Molting the Mortal Coil

It was actually less of a cage and far more like the terrarium that people kept their lizards, turtles, frogs, and pet insects in. It was currently empty of any terrain or the other little decorations people used, but as Sage took a look around at his surroundings he saw that he wasn’t alone. Well, the Chameleon Mantis that is. Sage was hidden within it, and the six inch tall mantis was locked in a large clear walled cage. There also happened to be at least another dozen such cages in the room, at least that he could see. The cage was on top of a steel work table, or at least that’s what it looked like. He could see the door to the front and to the sides of it he saw a medical style countertop with cabinets above and below. There was what looked like an examination table, with an extending arm that held lights and a rolling tray full of tools to the side.

Turning around, the rest of the room had two hallways. One of them was populated with terrariums and aquariums like the one he was in, while the other had larger cages with larger animals in them. His current vantage point made it hard for him to distinguish what exactly was in those cages, but his new location seemed quite apparent. Looks like I ran into the local animal handler, veterinarian, or zoologist.

Sage let the Chameleon Mantis do whatever it wished, not bothering to guide it any longer. Instead he focused his attention upon the person who had, presumably, captured him. The man was wearing a blue jumpsuit like everyone else, with the special symbol on his chest. The symbol wasn’t of a different color and he still didn’t know their language so it was a mystery as to the rank of the fellow. The man had thick brown mop-like hair that had quite a lot of height and volume. After a few minutes, Sage stopped wondering at how much access these people had to hair products because a few more people entered the room.

One of them wore a set of hexagonal framed glasses and pushed them up his nose. The blond man moved closer and stared into the cage. He seemed to be examining the Chameleon Mantis quite closely and writing things down onto a clipboard he was carrying. Or at least, that’s what Sage assumed it to be. The other new arrival was actually the same older woman that Sage had been following before, the one with the golden symbol on her chest. She actually walked over to the cage and her eyes started to dilate. There was a sudden pressure building up around the Chameleon Mantis that Sage felt through his link. After a few moments the pressure disappeared and then the woman nodded to the guy with the dreadlocks. She spoke for a bit and the man lit up with a bright smile, putting his hand to his shoulder, a gesture Sage took as a salute. The woman left, and the man with dreadlocks did a little dance in place. He said something to the blond man in glasses, but the fellow didn’t even turn towards him.

Sage saw the man’s lips move and the celebrating man looked insulted. He grumbled something and then left the room, leaving Sage alone with the blond fellow. The man continued to examine the Chameleon Mantis and now that he was alone, he started to mutter to himself. Sage had no idea what he was saying, but he continued to memorize everything that was going on. After a few minutes of intense observation, the blond man moved on. He gathered various supplies from the cupboards and started to move from cage to cage. He would say something to each of them, carefully distributing food and checking the various pipes and wires attached to them. A few hours later, the Chameleon Mantis was moved to another cage, and they were surprisingly thorough with their preparations. If Sage wasn’t inside the Chameleon Mantis it would be very unlikely that the insect would be able to ever escape.

Since Sage wanted to keep the Mantis nice and small, it also severely limited its power. While it was far stronger than any normal insect, it still couldn’t just bust through whatever materials were used to create the terrarium cage it was trapped in. Of course, for Sage it would be quite simple to free himself. Even if he didn’t just open the cage with a special method, even his physical strength was enough to shatter the cage into tiny fragments. Even confined into a human body, as a Core Formation Cultivator he could crush rocks between his fingers, let alone if he were to release his Human Seal and use his beast body. The strength of his snake body was comparable to a body cultivator, and he could smash his way through the steel line concrete walls and out to freedom in just a few minutes.

Only, he didn’t. He was here to gather information, not to cause destruction. Also, if he were to start causing a ruckus, who knew how many of these people were psychics. He had no idea of their numbers or levels of strength. Trying to escape by force might call some mighty figure down upon him and lead to the end of his life. Worse yet, since they were psychics he still feared the possibility of them interacting with soul forms. If that was the case, they might even be able to stop him from using the Soul Spawn technique and truly finish him off. Of course, the chances were low, but no need to take a risk.

He was only here to gather resources. He had no deep connection to the Thundercloud Sect, and he felt no desire to ‘go the extra mile’ for them. Sure, this trip on its own was quite risky, but deep down Sage quite enjoyed going on adventures. Even as dangerous as they were, he still felt the urge to explore the unknown and hunt for treasures. He’d already garnered some rewards from the trip so far and he had plenty of time to acclimate to this world.

Heh. I was just thinking of finding somewhere safe to study the locals from. This little cage should work just fine.

After a few hours, the blond man left the room and the lights dimmed down. Left to his own devices, Sage moved into the Universe Ring and copied over the events of the day into a Memory Sphere. Specifically focusing on the language and the context as they spoke. With enough time and effort, I should be able to reverse engineer their language. Or at least enough of it that I can catch one of them and have them teach me the rest.

He dedicated one of the rooms in his manor to this purpose, starting to write out a phonetic version of each sound on the walls and trying to pick out the sounds coming up multiple times. While he was working, a ghostly projection appeared behind him and started laughing. Sage turned around and glared at Guan Zhenyan, “Didn’t we agree you weren’t allowed to come into my private room?”

“Eh, this isn’t your bedroom. Also, I was bored. Talking to those bug-people is like trying to talk to a wall. It’s far more entertaining to watch you struggle. Didn’t you say you came from the Holy Flame Sect? Why haven’t you ever heard of a Heart’s Tongue?”

Eww, a what? That does not sound right.

From the look that Sage gave him, Guan Zhenyan suddenly felt odd. Sage was looking at him like he just found out his biggest secret and it was… unclean. Guan Zhenyan turned away and his projection started to fade away, “Just ask that fatty, you’re boring me.”