Nox's POV:
"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming! Wait, I'm climbing! …! Just keep climbing, just keep climbing, …!" I chanted as I made my way up this vertical hill.
So, I'm not sure exactly where I am right now. At first, I thought it was another random imaginary space kidnapping, but then I noticed the G-force here is practically the same as where I came from, and the laws of physics seem to be the same too, which is a bit uncharacteristic of such a place. Even that orca discotheque that I visited way back, which was actively trying to imitate real life physics was a few G's too high in the gravity department, but this one is pretty much on point, which doesn't make the imaginary space idea impossible, just improbable.
From what I can tell, there is a spatial barrier in the fog surrounding this jungle gym I'm clambering on, and my core is in no shape to force my way out of it, nor do I want to waste any magic stones on it either, so I am currently climbing up this place to ask the person in charge where the exit is, as I don't really have the time to go looking all over the place right now.
As for how I got here, well my emptied out and once mysterious rock friend over here could tell you that. As it turns out, this rock container of mine was an archaic transportation artifact. Instead of using regular enchantments, it has tiny tubes and pathways for you to shove elemental energy into rather than having it directly drawn on to it, which is way less energy efficient and very inconvenient as compared to enchantment magic.
If you fuck up the element type or something gets damaged when pushing the energy into the artifact, or for whatever reason it gets clogged, it could break and malfunction, and these sorts of items are a bitch to make and even worse to fix because of how intricate and fragile they tend to be, which is why I had put off trying to figure out what this one does. That was until, some thunder-sweating asshole decided to shove his dirty qi where it didn't belong and now this thing is kaput, and here we are.
"Also, where are the ghosts I was promised?!"
The guy below said something about this mountain being full of spirits, but there is a distinct lack of ghosts here. Also, there is like a ton of knockoff weapons lying around here, good ones too. Just half a mile down I thought for a moment I saw Caliburn, but that old bag of windy farts is back on the magic continent, probably yapping some poor guys ear off inside the Pendragon temple as usual.
"Man, if I ever get a sword spirit, then it better not be as annoying as that old ghost."
I still remember how I got arrested because that old fart wouldn't tell me where the bathroom was. I had asked him for directions and instead of answering my question, he started yapping my ear off about his first owner establishing one of the first irrigation systems of the magic continent. Then he yelled at me for pissing on the floor of his temple, and I got arrested for sacrilege.
"That was just the cherry on top of a very bad week! Oh! I'm almost at the clouds! Better look down while I can! Don't want to miss my last chance to laugh at that rock thief failing to copy this magnificent mountain goat that I am! Wait, what?"
Looking down with my adjustable telescope eyeballs, I saw the thunder-sweater, walking up the wall as if it was the ground. While heading in my direction with his taser shaped like a poky stick.
"What's up with that? It's like his feet are magnetized to the…! Oooh! Huh, I'm surprised I didn't think of that!"
Realizing the answer was of course magnets, I decided to pick up the pace. While he was moving pretty slowly, unlike me who has to take the windy path to the top, he can just go in a straight line. Depending on how long of a detour I might have to take every now and then, he could end up catching up to me. I could, even if my core is still kind of weak, but I still could do the same as thunder-sweat down there is doing right now.
"But that would be boring and repetitive. I guess, it's spider time then!"
*Tear*
While it's a lot slower than I'd like, I can still mutate my body and create new limbs if I push myself a smidge. Ever since I started this climb, I have been slowly growing myself four more arms under my shirt. Though they are still kind of tiny, having extra limbs is always good when climbing, especially when you have sticky glands in your hands that lets you stick to walls like a spider. Which reminds me.
"Spider-Nox! Spider-Nox! Does whatever spider-Nox does! Can she fly? If she tried! But she won't! Because she is spider-Nox!" I sang, definitely not ripping off something I saw playing in my tv brain once.
*Distant grumbling*
"Hm? Huh? Oh, I get it now!" I said, noticing what was happening as I suddenly heard angry grumbling somewhere in the foggy clouds above me.
I then decided to take another detour to survey the surroundings while sneaking around the sweaty thunder douche above me.