《World Seed》 Chapter 0: Prologue Author''s Corner: This is my first story submitted to RRL, and I make no promises on the frequency with which I will be able to maintain my updates. I shall, however, strive to do my best. I can honestly say I was inspired by the stories from authors such as VRDraco, Warhawx, and imaginexbreaker to finally write out my own idea. Disclaimer: I have a tendency to not plan my story in advance, and write wherever it decides to take me. As such, I may not always know why things happen in my story until it reaches its conclusion. My mind is like a steel trap, I swear! Sadly, I lost the key and can''t find my way back in... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So, where do I begin? I guess I can start with who I am, that''s always a nice way to begin things. My name is John Hulett, just turned twenty and am what many have decided to refer to as a NEET. Unfortunately, this does not mean that I am an excessively clean person, but rather that I am unemployed. A few years back, my parents decided to virtualize themselves, opting out of their physical lives to join the net communities. Legally, that leaves all of their assets to me as their next of kin. I mean, you can''t drive a car if you don''t have a body anymore, right? Oh, some of you may be wondering what I mean by virtualizing? Well, lately it''s become quite a trend, though the technology for it has existed for decades. Originally, it began during the onset of the VR age, when someone discovered that they were trapped in one of their video games. That discovery seemed to fuel scientific curiosity, until they discovered how to replicate and control such effects. Once it was completed, people were allowed to transfer their minds into an online world similar to a life simulator game. But just having that was boring, so people began making connections to allow the online communities to connect to others, or even connect to popular games. For a while, there was talk of forcing people to work in games to pay the server maintenance for their communities, but eventually it was just decided to apply a special tax that slightly limited what they received compared to others. After all, they are essentially immortal now. At first, everyone was scared of this technology, because they saw it more as a death sentence than eternal life. So, it was offered to terminally ill patients as a means to ''beta test'' it, with overwhelmingly positive results. Soon, the families and friends of the initial testers were all signing up, and it just shot off from there. Nowadays, it is suspected that there are more people in the online communities than in the real world, but nobody has bothered to conduct an exact test. But I got sidetracked. After my parents virtualized themselves, I was left with all of their worldly goods. And, I won''t be humble, they were pretty well off. While they still have access to their bank accounts, everything from their home to cars was transferred to me. Normally, this still wouldn''t be enough for me to live a carefree life thanks to expenses such as bills and groceries. After all, why should I expect them to pay for services they don''t even need anymore? As such, I turned my attention to the fastest rising industry around, online gaming. Yup, it was actually a common job for people to play online and sell various items to earn a living. After all, what would the online communities need, since they don''t require food, water, or electricity? They simply need people that will share the items that they have trouble getting on their own. That plan worked for quite a while, actually. I was able to pay my bills and support myself, but recently that hasn''t been enough. With more and more people going for the same job, the demand has diminished, and so has my pay. Right now, I''ve probably got enough saved up for maybe six months before I have to look into other ways to earn money. Which brings me to what I''m doing now, watching people unload a giant silver casket in my bedroom and plug it in. Yes... a giant silver casket. The first VR devices actually looked quite similar to this, but nowadays they have been simplified to a small helmet you can wear while you lay down. This device is one of the beta versions of the next generation of hardware, known as Seeds. According to Manifest Industries, one of the leading developers for online games, the Seeds go above and beyond the limitations of Virtual Reality, augmenting the experience to include 100% realism. If their advertisements hold true, these devices(and the initial game released for them) will function so well that it will even simulate the results of your activities on your physical body. Of course, this isn''t always the case, or else players would die the first time they died in a game, but it does allow them to exercise in the game by playing normally. The main point for me, however, is that this is a new realm for video games, and thus a new market. After spending roughly half my savings, three month''s worth of expenses, I was able to reserve one of the first Seeds. This is my gamble, my hope to earn enough to keep the lights on. If all else fails, I''ll just virtualize like my parents. They''ve already assured me that they would cover the costs to do so if I ever wanted to join them. "Alright, Mr. Hulett." The technician walked up to me with his electronic clipboard. "Everything is hooked up and ready to go. If I can just get your signature here." I nodded to the man, taking the clipboard from him and signing it before handing it back. "Thanks... And it comes with the game pre-installed, right?" I had to ask, since it would suck royally if I had to go and buy the game separately. "That''s right, sir. After ten o''clock tonight, the servers should open up to the net community, and those with a Seed like yours." After he said that, I glanced to the clock, and saw that I still had about four hours left until then. "Alright, guess I''ve got a bit to get ready." I thanked him again and let him out, before going about my nightly routine to take care of my physical needs. The Seeds promised to be capable of feeding the user, and even disposing of waste, but that doesn''t mean I felt comfortable trusting it with such yet. This was a new technology, after all, and still only in the beta stages. So, an hour and a half later I was back in front of the Seed, staring at the device which looked all too much like a coffin. With a sigh of resignation, I opened it up and laid down inside. The interior was actually fairly comfortable, designed to have the user lay down on a padding that felt almost like a bed. The only unusual part was the mask I had to wear over my mouth, but even that was easy to adapt to. With a thought, the Seed activated itself, triggered by my brainwaves.
Welcome to the Seed. As you are a new user, do you wish to be registered as the owner of this device?
Yes.No.
Yes. I thought to the machine, which began emitting a high pitched noise for a moment in response to my answer.
User registered: John Verity Hulett
Yes... my middle name is Verity, get over it...
The servers for Neo Life are not yet online. Do you wish to go through the character creation process?
Yes.No.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.Yes.. I thought again with a sigh, and that''s when the world seemed to turn upside down. First, there was a bright flash of light, and then I was no longer lying down in my Seed, but rather standing in an empty world. It took me a moment to realize that I had been logged in already, but that thought was drowned out the moment I heard a giggling from somewhere behind me. Whipping my head around, I saw a woman not far away, wearing a flowing blue robe, with similarly colored hair and eyes. Her proportions were a near perfect hourglass, and she was smirking mischievously at me. It took several long moments before I realized why I was getting that look, as my eyes slowly moved down to look at my own body. Given how it was advertised, I naturally thought it was expected to go into the capsule naked. However, I was now regretting my decision as my attire(or lack thereof), was transferred to this empty world. "Can we just agree to pretend that this part never happened?" I asked in a somewhat hopeful voice, to which she smirked wider, shaking her head. These days, self aware NPCs like this were fairly common, and in all rights were treated as any other member of the online communities. That''s why I wasn''t surprised when this one displayed such a behavior. "Okay... then can I please get something to wear, miss? There''s a bit of a draft." She held her stomach, laughing at that, while at the same time a simple outfit formed around me. A thin white shirt, brown cloth pants, and a rope belt holding it in place. No doubt the starter outfit for Neo Life, depending on the chosen race. "Sorry... Just can''t believe so many people went and did that." Well, at least it wasn''t just me, then... . "Okay... so... character creation?" I asked hopefully, wanting to immediately change the topic away from my previous nudity. The AI immediately assumed a business-like pose, nodding her head seriously. "Right. So, welcome to the character creation servers of Neo Life. The first Artificial Reality gaming experience. My name is Aria, one of the AIs in charge of the game, and a local deity. I''ll be assisting you throughout your tutorial. If you choose to follow my teachings once present in the game world, I will continue to assist you as possible. Otherwise, it will be the task of one of the other local deities to do so." "Right... let me guess, a ton of different gods and goddesses, one for each aspect of the game?" I asked, and she nodded her head with a smile. "And guessing you don''t really choose us, we just ''choose'' you based on what kind of character we develop?" Another question, another smiling nod. "Alright, then I''ll just worry about that stuff later. Mind helping me out with races for now?" "As you wish. Are there any special requirements you have for your desired race, or shall I list all available options?" "Hmm... well, let''s keep it humanoid. Since I''m not virtualized, I don''t want to have to keep switching between two and four legs." I answered with a nod. "Also, eliminate any races incapable of using magic. This is a fantasy game, after all. It would suck if I didn''t have access to magic." As my first prerequisite was listed, a list of several dozen races appeared in front of me. With my second requirement, that list was further narrowed as races such as Clockwork, Android, and other artificial life forms were removed. Right, I said that this was a fantasy game, but really it''s fantasy-scifi. Imagine it as one of those old fantasy games, but fast forward it enough that they have space ships, beam sabers, and teleport pods. Of course, most of these things run on mana, but it is still a vast game. Looking through the remaining list, I instantly dismissed Human. I spent enough time as a human already, I wanted something new. Though, not THAT new, since I wasn''t going to play a dwarf. In the end, I eliminated all but the various elven races. Even here, there were seven different elf races to choose from. Highlighting them, I asked Aria for a comparison between their differences.
Woodland ElfThese elves have long since grown attached to their woods. Even those among this race that take to the stars will always prefer to remain in an environment similar to that which they were raised. +10% All stats when in a ''Forest'' environment. +20% Growth rate with Nature Magic skills and Huntsman class skills.
High ElfElves which have grown in the presence of others, perhaps these are the closest to humans, aside from the half-blooded kin. Whether they have taken to the stars, or remained on the planet below, they always seek to mingle with others. +10% All stats when in an ''Urban'' environment. +10% Growth rate with Diplomatic skills or Mage class skills.
Dark ElfElves which have grown in the underground, at first they were believed to be an evil existence, but that prejudice has long since passed. Although they are not often seen among the other races, they are as willing to play their part as any others. +5% All stats when in a dark environment. Racial Darkvision +10% Growth rate with Shadow Magic skills and Thief class skills.
Stellar ElfWhile many races of elves evolved on inhabited worlds, the Stellar elves are those who have spent so much time among the stars that they have evolved to be more suited to living in space ships and stations, or even asteroid colonies. +20% Growth rate in all space-related skills.
Void ElfFurther evolved from the Stellar elves, these creatures have again evolved in order to survive in the vaccuum of space. Some Void Elves are even capable of harnessing the natural energies present in the vaccuum of space to aid them in their endeavors. Ability to breathe and fly in outer space without the need of external devices. +15% Growth rate in Stellar Magic.
Core ElfWhile others sought the stars, these elves chose to remain behind, fully adapting to planetary life. It is rare indeed to see a Core Elf leaving their planet, and many who do find additional hardships await them. +10% All stats on home planet. -10% All stats away from home planet. +10% Growth rate in all homeworld skills.
Half-ElfIt is not at all uncommon for love to blossom between people of different races, especially given the genetic adaptability of humans which enables them to couple with most any race. As such, this race is the result of a joining between an Elf and a Human. After selecting this race, it is necessary to choose the race of elf which sired the user. Half of elf racial bonuses/penalties for selected elf race. +5% Growth rate with new skills.
I spent a good ten minutes looking over the seven listed races, much to the dismay of the AI goddess in front of me. In the end, I selected the Half-Elf race, with a Woodland Elf heritage. After selecting that, I could feel my body shifting. "Finally, now, onto the next step. Your starting stats will be built on your existing body, and can be increased through the tutorial." Looking down to myself, I saw that not much had really changed, aside from my body becoming more streamlined. My hair grew out several inches, turning a light brown color, and although I couldn''t see my eyes, I knew they had changed into a dark green. I still kept the little bit of a belly I had previously acquired from my extended career of playing video games, but with any luck I could work that off fairly easily. "Now, would you like to begin the tutorial?" Aria asked me with an innocent smile. How can you not trust that smile?! Chapter 1: The Trials ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get started on the tutorial.¡± I said, nodding my head to the AI. In response, the world once more shifted drastically.
Assessing base stats...
Base stats established. Beginning Trial of Strength.
As the second window faded away, I was left standing in what looked like a modern gym. There were various weightlifting devices nearby, and just as I was deciding what to do, I heard Aria speaking up, despite her not being visibly present in this instanced area. ¡°You may test and train your starting Strength stat in this enclosure. The harder you push yourself, the more you will be rewarded. While in the tutorial, you will be able to train your stats faster than in the game itself. However, the longer you spend in the tutorial, the further ahead everyone will be once you begin. Presently, there are 11.5 hours remaining, due to the time compression, before the game servers open.¡± I gulp a bit hearing that number. That should be a 5:1 ratio, if I¡¯m not mistaken. Curious, I decided to ask while I had her attention(not knowing whether she was going to keep watching the entire time), ¡°How many trials are there?¡± ¡°There are trials for Strength, Agility, Wisdom, Magic, and Combat. You may spend as long as you want in each trial.¡± I nodded my head, and got to work. The character I wanted to build didn¡¯t need to be too heavily focused on strength, but it needed enough to be able to hold its own. As such, I did something I haven¡¯t done seriously in many years. I worked out. In one corner of the room, there was a thin metallic bar leaning against the wall. Recognizing it, I went over and picked it up, choosing to use this as my workout tool. This is a Grav-Bar, a device capable of altering its own weight by manipulating how gravity impacts it. Using it, I gradually increased the weight until I had trouble lifting it, and then began my workout. Last time I bothered to check, I could bench press eighty pounds. I¡¯ve never really had that much strength in my arms, honestly. But now, I needed at least basic strength, seeing as I¡¯d be fighting in a fantasy-like world. Gradually, I felt as my virtual body grew stronger and stronger, having to increase the weight on the Grav-Bar several times. At the end of the first hour, I was able to repeatedly bench press 100 pounds. Thankfully, it seemed as though I wouldn¡¯t get exhausted in these trials, because I didn¡¯t have to take any breaks before I finished. ¡°Okay, Aria, I¡¯m ready for the next trial.¡±
Final Strength evaluated at 10.
Really¡­ that just doesn¡¯t inspire confidence. I shook my head at the prompt, before I found myself standing on a wide log, with a series of other logs propped up on their end around me.
Welcome to the Trial of Agility.
¡°So¡­ this time I¡¯m supposed to jump around like a monkey, and not fall off?¡± I asked the disembodied AI voice, who responded back with a simple yes. Having my answer, I shrug, and begin casually walking between the logs close enough to walk between. That lasts for about five logs, before they start gradually growing further and further apart as I move away from the starting area. Soon, I¡¯m forced to make small jumps to get to the next log, and have to be careful. On my twentieth or so log, I completely miss the jump, slamming face first into the side of the log I was aiming for, slowly sliding down it while I feel the bark scratching up my face. I¡¯ll tell you now, it did not feel pleasant. And as soon as I had hit the bottom, I found myself standing back on that first log in the center of the field. With a sigh, I once more began to walk and hop through the logs, noticing that it was just a bit easier this time. Unlike strength, the build I wanted focused heavily on agility, so I had to stay here quite a while until I was able to reliably do these. As such, it wasn¡¯t until three hours later when I finished this trial, satisfied with being able to casually leap between logs just over two meters apart, and cover some a bit further with difficulty. By this time, however, my fave was feeling very sore from all the failures.
Final Agility evaluated at 12.
Really? That¡¯s only a 12? I was hoping for at least a 15¡­ I shook my head again at that message before waiting for the scene to shift again. This time, when I arrived at my next trial, I found myself sitting down at a small table in a well lit room. In front of me was an eight by eight chess board, though nobody was sitting at the opposite side. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, still here.¡± Aria spoke up as the first pawn moved on the other side of the table. ¡°We¡¯re just going to do this for a while, until I beat you enough that you¡¯re satisfied.¡± There was an obviously mischievous grin in her voice as she said that, and it only made me more determined to win! ¡­ Two hours later, and fifty seven losses, with no wins¡­ I was hanging my head in shame while the AI kept laughing merrily. ¡°Just¡­ just get on with it¡­¡± I said, knowing I truly would never be able to beat this AI. It was like playing against a dozen different grandmasters all discussing strategy behind your back.
Final Wisdom evaluated at 11.
Welcome to the Trial of Magic.
I didn¡¯t even have the presence of mind to pay attention to this latest window, still reeling from my defeat. By the time I noticed what was going on, I was standing in a wide room, surrounded on all sides by a circle of pedestals. Atop each pedestal was a single book, though there was also one inside the circle with me. Looking at the closest book, I found it to be a book detailing the basics of mana control. ¡°You can learn from any two of these books, not counting the Mana Manipulation book before you. After you have acquired the skills, you may spend as long as you like practicing them.¡± I let out a final sigh, and opened the book, reading through it. There was a strange sense of energy around my, like static over a television, and it only grew stronger as I got further along in the book. Around halfway done, I was able to identify this new feeling as mana, the key component to any and all magic in the world. The book also taught me how to pull the mana into my body, which I began doing slowly. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.
New Skill Acquired!
Mana Manipulation - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0.0% This skill enables the user to sense the mana around him, and draw it into his body. Higher levels will allow for more complex manipulations.
Seeing that I had properly learned the first skill, I set it down on its pedestal, and walked around to take a look at the books around me. Each one seemed to cover a different field of magic, from nature, ice, fire, water, shadow, even more sci-fi ones like technomancy or stellar magic. Knowing that I could only choose two of them, I grabbed the one I thought most helpful to me, given my race, Nature Magic. Opening the book, I was relieved to find that Nature Magic encompassed both plants and animals, as I was afraid I¡¯d need to hunt through more books to find the latter. Quickly reading through the book, I memorized the basic spell taught within it, Nature¡¯s Grasp. Strangely, I did not receive any prompts after finishing the book, so I set it down and began practicing. Placing both hands in front of me, I gathered my mana between them. Since I was by every definition a beginner, I opted to use the chant provided for the spell. According to the books, once I gained enough skill that would no longer be necessary, but for now it was a price I had to pay. ¡°Mother of all things, that which rules the land, come forth to my call and seal their movements.¡± With each word, I caused the mana between my hands to spiral and contract, absorbing my intention before I slammed it into the ground. A moment later, a few thin vines began rising up from the ground around me, though they did not seem very energetic about it.
New Skill Acquired!
Nature Magic - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0.0% This skill enables one to match their mana with that of the world around them, granting them power of plant and beast alike.
Current Spells Known Nature''s Grasp
My smile grew three shades brighter that day, as I had managed to cast my first spell! Next, I began looking around for the other schools of magic, and ultimately decided on Wind Magic, because I felt it was a good match for my build. Reading through the book, I then practiced the spell, which was a simple gust of wind. No doubt the GMs did not want people to have strong combat spells at the beginning of the game that could make them overpowered.
New Skill Acquired!
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0.0% This skill enables the user to match their mana to that of the winds, controlling them with their magic.
Current Spells Known Gust
With this, there was simply one trial left, but I had plenty of time, so I stayed in the Trial of Magic while practicing all three of my new skills until they hit Beginner Level 2. Not that there was any noticeable change between them, but I felt like I should do it. ¡°Alright Aria, time for the last trial..¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, John! One more stop, then we can get you into the world of Neo Life.¡± She seemed a bit more energetic than before as she said this, likely looking forward to being rid of me after spending half a day together.
Welcome to the Trial of Combat.
Looking around, I saw a weapons rack with various weapons to choose from. There were bows, swords, even a few rifles alongside the daggers and shields. ¡°Choose wisely, young adventurer.¡± I looked at the various options, but ultimately I grabbed a bow, a single quiver of arrows, and a dagger. I¡¯d have to come up with some way to overcome the ammunition cost of the bow, but that was for the future. Once I had selected my weapons, I was brought to a shooting range. ¡°Can¡¯t exactly ask you to fight a monster before you even know how to fire your bow, can I?¡± She asked with a slight snicker. I¡¯ll show you! I thought in my mind as I nocked an arrow, pulling the bow back to full length, and letting it fly straight for the target! Yeah, if only life was so nice¡­ The arrow barely made it halfway before swerving off course and falling to the ground. I grimaced, grabbing a second arrow and shooting again¡­ and again¡­ finally, on my tenth arrow, I managed to hit the outer edge of the target twenty meters away.
New Skill Acquired!
Archery - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0.0% This skill enables the user to display their mastery(or lack thereof) of the bow, striking down enemies from afar(or not so far)!
With a slight grumble, I continued firing the bow again and again, until I was consistently able to hit the target. I only hit the bullseye once, but it was enough to level up my Archery to level 2. And with my acceptance of the skill, I was brought to yet another area. This one looked like an old roman arena, a wide patch of sand with stone walls atop which a cheering audience sits. And in the seat of Caesar, was everyone¡¯s favorite blue-haired goddess, Aria. I knew by the mischievous grin that she was going to thoroughly humiliate me. ¡°Ladies and gentlefolks, I bring to you our newest competitor, Anonymous784! And his opponent¡­ the three time undefeated champion¡­¡± As she spoke, I facepalmed at her generic name for me, while at the same time the massive gates on the other end gradually opened up, and a loud roar was emitted from within. ¡°Common rat mob!¡± Wait what? As she called for it, the small rat walked out of the oversized gate, looking up to me and twitching its nose almost cutely. ¡°Let the games begin!¡± Chapter 2: A rose by any other name Author¡¯s Corner: Last chapter for today. Feel free to comment down below your thoughts on the story so far! ------------------------------------------------- Suddenly, as if her words had triggered some kind of rage mode, the small rat lunged at me, its eyes glowing red. Unable to react in time, I barely got half a step back before it was on my leg, and had managed to tear off a chunk of flesh.
You have successfully become dinner
-20 HP
With that one bite, I watched as roughly a quarter of my health bar vanished, causing me to panic. Grabbing my dagger, I attempted to slash wildly at the rat, only to have it jump off before I could connect.
That was not the rat.
-10 HP
Fuck that hurts! I actually managed to stab myself by accident?! At this point, a third of my life was already gone, so I just began swinging wildly. Best case scenario, I¡¯ll hit the rat. Worst case¡­ well, at this rate I¡¯m going to die anyways. Seriously, why the hell is a rat so strong?!
You missed-- wait, what? How did you do that?!
30 Damage Dealt
I blinked at the notification, looking over where I had blindly swung my dagger, only to see it covered in blood, the throat of the creature having been cut. Naturally, that didn¡¯t mean I won just yet, but I definitely pissed it off! With its throat cut, it was taking constant bleed damage, as well as moving much slower than before. Seeing this as my chance, I charged at the rodent and resumed my wild swinging!
Now you¡¯re just showing off.
20 Damage Dealt. Common Rat Mob died.
Almost refusing to believe that I had actually managed to do that, I took a look and did indeed see that formerly vicious rat lying dead on the ground, before its body shattered into blue light, fading away from view.
New Skill Acquired!
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% This skill marks your ability to wield a dagger, and actually hit what you aim at. Good luck with that.
New Skill Acquired!
Wild Luck - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% For those that can¡¯t depend on skill to hit the target, they can always count on their luck!
You have completed the Trial of Combat, against all odds.
Level +1, Strength +2, Agility +1, Luck +4
Looking over, I caught a glimpse of Aria, who seemed to be pouting over the loss of the rat. Or over my victory. I¡¯m not really sure. Either way, it didn¡¯t take long before she stood up with a wicked grin, looking towards the false crowd. ¡°Well, there you have it folks, a new champion! Now, shall we move on to his next challenger?!¡± There were cheers from all around the stands while I inwardly pleaded for this to stop. ¡°Next up, from the home team, the biggest bad that ever graced our halls, the bull of Cernea!¡± As she spoke, the gate opened yet again, and this time the loud footsteps could not be mistaken for anything else. The giant frame of the gate barely even allowed the figure to get through, and when it did I wished to anything that I could surrender. What stood before me could only be described as a minotaur. Half man, half bull, standing over four meters tall with an overly muscular build, wearing naught but a loincloth, and carrying a massive axe that no smaller creature would dare to wield.
Welcome to the Trial of Combat, Second Stage.
I¡¯ll admit, I cried there for a moment, before that massive axe brought itself down onto me, slicing me in half before I even got the chance to feel anything.
You have died.
Exp -25% to level, dropped below requirements for Level 2. Level reduced to 1.
How was that fair?! Going from a bloodthirsty rat to a minotaur?! I began cursing my own luck before the next window appeared.
You have failed the Trial of Strength, Second Stage. No rewards will be given.
I wanted to rage at Aria for so obviously rigging the match against me, but my whole virtual body suddenly froze.
Time until servers open: 1 hr, 20 min, 23 sec.
Don¡¯t tell me I have to wait here for over an hour like this¡­ I started to complain again, even if only in my own thoughts, before the clock suddenly fast forwarded.
Time until servers open: 0 hr, 40 min, 52 sec.
Time until servers open: 0 hr, 15 min, 0 sec.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
Time until servers open: 0 hr, 0 min, 3 sec.
Servers are now open!
With that last window appearing, I suddenly found myself standing in a forest, and around me were various wooden buildings, which seemed to be naturally shaped from the trees themselves. Even the fountain behind me was seemingly carved out of a single solid stone. Naturally, the first thing I did when I landed in the game was what I do in every game. Character Information.
NameN/ARaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesN/AFame0
Level 175.00%ClassNovice
Health90/90Health Regen0.15
Mana130/130Mana Regen0.03
Strength12Wisdom11
Agility13Intelligence13
Dexterity14Charisma9
Vitality9Luck14
No name? Do I have to choose that later? Or is it assigned to me¡­ I shook my head in confusion, but my question was soon answered as an elderly man approached me. And when I say elderly, that¡¯s by elven standards. He was pretty much the only person in the entire area that showed signs of aging past twenty! ¡°Greetings, traveler. I am elder Bamu Silverleaf, and I welcome you to our tribe.¡± He offers a polite bow after speaking. His robes appear as a natural shade of green, while he carries a gnarled wood staff at his side. ¡°May I ask the name of this traveler?¡± There we go¡­ I nodded in response to him. ¡°My name is¡­ Falenel Swiftfoot.¡± ¡°Then, welcome again, Falenel, to the village of Greenbrooke. May you find what your heart yearns for.¡± After giving the simple introduction, he turns and walks off, apparently being here merely to greet new players and ask their name. Why they couldn¡¯t do that in the character creation, I¡¯ve not a clue.
Name has been registered as Falenel. Note, house names are not available until Level 15.
