned, and the status quo was over.

The pressure subsided, and his body fell to the ground like a doll, while the surroundings dimmed to the nighttime, apart from new veins in some fissures or... himself. Right. He was still glowing, or the feathers were?

Lisa felt the pressure lifted, so she flew like a spark forward, looking much more worried than she would have ever liked. Her sona flared up, trying to liven her up.

"Are you alright?" She blurted out, floating, and talking to Murai right before his face.

It wasn't a nice wake-up call after such a journey and wars. Her face? Well, at least it was a face. Not some grotesque shitty eye, lines, and strands that couldn't even speak.

Murai felt his eyes, blinked, and closed them immediately, and opted to go back to sleep.

Lisa slapped him without thinking. "Oy!"

Murai eyed her, half certain he was back in Reality and half certain he was back in yet another nightmare. He should've remained there, eclipsed in a new era and options, and truly explored that Realm. He could...

He didn't have so many opponents there unless he played the villain card. Did he want that? Of course not. After what Aisling and Lining did to him, becoming a villain wasn't his intent. After what he chose, dwelling on his depth and memories and time caused by this Resonance, he realized many things.

He kind of grew, yet in ways that weren't entirely obvious.

It was a weird mixture of sentiment, temperament, understanding, and melancholy. He kind of missed being his absolute self, not hindered by the status effects of this universe. This old and nice feeling made him think. And drown in some of them. fгeewebnovёl.com

There were no weird light beings here. Lisa was there instead, looking at him like a fool, and floating there like a ghost and a nightmare.

Seeing this sight disappointed him on many levels after going through that Realm. Also, Murai felt as if something was crushing his lungs, or maybe those were those feelings, and the proper body being real? His curses and lives were large headaches, and they latched onto him once more.

"You are still here?" He sent her, figuring that he couldn't even quack at the moment. Again, it was yet another cursed shame. He could speak and do anything he wanted in that Realm, which frustrated him in a different way than he had anticipated. Facing him was a face that had gone through a lot in the past few hours.

Worry was on Lisa's face, and Murai scowled at her since she was the first thing he saw.. It wasn't even that bad. He just endured and broke and fought. All of which was part of him.

Lisa wasn't there for that, but she was always around in this place of existence, for whatever reasons, and for whatever causes. When he came back from numerous Boosts, times where he focused on his soul space, or those in the Heavenly Shaping Manual, her face was usually close, or looking right at him after his return.

The reasons for that were obvious to Lisa alone, as she needed him, and there was no going back. Now, there was no going back from this meeting and topic, though it wasn't as simple as realization and understanding.

Lisa changed her face, calmed down, and played with her sona. Her demeanor shifted to her rightful loftiness, making her face scornful and sharper, looking as if figuring out secrets wasn't out of her place. That amounted to puffing her chest, straining her face, and her hands crossed before her chest.

"Who else would watch over you other than me?"

"Ghosts of my selves?"

"A joke, I reckon?"

"Yep," Murai tried to get to his feet and failed miserably.

"You shouldn't push yourself too hard. Who gets what even happened with you and everything? You got back, however, which is delirious or very nice depending on what you are going to tell me next. So?" She finished, watching him with an expectant glint in her eyes.

"Talk about this when I am not Hunted like a duck, or aimed at by predators. How long has it been since this bloody Resonance started?" Murai quacked at last, creating soft and feeble noises, and feeling that his body was light, yet weak. It was weird to feel his flesh, bones, and physicality again.

Being in Resonance was very close to dreaming, which fueled his senses with the weight of his soul and melancholy. It took a little to get it worked up to his standards, and it finally anchored to where he was and what he should be doing.

Which was apparently not to question Lisa or his little body too much, for there might be no answers for both of them. He should do it with more things nowadays. That Resonance provided nonsense, answers, and feelings, after all.

He battled for days and adapted to his new life. Not many would dare to do what he had done, whilst few would call it right. He doubted Lisa wanted to hear it, but she did. A lot!

"Close to a dozen hours have passed," Lisa answered, trying to discern him as a whole.

"Dozen?" Murai wasn't sure if it felt right. He knew it wasn't fine to judge the passage of time in any Resonance. So he asked and got... nothing in return besides questionable looks. "What's wrong?"

"With me? Nothing. With you... on the other hand? Should I even attempt this conversation or just grab you and flee this world?" Seeing his changes with her feelings and eyes proved many wonders.

Lisa was curious about what he had seen or done since there was no way that halo and singularity were normal. They were insane, and he succeeded in overpowering the status of something from the very depth of time and Light, or... the whole life? Lisa wasn't sure how far he had gone, or whether her tries might be mere attempts without any possible success. Was she screwed from the beginning? Fuck that...

But she knew him. He went to the very bitter end, fortunately and unfortunately, to a couple of uncertain beings.

Murai's body did not remain the same. It wasn't an evolution of any kind, however. He gained a gift of utmost body depth, making his feathers nicer, and even his flesh and bones started to squeeze to their limits.

Then his beak and eyes and mana were visibly and frantically imposing a source that was the Brightlife. Still, he was a child, so it was important how to think about it.

The Brightlife was like a seedling needle inside his Beast Core, undulating breaths that fueled his core and body in a very slow fashion. It was thoroughly passive, and it made him realize that an inconceivable object was living within him, making him breathe and live like he had never breathed before.

This was why he asked what was wrong. He couldn't guess it, no matter how much he looked or felt his own body.

"Listen," Lisa said, stressing her arms to point at his beak. "I am not stupid. Not anymore... while you've realized something very, very wrong, am I wrong?"

