Having absorbed the harsh lessons of the Koshun, Jiraiya moved with renewed determination through the maze of valleys and peaks that formed the heart of the island. Gron's teachings about reading the terrain and sensing the vibrations of beasts echoed in his mind, but his focus now went beyond simple survival and hunting. He sought an echo, a resonance of power he had felt in his earlier days, a force that Olwatu and Aethel legends attributed to Father Mountain.
He ascended steep slopes that would challenge experienced climbers, his youthful muscles responding with the memory of a body trained for vertical climbing with or without chakra. The air at higher altitudes was cooler and thinner, but it also seemed to vibrate with a raw, ancient energy. It was no longer just a matter of sensing the general flow of the island; now he was looking for a specific sign, a unique energetic "signature."
Using an adaptation of his Sensory Detection ability, Jiraiya would close his eyes in moments of stillness, extending his awareness (which was now a fusion of chakra perception and attunement to the wild energy of this world) to sense the pulse of the earth. He felt the currents of energy moving beneath the ground, the lifeblood of giant plants, the echoes of beasts great and small. But he sought something different, something vast, ancient, and resonating with a primordial wisdom.
He found the first physical signs in a narrow canyon, its walls marked by countless years of erosion and the claws of colossal creatures. There were marks there, deep and wide, such as no Titan he'd observed until then could have left. They were enormous, as if a giant had dragged its fingers across the rock as if it were soft clay. They were the claws of an ape, but one infinitely larger than the Kongs he'd seen. The energy around these ancient marks felt... thick, like the air before a storm.
"Father Mountain..." he murmured, the word sounding strange in his youthful voice. "The legends didn't lie."
He followed the canyon path, guided by the markings and the increasing intensity of the energy. As he progressed, the terrain became even stranger. He encountered rock formations that seemed to have been sculpted by an unnatural force, massive pillars stacked in impossible patterns, caves whose entrances seemed to have been intentionally carved. It was as if the mountain itself had been shaped by an immense intelligence or power. These were the "geometric" formations he had glimpsed earlier, but now he saw them up close. And they resonated with energy.
The island's energy reacted to his proximity to these places. The air around him became warm and vibrant. The ground beneath his feet hummed slightly. The plants growing near these formations emitted a stronger bioluminescent glow, their leaves pulsing with energy that Jiraiya could feel. It was as if the island itself was "waking up" to his presence, or to his search.
Inside a carved cave that led deeper into the heart of the mountain, he found more signs. Not just claw marks, but carvings on the walls as well. They were crude, primitive, but clearly deliberate. They depicted figures of giant apes, battling multi-legged reptilian creatures that Jiraiya recognized as the Skullcrawlers of Olwatu legend. Other carvings showed the giant apes interacting with humanoids (the ancestors of the Olwatu, or the Aethel), sometimes in conflict, sometimes in respectful coexistence. They were records of an ancient history, told in stone.
And among the carvings were symbols he didn't recognize, circular and spiral patterns that seemed to resonate with the energy he felt. He tried tracing one of the symbols with his finger, concentrating the wild energy at the tip. To his surprise, the symbol on the wall emitted a brief flash of amber light, and the energy in the cave seemed to intensify for a moment before normalizing. The symbols were conduits for the island's energy.
"Interesting," he murmured, his mind working furiously. "A form of... energy control? Ancient jutsus set in stone?"
His "perverted research" made a fleeting appearance as he looked at the ape and humanoid carvings. Did these carvings depict some form of... unusual social interaction? Was there material for Icha Icha in Titan-scale interspecies relations? The idea was so ludicrous that he almost laughed out loud; the sound would have resonated dangerously in the cave. He forced himself to redirect his mind back to survival and purpose. But the idea... the idea was shelved.
As he delved deeper into the cave, the energy became almost overwhelming. He could feel it pulsing from the depths of the mountain, an immense, latent life force. The air felt thick with power. The echoing sounds he'd heard in the distance were now closer, a low, deep hum that seemed to come from the bowels of the earth.
Finally, he came to a large cavern deep within the mountain. The cavern was immense, lit by bioluminescent mushrooms even brighter than any he'd seen before. In the center of the cavern stood what appeared to be a massive stone platform or altar. And above it... a handprint. Not a normal handprint, but a perfect indentation in the hard rock, the size of a small building. Energy emanated from that print in visible waves, pulsing with a power that was unmistakable. It was the mark of a Great Ape, one of unimaginable size. It was the imprint of Father Mountain.
The entire cavern resonated with the ancestor's presence. The energy was so strong that Jiraiya's own body vibrated in sync. He felt the wild energy within him respond to the energy of the place, as if acknowledging a source of power.
This wasn't just a trail; it was the heart of the ancestor's domain, or at least a place of immense importance to him. Legends said that Father Mountain slept deep within the earth. This cavern, this footprint, was proof of his existence and his connection to the island.
Standing before the colossal imprint, feeling the power emanating from it, Jiraiya knew he had found what he was looking for. The signs were there, clear and resonant. The echo of the ancestor had guided him. The path to finding Father Mountain himself, to attempting to form the pact that could be his purpose in this world, was about to be revealed. The "investigation" into the island's secrets had reached its climax. The confrontation or encounter with a being of legendary power was near.
.
Hello everyone, what did you think of the chapter? Please let me know in the comments. If you want to download the full book, it's available on my KO-FI page. The link is here. 👉
🤩ko-fi.com/winterstar01/shop🤩