And that explains why he only responded to my first name. Now¡­ quests, quests, quests. Aha! Quests! Nearby, I saw what appeared to be a large wooden wall, with various overgrown leaves stuck to its side. On each leaf is a quest, from slaying mobs, to carting items, or even advertising for the local guilds. Thinking it over, and remembering my horrendous experience with the rat during the tutorial, I decided to first visit the Hunter¡¯s Guild, in hopes of learning how to better use my weapons and not get eaten. Studying the directions given on the leaflet, I suddenly had a sense of knowing where I was going. Yay mentally suggestive mini-maps! Now it¡¯d still be better if I had a visual map to go by, but beggars can¡¯t be choosers. So, making my way through the city, it takes me only a few moments to come across my destination. Like everywhere else in this city, the building is made entirely from twisted trees. Though in this case there is also a large archery field next to it. Walking up to the instructor, I took note of her appearance, because damn she was a looker. Please don¡¯t be a sadistic teacher, please don¡¯t be a sadistic teacher¡­. With long silver hair, wearing a light green shirt and pants that hugged her exquisite curves, it was hard to tell if she was trying to hunt down beasts or men. When she looked at me, I kept my vain hopes that she would be a nice teacher¡­ and train me without unnecessary pain¡­ And then she opened her mouth. ¡°What are you looking at, balls for brains?¡± Seeing her rather obvious sneer, I cleared my throat. ¡°My apologies. My name is Falenel, and I was hoping that you could teach me how to make use of my bow?¡± I asked, holding up the bow I had kept from the tutorial to demonstrate. She seemed entirely unimpressed by the weapon, giving a low ¡®hmph¡¯ and turning her nose up. ¡°Very well, I can show you how to make sure that you can at least hit a stationary target. Though, from the looks of you, doubt you¡¯ll ever manage to hit one that doesn¡¯t throw itself at your arrows.¡± Giving a helpless sigh, I nodded my head. ¡°That¡¯s probably the best I could ask for right now.¡± ¡°Alright then, come on up here, let¡¯s at least see what you can do.¡± She instructed, still refusing to even give me a second look. Standing up next to her, I looked at the target and cringed inwardly. The target I had trained against in the tutorial was twenty meters away, and I could barely hit that repeatedly. This one was double that distance! Nocking an arrow, I tried my best to hit the target, I really did. And I at least made the arrow travel far enough, but it overshot the target and landed somewhere behind it. Seeing that, there was a derisive snort from beside me. ¡°Pathetic. Couldn¡¯t even hit a standing target? Try again!¡± She ordered, giving me small corrections to my stance with each failed attempt, until I finally managed to hit the outer edge of the target, only for the arrow to bounce off because it didn¡¯t have enough force. Not willing to let that stop me, I continued shooting again and again, ignoring the skill prompts that had appeared until I was out of arrows in my quiver. Then, I went forward and collected the ones that I had previously shot, only to repeat the process again. By the time I finished my quiver the second time, I had finally managed to land two arrows in the center of the target, and through either luck or skill they both stuck. ¡°Barely passable.¡± That was probably the nicest thing she¡¯s ever said to me¡­ or anyone. Chapter 3: I want a redo! Author¡¯s Note: Caught a small error in the character info table of the last chapter, I shall award free cookies to whoever noticed the difference! --------------------------------------------------------------- After I had started managing to hit the target repeatedly, I took a bit of a break, thanking the instructor. Given my encounter with the rat in the Trial of Strength, assuming that is how strong actual rats are, I¡¯m doomed if I actually get up close with anything at my current level of skill. Sadly, though, it¡¯s not that easy to learn how to properly wield a dagger. As such, I first needed to improve my magic skills, and maybe learn a few new spells. With what I have right now, there¡¯s no way I¡¯ll be useful if I ever do get out into space, but that is a distant goal. First, I need to make sure that I¡¯m able to deal with the threats down here. After all, I¡¯d rather have time to build up and learn more magic before leaving, then have chosen something else like stellar magic as a planet-based race. Not sure if space magic would even work in an atmosphere the same. But, I got sidetracked. Making my way back to the starting area, I saw that a few other elves had spawned in. My guess would be that most of them are from the online communities, since there were only a few thousand Seeds released this week. Won¡¯t be until another two weeks, real time, before they are mass distributed. And most of the people that have one are probably more concerned with being a good old space captain. Taking a look at the ¡®quest board¡¯ as I like to call it, I found the directions to the local magister, and set off. There were a few others heading in the same direction as myself, so I decided to introduce myself to the closest one. No point in being a loner for all my gaming life, right? And looking at him, he was a fit elf, full blooded by his features. His eyes kept flashing back and forth everywhere with a wild grin, as if taking the world in for the first time. Like me, he was dressed in a simple white cloth shirt and brown cloth pants, but his weapon of choice was a staff instead of a bow. ¡°Enjoying the game so far?¡± I asked with mild curiosity. He seemed a bit surprised by the sudden question, but then looked over to me and nodded. ¡°Right, been ages since we had anything so real. Well, it all seems real, but it¡¯s just different, you know?¡± I tilted my head and thought over what he had said, before nodding. ¡°Yeah. I¡¯m Falenel--¡± Wait, what? Let¡¯s try that again. ¡°My name is Falenel¡­ Seriously?¡± He seemed confused by my increasingly frustrated expression. ¡°Looks like we can¡¯t introduce ourselves with real names.¡± That would have been good to know before I picked a name that sounded so weird! I shook my head with a sigh, thinking to myself. The man smirked beside me before introducing himself as well. ¡°Jacobs. Never really got into the whole fantasy naming sense.¡± He then looked at my features, ¡°You¡¯re a half, right? Didn¡¯t think there¡¯d be that many people playing normal races like that. Hell, my sister actually started as a golem. She¡¯s hoping that she¡¯ll be able to evolve if she absorbs an asteroid or something.¡± I stared blankly at him for a bit at that. ¡°Seriously, they can evolve? Redo! I want a redo!¡± I called out to the sky, to no avail, which caused Jacobs to laugh loudly next to me. ¡°Yeah, not even sure if we started on the same planet, or the same star system for that matter. I heard that some people started as drakes, and there was one guy that said he started as a navigation AI for a ship.¡± ¡°Wait, seriously? You could even play as a ship AI? Also, how the heck do you know all of this? The game has been running for what, two hours? And that¡¯s not even real time!¡± I called him out on the obvious fabrications. I knew I didn¡¯t spend that long practicing archery! He just chuckled again in response before answering. ¡°You must be one of the fleshies.¡± Yes, the online communities typically call those of us that retain our bodies as fleshies¡­ it gets annoying sometimes. ¡°We can link up with people on our contacts list and chat, even from the tutorial.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s got to be convenient. Still, really wishing there was a reset button or something. Even if I stay as a humanoid for the loot, I could at least pick a cool evolving race.¡± Though I spoke out loud, the complaint was mostly to myself. My plan had been to make a good foundation hunting for good loot planetside while I prepared myself to be ready for space, and then head out among the stars! Given that, a half-elf seemed perfect, since they gained a small boost to learning new skills, and easily learn the Huntsman class skills. ¡°I asked Devron, the deity that I had in my creation, and he said it¡¯s possible to restart your character, actually.¡± Hearing Jacobs say that made my head whip towards him with a hopeful expression, which was cast down quickly as he finished. ¡°However, you have to pay a fee to do so, and can¡¯t log back in for a few days.¡± ¡°Seriously, man?¡± I groaned with my head held low. ¡°If I had the money, sure, I¡¯d be all over that. But I¡¯m here to earn the cash, and by the time I get enough money to be able to afford that, I¡¯d probably be too familiar with this guy. Don¡¯t suppose it¡¯s possible to roll up an alt?¡± There was still that last flicker of hope in my voice, looking for a way to have a more interesting race. Jacobs simply smirked and shook his head. ¡°One character per account, one account per customer. If I were you, I¡¯d suggest looking into gene therapy once you get higher level. Not sure if this game has it or not, but with how advanced the setting is, and the number of races I¡¯d be surprised if they didn¡¯t. If they go like other sci-fi VR¡¯s, then gene therapy should be a valid means to evolve.¡± I nodded my head, resigning myself to this fate. Like he said, gene therapy was a pretty common thing in most sci-fi games, especially for humans. Was a way to get additional traits and powers from alien races. Of course, the more you alter yourself, the less human you become. And the less human you become, the less effect future therapies had unless they were custom designed, and those are expensive. ¡°So, what magics did you learn in the tutorial?¡± ¡°Hmm? I got gravity magic. Seemed like a good mix between planet usage and space. Though I wish I had gotten something with a heal in it now. I¡¯ve only got two other friends that chose to play elf, and they both went for the high variant.¡± Once more, I looked at him with a bit of hope. ¡°I think my magic should get a heal eventually. But did the net community only get one magic? I was able to choose two when I got to that part.¡± He nodded his head in answer. ¡°Huh. Well, maybe we can share? I mean, it¡¯s not like those basic spells took ages to learn, right?¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He thought about it, but shook his head. ¡°Not sure that¡¯d work. Devron said that training was accelerated in the tutorial, so it may have just been easier for us to pick them up. Just imagine if a bunch of people all got together and learned all of the basic spells, then shared them like that? Would make a small group of really versatile casters. There are probably other factors involved with being able to teach skills.¡± By this time, we were finally coming up on the destination, a large collection of trees that had twisted together to form a spiraling tower overlooking the forest. Well, they sure know how to make an impression. Once we got inside, we were separated into various groups based on the types of magic we had learned. Since we were getting split up, Jacobs and I decided to add each other to our friends lists. To my surprise, I found that I already had two names on the list, and decided that I would contact them later. Unless there was some glitch that made it so random people appeared on the friends list, that should mean that those two are my immediate family, my parents. Anyways, back to the tower, I was in a group of people that had been brought up to the third floor. My group was focused on elemental magic, such as my wind. I¡¯m not really sure if Nature Magic qualifies as an element, but it was the first relevant group that was called for me. Our teacher this time was, of course, another elf. This one wore red robes, and his gnarled staff gripped a ruby at its tip, as if it was naturally grown with the gem in place. ¡°Alright, now all of you should be here for roughly the same purpose. You¡¯re all Travelers that have just entered our world, and the gods have blessed you with the very basics of magic. However, it is up to us to educate you on your future paths.¡± The man spoke slowly, as if talking to a group of children. ¡°There are three types of casting in this realm, of which we will discuss two. Runic, and Arcane. The magic bestowed upon you all when you were born was of the latter category, which we will cover first. Arcane magic is a practice which allows you to control your mana with your will, and send it out to alter the world. This kind of casting has a higher cost, but it is easier to achieve a desired result, as you must simply practice with it.¡± After taking a deep breath, he continued, his eyes sweeping over the few of us present. ¡°Now, Runic magic is the opposite, being a sort of programming language for the world. As long as you learn the rune for a given command, you can incorporate it into any spell you wish. For instance, the runes for Blast and Fire will make your typical fireball. Now, in the past, these runes were kept secret, hidden in various dungeons. Of course, that eventually came to an end when the Guilds came together to compile a list of runes.¡± ¡°Many of these runes are used today to ¡®program¡¯ magical devices, and are available to the public. Rather than relying on luck to receive a rune you want after crawling through a perilous dungeon, only to receive one you already knew, it is now merely based on the intelligence of the user. Likewise, Runic magic is much cheaper to use in terms of mana than Arcane, but will only perform the actions programmed into it.¡± Seeing that he was finally nearing the end of his speech, I let out a relieved sigh. ¡°Not many choose to practice both Arcane and Runic magic, as they are based in two different areas of focus. Arcane magic requires greater control over your mana, while Runic merely requires intelligence great enough to remember the language of magic. For either path, you may either seek guidance for creating a spell, or may attempt to do so yourself. Be warned, attempting to cast a spell far too powerful for your skill and capacity may have permanent effects on your body.¡±
You have listened to Rukh''s lecture on the Basics of Magic
+2 Wisdom, +2 Intelligence
Several people looked like they were just about ready to leave before he started talking, yet again. There were more than a few groans, which he ignored. ¡°Now, as all of you have chosen to focus on an elemental branch of magic, there are things you should be aware of. Your elements are part of the world around you, granting an increased versatility compared to other casters. However, with every boon comes a curse.¡± ¡°Once you leave this world, and explore the stars, you may find your magic greatly impaired. As you become familiar with manipulating the soil of this world, another may have a completely different composition, making it more difficult. The same is true for wind, and even water. The atmosphere may even cause fire to weaken in some planets. As such, I advise all of you to either practice diligently to overcome these obstacles, or seek to branch out into other fields which can cover it.¡± And this time we were really dismissed, causing me to sigh in relief once again. Of course, I made for the door as quickly as I could before he had the chance to change his mind and start another lecture. Outside, I found that the other classes were also letting people leave now, and I began wondering why we were even split up in the first place. Three quarters of that lecture had nothing to do with our specialty, so they could have just as easily told it to everyone at once. Maybe they were just starting a routine, expecting more players to show up later? Still, this makes me hopeful for learning new types of magic, since all it should take, according to the instructor, was practice. That isn¡¯t to say I¡¯ll be good at it, or even get what I want, but I can still be hopeful. Taking a look at my character information, I was still fairly disappointed with myself. Normally, by now, there would be some overpowered way to quickly train up my stats to surpass my level. However, that did not seem to be the case with me. And what is with that pitifully low mana regen?
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesN/AFame0
Level 175.00%ClassNovice
Health90/90Health Regen0.15
Mana150/150Mana Regen0.03
Strength12Wisdom13
Agility13Intelligence15
Dexterity14Charisma9
Vitality9Luck14
Points Remaining0
Chapter 4: Practice makes Perfect... Eventually Author¡¯s Corner: Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I may or may not be able to push out another chapter later today, depending on how the holiday goes on my end. But, as I had some free time right now, decided to go ahead and throw one up. Also, I¡¯m on the lookout for any cover image for the story, as I suck at art and am incapable of making my own. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Now that I was out of the magic class, if you could really call it that, I spoke a bit more with Jacobs before he went to go practice. Watching him walk away, I pulled up my contact list and went to the two names I didn¡¯t personally add. ¡°Damn fantasy names¡­ can¡¯t tell which of you is which¡­ Oh well, just do a group chat then.¡± With that in mind, I set up a group chat between myself and them. ¡°You guys enjoying the game so far?¡± I asked curiously, waiting for their response. A few moments later, the first to reply was Dravin, apparently my father. ¡°Ah, there you are. Was wondering if you had gotten into the game yet, kiddo!¡± His voice sounded fairly normal, so it was likely that he either held a humanoid race or had one that possessed telepathy. And of course, after him came my mother, whose voice was a bit off. ¡°John! It¡¯s good to hear from you.¡± Her voice sounded a bit phantasmal, as if a ghost was speaking. ¡°Yeah¡­ it¡¯s Falenel here, apparently. Can¡¯t introduce myself otherwise.¡± It took a moment before they responded to that, making me think that they hadn¡¯t interacted with anyone else yet like I had. While we talked for a while, I managed to learn a few more things about the game. First of all, despite my surroundings there was still a heavy technology setting in the game. Likely, this was just a traditional starting area. For instance, my father chose to play as a mutant human with psychic abilities, while my mother chose to play a Shade, some sort of darkness elemental. Where my father started sounded like a large modern city, complete with hover cars and holograms. However, my mother was spawned in the middle of nowhere, some dark cave. Strangely, it wasn¡¯t all bad, as my mother didn¡¯t spawn at level 1, but 20. She also had quite a few racial skills that let her survive despite spawning in a secluded area. According to her, Shades are a race not born from breeding, but from natural magic giving life to shadows. So, even though she may find other Shades eventually, they never really spawn together. I started wondering if that was true for all elementals. But really, my focus wasn¡¯t as much on them, since I was here to level up and farm loot to sell. Since elementals don¡¯t have a standard body type, and in most cases aren¡¯t even corporeal, I didn¡¯t need to concern myself too much with the details. Now, I knew how to make spells, so I had to focus on that. My performance so far has told me that I am terrible at wielding weapons, so my only option is to make an attack spell or two. Right now, I just had the basic Gust and Nature¡¯s Grasp spells, giving me a knockback and a hold. Since I wouldn¡¯t be able to get a class until level 10, I had to focus on what I could do on my own. Slowly, I made my way to the edge of the village, where I wouldn¡¯t be disturbed while practicing. There were several different possibilities for attack spells in either of the fields of magic I already knew, but the trick was making one that wouldn¡¯t be too much to handle at my level of skill. Wind blades took far more control than I had right now, same with poison darts or root spears. However, I could come up with simplified ways to get attack spells. First, I decided to focus on wind. Since a wind blade wasn¡¯t possible, I¡¯d try for a wind bullet instead. Closing my eyes, I brought my hands out in front of me in the same motion as when I had first practiced my two current spells, allowing the mana to travel between my hands and circulate. Then, like before, I started attuning my mana to the wind, causing a small breeze to build between my hands. Focusing my control, I condensed the breeze as tight as I could while making it spin, before I shot it off in front of me. When I opened my eyes, the barely visible ball of wind impacted a nearby tree, making barely an impact. However, it seemed to be enough to satisfy the system.
New Spell Developed!
Wind Bullet - Wind Magic Spell - ¡ï Create a spinning ball of wind to strike against a target, causing minor impact damage. Mana Cost: 15
A star? Guessing that¡¯s how they rank spells here? I¡¯m going to assume that one star is terrible. I glanced helplessly at the window that appeared, before realizing something. Both of the spells I learned in the tutorial came with a chant that made the spell easier to cast. However, there was no such thing when I cast the spell this time? Making my way quickly back to the mage¡¯s tower. Looking around, I quickly found my way to Rukh, the elf that had instructed me previously. ¡°Uhm, sir, do you have a moment to answer a question for me?¡± Seeing that he wasn¡¯t busy dealing with another student, I unhesitantly grabbed his attention. Looking over at me, he seemed to recognize me from the previous lesson. ¡°Ah, yes, what can I do for you?¡± I went on to explain how the spell ¡®bestowed¡¯ upon us by the gods included a chant to help activate it, and wondered if he would mind explaining more about them. After a few moments of thought, he nodded his head. ¡°It¡¯s a typical novice trick to memorize a spell by associating it with a phrase. Most experienced mages don¡¯t bother with that anymore, but it can still prove helpful as a focus tool.¡± I deflated a bit hearing that. ¡°So there¡¯s no actual power to the chant, or anything like that?¡± ¡°No, no, of course not. Even in larger rituals, the chants are used as a guide for timing the fluctuations in magic, and making sure that everyone coordinates.¡± Hearing his answer caused me to let out yet another defeated sigh. I really should have chosen a more specialized race, but there¡¯s no going back now. ¡°Sir, I¡¯m trying to make a basic attack spell for either my Wind Magic or Nature Magic schools. So far, I¡¯ve come up with a Wind Bullet, but it seems like it is far too weak to be of use. I hope that you could offer some guidance in this matter.¡± He seemed to have been caught off guard by the sudden polite approach, but smirked slightly before answering. ¡°Alright, I can help you with that. Honestly, you¡¯re on the right track if you made the Wind Bullet already, but like you said, it doesn¡¯t have enough power to do any damage to the enemy. As for Nature Magic, you¡¯d have to speak to the shaman instructor for help with that.¡± I nodded my head, waiting for him to continue. ¡°Wind is a rather versatile element, but takes far more control to achieve specific results than the others. For instance, practically any fire spell can be an attack, but for wind you need to focus in order to get more than a slight breeze. At the same time, greater mastery of wind will allow you to do things such as flying within an atmosphere. If you really grow powerful enough with wind, it¡¯s actually possible to carry a bit of wind with you in outer space, holding it together with your magic and preventing the vacuum from sucking it away.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°For a beginner, though, you should focus on building a foundation. There are two common variants of the Wind Bullet spell which may be of help to you, and both require extra time charging it to store additional mana. The first is an explosive bullet, where you use that extra mana to further compress the captured wind, making it create a small shockwave when it hits. The second is a speed bullet, where you use the additional mana to make the spell launch faster than normal. Once you train a bit, you¡¯ll be able to perform both of those spells quite easily, maybe even do them at the same time.¡± I nodded my head again, thanking him for the explanation. In the corner of my view, I was watching my mana recover slowly. Although the Wind Bullet only took fifteen mana to launch, I still hadn¡¯t fully regained that amount back yet. It took over half a minute for me to recover just a single point of mana. After I left Rukh, I went to find the shaman instructor, who apparently handled schools of magic similar to my Nature Magic. This one was a young woman, another half-elf like myself, but seemed exceptionally young for her position. I have encountered the fabled elf loli... Speaking to her for a while, I learned that I wouldn¡¯t be able to easily do any poisons or anything like that with my magic, until I first learned how the poisons were made. Sera, the loli elf, suggested I learn alchemy to assist my Nature Magic. According to her, the potential for this school of magic laid in the fact that it could produce the effects of practically any potion, so long as the caster was familiar with the process of making it. Hearing that, I couldn¡¯t help but imagine me using my magic to eventually pump out potions one after another and selling them for easy profit. Though, going by my current recovery speed, I¡¯d be lucky to do two or three potions an hour. Still, I got what I came for, and was even awarded another point of intelligence for listening to their explanations, and a point of wisdom for asking their advice. Moving back to my previous practice spot, I decided to try something different. What Rukh had said before inspired me to make a new spell, which might actually let my bow be something other than completely useless. Thankfully, by now my mana had finished recovering. Pulling out an arrow, I nocked it and focused. Extending one finger from my left hand, I used it as a guide in the same way I had when I circulated mana between my hands earlier. This time, I was circulating the mana along the path of the arrow. At first, the mana kept floating away before it could reach the other hand, but once it had managed to bridge the gap it flowed more easily. Still¡­ that was another ten mana I had lost just like that, so I needed to focus. Now that I had the mana circulating, I once more began attuning it to the wind, causing it to spiral around the length of the arrow and focusing on the tip. I kept pouring mana into it until I could faintly see the wind being distorted by the spell. Then, finally, I let the arrow fly to the nearby tree. As soon as I launched the arrow, I noticed how it spun far more than it did when I fired it normally. And even though the tree I targeted was barely five meters away, I still hit far from the center. It seemed that adding the spin into the arrow reduced accuracy, but increased speed and penetrating power, since the arrow actually dug in several inches.
New Spell Developed!
Lesser Spiral Arrow - Wind Magic Spell - ¡ï Create a spinning current of wind around an arrow before letting it fly, granting it additional power at the cost of accuracy. Mana Cost: 30
I couldn¡¯t help but curse at the high cost, and that wasn¡¯t even taking into consideration the mana that escaped initially. Rather than waiting twenty minutes for my mana to recover, I went ahead and moved on to the next test I wanted to do, which was to create a guided arrow. Since I still had over a hundred mana left, there was really no point in waiting. Retrieving my arrow from the tree was a splendid failure, as it was buried too deep. As soon as I tried to pull it out, the shaft snapped in half. So, one arrow lost forever¡­ I continued cursing silently as I went back to my previous firing spot and nocked another arrow. Using the same method as before, I established a mana circuit between my hands that traveled along the arrow. However, this time instead of a spiraling force, I tried to compress it a bit more, and had the wind moving forward in the direction of a tree roughly twenty meters away. When the arrow launched this time, I tried to keep control over the mana I had locked in around it so that I could guide the arrow to its target. However, that proved to be more than I could hope for, and I lost the connection to the mana almost instantly. Almost, meaning that I was able to hold onto it for a few feet after it left my control. Sadly, since the spell failed, it wasn¡¯t enough to trigger the system granting me a new spell. But I wasn¡¯t too discouraged, and knew that this spell should eventually be possible, since it wasn¡¯t a matter of lacking the mana, but lacking the control that stopped it from working. A noise distracted me from my thoughts, and I noticed that my stomach appeared to be demanding attention, since I had yet to eat since I arrived in the game. Looking at my inventory, I was thankful to see that I had a few pieces of bread that would ease my hunger. Though strangely, I only had four slots for my inventory right now. Likely, either getting bags or leveling up would increase the size of the inventory. After eating the rather bland bread, I decided that I would next head to the alchemy instructor, before finally going out to hunt. The sooner I get out there, the sooner I can level up and get the loot I¡¯ve been waiting for. Though, I couldn¡¯t help but let out a groan when I looked at my contact list, and saw that both my dad and Jacobs had already leveled up at least once each. I¡¯m not procrastinating¡­ I¡¯m just making sure I¡¯m ready¡­ -------------------------------------------------------------- Author¡¯s second corner! Next chapter, finally getting into combat. I¡¯m sure you all are quickly growing tired of skill grinding, and will try to keep it to a minimum in the future. However, he is a new character, and newbs need skills or else they will remain newbs. Chapter 5: Rascally Rabbits Author¡¯s Corner: Me again! Just wanted to pop in here and mention that I am doing my best to read everyone¡¯s comments, and if anyone has any questions or comments on the story to post it after the chapters. Since I¡¯m basically just typing as it feels right, I can incorporate suggestions into the story pretty easily, as long as it still flows well. And yes, sometimes typing ¡®as it feels right¡¯ ends up with seemingly stupid decisions like him choosing a Half-Elf rather than a far more interesting race. However, it also brings in things like the gene therapies which raise the chances for him to become an even more interesting race. Before I get to the chapter, I apologize for not being able to post a second one yesterday, as the annual turkey ritual consumed much of my time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once again making my way through the town, I eventually stopped to ask for directions to someone able to teach me alchemy. The answer I got nearly made me fall flat on my face from embarrassment, since apparently the alchemy shop was right next door(tree? Next tree? No, I¡¯ll go with door) to the giant tower of magic. Calm down Falenel¡­ It¡¯s not your fault.. it¡¯s a genetic trait of men to be unable to ask for directions¡­ I tried to make excuses for myself while saying and making my way back. At least this way, I was gaining a bit more time to wait for my magic to recover. Need to add a technique to recover faster, or learning how recovery works to my to-do list¡­ Once I reached the fabled alchemy station, I was rather surprised to find that no other players were lining up to learn the trade. I mean, who doesn¡¯t want to be able to concoct their own healing potions, if there isn¡¯t a limit to the amount of trade skills you can learn? My question was further relevant when I got inside and noticed the busty, silver eyed elf manning the counter. Or, was she a half-elf? Her ears didn¡¯t seem quite as pointed as the other elves, and her chest was a bit larger than normal for the race. As she saw me come in, she directed a kind smile at me. ¡°Welcome, how may I help you?¡± Her voice caused me to snap out of my mild delusions and get back to what I wanted to do. ¡°Right, sorry. Yes, I¡¯m interested in learning about alchemy. Would that be alright?¡± She thought about it for a few moments, and then nodded her head. ¡°Yes, that would be fine. But I need to ask a payment, first. The basic alchemy set costs 70 copper, and I¡¯ll need you to either provide the herbs you use to practice, or pay for their cost.¡± I likewise nodded, seeing that this was entirely reasonable. However, I decided to ask something else that had been on my mind. ¡°What all does alchemy cover? Just curious.¡± She smiled a bit more at my question. It seemed not many actually cared to ask for the details. ¡°Well, as I¡¯m sure you know, the basic levels of alchemy involve mixing together different types of potions. However, as you become more skilled, you also are able to do more. For instance, a master alchemist could make a potion, but they could also develop ways for more permanent effects. They could also make poisons, bombs, or even play with a creature¡¯s genetic make-up.¡± I blinked, a bit surprised hearing that. Obviously, I figured they could do poisons, and maybe even bombs, but this sounded like the answer to one of my earlier problems. ¡°You mean gene therapies? I¡¯ve heard about those, but didn¡¯t know what kind of skill was needed to create them.¡± She kept that same smile as she nodded her head again. ¡°In order to master alchemy, it¡¯s necessary to learn various other disciplines, such as chemistry and biology. For gene therapies, you just mix in a touch of genetics, and can get a pretty good result. The only other profession that covers all of the needed skills to make them are doctors, and they are similarly at a high degree of mastery.¡± Well, that suddenly made alchemy far more appealing to me! ¡°Thank you very much, miss.¡± I was just about to turn around and leave to go hunting for the resources I would need to learn alchemy when something occurred to me. ¡°This may sound like a silly question, but are there any devices or techniques that will accelerate learning in a given field?¡± I asked this because of how long I could imagine it taking someone to learn everything needed to become a proper alchemist. It could take years for someone to build up to the master level, decades even, if there wasn¡¯t some kind of assistance. And given what I¡¯ve learned from my fighting and magic practice, the system did not tend to help much in terms of learning. I actually wasn¡¯t sure what the levels in skills gave at all, aside maybe a very slight bonus to success. It took her a moment to think again before she nodded. ¡°You must be asking about Skill Shards. Their use isn¡¯t that widespread, and many frown upon it, but certain professions are able to create gems which hold the knowledge of a skill. This information has to come from someone that actually has the skill, and only contains that person¡¯s knowledge on it. Say for example, I assisted in creating a Skill Shard for alchemy. Whoever used it would know everything I chose to put in the shard, and nothing else. They wouldn¡¯t get any personal recipes, secret tricks, or anything that one typically develops when they learn the skill themselves. They also would not know anything I didn¡¯t know about it. So¡­ there might be a plant considered extremely common in other areas, but if I¡¯ve never seen it, the shard I helped create would not grant them any knowledge about it.¡± ¡°I see¡­¡± It took me a moment to piece together this information. I¡¯d probably need to go to a big city to find these Skill Shards, but I would definitely find one. Maybe there is one that I could use to make me better with the bow or something. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that if someone made a Skill Shard for a type of magic, whoever activated that would learn all of the different spells that person chose to record?¡± Her head nodded again as she looked at me. ¡°That¡¯s right. However, most people don¡¯t want to take that gamble. There are only two pieces of information that can be understood from a Skill Shard without activating it if you have it scanned. The first is the type of skill put in, and the second is the level of mastery the information qualifies as. Since a single shard can only hold one type of skill, it¡¯s impossible to sneak more in, at the same time, the scan will cross reference the amount of information stored with what is currently known on the networks to determine how high it is. When making one with a magic school, you could easily just put in your knowledge of how that school of magic works, and a few advanced tricks to make it more effective without actually putting a single spell in.¡±
You have learned and understood the nature of Skill Shards
+2 Intelligence
I was slightly surprised by that, but decided to thank her again and leave. In my inventory was only thirty copper coins, not nearly enough for the lessons. Before leaving, I made sure to ask what kind of herbs she was looking for for the training. Then, after realizing that I had no idea what a common fireflower or blood weed looked like, I had her show me a picture, which I quickly sketched in order to remember them. Surprisingly, my little sketch actually gave me a new skill as well.
New Sub-Skill Acquired!
Sketching - Basic Level 6 Exp: 50% Used for various different skills, this ability allows you to create decent sketches quickly, capturing the image of an object or expressing an idea. Current applicable skills: None
I wasn¡¯t really that surprised by the skill itself. I played several artistic characters in other games, and had managed to pick up a few skills that transferred over to real life, such as drawing. What I was surprised about was the skill¡¯s level. Rather than Beginner Level 1, like every other skill I had started as, this was Basic Level 6. Did that mean that my real life skill had managed to transfer over to the game, and that was the level it deemed I was at? If so, this would be fairly interesting. I decided later to test out a few other skills I had picked up from games, but wanted to wait for a bit since none of them were immediately useful. In most VR games, the system would help correct mistakes when you used an attack, and only help you better visualize what it was you wanted to create for more artistic skills. So, the only skills that I managed to actually remember from my time in other games were drawing, mechanics, and hacking. Thinking about that last one brought a small grin to my face. One of the less successful VR games was shut down just a year after its launch because its skills were too realistic, and the skills it taught included criminal ones like hacking. After the game was shut down, I actually tested what I had learned, not really thinking that it would help me at all. I was a bit paranoid, to be honest, because what I hacked was the police database, to set up a link that would warn me if they listed me as a suspect in an ongoing investigation. A few weeks later, I realized how dumb that was, and went back in to remove it. Thankfully, the cops never came busting down my door. Of course, I wasn¡¯t really sure if hacking would work the same here, since a lot of the more advanced technology is infused with magic. Maybe advanced hacking would include magical hacks? If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.Back to the present, I decided to test my luck and head out of town, stopping by the quest board and picking up a horned rabbit extermination quest. Unlike the ones offering directions, the actual quests had instructions to remove the quest leaf when you accepted it.
Quest Accepted!
Culling the Herd Rank ¡î Extermination The local horned rabbit population has started growing out of control. Hunt down at least 10 Horned Rabbits to complete this quest. Time Limit: None Rewards: The rabbit corpses may be sold to the town guard for a reward. Reward depends on quality and amount of rabbits. Failure: None
I noticed the star on the quest, just like the ones that appeared for spells. However, this was an empty star, so maybe it only counted as half value? If that was the case, then this should be a very easy quest to finish. On my way out of town, I saw other players heading in the same direction. A few of them were also holding leafs like mine, which I guessed meant that the quest was reposted for others to take. Looking through the few players, I made my way over to Jacobs. ¡°Hey, you on the rabbit extermination?¡± He looked over to me and nodded. ¡°Yeah, and I need to find a few smaller trees. Going to try to get carpentry. Take it you¡¯re on the same mission.¡± I chuckled, nodding my head back to him. ¡°Pretty much, but I¡¯m looking for herbs instead of trees. I¡¯m grabbing alchemy.¡± ¡°Feel like teaming up for a bit, then?¡±
Jacobs has invited you to join a party!