"Who is to say that? Am I busy? No, but who is to judge it? You. Oh, I should've remained there..." Murai rolled his eyes and felt comfortable enough to stand up. "Tiny legs remain. Great. I shouldn't even consider this as a gift. No way."

It was a distinct breath in his core, different from the lungs or beats of his heart. There were discernible changes when Lisa got deeper into their connection. It didn't want her. It just wanted peace.

A strange gleam was around the corners of his iris, and lustrous light that was yet to be brilliant was around parts of his feathers. Some sheens were deeper, others longer and stretching like vines and veins to the external feathers.

"It's you mana." Lisa urged him to focus. "What is it... really? This hasn't been my slightest intent, Murai! Not!"

Murai glanced at her, sizing her and his answers. "What has been that, then?"

"To flee."

"From?"

"This shitty place."

"Great. Let's do it then." Murai felt this was the inevitable part that his Bloodline and body seized, before going alongside the rules and body of Anatidae Panacea. Frankly, he got plenty of ideas from Mindarch and his own insights, and how things hadn't been proceeding at a normal pace.

From his speed and quality of mana to learning and progress, his soul grasped the weirdest tool imaginable, while this tool grasped him back. It was a weird set that was in no way set into proper motion, yet it kind of worked.

The Resonance's main reason was luck, Lisa believed, while his species or sub-species wasn't really a problem. Sure, his Will adapted to it, but many ideas were also wrong. Murai found something worth accepting, even if it was burdensome, adapting, and as heavy as his feelings.

It wasn't a guess anymore. Lisa had doubts about what had transpired. Beast Core responded. That Mother's Calling made up the rest, while Murai became the bearer of an ancient power source.

There were visible rounds of glints around the neck and a few around his head. It wasn't as noticeable in too much light, and no one should realize anything without a careful look into them or with the use of mana.

That required going close to an Anatidae. A doubtful thing indeed.

Murai held his head straight, sat down, and ignored the hoodie that remained unchanged, albeit still locked in all of its secrets. This kind of Light wasn't for it, and the Resonance could not change it in any way. It's the same as Lisa, who wasn't in any way involved and changed.

His wings possessed a nicer glint, but Lisa wasn't sure if it was because of the light, their physical appearance, or change in their roots, or his mana.

Murai shook his head. "Dozen hours, eh? That isn't long nor too little time for what's endured. Very well. Time to rest and return. Where are those two?" Murai asked, glancing around his surroundings, noticing how the Materium was... essentially eradicated, and half of the cave was crashed or in the process of collapse. Cracks were spreading, while dust and crevices around the walls and ground were kind of wide and dangerous. It was amazing that this place hadn't collapsed.

At least the mining shaft didn't change, but it wasn't far from collapsing walls.

"Eh, I probably shouldn't ask about it, but what happened here?"

"You caused a storm," Lisa frankly answered, for once or twice. "Never seen Affinity get this charming. I almost became a real ghost, but watching it and seeing you back makes me glad. I was worried."

Murai churned a weird laugh and felt his legs, feeling soft, yet warm everywhere else. Then, he observed those big chunks of Ultra Materium and Gems that had lost their luster. Many sections crashed into many Gems or pieces resembling grass or glass, and even dust.

"Most is gone," he reckoned in his heart, feeling as if... the world made this possible. "What is this Materium?" he wondered.

"It is senseless, but here. I think you know it. Death." Lisa answered. "I shouldn't call it more insane than you since you accomplished a very special event."

"Me?" Murai quaked, turning to her face. "My body called it! Not me... I was an involuntary feeble force before the inevitable wave, hearing knocks and coming at it like mad. Now, where do I land? It's weird how some things are possible, or how do Realms even work? It is... senseless, as you say."

"Well said." Lisa clasped her hands before her head and fixed her gaze on her next goal. "Yet your Will is what drives the body, so don't question the choices. Resonances have their strengths and weaknesses in many ways, so what it is that you seize is up to debate and choices. Fight? Adapt? Accept? This gift is small or bigger than your legs."

Murai glanced aside, unwilling to argue about the height of his legs or the consideration of his experiences. He deduced Ultra Materium all over this cave, which was completely lifeless and bland.

"From what Bagus told me, this sort of mountain of a vein is worth an insane amount of work, correct?"

"Correct."

"I don't feel all that different."

"Define the difference." Lisa pointed at him, eying him from his feet to his hood. "You are brighter, while my feelings through you don't lie to me too much, thanks to what I get. You feel something, don't you? Warmth and what dwells inside. It's gentle. It doesn't destroy. But it is not normal and fine either."

"I guess your head is too deep in mine," Murai sighed and walked to a meter-wide crack aside, revealing a deep crevice.

The light inside was deep, caused by him, and Lisa didn't think it was important anymore. The Materium was not that... for he had something much better.

Murai saw and felt exposed veins below.

"Interesting, isn't it?" Lisa asked as she observed his look. "What's their point when they were here? For you, it was food. For Resonance, it was a charm."

"I took a lot in, huh?" he asked himself. "How?"

"You didn't. Your Beast did. I watched everything because you were gone. Everything is etched into my mind, so if you want, I can show it all to you with a small toll."

"Eh," Murai said, grimacing as if she had insulted him. "You underestimate my imagination far too much! And myself."

"Is that so? If so, your mind was lost for a long time, so what do you know about Reality? What changes occurred to your flesh? Some of those things are notable to me alone. I watched and heard a lot of interesting stuff in my lives."