Accept? Y/N
I smiled, and accepted his invitation. Looking at the party window, I saw that he was already level three, which irked me a little. Likely he went out and hunted a bit before grabbing a quest. ¡°So, since it looks like you know your way around better, any idea where the horned rabbits hang out?¡± ¡°Yeah, they usually wander around in small groups a bit to the west of town. I came across a few of them earlier when I was practicing a new spell, but I didn¡¯t know I could have turned over their corpses for a reward. Was a bit disappointed when they didn¡¯t drop any loot.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh at that. ¡°Remember, this is supposed to be ¡®completely realistic¡¯, so it¡¯s not like a little bunny is going to swallow a pair of boots to hand out to whoever kills it.¡± He smiled wryly at the comment, but nonetheless nodded his head. It wasn¡¯t long before we were out of the city. ¡°So, what kinds of spells do you have? I saw you walked off with the elemental class earlier.¡± ¡°Yeah, so far it¡¯s just a Wind Bullet, Gust, and a hold spell. I¡¯d say I could shoot them with my bow but¡­ I can barely hit a target when it¡¯s not moving, and rabbits are known to be fast. You?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got a repulsion spell, and a slow with damage over time.¡± I tilted my head at the description. ¡°Gravity crush?¡± ¡°Pretty much, yeah.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t you use that spell to do weight training? Well, once you have the mana to keep it active, anyways.¡± I idly thought, and heard a chuckle from next to me. ¡°Maybe if I was aiming to be a muscular mage. I¡¯d rather work on combat spells for now.¡± After saying that, we heard a ruffling of leaves and stopped. Off in the distance, were cute little fluffy bunnies, with a long horn on their heads that was half the size of their body. In this particular group there seemed to be four of them, so we looked to each other and nodded. Neither of us were new to games, so it wasn¡¯t that hard to know a basic plan. I¡¯d fire my hold spell while he launched his damage over time, and he¡¯d keep that up while I fired my attack spells. And, for the most part, that¡¯s actually how it went down. I felt silly thinking about the chant I had recited over and over in the tutorial, and this time merely focused on the feeling of mana I had while casting the spell. Once I had the mana ready, I shot it down into the ground, and focused on the four fluffy sacrifices. My mana sought out nearby roots and launched them from the ground, making the rabbits try to flee. At the same time, Jacobs was focusing his own spell, and the rabbits suddenly fell to the ground, finding it hard to stand properly. My roots weren¡¯t as badly affected, and managed to securely wrap around three of the four rabbits. The fourth managed to escape the area of his spell before it could be caught, and vanished into a bush. Still, three out of four isn¡¯t bad right? Now that they were held, and apparently unable to break free, I fired a single Wind Bullet at each of them, which seemed to do the trick. There was a sickening crunch from the combination of pressure from the two spells before each rabbit was dead. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t see the last rabbit before it charged out of the bushes, its eyes glowing red. Before I could even react, it had speared my leg with its horn. The same leg that the rat had gone for in the tutorial. The same SPOT on the leg. What is it with these monsters?!
Leg Vs. Rabbit
-20 HP
Biting back the pain, I swung my dagger down at the rabbit which was thankfully stuck trying to pull itself out of my leg. Stop twitching! God, that hurts! I was able to feel every tiny movement of its horn as my dagger seemed to fall down unnaturally slow. Why does pain always make things seem to take longer? After what felt like an agonizing minute, the dagger finally finished its descent, completely severing the rabbit¡¯s head from its neck. ¡°God, oww, fuck that hurts.¡± Jacobs, just now becoming aware of what had happened over here, looks down and goes wide eyed at the rabbit head now stuck to my leg. ¡°Fuck, they can be vicious. Remind me to practice that repulsion spell me¡­¡± ¡°Yes, yes, later. Can you help me get the fucking horn out of my leg first?!¡± I almost growled out. In my opinion, I was handling this fairly well. I was stabbed through the leg, with the full sensation of pain, and not screaming bloody murder. What did I get myself into? Even deaths in other games had never hurt this much! After pulling out the rabbit¡¯s horn, I paled because another window also appeared.
There is a hole in your leg.
-5 Bleed
That hole doesn¡¯t look too good..
-5 Bleed
Hey numbskull, you¡¯re bleeding!
-5 Bleed
I was at a loss for what to do, neither of us had any healing spells. And this was taking away five health a second! Another eleven seconds, and I die just from bleeding out. Did that thing spear an artery or something?
That thing speared an artery or something.
-5 Bleed
Fuck you game! I did the only thing I could honestly think of, and cast my Nature¡¯s Grasp spell again, this time on my own leg. It always works in movies, right? Cut off circulation to the injured area, and you won¡¯t bleed out! Thankfully, this seemed to work, because the bleeding messages stopped appearing and my natural health regeneration took over. Altogether, I had lost 40 points of health, which took four minutes of sitting on the ground to get back. I wasn¡¯t just doing nothing though, because I was happy to receive another window when the bleeding had stopped.
You have leveled up!
I quickly opened up my character information to see what rewards I had received from leveling, before the game had a chance to find some excuse to rob me of it again. A new section had been created at the bottom telling me I had five points to spend. After debating on it for a few seconds, I dumped three points into my agility, and the last two into my wisdom, giving me¡­
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesN/AFame0
Level 290.00%ClassNovice
Health90/90Health Regen0.15
Mana180/180Mana Regen0.05
Strength12Wisdom16
Agility16Intelligence18
Dexterity14Charisma9
Vitality9Luck14
Points Remaining0
Chapter 6: Fluffy Income Author¡¯s Corner: Good morning everyone! Today¡¯s chapter is brought to you by insomnia! All hail the holiday season. Also, feel free to post a review on the story¡¯s main page, as I will be watching those as well. For those curious about the Average Views dropping like they are, it¡¯s rather simple. After I posted the first two chapters, Chapter One had a sudden influx of over 45k views, which could very likely have been a glitch. Since the Average Views are just the total views divided by the number of chapters, that number is steadily decreasing as I post more. ---------------------------------------------------------- After waiting for my health to recover, I discovered something that had left me a bit speechless. Rather than the normal scenario where my wound would fully recover as my health rose, the wound didn¡¯t fully heal after closing. Likewise, my health had stopped recovering at 87, meaning that I would probably need actual healing to recover the last bit of damage. It would probably also mean I could be more easily damaged if I aggravated the injury. ¡°Really need to find those herbs¡­¡± I groaned to myself, knowing that I couldn¡¯t use any healing spells until I first learned how to brew the potion. Scanning around, I noticed some of the familiar red weed in small bundles growing nearby. A few of the stalks were damaged, likely from the rabbits eating them. I used my dagger to cut off the root that was holding my leg, leaving the body of the root wrapped around it for now. If nothing else, it¡¯d make me feel better knowing that I wouldn¡¯t randomly start bleeding out. When I finally stood up, I let out a hiss of pain, being forced to acknowledge that the wound really hadn¡¯t fully healed. Walking over, I carefully retrieved the weeds, digging the roots out with my dagger. While I wasn¡¯t notably skilled at herbalism, I had dabbled with it in other games enough to know how not to damage most plants.
New Skill Acquired!
Herbology - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 2% This skill measures your knowledge regarding the various plants throughout the universe, and their possible effects.
New Sub-Skill Acquired!
Gathering - Beginner Level 5 Exp: 20% This is the basic skill that allows you to gather various ingredients from nature. Current applicable skills: Herbology
Two skills, huh? Guess Herbology must be because I know that blood weed was used in healing potions. Still, 2%? Why do I feel like it¡¯s just teasing me¡­ I shook my head and dismissed the windows while gathering the rest of the blood weed in the area. Thankfully they all stacked in my inventory, so that wasn¡¯t an issue. When I got back to Jacobs, he told me that I could have this set of rabbits, since I was the only one actually injured by them. After thanking him, we again set out to find more rabbits. Our mana had recovered enough that we were confident taking on another group of the same size, but this time we knew to be more careful of them. The next group we came across was likewise another set of four, which were nibbling away at more blood weed. They really like that stuff, huh? I entertained a brief notion of trying to tame one of the rabbits with the aid of the herb, but the pain in my leg seemed to demand vengeance against the fluffy race. This time, I decided to use my bow to try and shoot one, with my dagger kept strapped to my waist. Going through the motions, I shot out a Lesser Spiral Arrow. Thanks to my complete inability to hit what I aimed for, I purposely aimed for the spot between the four rabbits, hoping it would go off course enough to hit one of them.
Lucky Shot
Fatal Blow dealt, Wild Luck skill increased.
The body of the rabbit practically exploded as the arrow tore through it, making me wince at the loss of profit. It was bad enough that we couldn¡¯t shove all the rabbit corpses into our inventory due to a lack of spaces available, but now I had utterly destroyed one of the bodies. Jacobs didn¡¯t miss this fact either, and let out a tired sigh while quickly activating his gravity spell. This time, he had aimed it a bit more carefully, so none of the remaining three rabbits had a chance to escape the field before it was set. Again, I finished the battle with a series of Wind Bullets. This time, we would really have to take a break for a while to recover mana, so we decided to head back to town after gathering the dead rabbits. The three in tact bodies were added to Jacobs¡¯ catch, while the head of the fourth was mine, as it was all we could recover of it¡­
You have leveled up!
I quickly added another three points to agility, and two to wisdom. After we had the bodies, and I went around gathering more of the blood weed, we decided to head back to town for a little while. Staying out in the open while smelling of blood, without the means to defend ourselves was just asking for a wolf or something to attack. Once we got back, we found a guard to sell our seven(and a third) corpses to. He didn¡¯t seem at all bothered by the bodies of the fluffy race, and paid a price of ten copper for each full body, only managing to earn three for the lone head. With this, if I could manage to find some fireflower, I would already meet the requirements to learn alchemy! ¡°So¡­ how long will you have to wait for your mana to get back?¡± Jacobs asked after we left the guard. I looked at my mana, and saw that it was missing around seventy points. Doing a quick bit of math in my head I came to a conclusion. ¡°Almost fifteen minutes. You?¡± He smirked a bit, seemingly proud of himself. ¡°Only ten for me. But I¡¯m building a full caster build.¡± I let out a sigh, not at all wanting to spend the next fifteen minutes just walking around. ¡°I¡¯m going to log out for a few minutes, check on the house.¡± He nodded to me, and I looked through the menu for the logout button. It.. .wasn¡¯t where it was supposed to be. Typically, the logout button was at the very bottom of the menu, and I almost panicked when I didn¡¯t find it. It¡¯d been ages since an accidental virtualization happened, but it was always that distant possibility. Then, I noticed that the option was just hidden a few slots higher, and grumbled under my breath. Soon, my world turned black. I was no longer Falenel, the failure half-elf, but John Hulett, the NEET human. With a thought, the Seed opened up, allowing me to exit, and light to pour in. I pulled off the mask and stood up, giving a light stretch. There was still a pain in my leg from where the rabbit had speared me, but I chalked it up to phantom pains. After all, there wasn¡¯t a visible wound over the spot, just a feeling of deep soreness. The next thing I noticed was an ever-so-slight reduction in my gamer gut. If nothing else, that made me happy, since it meant that the Seed really was worth the money spent on it. Walking to the nearby door, I got a rather annoying jolt of static when I gripped the handle, but was otherwise unimpeded as I put on some clothes and went downstairs. I wasn¡¯t very hungry, but decided it would be best to grab a small snack and a drink before heading back. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. On my way back to my room, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror, and for a moment I thought something was off. I just couldn¡¯t quite place it, so I just attributed it to losing a bit of weight. I only needed to spend three minutes out of the game, thanks to the time differences, so I quickly made my way back to the Seed, and logged in once I had satisfied my stomach. To my surprise, this satisfaction actually carried over to the game, and I didn¡¯t feel the need to stuff my face with stale bread anymore. I was, however, lying sprawled out on the ground, with a rather annoyed looking Jacobs standing next to my body. ¡°Note for the future, logging out does not make the character disappear.¡± He explained simply, making me understand what had happened. I must have fallen to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. Then, to make sure I wasn¡¯t robbed or killed, Jacobs had to stand watch over me while I was gone. ¡°Sorry about that. Good news is, it seems like eating in the real world will also help here.¡± He raised an eyebrow at that curiously. People who had been virtualized never really felt the need to eat unless it was simulated in the game they played, so that wasn¡¯t likely too big of a deal for him. By now, both of our mana pools had recovered, so we once again headed back out to hunt. Since we knew the general area where the rabbits lived, it didn¡¯t take long for us to find them. We would hunt two groups between each break, gathering the blood weed and bodies after each fight. Jacobs and I both hit level 4 by the time we were ready for our second break, and he hit level 5 just after we got hunting again. Thankfully for me, I managed to find some fireflower during our second excursion, though it was still massively outmatched by the amount of blood weed I had collected. I could only hope that the alchemy instructor would either buy the excess blood weed from me, or the recipes would make use of it. I didn¡¯t want to carry around tons of the herb forever. Another thing of note was that after hitting level 5, Jacobs said his inventory grew, from a 2 x 2 grid to 3 x 3. We were thankful for the extra five slots, since it meant we could carry over twice as much. On our third trip, we finally hit our goal of ten rabbits each, finishing the quest that we had taken. Thanks to our caution after the first hunt, we didn¡¯t take any additional injuries, give or take a couple small scratches.
You have completed the quest Culling the Herd
You have leveled up!
You have reached level 5! Inventory size increased.
I had saved up my points from the last few hunts, and decided to accurately check the meaning and effects behind a few of the stats. So far, I had been spending mostly based on intuition, but that wouldn¡¯t be good for the long run.
StrengthThis stat measures the character''s ability to exert physical force. A higher strength increases melee damage with physical weapons, the amount a character can lift, and grants bragging rights among other males.
AgilityThis stat measures the character''s ability to quickly and accurately move their body. A higher agility increases run speed and jump height.
DexterityThis stat measures the character''s ability to perform small, detailed actions. A higher dexterity increases ranged accuracy, and the success rate for certain skills.
VitalityThis stat measures the strength of the character''s life force. A higher vitality grants increased health and natural resistance to certain status effects.
WisdomThis stat measures the character''s mental processing ability. A higher wisdom allows greater mana regeneration, as you are more accurately able to pull in the mana around you.
IntelligenceThis stat measures the character''s intellect and memorization skills. A higher intelligence provides an increased mana pool, and can grant helpful hints based on previous knowledge.
CharismaThis stat measures the attractiveness of a character, through either words or appearance. A higher charisma causes the character to be more appealing, and makes others listen to their opinion more easily.
LuckThis stat measures pure chance. A higher luck stat will cause things to go your way more often, to a certain degree. This stat can only do so much, so do not expect any miracles.
Looking through the stat descriptions, I nodded my head slightly. Wisdom and intelligence were as I expected, but I had been placing a higher importance on agility when I should have focused on dexterity. Using the points I had saved up, I did my best to fix this snafu, before heading to the alchemy instructor with my shiny new silver coin, and inventory full of herbs. On the way, I took another look at my status and skills, somewhat pleased with myself for not being a total weakling now.
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesN/AFame0
Level 55.23%ClassNovice
Health97/100Health Regen0.17
Mana210/210Mana Regen0.07
Strength12Wisdom20
Agility20Intelligence21
Dexterity17Charisma9
Vitality10Luck14
Points Remaining0
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Beginner Level 4: 10.3%
Nature Magic - Beginner Level 3: 41.6%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 4: 1.5%
Archery - Beginner Level 3: 25.9%
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 2: 4.1%
Wild Luck - Beginner Level 5: 20%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 50%
Herbology - Beginner Level 1: 2%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Chapter 7: The Brew Thats True Author¡¯s Corner: Greetings to you, my glorious readers/leeches/NEETs/generally bored people. I bring to you another chapter! Some of you may have caught the hints in the last one about where the story is going, and for those that did I say bravo! No clue how many chapters it will take to fully reveal itself, but I shall do my utmost to maintain a steady stream of releases. --------------------------------------------------- A few minutes after separating with Jacobs, I reached the alchemy store once again. Since we hadn¡¯t gone out far enough to find any trees small enough for him to cut down, it couldn¡¯t be helped that he still had to go back to look for some. As for me, I needed to get busy learning how to brew potions! My leg is killing me and I want nothing more than to finally be able to finish healing that wound. ¡°Welcome, sir-- oh, hello again.¡± I was greeted by the beautiful half-elf once again as she recognized me. ¡°Hello, miss.¡± I smiled to her, limping my way forward. ¡°I managed to find some of the herbs, and got the money for the training.¡± I pulled out a bundle of the blood weed, a few fireflowers, and the silver coin. Seeing these, she seemed a bit surprised, but nodded her head, taking the silver coin and giving me back three large copper coins. So¡­ the guards just purposely gave me regular sized coins in bulk, then? Guess that explains why they weren¡¯t so eager to exchange all one hundred of them for a single silver coin. Must have been like someone asking to give you a hundred pennies for a dollar. Too much small change! I thanked her for the change, and put it in my inventory. At the same time, she produced a small box containing various items, including a mortar and pestle, a few thin glass vials, and what looked like a dropper. ¡°This is the most basic starting kit for alchemy. As your skill grows, you¡¯ll need more and more kinds of tools, and will eventually need to establish your own lab in order to brew everything. For now, though, this will be all you need. And, of course, a journal.¡± She pulled out a thin book and set it next to the box. ¡°Once you grow a bit more, you¡¯ll be given a device to properly record all of your notes on.¡± I nodded, opening up the journal, not surprised to find that it was blank. Taking out the two sketches I made earlier, I put them in the front of the journal, as my notes about the two herbs. ¡°Okay, so when can we begin?¡± I looked up at her and asked curiously. I really wanted to get my leg fixed. ¡°We can start now, of course. It shouldn¡¯t take too long to teach you how to brew the basic health potion. However, any recipes after that will cost you, or require you to experiment to discover.¡± She smiled, pulling the various items out of the box. Only now did I notice that the glass bottle I saw earlier was a rounded beaker, with a small burner with it in the container. ¡°First, fill the beaker half full with water, and turn the burner on by supplying it with a small mana supply.¡± I nodded my head, putting the beaker onto the rack of the burner. When I was looking around for the water, my faithful teacher produced a small flask to pour in. I then tried to pour just a small amount of mana, maybe two or three points. Unfortunately, that was barely enough to even get a spark, so I put in ten and it activated. ¡°Good, now, you¡¯ll need to refresh the supply once a minute, or get a mana crystal to power it. Next, while waiting for that to boil, crush together two stalks of blood weed, and three petals from the fireflower.¡± Once again, I followed her instructions, putting two blood weeds into the mortar, and plucking three of the seven petals of the fireflower to put in as well. Afterwards, I took the pestle and began crushing them thoroughly, doing my best to reduce the plants into a fine powder. Once a minute I would put in another ten mana to the burner, which I had to do a total of twice before the water began to boil. By that time, the plants were fairly well ground, and she seemed to be satisfied with it. ¡°Okay, now pour the mixture into the water.¡± After I followed her instructions, the red powder was poured into the water, making it look vaguely blood-colored. ¡°This is the tricky part, as it requires a bit of timing and experimentation.¡± As she spoke, the water was shifting shades, from lighter to darker red then back again. ¡°Depending on when you infuse mana into this concoction to finish the brewing process, the effectiveness will vary. This is a typical step found in most recipes that serves to stabilize the different compounds by binding them together with mana.¡± Watching the liquid, I wasn¡¯t sure at all what would be the best result. So, as it started going darker again, I went ahead and infused mana into it, steadily increasing the amount until its color settled. Of course, by that time, it had already shifted halfway back to light red. By now, the burner had again turned off, so the potion gradually stopped boiling, now settled on a rather neutral red color.
New Skill Acquired!
Alchemy - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% This skill allows the brewing of potions through herbs or various miscellaneous materials. Higher levels will present additional options.
The half-elf whose name I still haven¡¯t found out nodded satisfied at the result. ¡°A bit above average for a first try, I think. Just let it cool off for a moment and it will be ready.¡± I smiled faintly. Finally, I¡¯ll have a healing spell. Though, my healing spell will likely get stronger as I perfect the recipe.. I then turned to look at her. ¡°Thank you very much. Though, I don¡¯t think I ever got your name yet? I¡¯m Falenel, by the way.¡± ¡°Lisara, pleasure to meet you.¡± She giggled slightly, realizing it took me this long to ask her name. ¡°So¡­ out of curiosity, does it take this whole thing to form a single potion?¡± I looked at the beaker, which seemed far too large for normal adventurers to carry around in bulk. Lisara tilted her head curiously, and then widened her eyes as if she had forgotten something. ¡°Ah! No, sorry. Actually, beginner potions only take ten drops to be considered a full potion. A beaker this size will produce twenty potions in a batch.¡± She explained, handing the dropped to me from the box. ¡°And¡­ I suppose you would be willing to sell me some potion vials?¡± I asked curiously, seeing as there were none in the beginner box. She nodded her head again, going back and retrieving a small box of vials. These were far smaller than the beaker, but the glass was thicker. No doubt that was to make them less fragile for adventurers. ¡°Two coppers per vial. But, if you want to trade for the potion you brewed, I could take half of the potion, and given you the other ten vials for free.¡± She smiled to me. I had a feeling I was either getting a really good deal here, or being ripped off. The former because these were potions brewed by a beginner, and likely not worthy to be sold in a specialized shop. The latter because they were health potions, and that was basically me selling her a potion for just the price of the vial. Since I hadn¡¯t looked at her wares, I wasn¡¯t sure her typical price. Speaking of, I could probably look at the potions she sells and figure out the optimal shade to imbue mana for the last step. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Deal.¡± I smiled to her, and she grabbed her own dropper, measuring out ten of the potions before storing them behind her shelf, giving me another ten vials. Doing the same thing as her, I carefully measured out ten drops for each vial, before putting them in my inventory. I wanted to be very certain of how much I put in each vial, because I knew the risks of overdosing on medicine. I wasn¡¯t sure if it was possible with potions, but the idea of tissue over-regenerating to either cause a cancerous growth or a mutation did not appeal to me. After thanking her, I gathered the alchemy kit, and went out to the mage¡¯s tower. Once more, I found the loli teacher and asked her about nature magic. ¡°Hmm? didn¡¯t I already explain it to you?¡± She asked with a rather cute tilt of her head. ¡°Ah, yes. You told me it¡¯d be best to learn alchemy so that I could replicate the effects with my magic. Well, I have alchemy now, and now how to make a potion, so I was hoping you would instruct me on how to use the magic to mimic it.¡± She smiled at that, happy to see that I had followed her instructions. ¡°Alright, then! It¡¯s actually pretty easy once you know it. Nature Magic is a school of magic governing plants and beasts. If you attune to the magic of the world around you, you will find that everything in nature has its own mana signature. Whether it¡¯s oxygen, water, or different kinds of plants. If you mimic the mana signature of the plants in your alchemy potion, and then mix them in the same ratio you would do so for the potion, you will achieve alchemy through magic!¡± Thinking over her words, I silently nodded, trying my best to understand. ¡°So I have to memorize the particular mana signature of the herbs first? Well, at least it¡¯ll give me something to do for a while.¡± I smiled dryly, thanking her again. My next stop was at an inn, where I spent ten coppers to rent a room for 24 hours. It was rather interesting climbing up the branch steps to a small room inside the tree. Inside I found a wide and thick leaf which seemed to serve as the bed, and sat down on it. Finally off my leg¡­ I reached down and untied the root from around my leg, finally getting rid of it. Though, I still had a decent sized hole in my pants showing off the scabbed wound. If I didn¡¯t figure out this healing trick soon, I could drink one of my potions or gain a new scar. Quietly, I pulled out a blood weed and the same fireflower I had started using earlier. Closing my eyes, I focused first on the blood weed, sending a trickle of mana into it to understand how it feels. It was strange, like rubbing my finger along a wet rose, but with infinitely more detail. Rather than just a surface texture, my mana had penetrated through to the core, allowing me to feel the entire substance inside and out. Opening my eyes, I smiled slightly, before trying to replicate the sensation with my own mana. I used the same circuit method I had performed with my spells to make sure that I wouldn¡¯t waste any excess mana, while trying to shift it into what I had felt. This was the difficult part, I found. Attuning myself to a school of magic was one thing, but mimicking the magical aura of something felt entirely different. In the end, I drank one of the potions anyways after ten minutes. Immediately, the scab fell off and my wound faded away, with my health finally rising to maximum. Another hour of practice, and I felt like I had managed to mimic the feeling of the blood weed. It was just for a moment, but in that moment it felt like I was holding the herb in my mana again between my hands. The realization of that surprised me so much that I lost the feeling right away.
New Skill Acquired!
Mana Signatures - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% This skill allows the user to alter their mana signature to match a studied object. Higher levels may allow the user to conceal their aura entirely, or blend it with their surroundings.
The presence of the skill caused another burst of excitement, and I foolishly thought that possessing the skill would automatically enable me to repeat the action. Have I learned nothing yet? It took another ten minutes to regain the sensation of mimicking blood weed, but I was slowly growing better.
Wisdom +1
Messages like that appeared every now and then while I was practicing, probably showing that I was learning how to control my mana better. The third time, it took me three minutes to get the feeling of blood weed, the fourth only one minute, and after that I was able to produce the feeling after only a few seconds. The next thing I needed to practice was the fireflower petals. Only the petal, because I didn¡¯t use the rest of the plant in the recipe, and was unsure of what the result would be. So, plucking another petal, I put it between my hands to focus. Again, I was able to get the feeling of it after a little while, and started to try to reproduce it. Thankfully, I at least knew how to shift my aura this time, so it didn¡¯t take too long to match the aura to the herb. But like before, I kept repeating the process until I was able to do so in a matter of seconds. Of course, my mana supply wasn¡¯t unlimited, so I had to take a break for a half hour while I ate some more stale bread. But after that was done, I got back to it, and finally managed to replicate the aura. The next step was likely going to be the hardest. Three petals of fireflower and two stalks of blood weed made twenty potions. So, first I needed to test how much mana it took to replicate a single blood weed or flower petal, then divide it by the appropriate amount. For instance, I¡¯d need only a tenth of a blood weed, and just over a tenth of a petal. This process easily took me another hour before I got the individual components correct, and by now I had earned a total of 8 wisdom through all of this. But now I was finally able to produce the feeling of blood weed in one hand, and fireflower petals in the other, then mix them together. Once the two sensations mixed, I was presented with a whole new healing, a warmer and gentler one. And now that I knew how to do this, I¡¯d be able to do so in the future much more easily.
New Spell Developed!
Alchemic Heal - Nature Magic Spell - ¡ï¡î This spell allows the user to replicate the effect of healing potions through their magic. Mana Cost: 10
I smiled as I saw that this spell registered as half a star higher than my others, but afterwards I laid back on the giant leaf and let myself fall asleep. It had been a long day, and the sky was already dark after I finished practice. Chapter 8: Vengeance Rides Upon the Wind A few hours later, I awoke with a start, my body drenched in a cold sweat. Fucking bunnies¡­ The experience the day before had actually left me with a nightmare, where I was being chased through the woods by a pack of horned rabbits with blood red eyes. Of course, I was the one rabbit sized, and they were giants. The dream ended with them picking me up and slowly eating my body, one adorable nibble at a time. Looking outside, I saw that the sun was just starting to rise, so I decided to head on out for training. They might plague my dreams, but I can at least get revenge on them now that I¡¯m awake! On my way, I decided to go ahead and sell off the last of my potions to Lisara, who bought them for five copper each. At the same time, I took note of the exact shade her potions had. If nothing else, that would help me make a better one in the future. With my new 45 copper, I decided to buy a basic guide to the nearby herbs from Lisara as well. While it didn¡¯t tell me any recipes, it did list all of the medicinal and poisonous plants in the area, and roughly said what their use was. For instance, I found out that one of the black mushrooms I saw on our hunts the day before was actually a rare herb that could paralyze anyone that tried to eat it. Once I was done with that, I checked my contacts list to see if I could team up with Jacobs. Unfortunately he was still asleep, so that wasn¡¯t an option. He had apparently gained another two levels after splitting up yesterday, so I needed to catch up. Next few levels, need to work more on my mana¡­ If I suck this bad at fighting with weapons, then I need to make sure I won¡¯t run out of spells as easily. Outside of town, I made my way back to the area where we had seen the fluffy hordes. Specifically, I wanted to see if I could find that black mushroom again. If I could copy that, then I¡¯d have a good stun spell for my arsenal. And similarly, I was collecting any plants along the way that were listed in the book I bought, whether they were for poisons or for medicine. I found that after reading through the book and learning its contents, my Herbology skill jumped up from Beginner Level 1 to Beginner Level 7 in one go. Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, hunting the horned rabbits. It took me about five minutes to find the first group of them, but what I found surprised me. Rather than the groups of four or five I had seen yesterday, this was a group of at least twenty! My need for revenge wasn¡¯t strong enough to commit suicide against that many people, so I moved on to the next group¡­. Which was just as large. All of the areas that we had hunted the small groups of rabbits the day before now had much larger groups today. They knew¡­ I don¡¯t know how, but they knew I was coming for them! I groaned, shaking my head and resigning myself to return to town. Logically speaking, there was no way that those rabbits should suddenly have that many at all the spots we hunted before, so I could only ask a guard. ¡°Hmm? Oh, you tried to go out and hunt?¡± The guard showed me a knowing smile, as if guessing what the issue was. ¡°Yeah¡­ but¡­¡± ¡°But there were suddenly a lot more of them, right? That¡¯s a pretty common thing around here. It¡¯s the reason we¡¯re willing to pay people every day to exterminate them. They reproduce so fast that they can completely refill their population overnight. Most likely you found them before later on, after their numbers were thinned out for a bit. If we were to leave them alone for a full week, they¡¯d be everywhere.¡± So that¡¯s why¡­I guess that means morning hunts are the worst. I sighed, shaking my head at the news. ¡°Thanks. I take it adventurer¡¯s tend to team up to start taking them out every day?¡± ¡°Hmm? No, the wolves tend to bring down their population by about half. That usually takes till around noon, and then the adventurer¡¯s go in and clear the rest. We just stay out of their way until the wolves are done with their part.¡± ¡°Well¡­ there goes my idea to get revenge. Or does it¡­¡± I suddenly had a thought occur to me, and a wicked grin spread across my face, before I raced back to the edge of town, leaving a guard standing there with a confused expression. Wolves, I¡¯ll be borrowing your experience for a bit! I thought to myself with a sadistic grin. As soon as I was out of town, I sat down and pulled a couple of plants out of my inventory. These were two other poisonous plants I had found while walking, though neither were as powerful as that black mushroom. One, an orange wead similar to blood weed, included a weak paralytic, while the other, a green flower with tiny yellow spots, caused slight internal injuries. Using the steps I had so diligently practiced the day before, I started matching my mana to the two herbs. It was fairly easy to find out which parts of the plant caused the negative reactions, thanks to the aura itself. Basically, whenever I felt the aura for the poison, it suddenly felt like my mana was moving through tar. This was far different from the warm and gentle feeling I received from the two healing herbs. This also made it harder to replicate the effects, making me feel like I was starting from scratch. All in all, I had to wait for an hour and a half before I had the two mana signatures copied to a sufficient degree. Then, I spent about another ten minutes mixing them at different ratios to determine the most volatile mix. What I came up with was a 4:7 ratio, with the flower holding the majority. I felt that this alone would already be a fairly potent spell, but I wasn¡¯t done yet! No, no, far from done. The next step would be what really made this dangerous. Now that I had the spell ready, I set aside a bit of my mana surrounding it to attune to Wind Magic, and then integrated the two together slowly. What I got as a result made me giggle hysterically.
New Spell Developed!
Alchemic Poison - Nature Magic Spell - ¡ï¡î This spell allows the user to replicate the effects of poisons through their magic. Mana Cost: 15
Combination Spell Developed!
Alchemic Poison + Wind Magic = Poison Spores - ¡ï¡ï By infusing the poison with the power of the wind, you are able to spread it over a wide distance and effect numerous targets at once. Mana Cost: 25
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Yes, yes¡­ soon, they will pay. 25 mana is a small price. I kept my evil grin up as I stored the two herbs and made my way back to the area where I had seen the rabbits. Keeping low to the ground, I took full advantage of my dexterity to try and make as little noise as possible. Soon, I was back where I had found them, and the fight had already begun. There were only four wolves, all of them looking fairly young, fighting this horde of rabbits. Three of the fluffy white menaces were already lying dead on the ground, and one of the wolves was limping. I felt a brief moment of regret, since I was also catching the wolves in my trap as well, before I cast the spell. Once it was gathered in my hands, I simply blew it out towards the fighting groups, carefully hiding in the bushes. Thankfully, they were too distracted with each other at this time to notice me, or I would have been a dead man for sure. With the barely perceptible spores gently gliding over the area, there was an almost immediate effect. Both the wolves and the rabbits started to gradually slow down, which made the job easier for the wolves that no longer had to content with their super speed. I kept watch, not sure how long the poison would last, and ready to recast it if I saw them speeding up again. About five minutes later, and two of the wolves had fallen, through a mix of the rabbits and my poison. Apparently this spell only lasted for five minutes, as I had to recast it once I noticed the rabbits starting to speed up. Once the spell was cast again, they looked even worse than before. A few had thin lines of blood leaking from their mouths, or gave cute little coughs after a deadly lunge. However, there were only five rabbits left, so the two remaining wolves gathered some of their prey and darted back while they still could. I waited for another minute before acting, making sure there was plenty of time for the wolves to get away and the rabbits to take some more damage, before I leapt out of the bush with my dagger in hand. Thankfully, it seemed like my spell wasn¡¯t affecting me if I didn¡¯t want it to, so I was able to quickly slaughter the slowed, injured rabbits. And once the last one had fallen, I was bombarded with a series of messages that had apparently been waiting for combat to end.
You have gained a title!
Vengeful Heart +10% damage against creatures you hold a strong grudge towards. You have developed a poison, and spread it among a large group, causing collateral damage, purely because a rabbit poked your leg. You truly are a vengeful soul.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Your actions have caused animals to bring poisoned food back to their pack.
10% Exp for kills caused by this poison will be awarded.
Four levels, plus possible future experience from the wolves eating the poisoned rabbits¡­ I think I just found my favorite hunting method! I was laughing hysterically, and then gathered up all of the remaining rabbits, as well as the two wolf bodies. I had to cut down a few vines to tie them up, but afterwards I was happily dragging a trail of bodies back to town, humming a tune as I did so. Once I arrived at town, the nearby guard was surprised by my catch, and when he asked I answered honestly that I had used a spell to poison them. Hearing that made him cringe a bit, and he was only able to offer half the usual price for the bodies. I wasn¡¯t surprised, they wouldn¡¯t really be paying for poisoned meat, after all, just the other parts. Still, that was seventy copper in my inventory again, which made me happy. Another thing that made me happy was what I got when I split my 20 free stat points between wisdom and intelligence.
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 937.4%ClassNovice
Health100/100Health Regen0.17
Mana310/310Mana Regen0.21
Strength12Wisdom40
Agility20Intelligence31
Dexterity17Charisma9
Vitality10Luck14
Points Remaining0
The part that made me happiest was that my mana regen had tripled. Even though it took 25 mana to cast my poison spell, I¡¯d easily earn that back by the time it was needed to refresh it. I was still a long ways from being able to not worry about my mana when it came to attack spells, but at least I was doing better than before. If I could figure out the exact formula behind the mana regen, I could work on min/maxing myself. But for now, it was enough just to spread it evenly between intelligence and wisdom. Once I was earning one mana every other second or so, then I¡¯d start working on my agility and dexterity again. A few of my skills even got a rather nice boost from my rabbit hunting spree, and I was tempted to go for another group. However, by now the other rabbit and wolf groups would be finishing up with their daily brawls, so I would need to wait until tomorrow. Though, I did feel much better about myself now that I had vented my anger on a few not-so-harmless bunnies. ------------------------------------------------------------ Author¡¯s Corner: Karami does not condone the mindless slaughter of rabbits or other cute creatures. Even if he does find it hilarious. Chapter 9: Decisions Decisions(Poll included!) Author¡¯s Corner: Me again, guys! So, I was torn between a few different classes, and wanted to get everyone¡¯s opinions on it. This is the first(but almost certainly not the last) time that I leave a decision like this up to the community. Mostly it¡¯ll happen whenever I don¡¯t really know which path I should take, and there is enough information to let the audience decide. Please read until the end of the chapter before voting on the poll! I¡¯ll be taking tomorrow off from writing unless there¡¯s already 100 votes up by then. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Since there wasn¡¯t as much point in hunting the fluffy menaces right now, I decided to head back to my usual training spot and practice magical alchemy! I still had a fair amount of other herbs saved in my inventory, six different varieties. I knew that blood weed and fireflower petals make healing potions, and that maple bloom mixed with heart grass made my slow damage over time poison. That still left two other plants I haven¡¯t touched, as well as god knows how many combinations. The first thing I did was to memorize and replicate the mana signatures for the last two herbs, which didn¡¯t take as long as my previous attempts had. From what my handy book of plants had told me, one of the herbs, a leafy plant which had leaves in the shape of six pointed stars, was able to numb the skin on contact. He could vouch for that one personally, as I had brushed my hand against one of the leaves while trying to get a clipping. The other, a small red mushroom with a series of web-like cracks on the cap, was said to increase metabolism. There was a small note in that section saying that it was a common ingredient in beginner mana potions, but I wasn¡¯t sure how that worked. Now that I had finished that, I started the process of testing combinations. First, I tried combining the two new herbs, stillleaf and spider cap, together in various ratios to try to get a result. None of the combinations seemed to feel right to me, like it did with the poison or the healing spell. It was always too unnatural. Kind of a square peg and round hole deal. So, next I tried mixing spider cap with the other herbs, one by one. I actually got two combinations to work, one from mixing it with blood weed, and the other from mixing it with maple bloom. Strangely, when I found the most potent combinations of each, I was awarded with the following message twice.
New Spell Developed!
??? - Nature Magic Spell - ??? ??? Mana Cost: 15
Is it because I don¡¯t actually know what effect the combinations would have? I wasn¡¯t really all that keen on being a test subject for a potentially poisonous spell, but I had to try something. After giving it some thought, I cast the first variant on myself, and waited. Keeping an eye on my status, my health was not dropping, my hands were not slowed, and my mana was not recovering faster. I even opened up my character window to check my stats, and my health and mana regen were not increased. Well, I know it¡¯s something¡­ There was only one other thing that I figured it could be, given the nature of the two herbs, but I was not going to like testing it. Casting Alchemic Poison on myself, using the paralytic poison from the Heart Grass, I felt my body tense up, refusing to follow my commands as it should. Then, I quickly channeled my mana to cast the newest spell on myself, and that feeling faded away. At the same time, details for the spell appeared in the windwo.
New Spell Developed!
Alchemic Antidote - Nature Magic Spell - ¡ï¡î This spell mixes the mana signatures of different herbs to create an effect that will dispel poisons. The dispelling effect will only work on poisons equal or weaker to the strength of the antidote mixture used. Mana Cost: 15
I smiled slightly, seeing that I now had an antidote spell in case something went wrong. Though, I was hoping that would have been the combination for a mana potion. Looks like I still need to find the last ingredient for that. Anyways, I sat down and waited a couple of minutes for my mana to recover, before I tried the second spell. This time, the information window changed, no longer displaying this as a new spell. But at the same time, I coughed up a mouthful of blood. To no surprise, this combination had created an accelerated poison, which if my insides are being honest caused rapid internal bleeding. Never again! I quickly cast my Alchemic Antidote and Alchemic Heal spells on myself, coughing up another mouthful of blood after I recovered. Okay, next time one of the spells includes a poison substance, I am going to go find a rabbit or something to test it on! Next, I started from the beginning, going through the combinations with blood weed to see if there were any other spell effects. To my surprise, there actually was not. After that was the fireflower petals. I was tempted to just search the mana signature of the entire plant, but the herbology guide said that only the petals were useful. And once I mixed together fireflower with stillleaf, I ended up with another unknown combination. Trying it out on myself was probably not a smart idea, but I didn¡¯t consider stillleaf¡¯s numbing effect to be a toxic enough effect to warrant an external test. I probably should have. A while later, I woke up at the same spot I had been sitting, unsure of how much time had passed. Looking around, I saw I had a message from Jacobs, asking how I managed to level so fast. Of course, what caught my attention was the other window that had appeared.
New Spell Developed!
Alchemic Sleep - Nature Magic Spell - ¡ï This spell mixes the mana signatures of different herbs to cause the target creature to fall asleep. Mana Cost: 10
Great¡­ now I have a sleep spell, too.. Shaking my head, I dismissed the notification and opened the chat with Jacobs. ¡°Hey, sorry I didn¡¯t get your message before, had a bit of a mix up with a new spell.¡± It wasn¡¯t long later when he replied. ¡°No worries, I just sent it a minute ago. But seriously, man, how¡¯d you jump four levels already? I was grinding like crazy last night because the guards said that the morning was the most dangerous time to hunt.¡± I chuckled, doing my best to contain my joy as I spoke. ¡°Oh, nothing much, just poisoned a big group and a few wolves while they were fighting each other.¡± ¡°....That¡¯s totally cheating. You know that, right?¡± ¡°Yup. But don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be able to keep that up forever. I mean, how useful is it going to be once we get to the level where everyone is carrying around health potions or antidotes, and wielding the more high-tech weapons? Alchemy is only going to take me so far for now, unless I stumble on a really good recipe. On the other hand, your Gravity Magic will probably be a useful spell school no matter where you are.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He chuckled at that, and I could almost hear him nodding his head as he replied. ¡°True, true. Going to be working on learning Enchanting today. Got the feeling it¡¯ll be pretty useful later.¡± ¡°Probably a good idea.¡± I nodded, and there was a distant ding in my mind as I thought about how all of the current tech in the game was fueled by mana. Since they wanted this to be realistic, then obviously any tech developed here would work the same as in real life. But since we had yet to leave our own solar system in real life, that meant that they had to fill in the gaps with magic, like a mana-powered FTL drive, or a portal gate between worlds. ¡°Don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be picking up another skill yet, or wait until I get to a bigger town. I can¡¯t really get anything tech-related here.¡± ¡°True, again. I figure I¡¯ll keep carpentry mostly for crafting furniture, get myself ready for if I can get my own house. Enchanting, however, is my go-to skill for making magical items. Maybe there¡¯ll even be a branch of it to cover Magitech crafting.¡± ¡°No idea. I don¡¯t know anyone that would be high enough level to ask.¡± I confirmed with my contacts list, and aside from my mom, who may not have even met a colony yet, I didn¡¯t know anyone else with a level in the double digits. ¡°Well, going to go and find out eventually. Wish me luck!¡± He laughed into the connection, and then dropped it, likely going to learn his new skill. With the call dropped, a message appeared in front of me.
Your actions have indirectly caused the death of a wolf pack.
The poisoned rabbits you let the wolves take were shared among the pack, weakening them enough that when a stronger predator attacked they were unable to put up much of a fight and were wiped out. I hope you feel proud of yourself.
You have leveled up!
You have reached level 10! Inventory size increased. You may now choose a class.
I blinked slightly. Okay, sure, I might have actually been proud of myself for inadvertently causing the death of an entire wolf pack. I definitely felt proud of myself for reaching level 10, and the option to choose a class felt very nice. Opening up my character sheet, I saw there was now the option to change my class away from Novice. Clicking it, I was shown a wide list of possible choices. They seemed to be listed in the order of relevance to my current skills.
DruidKnown as the guardians of nature, the druids are a fairly secretive people, borrowing the power of the natural world in order to fuel their abilities. Advanced Class example: Xeno-shifter, able to mimic the appearance and aspects of alien races.
HuntsmanExisting within nature, and knowing how to live alone, the huntsmen are a proud archetype. Whether in the city or the jungle, even in the outer reaches of space, they are able to find the means to survive. Advanced Class example: Bounty Hunter, a mercenary which takes on the job of hunting people for profit.
MageThe arcane masters of the realm, mages are the intellectuals, the ones who gave the various worlds most of their power they have to this day. Advanced Class example: Tech-Mage, a mage specializing in manipulating or creating Magitech.
RogueLiving in the shadows, stealing life and coin with but a thought, the rogues are powerful allies and deadly foes. Through poison, stealth, and cunning, they can defeat any challenge. Advanced Class example: Assassin, refining the art of killing to the utmost.
FighterFor those uninterested in stealth, uncaring for the arcane practices, and not bowing their knee to pray to a god, there can only be the path of the fighter. Wielding any variety of weapons, they can tear through an enemy with a giant''s strength. Advanced Class example: Soldier, specializing in advanced weapons.
PriestThose loyal to a god may draw their powers from realms beyond, causing harm or aid to befall their targets. While you will be restricted to the path of your chosen deity, you will gain powers more easily as you seek their guidance. Advanced Class example: Apostle, an embodiment of the chosen deity.
KnightHoly warriors, those who show the wrath of the gods while protecting those who cannot protect themselves. They honor the edicts of their deities, and show those who oppose them the power of the heavens. Advanced Class example: Crusader, spreading the word and wrath to worlds beyond.
CraftsmanEvery fighter needs his weapon. Every captain needs his ship. The Craftsman are those that specialize in production, often joining hands to create grand projects. Unlike other classes, they gain experience through crafting. Advanced Class example: Starlight Sculptor, able to sculpt the light of the stars into beautiful works.
MerchantWithout economy, the world would be in chaos. Without merchants, there would be no economy. A merchant may gain experience through trading, often going vast distances, maybe even to entirely new planets, to turn a profit. Advanced Class example: Smuggler, a dealer of illicit goods specializing in discretely transporting them across borders undetected.
I looked through the classes, a bit surprised. Not surprised that there were so many options, but that there were so few. Though, each class had an Advanced Class example listed, so they could likely evolve over time. I glanced at the list of nine classes several times before I decided to narrow my choices to the top three. Anything below that I was truly not qualified for. After all, the fourth option was for Rogue, and the only rogue-like skills I have are poison and Mana Signature, which suggests it may eventually be a suitable stealth skill. Anything below that I have absolutely nothing for. So¡­ Druid, Hunstman, or Mage. Thinking over it for a while, I weighed the pros and cons of each, before ultimately making my choice. For better or worse, the class I picked was¡­. ------------------------------------------- Author¡¯s Corner: You decide! Chapter 10: The AI, the Witch, and my god, that wardrobe. Author¡¯s Corner: Alright folks! I know I said I was waiting for 100 votes on the poll before, but since Druid had a large majority with 51 votes before we even reached the 100 requirement, I decided to go ahead and write! ------------------------------------------------------------
You have selected the base class ''Druid''.
+10 Wisdom, +5 Intelligence.
You have received a class quest
The Ways of the World Rank ¡ï Druid Class Quest Look for someone to teach you the ways of the druids. Time Limit: None Reward: Druid Class Skills Failure: None
Having made my choice, I noticed that choosing the class gave a set of stat points, which seemed to indicate wisdom being the most important stat to a druid. As such, I poured my five points from leveling up into the stat as well. Simply selecting a class was equivalent to gaining three levels, so I was rather happy with it. Looking up, the sun had yet to go down, so my sleep effect likely hadn¡¯t lasted for very long. Picking myself up, I dusted off my clothes and made my way back towards the mage¡¯s tower. While she wasn¡¯t exactly a druid, the shaman instructor should be able to show me to someone who was. Once I arrived there, I made my way over to see her. ¡°Excuse me, may I have a moment?¡± It looked like she had just gotten out of a ¡®class¡¯ with another group of players, so I tried my best to be polite. After she looked over to me, she suddenly smiled for some reason. ¡°Oh, sure. You seem to have grown quite a bit since last time.¡± We walked a fair distance away from the others before I decided to ask. ¡°Do you know where I can find a druid?¡± She smirked knowingly at my comment. ¡°Chose your class, did you?¡± I blinked, having not expected her to know about how players choose classes, before she continued. ¡°Everyone gets one chance to decide which of the nine paths in life they face once they reach a certain level of strength. For those of this world, we go to a temple and pray to the god or goddess of our chosen path, but we were told that you travelers would not need to do so thanks to your connections to the gods.¡±¡¯ ¡°I see. But yes, I decided to follow the path of a druid, and need to find someone that will be able to teach me.¡± I tried my best to remain calm. The NPCs in this game were a lot more realistic and knowledgeable about players than most games allowed. ¡°Well, that won¡¯t be too hard. He¡¯s a bit outside of town, in order to not be disturbed, but I can take you to him. First, though, we need to get you your companion AI.¡± She raised the sleeve of her robe to reveal a metallic wristband with a blue display screen. Now that I think about it, don¡¯t all of the NPCs have their wrists covered? I hadn¡¯t given much thought to it before, as it was just local fashion, but this made me piece it together. ¡°So, what is it?¡± I could guess a bit from what she had called it, but I didn¡¯t know what all it was for. ¡°The companion AI is a device to help anyone that seeks to gain strength and travel the worlds. Alliance policy is to wait to hand them out to people until they have chosen their class with the gods, to stop them from charging off without the ability to survive.¡± As she spoke, she signalled to someone else that she was going to be leaving for a while, and escorted me out of the building. ¡°They are simple devices that help display information for you, and record your adventures. For instance, if you had chosen to be a mage, you could download a rune database into your companion, and save a list of customized spells. Since you learned alchemy, you can also save your notes on that into it.¡± I nodded my head slightly at her explanation. ¡°So that¡¯s what Lisara meant when she said I¡¯d be getting a device to replace my journal soon.¡± ¡°Right. But one of the most important things about the companion AI is that it can evolve. Not in the physical sense, but it will develop a personality over time, and certain items will be able to grant it upgrades. Since it accompanies you everywhere in your adventure, and automatically records any new information, you can ask it questions about things you don¡¯t understand or have forgotten. Since this is your first companion, it¡¯ll be free. But if it gets broken you¡¯ll need to pay to repair it or get a new one.¡± With that done, we arrived in front of a building. From the sign, it seemed to be the general store for this village, which I had for some reason never thought to visit. ...Seriously, why was I still wearing level 1 clothes? And damaged ones, at that! I let out a small sigh as I realized I probably could have been wearing actual armor by now, or at least robes enchanted with a bit of defense. As we entered the store, there was an elven man with long black hair wiping down the counter. ¡°Greetings, Her Tinyness.¡± The man smirked to the loli teacher, who started to clench her fists and gave off a rather terrifying aura. ¡°Sorry, sorry, you know your company is always appreciated, Rita.¡± I really need to start asking for people¡¯s names¡­ I shook my head at how forgetful I was about it, and was going to remedy it immediately when Rita spoke up. ¡°Yeah, can it, Harlan. This guy is just ready for his first companion.¡± She pointed a thumb at me, causing him to raise a curious eyebrow. ¡°Really? He managed to get the gods¡¯ approval wearing just that?¡± He looked questioningly at me. ¡°Yeah¡­ don¡¯t remind me¡­ Forgot to get new equipment.¡± I sighed helplessly, making him chuckle a bit. ¡°Well, no matter. As they say, the gods work in mysterious ways.¡± He then reached into a hidden compartment behind the counter and pulled out a wristband similar to the one that Rita was wearing. ¡°Here you go, your first companion. Do you want to purchase any additional software for it?¡± I tilted my head, considering it. ¡°Is there an alchemy guide that I could get?¡± To which he nodded, getting my hopes up. I should know better by now, really. ¡°The Basic Alchemy Handbook, complete with listings of all lesser herbs and their known effects, as well as several recipes, is available for thirty silver.¡± He smiled as if that was already a discount, shattering what little hopes I had left. My mere one silver couldn¡¯t afford anything¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ I¡¯ll pass, thanks¡­¡± I tried not to sound as if I had been run over by a truck, I really did. The giggle that sounded up next to me made me realize I failed miserably. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°Alright then, just strap this on, and choose the basic settings.¡± I stepped forward at his invitation, accepting the wristband, and put it on. A moment later, a message appeared on the screen of the device. New user detected. Retrieving mana sample¡­ Mana sample acquired. Insert user name. A holographic keyboard appeared above the wristband, which I used to type out my name. Without realizing it, I had typed out my character name, rather than my player name. That¡¯s really going to get annoying.. Falenel registered as owner. Please assign companion gender designation. I blinked at that, looking up to Rita. She grinned wryly, nodding her head. ¡°After it develops a bit, it¡¯ll have its own electronic voice. The gender assignment helps you determine the path the personality and voice will take. Though, most of the personality is based on how you act and speak with it.¡± I nodded back to her, and immediately chose female. If I¡¯m going to have someone to talk to whenever I play the game, I¡¯d rather it at least sound like a beautiful woman, rather than a gruff man. This unit registered as female. Do you wish to assign a name to this companion? This option didn¡¯t surprise me as much as the last one. I could see some people viewing the AI as merely a tool to use, and not bother naming it. However, I quickly typed in a name I was rather fond of, someone I had dated for a time in the real world. This unit shall now identify as Celeste. ¡°So, what is a basic AI able to do?¡± I asked out loud, curiously. Before Rita had a chance to explain, my wristband displayed another screen with text on it. A first level companion AI is capable of observing, recording, and reviewing. I may notice aspects of your environment that you fail to, or more quickly make a connection between a situation and relevant information. As I have tapped into your mana flow, I can see whatever you see, though I do not have the power to alter your perceptions or change the flow of mana in any way without prior upgrades. After reading the message, I glanced over to Rita with a curious expression. She smiled and explained. ¡°I said before that they could be upgraded. Some upgrades improve mana efficiency or increase recovery. Some allow them to modify your field of vision to form a sort of heads up display. I¡¯ve even heard that there was an upgrade that allowed you to have full 360 degree vision for a short while.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ I would probably like the display one, since it would be more handy than reading from a display screen.¡± This time it was the shopkeeper who explained. ¡°Just give it a little bit until she can form her own voice. I¡¯ve never seen it take more than a day for an AI to be able to start speaking verbally to its owner. And for that time, I¡¯d suggest against fighting monsters. Remember, it records all of your experiences to establish its base personality. If its first day is filled with violence, it will in turn have a violent personality.¡± Okay¡­ so no more mass murdering bunnies until it is able to talk, gotcha. I nodded my head slightly at that. For the most part, I had already gotten rid of my grudge against the horned rabbits, so that wasn¡¯t too much of a problem. Looking over to Rita, I figured I was done here. ¡°You were going to take me to see the druid instructor?¡± Rita nodded her head for a moment, and then opened her eyes as if suddenly remembering. ¡°Oh, right! Sorry, forgot about it. First time helping someone with their companion. Later, Harlan!¡± She turned around and quickly left the store. Following behind her, I decided to pull out my book of plants to quickly flip through it while we walked. If Celeste records everything I see, then I shouldn¡¯t need to spend more than a few seconds on each page for her to acquire all the information on it. And this way, she should be able to help identify plants that I overlook. It didn¡¯t take more than a couple minutes to finish the book and put it away again, and by that time we were just leaving the village.. ... I forgot to get armor again! Our walk through the woods was actually fairly easy, with not a single animal attacking us. Although the rabbits we passed sent me mean glares(which didn¡¯t look so mean with their adorable faces), none of them acted while I was with Rita. Even the wolves backed away as we walked by. ¡°Are you using magic to stop them..?¡± I asked as we passed by a mother wolf who was using her body to shield her pups from view. ¡°Hmm? No, I¡¯ve just been out here a few times, so they know better. Animals are more sensitive to energies, so they can feel your aura to determine your strength.¡± Ahh¡­ so it¡¯s a matter of level, then. I nodded my head in understanding, and my wrist vibrated slightly. Well, Celeste vibrated, and I had to look down to her. On her holographic display was a blue arrow, and when I followed it I saw the black mushroom I had been looking for previously. Thank you, Celeste! I grinned happily, nodding my thanks, and quickly retrieved the mushroom before continuing on. It took us about twenty minutes of walking before we found a small lake in the forest. At the edge of the lake was a young man, sitting there with a gnarled staff in one hand, and petting a wolf with the other. His robes were long and green, such that if he stood up I might have trouble figuring out where the grass ended and he began. ¡°Jarl, we have a student for you.¡± Rita spoke up with a smile as we drew closer. The man¡¯s head lifted up and he looked at me, slowly a smile spread across his lips. ¡°Ah, looks like things are about to get exciting again.¡±
You have completed a class quest!
The Ways of the World Rank ¡ï Druid Class Quest Look for someone to teach you the ways of the druids. Time Limit: None Reward: Druid Class Skills Failure: None
Chapter 11: I Can be a Cultivation Expert Too? Author¡¯s Corner: Yes, there is a second chapter today! Blame my boredom. Or thank it, if you like the story. --------------------------------------------------------------- After introducing me to Jarl, Rita went back to town. I may have been a bit scared now that she was gone, I¡¯ll admit. Getting here was easy with her, but getting back¡­ well, I guess dying counts as easy, right? Well, I haven¡¯t really taken a good look at my character info since I got my class, and I guess I should take care of that.
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 1020.0%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassNoneDeityMalthan
Health100/100Health Regen0.17
Mana360/360Mana Regen0.33
Strength12Wisdom55
Agility20Intelligence36
Dexterity17Charisma9
Vitality10Luck14
Points Remaining0
So, I¡¯m now getting back a mana point every three seconds, which is nice. And there is a new entry, for Sub-Classes¡­ not really sure what that¡¯s for. Maybe that¡¯s like what it listed before, with the Xeno-Shifter? But that was called an Advanced Class. ¡°So, you already know my name, but what is yours?¡± It took me a moment to realize that Jarl had spoken, but soon I looked up and saw him waiting for my answer. ¡°Ah, sorry. My name is Falenel.¡± I had long since given up trying to introduce myself with my real name, and by now was just going with the flow. ¡°I see, and you were accepted as a druid, then? Well, I guess that means I should teach you our most fundamental skill.¡± Jarl chuckled slightly, slowly rising to his feet. The wolf next to him looked up sadly at the loss of his hand on its head. ¡°Keep in mind, just because you chose to represent the druids does not mean you are the only one able to learn the skills. Anyone is able to learn any type of skills, if they put in the effort. The trick is what you specialize in.¡± I nodded my head, indicating I understood as he continued. ¡°The first, and most important skill in a druid¡¯s arsenal, is known as World Casting. Think of it as a mix between divine and arcane magic. While we are not beseeching any god to grant us power, we are borrowing power from the world itself. This grants us a number of different abilities, such as increased mana and health regeneration, and more flexible control over the elements. However, this only lasts while we are in the presence of elements we have familiarized ourselves with. This process is known as ¡®gaining an affinity¡¯.¡± ¡°Every creature born capable of manipulating mana is also born with a natural affinity. Though, they don¡¯t tend to exceed a very small amount except for in the cases of beasts naturally able to control an element. In the old days, it was a matter of trial and error to figure out someone¡¯s affinities, but thankfully we have tech that can tell us.¡± He digs around in his pockets for a few moments, until he pulls out a thin metal strip. ¡°This will be the first real upgrade for your companion, assuming you weren¡¯t rich enough to buy something already.¡± He gave me a knowing smile. I guess it¡¯s not an uncommon thing to hope for addons to the companion early on. ¡°It gives your companion the ability to read how your aura interacts with the elements, in order to determine how high your affinity is with them.¡± After he hands me the metal strip, I look at it confused for a moment, not sure how I am supposed to upgrade Celeste. ¡°Just hold it over the display, and your companion will scan the data.¡± I nodded, doing as he said, and there was a brief light from Celeste, before she displayed another holographic screen. This one floated several inches above her display, and looked like a three dimensional chart. On the chart were hundreds of tiny bumps of various colors, which I was completely unable to make out at all. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of elements¡­¡± Jarl raised an eyebrow, and then looked at the display, before chuckling. ¡°Oh, yeah. Sorry, we call them elements, but really there are affinities for anything. Sound, light, dark, even emotions have an affinity. Tell your companion to only list the ¡®big seven¡¯, and your three strongest lesser affinities.¡± I looked down to my wristband. ¡°Uh¡­ do¡­ whatever he just said.¡± There was a slight beep, before almost all of the little bumps on the chart disappeared, leaving only ten remaining. Now that there was more space for the ten there, more information about each was displayed. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, Lightning¡­ those are all pretty much expected¡­ Light and Dark, not uncommon.. Then my eyes looked at the three ¡®lesser affinities¡¯. Plants, understandable. I¡¯ve done most of my training in game with plants¡­ Luck¡­ well¡­ okay, I¡¯m not that surprised. I did get a Wild Luck skill, after all. And the third is¡­Madness. Why do I feel like I¡¯m being trolled right now? Sadly, each of these affinities were just one or two percent, with Plant Affinity being the highest at three. As if having expected that, Jarl nodded his head. ¡°Like I said, the affinities will be naturally low to start with. The fact that you have one at 3% already shows that you are either really lucky, or have been accidentally training in the right way. Once you reach 5% in any affinity, you will start to be able to control that element with your magic. This will in most ways act the same as an arcane magic caster, but you will not need nearly as much mana, since you are just influencing what is already there. ¡°The downside is the amount of time it takes to train an affinity, as well as the requirement that it needs to be present in your surroundings. For example, if you¡¯re on a spaceship, the Plant Affinity will not do you much good. That¡¯s the difference between World Casting and Arcane Casting. One controls, and the other creates. Once I go over the other skills a druid needs, I¡¯ll teach you how to cultivate your affinities.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but groan slightly as he said cultivate. I played a Xianxia style VR once, and cultivation took ages. If they didn¡¯t have a fast forward option, I would never have been able to do it. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t give me that. Once you practice for a little while, you¡¯ll be able to do it as easy as breathing. Now, the other big skills of a druid would naturally be their control over nature.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I nodded my head, trying to keep my voice even. I really didn¡¯t want to learn how to cultivate like that again. ¡°Yeah, I learned Nature Magic, or at least started to.¡± He smiled at that. ¡°Good, good. That¡¯ll make this easier. No matter which path you want to take as a druid, you will need to practice that. You can have an army of animal companions, or turn into animals yourself, or even cause plants to poison enemies. It¡¯d be a good idea to think about what kind of druid you want to be early on, so that you can start developing towards that path.¡± My mind naturally went towards the Xeno-Shifter. It couldn¡¯t be as easy as choosing an Advanced Class right away, could it? ¡°I want to be able to take on the properties of other creatures, maybe learn more about the alien races.¡± Again, Jarl chuckled knowingly. ¡°I take it you were shown information on the Xeno-Shifters. Yes, most who see that information tend to want to pursue it. And, if that is your decision, I would suggest focusing on the bestial portions of Nature Magic, and maybe some more alchemy. Rita brought you here, so if you have Nature Magic, she likely made you learn that too. Knowing alchemy will help, once you learn how things react together. For instance, if you learn how to combine twenty different plants to form a single spell, you¡¯ll have enough mastery over your mana to start mimicking the special abilities of alien races.¡± I blinked a bit at his requirement. Twenty plants? Here I thought I was doing good to have so many spells for sets of two plants. Nevertheless, I nodded to him. ¡°Alright. How exactly do I train the beast magic? I can¡¯t exactly study the animals like I would plants¡­ they seem to be more interested in eating me than anything else.¡± Jarl smirked slightly. ¡°Well, you could try studying a dead one, but sitting in front of a rotting corpse and having to focus on it for long periods just doesn¡¯t sit well with most. The other option is to try to make nice with an animal. This is why most druids are seen with at least one animal companion. If you can keep a single animal by your side, you can practice your magic together with it. You can release the animal any time you want, but if they have grown fond of you they may still try to follow. At the same time, if you are cruel to your animal, they will turn on you like anything else.¡± Not getting a bunny. ¡°Okay.. so how do I make nice with an animal? Just give it some food?¡± I had never really owned a pet, so I wasn¡¯t sure what I was doing here. ¡°Well, depends on the animal. If you were taming a rabbit, I¡¯d say feed it some blood weed. For a wolf, giving it some meat would help. As long as they don¡¯t see you as a threat, and are willing to get close enough, you can establish a link with them. Just send your mana into their body, and focus on connecting to their mind. That will allow for basic communication. No, you won¡¯t be able to use words to speak to each other, but emotions and feelings can still get a meaning across.¡± Still not getting a bunny. ¡°I think I understand. Not really, but I¡¯ll give it a shot. Now, what was it you said about¡­ cultivating?¡± ¡°Right. It¡¯s really easy, honestly. With enough practice, you can do it without even thinking, while you go about your normal day. Basically, just send your mana out to connect to an element. That¡¯s the first step. Then, try to attune your mana to match that element. Finally, try to cycle the mana. What I mean by that is pulling just a little bit of the mana from your element and assimilating it with your own mana. This is also what gives us increased health and mana regeneration, since we can resupply our own mana with elements we have a good affinity with.¡± I nodded my head again, thinking that this was definitely not as bad as I had first imagined. As long as I wasn¡¯t channeling the mana through my veins or whatever, it was fine. I shuddered at the memory of that game. ¡°Okay, I think I¡¯ll work on that for a little bit. I can grab an animal companion afterwards.¡± He shrugged his shoulders, not really caring either way. ¡°Up to you. The more you experience with an animal companion, the stronger it will grow. Since you don¡¯t plan to use the companion for more than practicing your magic, it¡¯s not really necessary, but if you cultivate affinities with it, then it¡¯s possible your animal will learn to cultivate as well. Just remember to treat your animal well when you have it, or it may turn on you.¡± I nodded again, sitting down and closing my eyes. Out of my affinities with the ¡®big seven¡¯, one of the highest was earth. So, I placed my hand on the ground and began sending mana out into it in much the same way as I had been doing with the plants. Except, there was no circuit this time keeping my mana contained, so I was steadily losing energy as I was doing this. I soon learned that there was a thick layer of energy just below the surface of the ground, and assumed that was what I was looking for. Since I had practiced so much with plants, it didn¡¯t take me too long to match my mana to that of the earth. There were just a few properties that were new to me, but not unexpected. For instance, how stubborn the energy was, reflecting its real nature. Once I was done with that, I tried pulling the mana back into me, which didn¡¯t go so well. Did I mention that earth mana was stubborn? I had to dump over fifty mana into the connection before even a steady trickle of it started coming back to me. Now that I had the mana coming back to me, I just focused on maintaining that sensation. Thankfully it cost a lot less mana to hold the connection than to establish it, but I was still steadily losing energy. By the time my focus lapsed and I lost the mana, I was already down to 30% mana. After resting to recover my mana, I started the process all over again. I was eagerly anticipating the part where he said I¡¯d be able to do this effortlessly¡­ But I figured once I got the skill to control earth, I would go hunting for an animal test subject-- I mean companion. ------------------------------------------- Author¡¯s Basement: Hey there people! No poll this time, but I want to ask, what do YOU think Falenel should have as his animal companion? Feel free to mention animals that haven¡¯t shown up yet, as he has only explored the area just around the village. There is still much left for him to find. Chapter 12: Mine? Author¡¯s Corner: Reading through the comments of the last chapter, the animal companion has been decided! Rejoice, for it is not a bunny! ------------------------------------------------ The process of growing my Earth Affinity was extremely slow, given that I had to pause every now and then to recover my mana. That¡¯s not even taking into account the occasions when I lost focus and the connection faltered. Though, once it increased from 2% to 3%, I noticed it was slightly easier to maintain the link. If I had to guess, I¡¯d be able to maintain it without worry about my mana costs at 5%, and be able to maintain it with little to no effort at 10%. Still, just that 1% increase took three hours. I ended up staying there the entire night, focusing on that connection with earth mana. Every now and then, I would talk to my parents or Jacobs while waiting for my mana to recover, but for the most part that time was spent entirely focused. From 3% to 4% took another six hours, after which I was too tired to focus anymore and could only pass out on the ground. When I awoke, I was too hungry to focus on cultivating mana right away. Remembering what had happened before, I decided to log off to eat. With my Seed opening, I noticed that it was no longer dark outside, meaning that I had played until morning. Of course, with the time dilation, that was still over two full days in the game. Getting up, I did a quick set of stretches, because I had basically laid in a bed for the last ten hours. Surprisingly, my body wasn¡¯t tense at all. I pretty much felt exactly as I had before logging out. ¡°Damn, that game is almost too realistic¡­¡± I shook my head, heading down to the kitchen. Even in the most vivid of VR games, there was always this feeling that let you know the world around you wasn¡¯t real, no matter how much your mind tried to tell you it was. You could get stuck in an illusion of your real life and still easily know you were in the game. But with NeoLife, it was the opposite. Despite the bloodthirsty horned rabbits, the magic, and everything else pointing towards it being a fantasy, it felt real. Making myself an omelette, I took the chance to enjoy a full breakfast for once. Food synthesizers were commonplace, where all you had to have was the ingredients and the recipe, and the machine would cook for you almost instantly. However, to me, food just always tasted better when it was made manually. Probably my mom¡¯s influence, as she had always insisted we never use such devices except for emergencies. Such emergencies included Thanksgiving, Christmas, and other holidays when there were too many people coming over to properly cook for everyone. Once I had eaten my fill, I cleaned my dishes and got onto the internet. I wasn¡¯t in a hurry to get back into NeoLife right away, knowing that I¡¯d spend hours just cultivating earth mana once I did so. Instead, I looked to see if there was any new information posted on the game. Since I managed to get to level 10 through luck, with my lack of skill, others should have easily surpassed me. The question was whether or not they had posted the information. Looking through various forums, I ran a search for information related to Sub-Classes and deities. As expected, there wasn¡¯t much information on either, at least not definitive. From the posts I found, there were at least dozens of different deities, and it was impossible to tell how they were assigned to people. Two people, both fighters wielding two-handed weapons, could have two completely different deities assigned to them. As for Sub-Classes, from what I could piece together, a Sub-Class was a step below Advanced Classes. Basically, you choose your Sub-Class to gain the skills needed to unlock an Advanced Class. Like with regular classes, you could still gain the skills without taking the Sub-Class, but they were more difficult. The most common examples on the forums were different kinds of Mage Sub-Classes, such as Necromancers, Evokers, or Summoners. There wasn¡¯t any information how to obtain a Sub-Class, just that when you met the requirements, you would get the option to get it, and you could only have one. Shaking my head, I went back to my Seed to get back into the game. There was practically no information on Druids, since people preferred more tech-oriented classes in the game. So naturally, there was no information about what Sub-Class I needed to get the Xeno-Shifter Advanced Class, or how to obtain it. I could only obediently follow Jarl¡¯s instructions. However, once I was back ingame, a window appeared in front of me that made my eye twitch reflexively.
New Skill Acquired!
Cooking - Basic Level 3 Exp: 52% The art of cooking is an important survival skill for any in the wild. While modern technology can make the skill obsolete, it is still important to understand for when the technology is unavailable.
It¡¯s even giving me skills for things I do outside of the game¡­ I took a few moments to calm down after realizing that. There were a number of different ways such things were possible. A simple memory scan upon login would reveal the information, for example. Since the game was linked directly to my mind, it was entirely possible. It was just odd if that was the case, because games that use memory scans to identify skill usage in the real world typically grant the user any of their known skills when they make their character. I had a few thoughts about logging out and doing some hacking to get that skill, but I quickly cast that thought aside. Even if computers worked the same here as in the real world, it wasn¡¯t worth the risk of getting caught. I¡¯d just do some quick hacking work when I got to a computer I could practice on in the game. Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled episode of cultivating mana! Today we have¡­ well, me, cultivating earth mana again. As expected, it took over six hours to get Earth Affinity to 5%, but after I did so, I was happy to see that I could pull mana from the earth just as fast as the mana was spent. It effectively created the same kind of circuit pattern that I would do between my hands when preparing magic.
New Ability Unlocked!
Earth Manipulation - Earth Affinity - ¡î Through focus and the appropriate use of mana, the user is able to manipulate the ground around them.
Only half a star rank? But more importantly, this is an ability, not a skill¡­ I thought about it for a moment, and then pulled up my windows. As expected, there was an Ability Window separate from my Skill Window.
BaseAbilities
Nature MagicNature''s Grasp ¡ï Alchemic Heal ¡ï Alchemic Poison ¡ï¡î Alchemic Antidote ¡ï¡î Alchemic Sleep ¡ï
Wind MagicGust ¡ï Wind Bullet ¡ï
Nature Magic + Wind MagicPoison Spores ¡ï¡ï
Earth AffinityEarth Manipulation ¡î
So abilities level up based on the relevant skills or affinities, rather than grinding them. Then is Earth Manipulation only half a star rank because Earth Affinity is at 5%? How many stars would it be if I managed to get it to 100%? I thought to myself as I maintained the cycling of earth mana. Like I had planned initially, it was time to go looking for an animal companion. I had given a bit of thought to what kind of companion I wanted while doing my cultivation, and ultimately I decided that the best thing for me would be a bird. While a wolf could track an animal through smells, a bird was able to fly and get a good view of the situation. And, if I was eventually able to copy the qualities of my animal companion, I¡¯d much rather have the ability to fly than to sniff things really well. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. At this time, a sweet voice entered into my ear. ¡°Ah, finally done?¡± Taking a quick look around, I found nobody in sight that would have caused the voice which seemed to belong to a little girl. The action did, however, earn a giggle from the voice. ¡°Down here, down here!¡± Following the voice, I looked down to my wrist. Suddenly, a holographic display of a girl in her late teens appeared. She seemed extremely energetic, and the appearance she had taken was a girl still growing. Though, that doesn¡¯t mean she wasn¡¯t already exceptionally cute. It took several seconds for me to piece together the hologram¡¯s identity. ¡°...Celeste?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right! You were so busy before, I didn¡¯t want to disturb you and ruin your efforts. It got really boring waiting, you know?¡± The little hologram puffed up her cheeks in a pouting expression, causing me to laugh. I hadn¡¯t realized that Celeste would finish developing her personality while I was still cultivating, but really I should have. The store owner did say it would take no more than a day, and that was almost a full day ago. ¡°Sorry, sorry. I see you ¡®woke up¡¯, though?¡± I was also a bit surprised by her personality. Since most of her time had been spent observing me cultivate earth mana, I had naturally assumed that she would have a more professional attitude like the main character of a Xianxia novel. ¡°Yup. I completed my initial awakening cycle roughly five hours ago.¡± Celeste nodded her virtual head with a wide smile. ¡°So, what are you going to do now? Not practice another element, right?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m going to look for an animal companion. Hoping to get a bird of some kind.¡± After I said that, Celeste paused for a few moments before nodding her head in a decisive manner. ¡°During your walk on the way here, I noted five different species of birds. From their reactions in the presence of you and the other girl, two seemed to be predatory, two were confirmed herbivores, and one was indifferent.¡± I thought about that for a moment, trying to decide what I wanted in my animal companion. An herbivore could just grab the fruits from nearby trees, rather than relying on itself or me to hunt for it. ¡°Can you tell me about the two herbivores?¡± She nodded her head a fraction again. ¡°Alright! The first one was roughly two feet tall, with a green coloring. Its beak was three inches long, and curved at the tip. When you passed it was eating some type of nut, but immediately dropped it and flew away. The other was a bit smaller, just one foot tall, with an unusual defense mechanism. As soon as it noticed you, it dropped the fruit it was eating and altered its coloration to blend into the tree behind it. This species possessed four thin wings and three long feathers in its tail.¡± Certainly not small birds¡­ I had expected her to find some that were only a few inches tall, not two feet. ¡°Alright, can you keep an eye out for the second one, and let me know if you see another one? Also, see if you can find any of the fruits it was eating, since we¡¯ll need something to bribe it with.¡± ¡°Can do.¡± She gave me that sweet smile again before the display vanished. Well, at least my AI companion was an energetic young girl, instead of something more abusive. And since she called this her initial awakening, she might still mature more later on. Bidding farewell to Jarl, I went off into the forest, being very careful about where I stepped. This deep in, it was far too likely that I would encounter an enemy. Not to mention, I was completely lost. I wasn¡¯t too worried about not knowing where I was, though, since I could ask Celeste to help guide me back. Speaking of which, a couple minutes after I started walking, there was a buzz at my wrist. Looking down, there was a small arrow pointing up. Following it, I found a few fruits hanging from the tree above. Great¡­ now how do I get them down? Shoot them down? No, I¡¯m more likely to miss and accidentally hit a wild animal.... Guess that leaves just one option¡­ I sighed in resignation, knowing I was going to regret this. Looking at the tree, there were no shortage of handholds to grab onto and climb the few meters I needed to reach the fruit. I wasn¡¯t afraid of heights, more afraid of what might be hiding in them. Nonetheless, I soldiered on and climbed up, step by step until I was crawling along the branch. It was at this time that I looked down to my wrist again, and felt like crying. The arrow that had appeared to have been pointing at the fruit just out of my reach was now pointing in every direction at once. Don¡¯t tell me¡­ I looked around, and one by one the ¡®leaves¡¯ of this great tree shifted, changing from green to red as wings unfurled. ¡°Uhm...Grab the fruit¡­ and run¡­ fast¡­¡± The little voice at my wrist sounded out meekly, no more eager to be in this situation than I was. They may be herbivores, but in this number they were still easily a threat to me. Reaching forward, I quickly grabbed two of the fruit from the branch I was hugging to chuck them into my inventory, and jumped off. Whether through luck or my stats, I landed without a hitch, and was able to immediately begin running. It wasn¡¯t the sound of thousands of wings flapping at once, or the feeling of the wind buffeting the ground from the sheer number of birds flying through at a low altitude that worried me. It was the other sound coming from them. ¡°Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!¡± Hundreds of high pitched voices saying the same thing, like a swarm of tiny children. They can talk?! And they¡¯re going to alert the whole forest at this rate! I ran, as hard and fast as I could, I ran. Past startled wolves, and sleeping bears, I ran. But they flew faster. Thankfully, their numbers managed to scare off the normal predators that would have been more than happy to eat me for lunch. Even casting a Gust spell behind me only gave me a brief respite as dozens of birds were knocked back. Less than a minute later, my vision had turned completely black, and I stood there awaiting death¡¯s embrace, constantly hearing that one word repeated over and over again. And then I felt feathers all over my body, and was worried that they might be omnivores, not purely herbivores. Were they landing on me to go in for the kill? Minutes passed, and nothing happened. Every now and then, I would still hear that single word echoing around me, but otherwise I was simply wrapped within the strangest feather blanket the world has ever knock. Mine.. wait, don¡¯t tell me they weren¡¯t referring to those fruits¡­ I slowly tried to move one arm, and was surprised to find that there was no resistance. The birds were clinging to my body, but there talons did not dig into my skin. The long feather tails that Celeste had noted seemed to help them in hugging my body to stop themselves from falling off without hurting. When I opened my eyes, I saw that all of the birds that weren¡¯t able to find purchase on my body had instead landed in front of me. ¡°Mine.¡± ¡°Mine.¡± ¡°Mine!¡± Since I was able to freely move, I sighed in relief. I seriously thought they were going to kill me there for a bit. Looking around, I pulled out those two fruits from my inventory. All at once, the eyes of the birds lit up, and I thought they might attack for real. ¡°Mine!¡± ¡°Mine!¡± ¡°Mine!¡± Moving the fruits around, I saw that all of the birds had their eyes glued to them, but were not making any moves to attack. At random, I chose two of the birds to feed, ones which were greedily clinging to my shoulders. The two happily accepted the fruits, making a cooing sound as they did. The others, including the rest that had latched onto me, looked at the ground with a depressed atmosphere. ¡°Aww¡­.¡± They seemed to say at once before flying off again, leaving a confused half-elf alone with two happy birds perched on his shoulders. Chapter 13: The Lovebirds After taking a moment to think about what happened, I looked to the two birds that were happily rubbing their heads against me as if I were an old friend. Then, something occurred to me¡­ The flock of birds which had managed to scare away everything with sheer numbers had just left¡­ it wouldn¡¯t be long before everything came back! ¡°Celeste, I need directions back to the grove, now!¡± Since she¡¯s been recording everything so far, she has to know which way to go for things, so long as I don¡¯t keep my eyes closed when I run. ¡°Sir, yes, sir!!¡± She said, appearing in a military dress up, and doing a silly salute. Then, as I began running for dear life for the second time today, she began guiding me back to where I had been cultivating. On the way there, I naturally caught sight of several animals returning back to their homes now that it appeared safe. A few of them recognized me and cringed away, as if fearing the swarm was right behind me again. Of course, there were several that chose to attack on sight out of frustration as well, including a pair of rather angry looking wolves. I was about three minutes away from the grove at a dead run, and with no way to kill the wolves. The two birds were still uselessly sitting on my shoulders, as if the wolves or the run were of no concern to them. Hastily, I thought through my list of spells, and realized there was only a couple of things that I could do to get them off my trail, but I had to act fast. Those teeth were starting to look very vivid whenever I turned my head back to look. In the same manner as I had fused my Alchemic Poison with Wind Magic, I started fusing Wind Magic and Alchemic Sleep. There was a ding in my head from a notification, but I was a bit too busy to take notice. Stretching my hands out to the side, I worked the makeshift spell to spread the sleep spores behind me. Even if it didn¡¯t knock the wolves out, it should at least make them slow down for a bit! I kept casting the spell again and again, not daring to look back in case I was met with more teeth. By the time I was nearing the grove, my mana had almost completely run out. However, I had finally mustered up the courage to look back, seeing that there were apparently no longer any wolves chasing after me. I let out a sigh of relief, and dragged myself over to the small pond while my legs felt like they were ready to give out. I¡¯ve never run so desperately in my life¡­ and now I did it twice in one day. This can¡¯t be good for my heart.. Looking at the notification that had appeared during my run, I wasn¡¯t surprised to see that it was just another spell notification, letting me know about the new spell Sleep Spores. However, I was a bit surprised when I heard a young voice speak up from nearby, in a rather amused tone. ¡°What¡¯s this? A couple of young lovebirds, huh?¡± Looking over, I saw Jarl smirking in my direction, and quickly looked around as if to find the couple he was talking about. I surely would have noticed people here on a date, right? This is too far out of town for there to be just anyone enjoying a stroll. Seeing my reaction my Jarl laugh earnestly. ¡°The birds, they¡¯re called lovebirds. A pretty common species in the forest, though many people tend to dislike them due to their clingy nature.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I noticed that too.¡± I turned to look at each of the birds on my shoulders, who seemed happy for even that little bit of attention. ¡°What can you tell me about them¡­?¡± Asking him was a far safer option than trying to figure it out on my own, no matter how rewarding the latter experience is supposed to be. ¡°Well, male lovebirds are quite rare, roughly one percent of the species. Thus, they are able to take any mate they want. The males also have decent combat abilities, on par with a full grown wolf, as their talons and beaks are sharper than the females. On the other hand, the females have the ability to camouflage themselves by altering the pigmentation in their feathers. They use this ability to try to attract a male, and hide from predators. ¡°Females not chose as a male¡¯s mate will often hide out in trees near their favorite fruit, earning it the name Heart¡¯s Apple. Whenever someone comes by and picks the fruit, all of the surrounding females will swarm that person until they choose to feed one of them. After that, well¡­ I think you get the picture.¡± He smirked slightly towards the two birds on my shoulders. ¡°So¡­ aside from their stealth ability¡­¡± Before I could even finish asking, he nodded his head. ¡°Completely useless in a fight. Their talons are dull, and their beaks too curved to use as a weapon. Some tried to train them to use their tails as whips, but that never ended well.¡± Great¡­ so I got two useless birds¡­ Well, from the looks of it, nothing short of killing them will make them go away, and I wasn¡¯t exactly looking for a combat pet. Being able to fly and gaining their stealth power is already good enough of a reason to keep them. I sat down, or sprawled out on the ground, depending on how delicate you want to be about it. Once I recovered my mana, I sent a bit into each bird, hoping to establish the animal companion link as Jarl had described it. The birds seemed more than willing to allow it, and even guided the mana to make it happen more quickly. Once it was established, they both squawked out a resounding ¡°Mine!¡± Hearing this reminded me of the swarm, and I cast a depressed look to Jarl. ¡°Can they at least be trained to talk?¡± He smirked again at my misfortune, the bastard! ¡°If you practice your Nature Magic with them enough, they may glean enough information to project a voice. That all depends on how quickly they learn, though.¡± I shook my head helplessly, and propped myself up to sit in a meditative stance. Okay¡­. gameplan, train Nature Magic for a little while until they show signs of being able to learn. Then, start cultivating Wind Affinity. Maybe these birds can pick that up and make themselves useful. In the meantime, I can try to copy their traits. Being able to fly and hide like that would certainly come in handy no matter where I was. ¡°So¡­ how exactly do I practice the bestial aspects of Nature Magic? Rita taught me how to do the plant side, but this doesn¡¯t really seem similar at all.¡± Hearing my sudden question, Jarl looked up at me, and tilted his head before realization dawned on him. ¡°Well, it¡¯s actually quite similar. Just like with the plants, you need to analyze a beast with your mana, identify how they use their ability, and replicate the mana signature. For gaining body parts like wings, you have to carefully analyze the appropriate body part, in as much detail as you can, and then try to guide your mana within your body to match.¡± To demonstrate, he lifted one of his hands up, which quickly turned into an oversized bear paw, lengthening and widening with brown fur sprouting out. The fingers became indistinct as the paw form settled in. A moment later, it started the shift back to a normal hand. ¡°Mastering either the plant or animal sides of Nature Magic will each grant extraordinary gifts. For instance, a master of the beast path can grant themselves eternal youth by simply shifting into a younger form. Likewise, a master of the plant path can use medicinal effects to achieve the same result.¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. I nodded my head, and extended one hand in front of me. Only now did I notice a blinking icon in the corner of my vision, and had to wonder how long it had been there. Once I focused on it, it enlarged into a notification.
You have formed an Animal Companion bond with two Lovebirds
Please name your two new companions.
I blinked a bit, but this wasn¡¯t surprising. I couldn¡¯t really expect the birds to come with names. Though, looking at them, I couldn¡¯t really tell the two apart. I ended up choosing at random, naming the one on my left shoulder Yin, and the other Yang. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I can tell the differences.¡± Celeste spoke up from my wrist again, and I looked down to see that holographic face smirking slightly.
Congratulations! You qualify for a druid Sub-Class!
Beastmaster Often seen with a horde of following companions, the beastmasters are a feared foe. Though only as powerful as their army of animals, such a force should not be taken likely. Advanced Class path: Colony Druid, able to store the bodies and minds of beasts within themselves, and call upon them to fight in times of need.
Do you wish to accept? Y/N
That didn¡¯t take much thought, so I immediately declined the option. I knew what I wanted, and it wasn¡¯t to have a bunch of animals living inside of me. Extending my hand out, I urged Yin mentally to perch on it. She looked carefully at me, before squawking her acceptance and moving to my hand. Yang, seeming to think this meant that she was getting special attention, prodded the side of my head with her curved beak, which was particularly annoying. I could only try to assure her that she¡¯d get the same treatment when I was done. Once Yin was on my hand, I began circulating my mana through her body. The first things I wanted to analyze were her feathers, so that I could quickly learn the ability to disguise myself. Yin twitched a bit, and I could feel an uncomfortable sensation coming from her, but she endured. As if somewhat understanding what I wanted, her feathers began to change color, from deep red to black. The pulse of mana throughout her feathers was almost too fast for me to notice. However, she quickly reverted back to her original coloring. The second time she changed, I was much more accurately able to feel the disturbances in one of her feathers I was focusing on. Seeing that I was pleased, she began flaunting her ability, changing her colors like a rainbow. Given how eagerly she was demonstrating helped me to understand the changes in the mana signature of the feather. It was like there were two different signatures, the outer one and inner one. The outer signature changed every time she shifted colors, and seemed to correspond with the color she took, while the inner one was the true signature. Still, all I needed was the outer one, and information on how it was done. Following the mana pathways, I found that in the shaft of the feather was a mirror-like tube, carrying the color along through the feather and spreading it out. Going further, I found that on Yin¡¯s skin was where the actual pigmentation shifted. The feathers merely reflected the color of wherever they were embedded. Again, I spent some time analyzing this while Yin happily showed off, noting each time I showed a pleased reaction. Yang again began prodding me for equal attention, but I was almost done with this step. Next, I had Yin get back on my shoulder, and had to stop Yang from suddenly jumping into my hands for her turn. These birds were already turning into a real handful. Next, I closed my eyes and did my best to focus, trying to ignore the birds cuddling against me. I had spent over an hour simply memorizing the subtle shifts in Yin¡¯s mana whenever she changed colors, and was confident in being able to replicate it. Unfortunately, it¡¯s never really that easy. The slight shifts in Yin¡¯s mana required a very fine control that I wasn¡¯t sure I was capable of, even though I knew it inside and out. It was like watching someone draw the number 9 on a piece of paper for an hour, and then try to do the same only to realize, you don¡¯t have fingers. At least my practice in mana signatures managed to pay off, but it took me over twice as long to change colors for the first time than it took to memorize the patterns.
New Spell Developed!
Camouflage - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï By compying the mana signatures of an animal capable of disguising itself, you too can hold this gift for the low low price of a small headache! Mana Cost: 30/Minute
I smiled slightly as the prompt appeared, and began working to shift colors again. Even if this was exhausting, I had managed to grind 3 points of Wisdom by trying to control my mana like this for my first shift. Sadly, my mana was being spent faster than it was coming back, so I had to take a break after 40 minutes, during which time I reluctantly pet the two birds. Once my break was over, and my mana returned, I got back to work. This time, I managed to turn my arm green before the 40 minutes had passed, which I considered a great success. Another break, another attempt, this time it took 20 minutes to turn my other arm red. This continued for a while, and by the time I was able to change colors at a whim, the sun had long since set. One thing I was happy to discover was that the 30 mana per minute cost only applied if I covered my whole body. Just doing a smaller part cost less, though I didn¡¯t have enough control to do complex patterns or anything like that. Still, being able to copy the ability to change my color after a few hours of practice made me happy. Tomorrow.. I can try to grow wings, I guess¡­ I thought to myself as I leaned back and drifted off to sleep, a small weight pressing on either of my arms from my new companions. Chapter 14: Lets Go Fly an Elf Author¡¯s Corner: Yay! Finally hit 100 followers. This makes me a happy penguin. If I have the time today, I¡¯ll type up an extra chapter to commemorate. ----------------------------------- You know, even without the game being as realistic as they are, the Seeds would still be a popular investment. If for no other reason than you can sleep in them, and only require a fifth of the sleep. Other games with a time dilation, you either sleep for the equivalent of eight real hours, or you can¡¯t sleep in game at all. When I woke up in the morning, I was feeling particularly refreshed, feeling a slight weight pinning down either of my arms. I¡¯d like to say that I looked over to my sides and found beautiful women lying naked again me, but really it was just two annoying birds that refuse to leave me alone. Part of me had held some sliver of hope that they got bored of me and left in the night, but nope, still there. Either way, they woke up as soon as I started sitting up. I didn¡¯t bother to log out for breakfast this time, choosing just to satisfy myself with some stale bread. I was saving my home cooked meal today for lunch, which should occur around dinner time? It¡¯s all wibbly wobbly, timey wimey. Anyways, back to my magic training, woohoo¡­ I can¡¯t help but feel like I got ripped off again. While I¡¯ve been here spending days cultivating earth mana, or learning how to change my skin tone, both my father and Jacobs have already passed me in levels again. My father had apparently decided to take up life as a rogue, to best use his psychic talents, well Jacobs naturally went for a mage. My mom also managed to get a class somehow, as a Shadow Stalker. Not sure if that meant she found civilization or just that she managed to train the skills on her own. Now, since I gave Yin so much ¡®attention¡¯ yesterday with training, today I had promised to do so with Yang¡­ ¡°Celeste¡­ which one is Yang?¡± At my question, both birds perked up and squawked their usual declaration, while Celeste simply giggled, making an arrow to point to the one on my right shoulder. The one on my left shoulder, apparently Yin, looked down dejectedly at that while Yang happily jumped into my hand. Using her tail feathers to wrap around my arm, she ensured, much to my dismay, that she was not going anywhere. Now, today I wanted to learn how to make wings, so first thing I did was place my other hand on Yang¡¯s back, which she seemed to like a little too well. Then, using the age-old mana circuit technique, I began searching through her mana signature, focusing on her wings. Unlike ¡®normal¡¯ birds, lovebirds possess four wings of equal size. Two wings in the front and two in the back. As I discovered when I ¡®found¡¯ these two earlier, the front wings can be folded forward to hide the face as well as aid in flight. Now, this was not the same at all as simply memorizing the mana fluctuations when an ability was used. It was closer to analyzing the mana signature of an herb, just on a far more complicated level. I could feel every organ, bone, and blood vessel as I attempted to focus my senses on her wings. Unlike Yin, she seemed all too pleased by the feeling of mana coursing through her, and relaxed into my hands. After a while, I managed to isolate the mana pattern for her wings. Now the trouble was memorizing it. I mean, this was like memorizing a nerve map. If I got it wrong, then at best the wings would not work. At worst, the nerves might attach wrong and bring immense pain. I don¡¯t like immense pain, I find I am allergic to it. It would help if there was a noticeable pattern to the mana channels, so that I could simply memorize that, but unfortunately it was not the case. So, I spent nearly three hours just going over every detail of Yang¡¯s wings before I was satisfied enough to try it on my own. Naturally, the first thing I did was remove my shirt, so that the wings would not rip through it. The two birds let out whistles after that, which I promptly ignored. Closing my eyes, I kept the feeling I learned from Yang¡¯s wings in my mind, and focused on my own back. Trying to match the placement, I then began emitting my mana out behind me in an attempt to match what I felt from her. There was an extremely uncomfortable feeling as bones grew out of my back, but I could slowly feel that it was working. Finally, something going right on the first try! ¡­ Yeah, right. Once I was done, I turned my head to look, and found that I could not see my supposed wings. Then I looked further down, and discovered that I did indeed have wings¡­ I just hadn¡¯t scaled them up to be my size. Sighing, I dismissed the change in my mana, letting it return to its normal flow, before I tried again. This time, my goal was to copy the feeling, but make it BIGGER. Of course, bigger meant a much greater sense of discomfort, and I was prepared for that! I hope¡­ Either way, after a few minutes of nervous procrastination, I got to work. Yup.. there¡¯s the pain.. Unlike the minor uncomfortable feeling from before, this was full on nerve-wracking pain. I¡¯d like to say I muscled through it and achieved perfect results like some online protagonist, but let¡¯s be honest? Pain hurts! It is one of the best things in the world to break focus, and break it did. I had not managed to make my wings grow out by more than two inches before the pain was too much and I lost control of it, making the new wings vanish. My third try, I managed to hold on until I was out four inches. Then, nine inches. On my fifth try, I got all the way to the halfway mark before the pain kicked in. Each time, I was able to better integrate it with my own mana signature to cause as little backlash as possible, until finally on my tenth try, I reached the end of the wings. For some reason, once I did so, I didn¡¯t feel like I had to maintain it, rather I just needed to remember to undo it when I was ready.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Bird - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡î By copying the mana patterns of a bird''s wings, you have learned to graft that body part onto yourself. Mana Cost: 100
Nature Magic has increased to Basic!
Mana Manipulation has increased to Basic!
The mana cost for this new spell scared me a bit, but then I remembered what I had just discovered. This was basically a passive spell, and I didn¡¯t have to pay a mana upkeep for it. I just had to pay the initial cost to shift, and then I¡¯d be done. Looking back, I was somewhat surprised to see that my wings were pure white, rather than red like Yin and Yang¡¯s standard colors. In a way, they gave me the appearance of a four-winged angel. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. I was a bit surprised by the other two messages as well, since this was the first skill I had trained up past the beginner levels. Maybe doing something difficult like this was needed to push it through. So far, I knew that skill levels were arranged into Beginner, Basic, Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced. Nobody had acquired a higher skill level than that yet. Even a top surgeon in the net community only had an Advanced in First Aid, according to what was online. In a moment of unrestrained recklessness, I quickly stood up to try and fly with these new limbs. I could clearly feel and move each one independently, so it should be easy right? With a beat of my wings, I found myself launched about five feet into the air¡­ and falling back down on my face before I could give a second flap.
Gravity beats idiot
-10 HP
Thankfully, the two birds noticed what was happening, and flew off of me before I kissed the ground. Slowly standing myself back up, I noticed how they were hovering effortlessly in the air. Their lower wings were fully extended to stabilize themselves, while their upper wings were doing the work of keeping them airborne. Naturally, that was my next attempt. Well, on the bright side, my face did not hit the ground this time. I managed to float up into the air about three feet, and was flapping my wings like crazy to stay there, before they quickly wore out and I floated back to the ground. I was somewhat pleased to discover a pair of messages waiting for me when I landed.
New Skill Acquired!
Flight - Beginner Level 1: 0% When you send it flying up there, all at once you''re lighter than air. You can dance on the breeze, over houses and trees, with your wings you have flight, so flap with your might. Higher levels increase control and reduce stamina loss.
+1 Vitality, +1 Dexterity
I couldn¡¯t help but think that someone watched too many children¡¯s movies when they wrote the text for that skill, but quickly shrugged it off. I had a skill to practice, and practice I shall! After my wings felt less sore, I flapped them again and brought myself into the air, my two animal companions dancing around me with far less effort than I was using. Again controlling my lower wings to stabilize myself, I angled them forward slightly and gave only a minor flap, carrying me forward a few feet before I glided to the ground again. Suddenly, I heard a series of clapping from behind me. Turning around, I was a bit surprised to see Jarl was back. I can never keep track of when he¡¯s here and not¡­ mostly because I don¡¯t pay attention to it. ¡°Learning how to fly, are you?¡± He asked with a smirk, to which I nodded. ¡°Alright, since it looks like you¡¯ve copied most of their aspects already, I can tell you the next step to gain the powers of a Xeno-Shifter.¡± That had certainly gotten my attention, but what he said next mortified me. ¡°Since you have learned to copy basic aspects, the next step is to fully copy your animal companion.¡± If my companion were a wolf¡­ or hell even a turtle, I wouldn¡¯t be so scared. But two lovebirds¡­ I looked over, and did not at all like the looks they were giving me, as if they had understood what he was saying. ¡°Okay! That settles it, next up is Wind Affinity training.¡± I said with a decisive nod as I dismissed the wings, and put my shirt on just as fast as elvishly possible. The two birds seemed to pout at that, before perching themselves on my shoulders again. Jarl, meanwhile, gave a loud laugh as he walked off again to who knows where doing who knows what. Wind Affinity, yeah! I sent my mana out in front off me just a half inch, and began sensing the wind. It was pretty easy, since the air was everywhere, and yet difficult at the same time. Wind has a barely noticeable mana signature, and can be missed very easily. Like looking for dust in sunbeams. Sometimes you find it, sometimes you don¡¯t. After about ten minutes, I had managed to find it, and began the process of setting up a link between myself and the mana. Naturally, I tried the same trick I did with earth mana, and pushed a bunch of mana in to start it. Sadly, earth and wind are two very different elements, so that did not work at all. Instead, I managed to push away all of the wind mana from where I was attempting to set the link, and had to find it again. This time, I decided to be gentler with it. But still, no luck. Trying again and again, each time more gentle than the last. Finally, what I ended up doing was creating a sort of mana funnel, with the mana in it as closely matching the wind signature as I could make it. Thankfully, this had the effect of ¡®inviting¡¯ the wind mana into me, which the wind accepted gradually. There was another ding from a notification panel popping up, but I didn¡¯t pay much attention to it yet, because I was still in the stage where I had to be very delicate with the wind mana, or else I would lose it. I figured at least that part was the same as before, so I simply held onto it for as long as I could. Once I had run out of mana, and thus lost the connection, I opened my eyes to see a rather confusing message.
Synchronization rate at 100%. Manifest Industries apologizes for any inconvenience you may have experienced during gameplay thus far.
Synchronization 100%? You mean they didn¡¯t consider it total realism before? I quickly contacted Jacobs and my parents, but none of them received the message. Maybe it was just the Seed adjusting, then? I dismissed it for now, and laid back to rest. I only had one piece of bread left, and then I would need to either start hunting for my meals or eat in the real world all the time. While the latter sounded more possible, it would make me quickly run out of groceries. I mean, eating five times the meals a day? That¡¯d just cost way too much money. So, I decided, after today I¡¯d start hunting for my meals. Chapter 15: The Plot Thickens Author¡¯s Corner: As promised, here is an extra chapter to celebrate the first 100 followers! As an added bonus, many questions should be answered in this chapter, assuming I don¡¯t get super sidetracked. --------------------------------------------- The rest of the day continued much like when I was learning Earth Affinity. Slowly¡­ After a few hours, Wind Affinity increased to 3%, and I noticed an increased intake of wind mana just like I had done with earth. At one point, my concentration broke on the wind funnel, and noticed the familiar weights on my shoulders were gone. In a moment of joy, I thought that Yin and Yang had willingly left, but the thought wasn¡¯t even half formed before two blurs shot out of the forest and immediately perched themselves on my shoulders again. Well¡­ it was nice while it lasted. Noting the time with Celeste, I decided to log out to have dinner, or lunch, depending on how you look at time. Opening the Seed, I got out and stretched, unconsciously letting out a slight yawn. Moving downstairs to get cooking, I had no idea just how weird today was going to be. Like before, I chose to cook my meal manually, this time I chose to make a steak. My mind and stomach were yelling to eat something other than stale bread, so a nice juicy slab of meat sounded perfect. Even the thought of a sandwich made me nauseous. Within moments I had the meat on the skillet and cooking, was getting ready to spice it and then made one of the stupidest mistakes a chef can make. I grabbed the metal handle of the skillet with my bare hand. There was a sizzling sound coming from my hand as pain raced through me. A scream tore at my throat as I hastily let go, but the damage was already done. All along my palm and fingers were thick red burns, making me wince just looking at them. Naturally I ran some cold water over the burn, but even that hurt like hell, to the point where I did something I couldn¡¯t explain. I healed myself. I felt a sudden rush, and then looked at my palm since it was no longer hurting. Surprisingly, there wasn¡¯t even a blister left, making me doubt my hand had been burnt in the first place. However, I could still smell the burnt flesh in the air, and there was still the sizzling coming from the handle of the skillet. What just¡­ no, that¡¯s not¡­ I tried to think back to what I had done, but the only thing I could think of was the Alchemic Heal spell I knew from NeoLife. I don¡¯t care how realistic a game is, there is no way that I cast a spell in real life¡­ right? Even though logic told me it was impossible, the memory of the pain in my hand made me doubt it. As such, I made a conscious effort to connect with the mana in the same way I would in the game, and was stunned to find that there really was something there. For some reason, it didn¡¯t feel quite as dense as it did in the game, but nonetheless I could feel the presence of mana in the real world. At the same time, when I retracted my senses, I saw a haze of blue lights floating in front of me, as if the mana was weaving itself into a familiar pattern. It looked like one of the notification screens from the game.
Congratulations on achieving Full Synchro.
As one of the thousand beta testers of NeoLife, we at Manifest Industries formally welcome you to the true world offered by our product. A world where anything is possible. Customers are advised to remember that, barring the use of magic, there will be no respawning outside of NeoLife. Everyone is granted a chance to make a new world for themselves, a new life. What path will you take?
I blinked a bit as I looked at the screen. I even waved my hand through it, causing it to turn into a cloud of blue mist before reforming. This just isn¡¯t¡­. it¡¯s not possible, right? Everything felt like it was turning upside down, and I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. Rushing to the bathroom, I didn¡¯t even make it all the way before I froze in place, looking at the mirror through the doorway. What I saw was my face, my body¡­ but it wasn¡¯t MY face, MY body¡­ I looked like Falenel, the six foot half-elf with shoulder-length light brown hair, dark green eyes, and fairly pointed ears. By now, I was 98% certain that I was going crazy. I rushed to my computer and instantly loaded up the internet, only to confirm it was the world that had gone mad. A thousand people, nine hundred and fifty of them having chosen a non-human race. There were posts on every forum from beta testers saying that they had turned into their character. One person who chose to play a Centrix, a centaur-like alien with two pairs of arms and a third eye, even said that his Seed reshaped itself to match his new body type. Naturally, nobody believed them, but then came the videos. Some by the testers themselves, others by people saying that aliens had invaded. It had only been at most two hours, but it was already viral. I was secretly thanking myself for having chosen a humanoid character. I don¡¯t know what would have happened if I woke up with the lower body of a horse. At this time, I received a notification from the house AI telling me that I had an emergency call from law enforcement. I didn¡¯t do anything wrong, did I? I started to panic for a brief moment, before forcing myself to calm down and accept the call. On the wall, a holographic display of a man in a standard blue police uniform appeared. I couldn¡¯t make out his name due to the low quality of the house¡¯s holo-caller, but that didn¡¯t matter when he introduced himself. ¡°Mr. Hulett, correct? I¡¯m Officer Faraday, of Oakland PD.¡± Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. I took a deep breath, and prayed that this would work. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m Mr. Hulett.¡± A brief flash of surprise crossed my face as I realized I was not bound by the same laws that made me introduce myself by my character name in the real world, but I was happy at this fact. ¡°I take it this is about the recent.. development?¡± The officer on-screen nodded his head, and seemed to take a moment to look me over. My holo-caller was fairly low quality, as stated before, so colors weren¡¯t very well transmitted. ¡°Yes, so you¡¯ve heard. We¡¯ve acquired a list of testers for NeoLife, and are attempting to contact them, in order to discuss this¡­ situation.¡± ¡°You caught me at just the right-- Oh for fuck¡¯s sake, I¡¯ll be right back officer!¡± I panicked and ran back to the kitchen, turning the stove off and moving the skillet away. I was even in too much of a hurry to bother putting on an oven mitt, and once again burned myself. ¡°God that smarts!¡± Since I knew it was possible now, I quickly cast my Alchemic Heal on myself before moving back to the living room to resume the call. ¡°Is everything okay, sir?¡± Officer Faraday asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Sorry, officer. In light of recent events, I forgot I had a steak that was ready to burn the house down.¡± I tried to play off a bit of humor, which did not work against the law enforcement officer. ¡°I see. Then, I shall get right to it. Have you been affected by this event as many are claiming to be? And if so, in what way? You still appear to be human, from what I can see.¡± ¡°Ah, that. Yeah¡­ I just noticed I was affected before you called. My ingame race is half-elf, so looking fairly human is not surprising.¡± He looked a bit suspicious at that, as if not believing me. ¡°Can you provide any proof of this change, then?¡± I nodded, and closed my eyes. There was a slight tearing noise as I focused, but soon I had cast Aspect of the Bird, creating the four angelic wings. In hindsight, I should have taken off my now-ruined shirt¡­ ¡°This is a spell I learned ingame¡­ it seems they can be cast out here too.¡± To further prove my point, I started hovering a few feet in the air, but that only lasted for a few moments. Nonetheless, it was enough to startle the officer, who was now looking at me with a slack-jawed expression. ¡°I-I see.. So it¡¯s true, then. You¡¯re the only tester living in our jurisdiction, so we weren¡¯t sure whether to believe it or not. And to be quite frank, if you hadn¡¯t shown that¡­ that, just now, I doubt I would have believed myself.¡± Judging by the movements of his shoulders, he seemed to be reaching for something off screen. ¡°Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about this. We received a fax about an hour ago saying that all Manifest sites and employees have vanished from the face of the world. All of their locations are now abandoned lots that show no evidence of having been used in the last year. This seems to have happened overnight. Had it not been for me seeing you grow wings, I¡¯d say it was impossible. Their site remains active, and continues to accept pre-orders for the next line of Seeds. However, we have no idea where they intend to ship from.¡± I was a bit confused why he was telling all of this to me, but I figured it must be some kind of consolation speech about how they¡¯re trying their best to make me human again. ¡°Officer, all things considered, I think I got off lucky. I¡¯d bet at least a quarter of the testers chose races that were not humanoid. All I got is a makeover and magic.¡± He paused at that, not seeming to know how to respond, before nodding his head slightly. ¡°Understood. Is there anything else you think we should know pertaining to this event?¡± I thought about that for a few moments, but could only come to one conclusion. ¡°This is only the beginning. Thanks to my class, I am able to sense things, primarily mana. There is mana in the air here, though it is not as thick as it is in the game. If the Seeds are truly making this world more like the game, then I¡¯d expect the mana to be of the same quality.¡± He raised an eyebrow again, but didn¡¯t say anything for a while. ¡°I see¡­ While officially I am required to ask you to refrain from playing NeoLife if at all possible, in light of this I think it would be best if you continue, at least until we know more. If what you say is true, then we have no idea what will happen. Best case scenario, nothing, everything stays as it is now. Worst case, I think, monsters roaming the streets. Not players turned into aliens, but real monsters.¡± I was a bit shocked by that. It seemed as though Officer Faraday had played a few games as well to think of that. ¡°Well, was planning on it anyways. Even if shit hits the fans, still gotta pay the bills.¡± I shrugged, and thanked him for the advice before dismissing the call. I still had a steak to eat, though slightly burnt now. After eating the steak, and connecting back to the game, a thought occurred to me. Nature Magic¡¯s Alchemic Heal is based on the interaction of plants. But those plants don¡¯t exist in the real world, so how did that spell work on the outside? ------------------------------------------------- Author¡¯s Basement: And there it is folks! A bit shorter of a chapter than normal, but this should answer quite a few questions about the direction of the story. Like always, I will do my best to keep an eye on the thread for questions, and answer what I can. Chapter 16: Into the Mouth of Madness Once I was back in the game, I called my parents. I¡¯m not a typical whiner, but when you find out you¡¯re no longer human, that¡¯s something you tell the folks, right? ¡°What¡¯s up, dear?¡± I heard my mom¡¯s voice a bit more clearly over the link this time. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m not really sure how to explain this¡­ But¡­ have you heard what¡¯s been going on in the real world?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± My dad was the one that spoke up this time, obviously confused. Guessing they¡¯ve spent all their time in here, and haven¡¯t bothered to go to the net community to hear the news. ¡°Extra long story incredibly short¡­ the game turned me into a half-elf.¡± ¡°...Yes, we¡¯ve been over this, we know what race you chose.¡± He still sounded a bit confused, and was clearly a bit dense if he didn¡¯t get what I meant, or maybe I just wasn¡¯t clear enough. ¡°No, I mean out there. In the real world, I¡¯m still a half-elf. Still a druid, still able to grow wings out of my back and use all of my magic¡­ Apparently everyone that has a Seed is being turned into their game character. Even got a call from the police to make sure I was okay.¡± This time it was my mom¡¯s turn to chime in. ¡°The police, dear? Why would they bother calling you?¡± ¡°Apparently Manifest Industries has gone off the radar, and they are getting reports of every tester changing. Since I was the only one in Oakland, they gave me a call.¡± I could hear the concern in my mom¡¯s voice as she logged out, but since she was just going to the net community, the call didn¡¯t drop. Fun fact, when someone in the net community is on a call with a game that has time dilation, the home of that person adjusts to match the game. ¡°Oh, dear, it¡¯s true.¡± ¡°What, really?¡± My dad was obviously surprised by this. ¡°How is that even possible? I mean, it¡¯s just a game, right?¡± ¡°Not anymore, it looks like.¡± I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°I¡¯m just hoping it ends with players getting changed and people getting magic. I mean, if it¡¯s just that then we should be able to make all the amazing things they have here in the game. But if monsters start showing up, too¡­¡± There was a slight gasp, I¡¯m not sure from who, but it was my mom that spoke up next. ¡°What are you going to do, then?¡± ¡°Hope for the best, plan for the worst. Until I know that monsters aren¡¯t going to start appearing in my home, I¡¯m going to train here and get stronger. Besides, it might be cool to be able to use magic in the real world, you know? Should have seen the look on the officer¡¯s face when I suddenly grew wings.¡± Unfortunately, thinking about that reminded me what Jarl had said the next step in training for Xeno-Shifter would be¡­ and since I thought about it, Yin and Yang perked up and looked at me expectantly. I could hear a chuckle coming from my dad. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll let you get to that, then. There might be other testers that haven¡¯t logged out and learned about these changes, so we¡¯ll go spread the word and see if we can¡¯t get their attention.¡± Part of me was concerned about this. Essentially, they were going to play a massive scale whisper game. You know, where you can whisper to someone that you like apples, and they pass it along in a circle, but by the time it gets back to you it turns into something obscene. And that¡¯s when you start with something as mundane as ¡®I like apples¡¯. Anyways, back to the game. I had a few hours left until it was time to sleep, so I devoted them to increasing my Wind Affinity. Maybe after I had the basic seven affinities all at 5% I would go with the next step for Nature Magic. At least then I¡¯d be able to save my chastity against these damned birds. By the time I had gotten to sleep, my Wind Affinity had only increased to 4%, though I felt like it was on the verge of a breakthrough. When I woke up, I immediately resumed training, deciding to prolong breakfast until I had gained the ability to manipulate wind. Speaking of which, I had never tried to test out my Earth Manipulation either. I¡¯d have to at least get familiar with both of them before I was able to use them to hunt. About two hours after I had woken up, I was finally greeted with the message I had been waiting for.
New Ability Unlocked!
Wind Manipulation - Wind Affinity - ¡î Through focus and the appropriate use of mana, the user is able to manipulate the air around them.
Okay.. now for a bit of practice. There was something I had wanted to try now that I had the ability to more freely manipulate wind. Even though it was still only a half-star rank, that should be more because of a limit to the power I can exert. Sending out a bit of mana, I attuned it to the wind like I normally would for Wind Magic or cultivating Wind Affinity. This time, I was able to pull in much more air with far less mana than when I only had the former skill. I was also able to control it at a greater distance, which is what I needed most. In a way, it felt in part as if my mind had merged with the wind, letting my control it as I would any other muscle, though with more difficulty. Having confirmed this, I pulled out my bow and quiver from my inventory, and aimed at a distant tree. Using my Wind Manipulation, I set up a thin gust going from my arrow to the tree, and fired. Like I had expected, the arrow perfectly flew along the corridor of wind, piercing into the tree. It even seemed to gain speed after being fired. I waited for a system message saying I had learned something new from that, but I received nothing of the kind. I was a bit surprised to find that such an act only took a total of 20 mana to achieve, which was about 5 per second. But, this was only really useful for hitting a stationary target, so I kept practicing. My next ¡®wind corridor¡¯ only lasted about 75% of the distance between me and the tree, but still seemed to be good enough to work with. I was a few inches off in my accuracy, but still would be considered a good shot, and it was better for sniping since the target wouldn¡¯t feel the wind on them. Next was something I was a bit curious about after my first two attempts. This time, I set up a winding tunnel of wind, with the goal being the side of the tree I had just targeted. When I fired the arrow, I watched it moving through the path I had set up, gaining a bit more speed at every curve. Unfortunately, about three turns before the target, it had picked up enough speed to shoot out of the tunnel of wind without following the rest of the way, making it miss its target. Even though this failed, it was still quite good. It went through several turns before ending up shot out of the tunnel, which meant that I would still be able to use it. Sadly, by now my mana was being drained a fair bit by creating and shaping the paths of wind, so I¡¯d need to recover¡­ after one last test. And this one was going to be a doozy. After I collected the arrows that I previously fired, I went back to my firing position, and nocked another arrow. Like before, I created a wind tunnel roughly 75% of the distance to the tree. But this time, I also tapped into my Wind Magic, and cast Lesser Spiral Arrow. Waiting until I could feel the spiralling winds moving around the arrow, I then fired it into the corridor. There was a slight tearing sound as the two magics interacted, but the arrow nonetheless flew through the corridor at a blinding speed. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. For a little while, it looked like I had managed to overcome the accuracy issue behind this spell, at least until it exited the corridor I had established. At that point, it immediately went off course, and crashed into the side of the tree. And then kept going¡­ having left a small hole where it impacted. It seemed that the increased acceleration from the wind corridor combined with the penetrating power of the Lesser Spiral Arrow gave it a rather terrifying destructive ability. If it could be properly aimed, it would be devastating¡­ Unfortunately, aside from extending the corridor all the way, I had no method to further increase the accuracy of the arrow. And when I went to try to retrieve it, I found the arrow I used had been shattered on impact with a stone roughly fifty meters away. This made me even more reluctant to use that tactic, though it did give me the idea to make arrows with Plant Affinity if I managed to get that to 5%. Then I could simply load the arrows with poison and launch them. This idea had me wanting to practice Plant Affinity right away, but first I needed something to eat. Today would be my first time hunting wolves, and the only reason I wasn¡¯t going for rabbits was because I would have to pass by the wolves¡¯ territory anyways to get back to them. ¡°Celeste, which was is town?¡± I had long since forgotten which direction town was in, and could only rely on my companion AI to guide me. And, as requested, she appeared as a hologram above my wrist. Though, this time she seemed slightly older than her previous appearances, and a bit more developed. She was standing in a safari costume hunched over a holographic map. ¡°Hmm, let¡¯s see¡­ that way!¡± She pointed with a wide grin, and a glowing arrow appeared above her.
Your Companion AI has developed a new Skill Software
Cartography - Basic Through repeated use of calculating distances and directions, your companion AI has gained the ability to chart maps based on your travels.
Well.. that¡¯s useful. I noted how her ¡®Skill Software¡¯ didn¡¯t have levels or experience, just the tier. But this also meant that, given enough time and practice, Celeste would be able to develop utility skills of her own. Taking off my shirt, I put it into my inventory and activated Aspect of the Bird. Though I wasn¡¯t particularly adept at flying, I was able to go up to the branches of the trees. From there, I just needed to glide from one branch to another, while using Wind Manipulation under my wings to guide me. Thanks to this method of travel, I was using a bit of mana with every jump, but also took a few seconds between jumps to recover it. By the time I was nearing the wolves, five minutes had already passed. Yin and Yang were both happily circling around me as I clutched my bow, looking down at the wolves below. Thanks to using Wind Manipulation in small amounts, I was able to prevent my scent from being carried down to them. I didn¡¯t need to be too worried here, since wolves can¡¯t fly. As long as I didn¡¯t do anything stupid like jumping off, I could pick them off one at a time until I either ran out of arrows, or that big snake above me came in for a-- wait, what? Looking up, I saw a rather large snake, its body as thick as my waist, wrapped around the branch above me. Its eyes were passively looking at me, its tongue slithering out every few seconds. Why the fuck did I not notice that before? Glancing around, even Yin and Yang had apparently fled from the immediate area. Think fast, think fast. Could be poisonous, but I have an antidote spell. More likely to be killed by a lethal bite or it constricting me to death. Would rather neither of those happened, to be honest. Too close for me to pull my bow on it, too high up for Earth Manipulation to help. Can¡¯t hide, snakes see heat, or was it movement? Damn, I should have paid more attention in class, this is going to hurt. My mind was going at a mile a minute, while the snake just continued to stare at me, as if it hadn¡¯t noticed that I saw it. Perhaps it didn¡¯t see me as a threat? Either way, it was looking at me like I was food. I was the one that was supposed to be hunting here, dammit! I¡¯d have tried poisoning it, but if I killed it then I was eating snake today! I didn¡¯t want to poison my own meal. If I didn¡¯t kill it, well.. then I¡¯d be in trouble and wouldn¡¯t have the right to complain anyways. If I lost a level now, would I lose my class? I didn¡¯t really want to find out. So, I very carefully put my bow and quiver back in my inventory, showing the snake that I was just a harmless winged half-elf. Then I pulled my dagger out instead. Me Tarzan, you meat! Coating my blade in mana, I lunged at the snake. I didn¡¯t really expect the mana to do anything, but several games I had played before used this as a method of strengthening melee weapons, so I could only hope. Seeing my lunge, the snake hissed at me before its jaw opened almost impossibly wide. The thing looked like it wanted me to jump directly into its mouth! Well, who am I to pass up such a tempting offer? I haven¡¯t played it sane so far, so why start now. Using the wind on my wings to guide myself, I stopped right inside the massive mouth, planing my feet on its jaw. As it tried to snap its jaw shut with me inside it, I quickly raised my dagger up to carve at its upper jaw. I heard something cracking, and was fairly certain it was me. Had I been thinking, I would have remembered that snakes exert a much more powerful force closing their jaws than opening it. While my dagger had managed to cut through its mouth, and even stab into its brain, I still considered myself on the losing end of that exchange.
You have walked into the jaws of death... and survived.
-90 HP, Broken bones(Arms x2, Legs x1) Fatal Blow inflicted.
You have leveled up.
Pain¡­ it hurts. I unhesitantly began casting Alchemic heal on myself over and over, crying out as my bones were forced back into their positions before they were able to mend, and once that was done, I triumphantly crawled my way out of the snake¡¯s mouth. Which way is the exit? Chapter 17: New gear? Finally! Author¡¯s Corner: Behold, we finally have cover art! It may not be at all original, and just something I found from a quick google session, but it does not appear to be copy-written, and that¡¯s the important thing! ---------------------------------------------------- It took me a little bit to crawl out of the snake¡¯s mouth, since I had started going in the wrong direction. Thankfully, after a few feet I noticed that I shouldn¡¯t have been that deep in its throat. When I emerged, I felt it was a miracle Celeste hadn¡¯t been damaged in that exchange. Though, when I called for her to make sure she was alright, she appeared in a holographic nurse uniform. ¡°So Falenel, what seems to be the problem today? Yes, yes¡­ I can see that you are suffering from a chronic lack of common sense.¡± She nodded to herself as she was going over a holographic clipboard, supposedly my patient¡¯s chart. I sighed, regretting having been worried about the AI. ¡°Nice to see you¡¯re okay too, Celeste.¡± I leaned down and picked up the dead snake with great difficult, and stuffed the body into my inventory. Next, I sat there and waited for my mana to recover, while ignoring the furious barks from the wolves below that now obviously knew of my presence. I was a bit sad that my knife had broken in that fight, snapping under the pressure after having successfully killed the snake. Now I was just left with my bow and¡­ twenty eight arrows. Those were not going to last me very long, were they? I guess the next thing I should cultivate would be Fire Affinity, followed by Plant Affinity so that I can fully take care of myself in the wild. But for that I¡¯ll need Water Affinity as well¡­ Gah, so troublesome Once my mana was recovered, I began gliding back to the grove in the same manner I had taken to get here, gathering a few small branches along the way to start the fire. I¡¯ve never really had snake before, but it shouldn¡¯t be too bad, right? I wasn¡¯t poisoned when it tried to eat me, so it shouldn¡¯t be venomous I think? After I arrived back in the grove, I got the snake body back out and started to chop it up¡­ Wait, I lost my knife¡­ how the heck am I supposed to chop this thing up!? Frustrated, I logged off and had a bowl of cereal for my morning(evening) meal. Strangely, the Seed was actually much larger when I logged off this time, and I noticed I still had the wings from Aspect of the Bird. It seemed the device really did resize itself to match the occupant. Once I was back in NeoLife, I decided on a new new plan. First, I needed to practice flying until I could go for at least ten minutes at a time. Thankfully, that was a fairly easy task, since I had been practicing with my wings more often. After a couple hours, I could already reach my goal with little difficulty, as long as I helped my flight with Wind Manipulation. And with that taken care of, it was finally time to get a bird¡¯s eye view of the place! Though, I was starting to get hungry again¡­ cereal is never really filling. Off to the side, I notice Yin and Yang flying off for a brief moment, then returning with an apple and a strange brown fruit that looked vaguely like an orange. ¡­ What did I go through that hunt for then!? I lowered my head in depression, but nonetheless thanked the two birds and took the fruits. I first ate the apple, as I at least knew what it was, while inspecting the brown orange with my mana. By this point, I¡¯ve at least gotten good enough to identify if there is a poisonous substance inside of something. Strangely, I found that there was no such thing, even a bit of a warm medicinal feeling. Since the apple was enough to tide me over for now, I put the weird fruit in my inventory. ¡°Okay, Celeste, time to head back to town. Need that map again.¡± ¡°Going to meet any new snake friends while you¡¯re out?¡± The holographic navigator snickered from my wrist. ¡°Very funny.¡± I shook my head, then fully raised all four of my wings, slamming them downwards to launch me into the air. I only needed a very slight adjustment from my Wind Manipulation to keep me going in the right direction, but soon I was flying up over the tops of the trees. What I saw surprised me a little, to be honest. The forest we were in was not as massive as I had imagined, and the starting village was actually near the edge of it. It¡¯s just, the grove where I had been training was at the dead center of the forest. Off in the distance, I could see other, similar forests all of roughly the same size. On the horizon, I saw metal structures rising towards the sky, signs of a more advanced settlement. Of course, I wasn¡¯t so eager to immediately make my way in that direction, as I could make out black specks soaring through the skies closer to that city. From the distance, and the fact that I still managed to notice them, those specks had to at least be the size of fighter jets. Airborne monsters that big were far too much for me to handle. ¡°Celeste, add the area around here to the map.¡± I said as I gave a slow spin, capturing the scenery around me, before finally diving in the direction of the town. Since I was flying well above the treetops, I did not have to worry about any monsters such as snakes, and my path was a straight shot. I ended up ducking into the trees just before reaching the village, then gliding down to the ground to put my shirt back on after dismissing my wings. You may be wondering, why am I going back to the village now? Shouldn¡¯t I be training more to master the rest of my magic? Well, I don¡¯t really like continuous training montages, but more importantly¡­ I¡¯ve still got that snake in my inventory! If I can¡¯t eat it, I might as well get something out of the thing! Once I had landed in the town, I walked over towards Harlan¡¯s store. If anyone knew where to sell animal corpses, it¡¯d be him. ¡°Yo, Harlan, you in?¡± ¡°Just a second! Be right out!¡± I heard his voice coming from the back of the store, having apparently been on break due to a lack of customers. Once he came out, he gave me a curious look. ¡°Hmm, you were in here the other day, right? For your first companion, if I recall. Did you manage to break it already?¡± Rather than letting me answer, Celeste appeared as a hologram above my wrist and scolded him. ¡°Hmpf! Like I could be broken so easily!¡± Shaking my head, I looked at the salesman. ¡°I¡¯m interested in selling an animal body, and wanted to know where I could do so.¡± Raising a curious brow, Harlan seemed at least interested. ¡°Well, that would depend on the animal.¡± ¡°It was a snake, about¡­ a foot thick, maybe eight meters long? Mostly green, with occasional spots of yellow.¡± ¡°Ah, that sounds like a Great Boa. Rather surprised that you would be able to kill one, their scales are hard as steel.¡± I winced slightly, remembering how I had originally intended to cut into it with my dagger. ¡°Well¡­ Let¡¯s just say I found a soft spot. So, can you help me sell it? The corpse is entirely intact, and no it¡¯s not poisoned.¡± He chuckled a bit as I added that last note in. ¡°Well, there¡¯s not a bounty on them at the moment, since they rarely come out from the upper tree branches. However, like I said, their scales are incredibly hard. That alone makes them a valuable crafting material for armors. Their meat is also rather popular. I¡¯d say you could sell the whole thing for¡­ fifteen silver?¡± I swear, when he said that price, my foot slipped and I landed on the floor. Fifteen silver? I was going to consider myself lucky for five! ¡°U-uhm¡­ do you think I¡¯d be able to make a trade? Get some of the armor made for myself?¡± He thought about it, then nodded. ¡°Even making a full set of armor wouldn¡¯t use more than half of the scales. If you do that, and trade it to me, I can give you eight silver for the body, and have the armor commissioned for you.¡± Finally, I can get some real armor. And it¡¯s even snake scale armor, so it wouldn¡¯t violate the ¡®standard¡¯ theme for druids. I wonder if they have any armor restrictions here like in some games? I decided that was something I¡¯d have to ask Jarl later. ¡°Deal. Uh¡­ do you have somewhere that I could take the snake out?¡± I didn¡¯t want to take it out here and wreck his shelves. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. As if suddenly realizing the issue, he nodded quickly and led me to a large open room in the back, where I deposited the snake. ¡°Thanks, and is it possible for the armor to be enchanted to change whenever I transform? I¡¯m a druid, and my body shape isn¡¯t always the same¡­¡± Harlan looked to me at that and nodded. ¡°Certainly, certainly. An adjustment enchantment is rather basic, and can be included in the armor easily.¡± He then looked back to the snake and smiled slightly. ¡°Is there anything else you need?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I could do with a new dagger. My last one broke when I killed this thing.¡± The businessman nodded once again. ¡°Very well, I can help you with that, right this way.¡± He grinned broadly, leading me back to the front of the store. Showing me one of the items on his shelf, he picked up a small dagger. Though, this one looked a bit more high tech than the last one. All along the blade were several tiny teeth-like protrusions, and along the length of the blade was a black display. ¡°This is a basic Chain Dagger. Honestly, most everyone gets one of these shortly after they receive their class. Just put a little bit of mana into it, and¡­¡± As he speaks, the teeth of the dagger began moving back and forth wildly, giving it the appearance of a small chainsaw. ¡°I¡¯m scared to ask¡­ how much is it?¡± He chuckled, seeing my rather obvious hesitation. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry. You can afford it. Three silver for the dagger, and it¡¯s yours. That¡¯d take your earnings from the snake down to five silvers.¡± I was almost relieved that I was now earning as much as I had originally expected, even if I was also receiving a full suit of snake mail armor and a dagger as a gift. I immediately agreed to the exchange, and he handed me five silver coins, as well as the dagger he had shown me. I could probably see about getting a better bow¡­ but I¡¯m afraid it¡¯d cost too much. After leaving Harlan¡¯s store with the promise to be back the following day to pick up the armor, I bumped into Jacobs. Unlike before, he was now equipped with a rather elegant looking mage¡¯s robe, and his staff had a black gemstone at the tip. ¡°Oh, hey there Falenel. Haven¡¯t seen you around lately.¡± He then cast a glance somewhere up above me, where I assume a certain pair of birds were flying in circles. ¡°Sorry, was practicing my class skills. Just came back this time to sell stuff and order some new gear.¡± I looked at his robe, then down to my own tattered starter outfit. I need to visit a tailor¡­ ¡°Oh? Well, I¡¯ve gotten started on Enchanting, so let me know when you have the gear and I¡¯ll see what I can do for it.¡± Hearing that, I looked up quickly, and pulled out my two weapons for him to look at. ¡°Can you do anything for these?¡± I asked with a bit of hope in my voice. He chuckled, looking over the weapons. ¡°I can¡¯t work with the Chain Dagger, since it¡¯s already fully enchanted by design. If it was made purely with tech, I¡¯d be able to do something. As for the bow¡­ the materials used are too basic for most enchantments. Best I could do would be to put a durability enchantment on it.¡± I sighed dejectedly when I learned that my new dagger wouldn¡¯t get an upgrade, but nodded slightly at the offer for the bow. ¡°Thanks.¡± He put his finger above the bow, and began tracing runic patterns along the wood, which glowed as his finger passed over it. I felt a rather considerable amount of mana being poured into the wood before he stopped. ¡°There, that should be good to make it last a while, though I¡¯d suggest upgrading soon. I¡¯ll be in town a couple more days, but then I¡¯m heading off to the capital.¡± I was a bit confused at how quickly and easily the enchantment took place. Now magic dust, no special words, just drawing a few patterns with magic? I felt ripped off with my alchemy now. Glancing at his level in my contact list, I saw that he had just hit 16. Since he was being sent off to the city, I decided to set that as my own goal before leaving as well. ¡°Thanks again. You pick up any other magic yet, or still focusing on Gravity?¡± He smirked slightly, nodding his head. ¡°I¡¯m aiming to be a Stellar Mage. So far I have Gravity and Void Magic, but in the capital I heard that there was someone capable of teaching the other magic types I needed. Oh, and I found out how to teach someone a school of magic. It¡¯s not as hard as we thought.¡± I tilted my head curiously, waiting for him to continue. ¡°Anyone can teach a school of magic after they train it to Novice rank. Only a few people have already gotten that far, but once you do, all you have to do is attune yourself to the school of magic, and let someone else copy it. It won¡¯t automatically teach them the spell, but it¡¯s an easier learning method than books.¡± I nodded slightly, thinking it over. ¡°Guess until you hit that rank, your magic isn¡¯t well trained enough to provide a decent copy or something. Since you learned a second school of magic, don¡¯t suppose you know how much they charge to learn?¡± He thought about it for a moment. ¡°Mine was a class related thing, so I didn¡¯t pay for it. But I did try to. However, the Mage¡¯s Guild requires a fee of ten silver to learn a new school of magic, and the tower here is an affiliate of the Mage¡¯s Guild.¡± I suddenly thought of my previous fifteen silver from killing the snake, and how it had dwindled to five. Six if you count the silver I already had. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll see about learning one when I can. I still haven¡¯t finished mastering all of my class abilities yet.¡± I gave a somewhat regretful glance upwards to the two circling birds, who happily dove down to perch on my shoulders. After that, the two of us parted ways, and I moved to the inn to buy a room for the day. I could at least train one affinity while in this town waiting for my armor. Curious, I took a glance at my character info and skills, since I hadn¡¯t done so in a while except to assign points.
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 110%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassNoneDeityMalthan
Health120/120Health Regen0.2
Mana380/380Mana Regen0.4
Strength12Wisdom63
Agility20Intelligence38
Dexterity19Charisma9
Vitality12Luck14
Points Remaining0
Earth 5%Fire 1%Wind 6%Water 2%
Lightning 0%Light 1%Dark 1%Plant 3%
Luck 2%Madness 2%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Basic Level 1: 12%
Nature Magic - Basic Level 1: 3%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 6: 41.5%
Archery - Beginner Level 5: 9%
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 3: 1%
Wild Luck - Beginner Level 6: 12.2%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 50%
Herbology - Beginner Level 3: 21%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Alchemy - Beginner Level 5: 23.2%
Mana Signatures - Beginner Level 7: 32%
Cooking - Basic Level 3: 53%
Flight - Beginner Level 6: 11%
Chapter 18: Chocolate Orange?! Author¡¯s Corner: Since the pre-poll question became so popular, I decided to go ahead and include the poll in this chapter, but give it 2 days to run. That said, it does not mean he¡¯ll learn his next magic in 3 chapters, just that it will already be decided on by then! As always, the flow of the story is something that comes as it comes. ------------------------------------------------------- The rest of the day was spent cultivating my Plant Affinity in the room I had rented. Surprisingly, this affinity was increasing faster than either my Wind Affinity or Earth Affinity had, but that was likely thanks to the elven village being made entirely out of plants. Long story short, I managed to get 5% affinity before dinner, and received a lovely ability to go with it.
New Ability Unlocked!
Plant Manipulation - Plant Affinity - ¡ï Through the use of your mana, you are able to manipulate the shape of various plants, as well as their traits. With sufficient mana, it is possible to induce rapid growth in plants as well.
Congratulations! You qualify for a druid Sub-Class!
Plantshaper Those who are able to become one with plants, and adopt their most dangerous aspects, can be just as deadly as any monster. Though able to recreate the effects of near any plant, they must first study it. Advanced Class path: Plant Lord, able to shed the flesh and become a plant, or manipulate other plants with but a thought.
Do you wish to accept? Y/N
Again, I quickly selected no. I didn¡¯t want to become a Plant Lord, but a Xeno-Shifter. They seemed pretty different to me, as one dealt with plants whilst the other dealt with sentient species. I shuddered again as I thought about what I¡¯d need to do to get that Sub-Class. For some reason, the game decided that Plant Affinity would start out as a full star rank, rather than half star. Maybe if had extra potency since it relied on there actually being a plant to control? Either way, it was getting to be time for dinner, so I pulled the brown orange(I really need to find out what this thing is called or I¡¯ll go crazy from thinking about colors) and studied it. Deciding to immediately test out my new ability, I focused on the fruit in my hand, and gently pulled the seeds out of it. Within moment, six tiny seeds fell out from the bottom of the fruit and into my hand. I smiled in satisfaction, before willing the skin to peel itself from the fruit. I was a bit surprised this worked to be honest, but again, moments later the thick skin of the whatchamafruit was peeled. If not for my previous inspection with my mana, I¡¯d be worried that this might not be safe to eat. However, I knew, therefore I shrugged and took a bite of it. ¡­ This just should not be possible¡­ I was frozen in place after that first bite. Not because of a status effect or anything, just yet another of this world¡¯s surprises. How can it taste like chocolate!? I was now determined to do everything in my power to bring this miraculous chocolate orange to the real world. I mean, come on! It¡¯s chocolate that is actually good for you! My eyes looked down to the six seeds I had extracted from the fruit, causing me to grin broadly. Now I just had to figure out how to create these seeds from others in order to make it work. Looking over to my birds, Yin and Yang, I noticed that Yang was moping a bit. Yin, however, seemed to be puffing her chest out and boasting. If I had to guess, Yin was the one that brought me the chocolate orange. Reaching over to pet her head to congratulate her, I then tried to communicate that I wanted more apples and chocolate oranges. They seemed to be learning fairly well, or just were able to understand from the bond we had, because they immediately flew off through a hole in the wall that served as a window. About half an hour later, they returned. Yin was carrying three chocolate oranges in her tail feathers, while Yang was carrying three apples. Using the same trick I had tried on the previous chocolate orange, I first extracted all of the seeds from each fruit. Then, I carefully analyzed each with my mana. My ability said that I could alter the traits of a plant, but how far does that go? My first test was with the seeds. Using a chocolate orange seed, since they produced six seeds rather than the five from apples, I tried to shift its mana to match the patterns of the apple seeds. This was the same type of magic that I used to grant myself bird wings, but used on the seeds rather than myself. I was surprised to find that it took a full 50 mana to initiate the change, even with my Plant Manipulation skill. However, soon enough the seed looked perfectly identical to one of the apple seeds. Smiling, I then reversed the process, spending another 50 mana to turn it back into a chocolate orange seed. My next test, of course, was changing an entire apple into a chocolate orange. For this, I spent a full hour studying the little intricacies of the brown fruit, before getting to work. Thankfully by that time my mana had already recovered, because it took 350 mana just to change one apple into a chocolate orange. I was getting increasingly worried as I kept pushing more and more mana into the fruit, waiting for it to show signs of change. However, once I passed that 350 threshold, it had begun. The red skin of the apple turned brown, and began to thicken. Next came the shape as it became more spherical. I made sure to keep the transformations going until it almost perfectly matched the chocolate orange I studied previously. Now, came the final test¡­ Since I was already nearly out of mana, I grabbed my Chain Dagger and used it to cut the skin off the chocolate orange manually. With a bit of hesitation, I slowly took a bite of my experimental fruit. I can¡¯t say that it was a complete success, because I still tasted a bit of the apple from before. However, that didn¡¯t exactly make it bad. It was like an apple infused with chocolatey goodness. At this point, I had decided that I would plant a chocolate orange tree in my yard in the real world. While it was possible to change them one fruit at a time, I wasn¡¯t sure how effective it would be outside of the game. Since the mana concentration was thinner outside, it might mean that it takes more magic to do things, or even that I would recover mana more slowly. Still, I was very happy with my find. If only there was some way I could create these from the seeds. But naturally, in order to get the fruit from the seed, I¡¯d need to turn it into a tree first. And there was really no way I could carry a tree around with me, right..? I tried thinking about it logically. If I was able to turn partially into a plant, I could then theoretically grow the fruits out of my own body. However, wouldn¡¯t I need to use just as much, if not more energy to create the fruit then I would get back by eating it? Still, the idea of turning partially into a plant did make me think about something. I¡¯d need to try it out once I got out of the forest. After finishing my delicious dinner, I laid back and allowed myself to sleep for the night. I still had business to attend to tomorrow, and then I¡¯d head back to the grove to finish my training. Too bad I didn¡¯t study that snake after I killed it. That thing had some pretty powerful muscles, and the ability to contort my body like a snake would have been nice. Despite those thoughts, I did not entertain the possibility of hunting down another one, if simply because it hurt enough to kill the first snake. I did, however, think back to my former dream of plant-based arrows after I woke up. But in order to make it work, I¡¯d need to study different plants with particular characteristics. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. First, I¡¯d need a vine that grows rapidly, at least enough to be a meter long within a week. Then, I¡¯d need something that was able to produce large quantities of seeds. Next, I¡¯d need something like bamboo, that would be a long, sturdy plant. What else¡­ I¡¯d need something with thorns to use as the arrowhead. And ideally, throw in a poison as well. Combine all those plants together and I¡¯d get the perfect plant arrow. Sadly, the only part of that I had so far was the poisons, but I at least had magic that would let me create the arrows once I found the components I needed. After holding my morning internal monologue, I had an apple for breakfast, as well as a glass of water provided by the inn. With that taken care of, I left for Harlan¡¯s store. I wanted that armor for a couple reasons. One, obviously because it¡¯s freaking armor. And two, it¡¯s armor made from an animal, meaning I should be able to copy it. By the time I was there, he was already waiting for me. ¡°Ah, there you are. Just had the finished product brought in a few minutes ago. Come, take a look!¡± He grinned as he led me to the back again. Rather than the giant snake I left there the night before, there was now an armor stand, with a complete set of green scaled armor on it. The chest armor was large, easily a size bigger than me, but had a hood that came up to cover the head. Its sleeves only went down to just before the elbow, but after that was a pair of bracers that left barely any skin exposed and went all the way to the hands. There were five holes for me to slide my fingers through, making them easy and comfortable to wear. For the pants, they went all the way down to just above my ankles, where the boots filled in the rest. Like the chest, the entire thing was a size too large, which had me curious. Nonetheless, I tried it on. It was surprisingly comfortable, as the inside of the armor was padded with what felt like cotton. As each part came on, it shifted slightly, resizing to match my body. By the time I had the full suit on, it felt like it was made exactly for me. And, to be fair, it was. ¡°This works great, Harlan. Thanks.¡± I smiled to the shopkeeper, who nodded happily. ¡°Anything for a paying customer. Be sure to bring in any more unusual items you find and I¡¯ll give you a good deal.¡± I nodded to him, saying my thanks once again before leaving. Jacobs said he¡¯d be in town today, but before I bother him to see if this can be enchanted anymore, I wanted to see about copying the armor scales. I figured the more changes were made to it, the harder it¡¯d be to copy. Since I already had the scales ¡®isolated¡¯ from the rest of the snake, it was a simple matter to memorize their mana patterns. From there I did the same thing I had done with the wings, and applied it across my skin, making sure to resize it so that I wasn¡¯t crushed by suddenly smaller skin. The sensation was a bit different this time, as I felt my skin forming the scales all along me. To be honest, it felt like my whole body had ¡®sweated¡¯ the scales out. It wasn¡¯t painful¡­ just strange. And when I looked at the result, I was very surprised to find that the armor I was wearing had actually merged with my body, rather than having me wear two layers of scales.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Armored Beast - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï By studying the various skins of armored beasts, you are able to apply those effects to your own body, increasing your skin''s durability. Be warned, this spell will drastically alter your appearance. Mana Cost: 150
In a moment of panic, I hastily dismissed the spell, afraid that my armor may have been lost in the process. Thankfully, it appeared on me as normal when I was once again a half-elf. Curious, I decided to create my wings with Aspect of the Bird again. As I did so, narrow slits opened in the back of my armor to let the wings through. So¡­ the enchantment to make the armor fit my form.. I guess that meant when I took a form based on the armor, it combined with me? And since it didn¡¯t lose the shaping enchantment, it doesn¡¯t lose them during the process¡­ that¡¯ll be fun to experiment with. I grinned a bit more before contacting Jacobs. ¡°Hey man, just got the armor, you available to give it a look?¡± When he agreed, we decided to meet at the edge of town. Not because this was any big secret, but because we didn¡¯t want to be in everyone¡¯s way while enchanting things. While walking, I did a little experiment with my affinity cultivation. I was quite easily able to maintain one type of cultivation while walking, so long as I paid attention to it. When I tried to cultivate both Earth and Wind Affinities, it became somewhat difficult to focus on where I was going. Once I added Plant Affinity to the mix, I started tripping over every root and obstacle in my path. So, I decided to focus on cultivating Wind Affinity for now, and work on the other two once I was back in the grove. Roughly ten minutes after I arrived, Jacobs got there and took a look at my armor. ¡°Very nice, definitely going to protect you better than that outfit did.¡± He smirked, before giving it a more detailed look. ¡°I should be able to enchant it, but it¡¯s already got one set enchantment on it. So, it can only hold one more low quality enchantment. I can either enchant each piece individually, or enchant it as an entire set like what was done with the other one.¡± I knew he was talking about the ¡®form fitting¡¯ enchantment. ¡°Pros and cons?¡± I asked simply. ¡°Well, getting each piece done individually means you can have various different effects. However, if I enchant it all together as a set item, then you¡¯ll need to wear the entire set to get an effect, but the effect will be significantly stronger than the sum of its parts.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go with a set, then. What kind of enchantments can you put on it?¡± He nodded, and put his hand on the chest armor. ¡°It seems to resonate with strength the most out of the types of enchantments I know. Also dexterity, but not to the same degree. Those would be the strongest enchantments I can put on this kind of material right now.¡± I thought about it, but it wasn¡¯t a very difficult decision. ¡°Let¡¯s go with dexterity then. I¡¯m not a strength build by any definition, but dexterity will help me with any number of things.¡± He nodded again, and had me take the armor off so he could work with it. Thankfully, I was still wearing my beginner outfit under it. Then, he laid the entire set on the ground, making sure to place them in the pattern as if they were being worn. After using his staff to draw a circle around the armor set, he again began tracing magical runes. Though, this time they were in the air above the armor, and he traced the same pattern roughly. Around the eight time he traced it, he furrowed his brows, and the black gem on his staff began glowing. Once done, he let out a sigh and let me put the armor back on. After I had the full suit of armor on, I was surprised to find that my dexterity had increased by a full 30 points thanks to this armor buff. ¡°Wow¡­ thanks.¡± I smiled wide, and decided to use my new spell to once again become one with the armor. Still investigating my stats, I was happy to see that the buff remained. When I shifted back, I noticed that Jacobs was standing there looking rather surprised by my previous performance. Maybe my face changes when I shift? ---------------------------- This is roughly what his face looks like when shifted into his scale form, except green, smaller scales, and without the glowing blue eyes. Spoiler : Chapter 19: Grove, Sweet Grove Author¡¯s Corner: Wow! I never thought that the poll in the last chapter would be so close! While I do have an option I¡¯m personally rooting for, I¡¯ll do my best to do justice for whatever choice is voted for the top. That being said, I think I should again remind people that whatever option wins, he¡¯ll be starting out at the bottom level for it! A lot of the things people are expecting him to be able to do with these types of magic wouldn¡¯t be possible until he¡¯s had considerable practice. -------------------------------------------------------- After parting with Jacobs, I had Celeste lead me back to the grove to resume my training. Rather than flying back there, I decided to test the armor out and walk. Of course, I still had my shiny new dagger ready to strike at anything that decided to eat me. For some reason, this didn¡¯t happen as often as I had expected it to, and the first attack wasn¡¯t until I was nearly halfway there. Though, that means that something did attack me. And it was even a familiar wolf, too. The first time Rita had brought me through here, I had seen this wolf guarding its pups. But now, those pups had grown quite large, far faster than they normally should have. Together with their mother, they decided to block my path and invite me over for lunch. Sadly, I was to be the lunch. And of course, my ¡®shy¡¯ birds had long since abandoned me to fight on my own. Altogether, there were three wolves, the mother and its two pups. The mother stood in the center, and the pup on the right was the first to charge at me, after emitting a series of threatening snarls. Perhaps a bit too overconfident in my new armor, I raised one arm to intercept its bite. It was then that I learned the primary flaw of flexible armor¡­. They don¡¯t resist force very well. Sure, my arm wasn¡¯t torn to shreds by the wolf, and I thought I even heard it chip its teeth on me, but the crushing power of its jaws were fully applied to my arm, making me curse under my breath. Thanks to the first wolf blocking my view, I wasn¡¯t able to see as the second ¡®pup¡¯ charged up. Instead, I was busy pushing mana into my new dagger to activate the chainsaw function, then driving it into the throat of the first wolf before it could remove itself from my arm. Surprisingly, I was able to control my body much more effectively now thanks to the large dexterity buff. As the body of the wolf latched onto me became lifeless, I heard a growl off to my left. Unfortunately, that was the arm holding up the wolf, so I was not able to clearly see what was coming. I did, however, feel a strong impact against my side that launched me away and made me crash into a nearby tree.
That''s not how you fly, you know better!
-20 HP
While the first wolf hadn¡¯t actually managed to do damage thanks to my armor, the impact from this one had managed to. When I looked, I saw the wolf swaying lightly before finding his balance. If I had to guess, it had taken a running start and headbutted me. Finally, the mother wolf was watching me warily, as if waiting to see what I would do. Since I had already killed one of its pups, it didn¡¯t seem to eager to rush at me. And that suited me just fine. I had already decided that I¡¯d be keeping one of the wolf corpses to practice my Nature Magic with, so that of course meant that I couldn¡¯t run away. And I knew that I was neither faster or stronger than these wolves, but I was better equipped. I could kill one with my dagger, or my magic. I really need to practice Earth Manipulation at some point. As the second wolf once again began its charge, I leapt forward as well. Though, again, it was far faster than I was. By the time I had made it three steps, it was on me, its claws swiping for my unprotected face. I had roughly half a second to decide what to do, so naturally I procrastinated.
That could leave a mark.
-25 HP
I was thrown to the side with the force of the attack this time, but that meant little compared to the burning pain on the right side of my face. I could barely think to assemble an Alchemic Heal spell, which dulled the pain a bit. I¡¯d need to do a more thorough treatment after this fight. And since they¡¯ve seen I can bleed, the mother wolf seems more comfortable joining the fight. Well, screw that! I thought to myself, quickly pouring my mana to merge my signature with that of the snake scale, activating Aspect of the Armored Beast. The two wolves paused their charge as they saw me changing forms. From the earlier exchange, they saw that they could hurt me if they hit my bare skin, but now they had lost such targets. Deciding to take the initiative, I launched myself to the closest wolf, my blade in hand. Before I had gotten this armor, and this new spell, I would have been forced to retreat quickly against three wolves. But now, my equipment and magic were finally starting to match my level. There was still little hope of me mastering the use of the dagger, but if it¡¯s just stabbing and cutting then I won¡¯t have a problem. As soon as I neared the wolf, it had finally come to its senses and jumped away before I could swing down with my weapon. At the same time, I felt something slam into my back, presumably the final wolf. Since this was no longer simply armor, but my actual skin, the force of the impact was lessened a bit. That didn¡¯t stop me from being launched several feet forward and losing my balance, though. At least I didn¡¯t slam into a tree this time. I decided to try something new, mixing my Plant Affinity with a Nature Magic spell to get increased results. First, I slammed my fist into the ground, pouring mana into it while casting Nature¡¯s Grasp. Here, I was able to see the result of my Nature Magic increasing from Beginner to Basic, as several thick roots sprang out from underground and caught the mother wolf. Then, I used Plant Manipulation to control the movement of those roots which already had been immersed in my mana. The end result was¡­ not something I¡¯d ever want to have happen to me. The roots all began stabbing into the wolf¡¯s skin, making miserable whines emit from its mouth before one finally struck a vital point. After that, the roots just froze, holding the wolf a couple feet in the air. I had absolutely no desire to do anything about these roots that would make me see the results of my handiwork. Though, thanks to this scene, the other wolf decided I wasn¡¯t worth the trouble, and ran off while its mother was being stabbed to death. And with the battle over, I was finally able to cast another Alchemic Heal on myself, taking care of the last of my injuries. When I looked over the result of the battle, I was a bit disappointed to find out that killing the two wolves had barely given me a ninth of what I needed to level up. I can either repeatedly fight wolves like this, or fight a single really strong monster. One of those snakes probably wouldn¡¯t give me an instant level anymore. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Taking my loot, in other words the dead wolf, I continued my journey back to the grove. Perhaps since I didn¡¯t cancel the Aspect of the Armored Beast, nothing else bothered attacking me. Though, I found another reason why the beasts were being so timid as I had nearly gotten back to the grove. A certain loli elf was staring at me with a mix of curiosity and caution, and it was my guess that she had just finished leading another student to Jarl. ¡°Who.. or what, are you?¡± ¡°Well, Rita, is that any way to talk to a friend?¡± I tried to tease, but my voice sounded a bit different in this form. It was no surprise she wouldn¡¯t recognize me, and the casual use of her name put her on guard even more. ¡°I¡¯ll ask again, who are you and how do you know me?¡± I could see her clenching her fists, and knew that if I didn¡¯t give a good enough answer this time, she might attack. And unlike the wolves, she would certainly have a way to kill me in one hit. As such, I immediately canceled my Aspect spell, letting my appearance return to normal. ¡°Better?¡± I asked with a cautious smile, ready to jump to the side if things were not, in fact, better. Rita looked at me, blinking for a moment as she seemed to be thinking of something. ¡°Falenel¡­ right? Guess you found an interesting snake, huh?¡± She asked, looking at my armor. Thankfully, though, she seemed to have relaxed quite a bit. She even giggled when the two lovebirds flew down from the tree to finally perch on my shoulders again. Maybe they don¡¯t like it when I go scaly? I¡¯ll have to remember that trick for the future. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s me. Got another druid in training, I take it?¡± She nodded her head, relaxing a bit more. ¡°Yeah, another traveler. Just dropped her off, and was on my way back. I think she should be one of the last ones in this group to have gotten her class, since she¡¯s focused more on her skills than anything else.¡± Meaning I¡¯m probably far weaker than her¡­ Great. I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll head on over then and introduce myself.¡± Nodding, she went on past me and let me go to meet the new girl. I was rather surprised when I found a stunningly beautiful wood elf sitting next to the pond, but it wasn¡¯t the girl that had me most surprised. It was the fluffy white creature sitting in her lap, that familiar horn on top of its head¡­ We meet again, my nemesis¡­ I glared at the rabbit, and it glared back at me. The girl seemed to have taken note of this, and looked over to me curiously. Did I mention stunningly beautiful? I think I did. While she may have been lacking in curves thanks to the more streamlined bodies of the elves, she was still very well proportioned, with long golden hair and deep sapphire eyes. ¡°Have you met Mr. Fluffims before?¡± She asked me rather cutely, and my brain froze. While I may hold a grudge against horned rabbits in general, that name was more than enough punishment. Combined with the fact that we were in the presence of a pretty girl, and I no longer felt the need to pummel it. ¡°No¡­ just recalling a bad experience.¡± I said with a sigh, moving over and sitting on the ground. ¡°So, I take it you¡¯re here to meet Jarl?¡± I looked around, not seeing the druid trainer nearby. She tilted her head slightly, but nodding soon after. ¡°Yup. I sent the others to go look for him, so he should be back soon.¡± She sent others¡­ so she has more animal companions¡­ and is able to control them far better than I do mine. I lowered my head in depression at that, thinking how much I fail as a druid. Sure, I don¡¯t want a lot of animal companions, but if I could at least get these two birds to listen to me, I¡¯d be happy. ¡°So¡­ did you already choose your Sub-Class?¡± I had a feeling I knew the answer, but asked anyways. She nodded again, with a bit of a smile this time. ¡°Yup! I got the option right after choosing the class, so I¡¯m a Beastmaster now. How about you?¡± She asked, looking to the two birds on my shoulder, which had begun happily snuggling against the sides of my face. ¡°Not yet. I¡¯m aiming for a specific skill set, but the next part of training is¡­ well, it¡¯s rather terrifying to be honest.¡± She tilted her head cutely again. ¡°How could it be that bad?¡± I sighed helplessly, shaking my head. She¡¯ll find out sooner or later. ¡°I¡¯ve got to turn into one of these birds¡­ but they are very¡­ eager to see that happen. And for none of the right reasons¡­¡± She seemed to have trouble processing my meaning, but I could see her cheeks slowly turning red once she understood me. ¡°Oh¡­ oh, I see¡­ yes, I could understand how that might be bad. Then¡­ pardon my asking¡­ but why did you pick female animals, if you didn¡¯t want there to be a risk of that?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t pick them¡­ they picked me.¡± I then explained how I had picked their favorite apples, and the swarm chasing me to be fed. And how by that point I had practically no choice but to take them as animal companions. ¡°Ah¡­ I only take in female companions to avoid any risk of that when I learn how to transform. I¡¯d rather not be ¡®attacked¡¯ by them.¡± She said, still blushing slightly. ¡°But I will have to see about finding some for myself.. that is a rather interesting ability they have.¡± It was at this point I noticed I had fallen into one of my bad habits. ¡°I¡¯m Falenel, by the way, what¡¯s your name?¡± ¡°I¡¯m Sharon.¡± She smiled warmly to me, which only made me feel even more depressed. Am I the only one that used a fantasy name when choosing the elves? ¡°Well, Sharon¡­ mind helping me out a bit?¡± I asked, seeing no other way I could do this safely. When she looked at me curiously, I explained. ¡°I need someone to distract these two while I transform, so that they don¡¯t ¡®attack¡¯ me¡­¡± Blush incoming¡­ Blush sighted! She nodded, her cheeks turning red again. ¡°Sure.. I can try to keep an eye on them.¡± Alright! Now, with that taken care of, I can finally take my next step towards becoming a Xeno-Shifter! And thankfully I¡¯ve got a cute girl here to help. Possible love interest?! No, not likely. Still, good to have friends! Chapter 20: Third Wheel? Author¡¯s Corner: The votes are in, and the poll has closed! Once again, I¡¯d like to say how surprised I was to see the votes being so close! I had honestly expected Technomancy to win by a landslide like Druid did in the class poll! Then again, I had expected that poll to be a bit more evenly matched, but Druid won by a vast majority. As promised, I have already deleted the pre-poll thread to prevent readers from being cluttered with non-chapter threads while they are reading. Now it¡¯s just a matter of waiting for Falenel to get the funds, and he¡¯ll be able to learn this new field of magic! ----------------------------------------------------------- With Sharon¡¯s permission, I had Yang go over and play with her, while I used Yin to study her mana signature. Yang was predictably reluctant, but after some coaxing she agreed and flew over to nestle against the nearby elf. Meanwhile, Yin sat between my hands as she had the first time I studied her aura, waiting for that uncomfortable feeling she felt last time. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve ever really properly described what mana signatures are like, have I? Well, that¡¯s because it¡¯s a bit hard to explain. Remember how I said that analyzing that herb felt like feeling deep inside of it? That¡¯s actually only a small part of it. The entire mana signature itself is like a massive array of various strands of light. Each section of the array contains different patterns and colors, determining different things. For instance, the scales I got from the Great Boa are like a braided pattern of silver and green light. In order to copy that onto my skin, I had to identify my own skin¡¯s signature, which turned out to be a series of straight, dark blue lights. Once I overlaid the two patterns across my skin¡¯s entire mana signature, the Aspect of the Armored Beast would activate. On the other hand, the bird wings had to be grafted on, rather than overlaid. Thankfully, a creature¡¯s mana signature seems to vaguely match up with their body shape, which makes it easier. Strangely, the lovebird¡¯s camouflage ability was an overlay like the snake scales, but was a graft like the wings. In essence, I was adding a layer of paint to my mana signature. The texture, such as feeling the wet rose when I explored the herb, comes from a deeper exploration of the signature. Each part of the mana signature has a different feeling, usually related to what the signature corresponds to. So, the wings had the feeling of stroking feathers, while the snake scales were more rough. It was the mix of associated feelings that helped me remember the patterns more clearly. And for those of you wondering, yes, I did inspect Celeste¡¯s mana signature, or at least the one from my bracelet. It was strange, rather than the natural, gentle formations that were in plants and animals, the mana signature of my companion bracelet was rough. Not rough like the snake scales¡­ more like jagged, as if I were staring at a crushed car in a wireframe view. I guess that was the difference between something natural and artificial. Anyways, enough about my little procrastination rant. My point was that it¡¯s difficult to truly understand an entire aura, but once you have, it¡¯s not nearly as difficult to remember. And that rather helped me when analyzing Yin¡¯s mana signature, because I already had pieces of the puzzle that I could fill in, her wings and skin. Using that as a starting point, I was able to much more quickly finish analyzing her aura, after only 45 minutes or so. Once I had finished analyzing the aura, I had Yin go over and play with Yang and Sharon. For some reason, though, I could feel a sense of anxiousness from them as they watched me. I really hoped that they didn¡¯t realize what I was about to do, and were simply putting on an act to have me hurry up! They shouldn¡¯t be that smart yet, right?! Shaking my head, I quickly dispelled that thought. I had other things to worry about right now. What I was about to do wasn¡¯t grafting a mana signature onto myself, or even overlaying an aspect. I was completely changing my mana signature to match another. For that, I had to be very careful, because if I messed up the positioning of the mana, then I might end up with my foot in my mouth.. literally! Thankfully, I didn¡¯t find it too hard to reshape my own mana signature, so I just had to take my time. At this point, it was like shaping clay. If I was careful, and took my time, then I would get the result I expected. If I rushed it, everything would collapse. The entire process took nearly five minutes, during which I felt almost nothing. My eyes were long since closed to concentrate, so I saw nothing different until it was over. Once it was done, I opened my eyes carefully, and saw two giant birds charging over towards me! Wait, they weren¡¯t giant birds, that was Yin and Yang! I was suddenly tiny! There was a ding in my head as a notification appeared, but I did not pay attention to it. Turning around, I attempted to immediately fly away, but I was not used to this body yet. As such, I fell flat on my beak after jumping into the air. I could only weep silently as my doom flew closer and closer¡­ and then stopped. After a few moments of not being molested as I had expected, I turned around and saw the two lovebirds collapsed on the ground, their heads down with their upper wings covering their faces. The two of them just looked so pitiful for some reason¡­ and that¡¯s when I noticed it. I¡­ I was not a male bird! Mini-me was gone! I didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry, but I finally had a chance, so I immediately began the process of changing back into my half-elf form. This time, the process was faster, only taking one minute to complete itself. However, changing back and forth once had used almost my entire mana pool! It was also at this time that I noticed the windows that had appeared earlier.
Congratulations! You qualify for a Druid Sub-Class!
Wild Shaper Masters of their own bodies, these druids study the art of changing their forms to gain the abilities and traits of other creatures. Unlike other druids, these are not limited to beasts, but may also learn to harness the powers of magical beasts, and even monsters! Advanced Class path: Xeno-Shifter, able to further extend their art to copy the properties of other sentient species, mixing and matching to create an ultimate form.
Do you wish to accept? Y/N
The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Mana Signatures has increased to Basic
New Spell Unlocked!
Form Shift - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï¡î Through arduous study of a mana signature, you are able to copy that signature and make it your own, assuming the identity of the studied beast. Mana Cost: Form Dependant
While the second one had me a bit excited, it was the first one that I really enjoyed. Finally, I had started on the path to becoming a Xeno-Shifter! Naturally, I immediately selected yes and accepted the Sub-Class.
Sub-Class changed to Wild Shaper
Congratulations for choosing your Sub-Class! Your Growth rate for skills related to this Sub-Class increase by 20%, and you have been granted a Sub-Class special skill.
New Skill Unlocked!
Aura Sight - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% The ability to perceive auras at a glance, by infusing magic into your eyes.
Seeing the two messages pop up after I chose my Sub-Class, I was even happier. Now, I would no longer need to hold an object or creature between my hands to study its mana signatures! Though, this likely didn¡¯t let me detect the ¡®feeling¡¯ of the mana signatures, so it would be harder to memorize. Still, it shouldn¡¯t be that hard right? Before I had noticed it, there were two small birds nuzzling up against my head, seemingly glad I was back to being a man. And nearby, still sitting where she had been, was Sharon, who had a wry smile on her face. If I didn¡¯t know better, I¡¯d say she had managed to guess what had happened during that brief exchange. Though, any doubts immediately disappeared when she spoke. ¡°Turned into a girl bird, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yup¡­¡± I let out a sigh, while propping myself up. I didn¡¯t want to always turn into female creatures in the future. Especially if I ended up studying a female alien for my Xeno-Shifter abilities! I¡¯d need to find some way to secure my manhood. At this time, there was a light clapping coming from the edge of the grove. Surprised, both Sharon and I looked over to see Jarl there, accompanied by his usual wolf. However, there were also six horned rabbits, two young wolves, a small doe, and what looked like a white raven accompanying them. ¡°Good, you¡¯ve finally worked up the courage to take the next step.¡± He said, looking at me with an amused expression. ¡°You knew¡­ didn¡¯t you?¡± To my question, he could only grin. ¡°Of course I did. But it was too fun to watch your hesitation over it. If you want to know, the way to change a form¡¯s gender is simple. Just study both a male and female of the same species, and find the components which determine gender. After that, just make sure you leave those bits unchanged, and you won¡¯t have another gender accident.¡± Well¡­ at least he told me that part. I let out a tired sigh as I heard him talk. ¡°So, I¡¯ve got to ask¡­ what¡¯s the difference between animals, magical animals, and monsters?¡± I recalled that bit being mentioned in my notifications, so wanted to clarify. This entire time, I¡¯ve been pretty much considering all animals as video game monsters. He looked surprised at my question, however. Perhaps he hadn¡¯t expected that we wouldn¡¯t know? ¡°Well, there¡¯s really no harm in explaining. And the difference is pretty simple. Regular animals are those who have evolved naturally, and not had much of a reaction to the magic in their surroundings. Magical animals, on the other hand, have incorporated this magic into their evolution. Unicorns, for instance, are magical animals capable of manipulating water and light. ¡°It¡¯s common for magical animals to have some special powers, by the way. And no, this forest shouldn¡¯t have any in it. Now, monsters are a step further. They are races that, rather than evolving naturally, were spawned by magic itself. Slimes, for instance. In areas thick with certain types of mana, a slime might appear. But there are other examples as well, such as elementals, goblins, and even certain types of elves are all considered monsters by this standard.¡± The last bit threw me for a loop. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t elves of any type be, at most, magical animals?¡± He smiled, as if having expected that question. ¡°If they had evolved, then yes. Though, sentient species are no longer classified as any of those three by these standards either. There are cases where the world will spawn a race which is very close to an existing race. Those are the ones considered as monsters. Though, out of beasts, magical beasts, and monsters, the latter are the most likely to gain sentience. I mentioned slimes and goblins as monsters, but there are also sentient goblin tribes, and even a race of slime people. Though their races started as monsters, they have transcended that level to become a sentient creature.¡± I nodded, and began going over the information in my head. So it¡¯s mostly dependant on the magic concentration, right? Low levels are found in normal animals, moderate levels in magical beasts, and high levels in monsters. And once a race gains sentience, they add a further layer of control to their own magic. That could explain why the races have different difficulties for my shapeshifting skills, I guess. Now that he had finished explaining, he turned to look at Sharon. ¡°And you must be the new apprentice Rita was sending. Your friends found me a little bit ago.¡± He waved his hands around to indicate the various animals around him. ¡°Though, for the most part I would say you have advanced your training on your own far past the normal level.¡± Seeing that he was about to start teaching her the basics of druid elemental magic, I decided to tune him out and begin cultivating my own three affinities. Later I can learn what I can from the wolf corpse, then see about learning new shapeshifting powers! Chapter 21: The Claw Author¡¯s Corner: First of all, I would like to thank Cruxio for the positive review of the story on the main page. *gives Cruxio an extra cookie*. Next, something that he mentioned in his review, a genome tree. After googling what he was talking about, it looks like most of the abilities of the genome tree are things that he can already do, or will be able to do in time with Nature Magic. Though, it did give me a few ideas. As always, if people have questions or comments, feel free to post them! The more questions I answer, the more it forces me to think in depth of the world mechanics, which leads to a better story for all! -------------------------------------------------------------------- After a couple hours spent cultivating, I was somewhat annoyed that I hadn¡¯t made much progress. Though, I also should have expected it. Although I managed to raise Earth Affinity to 6%, neither of my other affinities increased. Back when I was solely focusing on one at a time, it¡¯d take several hours to gain a single percent, and now my attention was divided between three of them. Maybe I should practice them one at a time until 10%, and then work on them in the background while I practice the next? I thought about it like that, and decided that I¡¯d start working on it after I did some more training with Nature Magic. And in order to do that, I¡¯d need to study the wolf corpse I had collected. But¡­ better safe than sorry. So, breaking out of my trance-like training, I looked over and saw that Jarl was sitting near Sharon, watching her practice her first session of cultivating mana. ¡°Jarl, quick question.¡± When I saw I had his attention, I went ahead and asked. ¡°There isn¡¯t a penalty for studying the mana of a dead animal rather than a live one, right?¡± He thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged his shoulders. ¡°Yes and no. If they have an activated ability like your birds, you won¡¯t be able to study it. But¡­ if they¡¯re just normal animals, you can still see the aura left behind, as long as it¡¯s not been dead for too long.¡± I winced slightly at that. ¡°How long is too long?¡± ¡°Twenty-four hours, typically. After that, the aura begins to degrade. That¡¯s why resurrection also has a twenty-four hour window. Once the aura begins to degrade, it shows that the soul has left the body. So, unless a corpse is magically preserved so that the aura isn¡¯t damaged, you only have that long.¡± I nodded my head, a bit relieved at that. It had definitely not been a full day since I killed the wolf, and if I remembered right, I had not quite killed the snake twenty-four hours before I studied its scales. Taking another look at the armor¡¯s mana signature, I discovered that the paths of light that I had previously memorized in the snake scales had started to shrivel up and lose their glow. Having resolved my doubts, I pulled the body of the wolf out of my inventory, and decided to use my new skill, Aura Sight. What I saw caught me off guard for a moment. I could still see the wolf, the grass around it, and myself, but inside of each there were the strands of light I have come to associate with mana signatures. Even floating between the wolf and myself, thin, nearly invisible wisps of white light which seemed to be wind mana were mingling with straight, yellow rays descending from above. The latter, I decided was like light mana. On the body of the wolf, I was pleased to find that the lights weren¡¯t shriveled up or fading like the snake scales. Though it was missing the extra level of detail since I wasn¡¯t actually touching the aura, I could still clearly see it. Only.. I wasn¡¯t sure how long it¡¯d take me to study even one small portion of it from this perspective. As I dismissed the Aura Sight, I began to wonder something else. Just how had I managed to activate it in the first place? The system has never really assisted me in the activation of skills before in this game, so maybe Aura Sight is a common skill that anyone can do by passing mana into their eyes, and the game took pity on me to let me know? If so, that¡¯d make me feel like a real idiot¡­ Well, that might have been the point. I mean, I never did try to sense things away from myself, even though it seems like an obvious thing to do now. Anyways, back to the wolf! There were a couple of things that I wanted to get from the wolf, primarily their claws and nose. I didn¡¯t need to be able to turn fully into a wolf, but if I managed to learn the entire aura by then, I wouldn¡¯t be one to complain. Thinking about it like that made me a bit depressed, because I probably don¡¯t have enough mana to shift into a wolf form, seeing as it took practically all of my mana just to turn into a bird. As such, I¡¯d have to increase my intelligence stat a bit more to get more mana. And to do that, I need to level up! Back to the wolf¡­ again. I first focused my mana on sensing its paws, and looked at the structure of the lights within. While the composition of an aspect can be determined by what colors and patterns the lights are, the form of it is determined by the shape of those lights. So¡­ the wolf¡¯s furred skin is an interwoven gray and purple light, but I could just as easily replace that with the pattern of the snake¡¯s scales. What I needed to focus on was the shape that those lights made. I can¡¯t wait to get back to leveling, and selling the bodies to earn money. Then maybe I can get another kind of magic. What would compliment my Nature Magic well? Summoning? Eh, I already have to deal with more animals than I¡¯d like to, and anything my summons could do, I could do eventually. Gravity, then? It¡¯d be nice, but not necessary. I almost dismissed Technomancy outright, since it would conflict with the druid image and Nature Magic, but then I realized something¡­ If I was able to store information like a computer, or have mental access to such, then memorizing mana signatures would be far easier! Not only that, I might be able to mix and match configurations to make ¡®preset¡¯ forms. Alright, that¡¯s decided, once I get another five silver, I¡¯ll learn Technomancy. Wait, I was trying to focus on something, wasn¡¯t I? Dammit, this is why it takes me so long to do things, I keep getting bored and distracting myself! Wolf, wolf, study the wolf! Come on, Falenel, you can do it! Roughly half an hour later, I had finally managed to memorize the pattern of the wolf paws. Taking a look at my own hand, I made sure I was doing this right before I started. I didn¡¯t want to edit the wrong part of my mana signature, and have the paw coming out of my elbow! But, with a fair amount of caution, I shifted the mana signatures in my hand to match that of the paw, complete with its claws. It felt weird, seeing my thumb melt into my hand, while my fingers thickened and reshaped themselves, my fingernails growing out into thick claws. But, since I didn¡¯t copy the fur of the wolf over, my hand was still bare. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Hunter - Nature Magic - ¡ï By studying the natural weapons of an animal, you are able to mimic them on your own body. Mana Cost: 50
Alright, good. Now, for the nose. I looked up, and saw Sharon staring at me. And not in the happy way, I¡¯d like that a bit. This was the ¡®what did you do to that dog¡¯ stare. ¡°Uhm¡­ something wrong?¡± She just kept staring for a moment before speaking. ¡°That puppy¡­ did you kill it..?¡± This is going to go bad no matter how I answer, so¡­ I nodded my head, and could see her clenching her fists. ¡°Not like I had much of a choice. It attacked me on my way here.¡± That seemed to placate her a bit, but she was still looking angry. Guess that she¡¯s the kind that loves animals, and would rather befriend them than kill them, even in a game. ¡°I only fought as much as I had to, until they started to run away. This one just didn¡¯t make it that long.¡± That seemed to help a bit more, and she pulled a wolf of her own close to her, hugging it like a giant stuffed animal. Surprisingly, it did not really resist her at all, and even nuzzled closer. ¡°Okay¡­ as long as you aren¡¯t bullying them¡­¡± Seriously, what is with her? I know this game is a bit too realistic, but still¡­ Guess that means I won¡¯t be taking her with me when I go to grind levels, but it does explain why she took so long to get her class, and had so many animal companions. Even Jarl was shaking his head, seemingly disappointed with Sharon¡¯s actions. The animals of this forest kill each other more in a day than I could if I stayed here for a month, maybe even a year. Refusing to accept that fact for her might hurt later on, when she comes across more powerful creatures that she can¡¯t tame. Shaking my head again, I looked over to Jarl as I remembered something, completely by random. Though, it might help me make money in the future if it works. ¡°Jarl, I was told Alchemy and Nature Magic mixed really well. Is it possible to use Nature Magic to help make the potions themselves, rather than just copying the effects of them?¡± Jarl seemed about as surprised by my question as I was by the thought of it. However, if this worked, then I would no longer need to constantly hunt for familiar herbs. After a moment, he nodded his head slightly. ¡°I guess it would be possible, just not easy. Just like how you can change your aura to match that of a beast, you can do the same thing for plants. If you bleed a little into a bottle, but changed the signature of your blood to match the combination of herbs you use to make the potion, then your blood would become that potion.¡± I nodded a bit, though winced as I imagined how much I would have to cut myself to make a profit like that. ¡°What if I copied an animal that constantly produced a liquid, and changed that instead? Like the venom sac of a poisonous snake?¡± Again, he nodded his head. ¡°That would also work, though would take a bit more practice. You¡¯d also need an easy way to extract it from yourself, which could be with a snake¡¯s fangs. Most druids don¡¯t go down that route, since it is rather difficult to get right. If you mess up, you could accidentally fill your body with a deadly poison, and die on the spot. If that happens, then even resurrection magic would not help you, unless someone managed to remove all of the poison from your body and replace it with normal blood.¡± That made me wince even more as I pictured that kind of failure. ¡°Well, I need some way to make money. Not that good at hunting, next to no skills when it comes to making items, and I don¡¯t know enchanting. I can cook, and I can do alchemy.¡± Jarl thought it over for a moment longer before speaking, an interested look on his young face. ¡°Well, if you had a personal garden, you could grow your own herbs. There is an advanced druid technique that would help, and it¡¯s actually something Sharon would need to learn eventually if she hopes to advance to become a Colony Druid.¡± Seeing that I was interested, he spoke with a slight smile. ¡°If you train your affinities and Nature Magic to a certain degree, you can make an ¡®internal world¡¯ within yourself. That¡¯s how a Colony Druid stores their animal army inside their body. It¡¯s also where many druids cultivate their grove. But, in order to achieve it, you need all of the necessary affinities at at least 5%. That means water, earth, fire, wind, and light all need to be at 5% to start it. Without one, you will be missing a key element to sustain life inside your grove. And, if you plan to have any nocturnal herbs, you¡¯ll need Dark Affinity as well.¡± I blinked, taken aback by this new option. ¡°You mean¡­ once I get all of that¡­ I¡¯d actually be able to have a garden¡­ inside my own body?¡± The implications of this were huge. If it was a part of my magic, wouldn¡¯t it carry over when I logged out? ¡°In a sense. You¡¯ll need to care for it like normal, and can only bring in plants you assimilate on the outside. But once you have it, you¡¯ll be able to take any plant from your grove, and bring it out into the real world. Normally, this isn¡¯t talked about until you grow a bit more powerful, but I figure telling you now will give you some motivation in your training.¡± He winked jokingly to me, and laughed. Suddenly, I remembered the various forests I had seen when I flew into the air before. ¡°Then, this forest..?¡± ¡°Right, this is my grove. Most forests on this planet are maintained by a druid, who allows others to create cities within them. But, don¡¯t think that your grove will be this big when you first make it. You¡¯d be lucky to have it even one percent of the size. The size of the grove will grow gradually over time as you continue to absorb the mana of the various elements that compose it.¡± Well, this opened up a whole new path for me to make money. I still had several herbs left in my inventory that I could plant once I managed to make what he was talking about. But first, I needed to get the nose from this wolf, and then cultivate the last few elements that I need! Chapter 22: Training Montage Author¡¯s Corner: Another shout out, this time to miguelmp for the positive review. And don¡¯t worry, guys, he¡¯s getting closer to leaving the nearly-pure fantasy part of the game! ------------------------------------------ Analyzing the wolf¡¯s nose was surprisingly difficult, as a sense organ is far more complicated than something like a paw or wings. Still, about an hour and a half later, I had managed to memorize the pattern. With a bit of hesitation, I gradually applied to spell to unlock the next Aspect for my magic.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Tracker - Nature Magic - ¡î By studying the sensory organs of various creatures, you are capable of assuming those traits to enhance yourself. Mana Cost: 30
I wasn¡¯t really sure what I had been expecting, but a massive overflow of vivid smells still managed to catch me off guard, to the point where it was almost nauseating. In order to save my aching gut, I hurriedly dismissed the spell, letting my nose return to normal. After taking a moment to recover, I saw the window that had appeared, and was honestly disappointed. Maybe senses are considered a pure utility effect, and thus aren¡¯t ranked very high, but still¡­ only being worth half a star frustrated me. Either way, I had my collection complete for the wolf. Next thing I did was to fully memorize the creature¡¯s aura so that I could add it to my collection of shapeshifting forms. That part took a bit longer, nearly three full hours. However, once I had it, and memorized it, I didn¡¯t bother trying to shift into a wolf. I figured it probably cost at least 500 mana, so it¡¯d be best to wait until I hit that. Looking over towards Sharon, a thought occurred to me. ¡°Celeste¡­ you can still measure my affinities, right?¡± The holographic girl appeared above my wrist, nodding obediently. ¡°That¡¯s right, Falenel. Want me to take a look at them again?¡± Her constant change in attitude confused me, but maybe that was just her personality settling in, or she was doing it on purpose to be playful. ¡°Yeah, is there one listed as an Animal Affinity?¡± I asked curiously. Since there was a Plant Affinity, maybe there was also one for animals. And if that was the case, the manipulation skill would likely have a similar effect as the one I have for plants. ¡°Hmm¡­ yup! There is one listed as a Beast Affinity. Currently, your rating with that is only a single percent. Why, you don¡¯t feel like training it, do you?¡± She asked, seemingly surprised. She likely knew my thoughts regarding the birds, so cultivating this affinity would be weird for me. ¡°Not just yet. Was only curious.¡± It¡¯ll probably be something that Sharon gets fairly early on. I¡¯d wager it was likely one of her top three starting affinities. Hearing my reply, Celeste let out a sigh of relief, before her hologram vanished back into the bracelet where she dwelled. Now, it was time to start cultivating the remaining elements I needed in order to establish my inner grove. Out of the three remaining affinities I needed, water was currently the highest at 2%, so I started with that. Standing up, I walked over closer to the pond and sat down, setting my hand just at the edge of the pond to let my fingers be submerged. Even though I had Aura Sight now, and it allowed me to see the mana of the different elements, I wasn¡¯t sure it would let me make a connection over a distance. So instead, I made the link the same way I had before, through a physical connection. After that, time passed much in the same way as when I trained my other affinities¡­ slowly. It took nearly three full days to get the Water Manipulation ability, and then another three days each for Light Manipulation and Fire Manipulation. On the bright side, I managed to figure out a recipe for alchemy to cure burns¡­ Though, that was only because I foolishly stuck my hand inside a fire to establish the connection to that type of mana, before I realized that living creatures(like myself) naturally emit a small amount of fire mana. In the end, I managed to raise all three to 5% after nearly ten full days of training. During that time, Sharon has been practicing even harder than I was. Not only did she get the Beast Manipulation, but she also got the abilities for water, earth, and wind in that same amount of time. If I didn¡¯t already have a head start of two affinities, she would have easily beaten me to it. Also, I should mention that I finally got around to testing the Earth Manipulation skill. It reminded me of an old anime, where a person had to use sharp movements to move the earth. While I didn¡¯t really need to make any movements, it took quite a bit more mana than the other affinities. However, the effects made by manipulating the earth were permanent, so it could make up for it. If you¡¯re wondering how I managed to feed myself for these nine days, it¡¯s really simple. Every day or two one of my meals would be taking care of in the real world, but other than that we(Jarl) roasted the wolf, and the rest of my meals came from Yin and Yang. No, I didn¡¯t eat them, too. I was tempted, after I had gone several days without any meat, but they kept bringing me fruits instead. But anyways, I had finally cultivated all five affinities needed for my inner grove, so after I received the last one I smiled towards Jarl. ¡°Think you could teach me how to get started on my ¡®inner world¡¯ now?¡± He looked me over, and smirked. ¡°Alright, just don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be going easy on you. This is a big step for druids, so try to take your time. Once you have it established, it is much easier to expand it in the future.¡± I nodded and sat down on the ground, crossing my legs to wait for his instruction. Seeing that, he chuckled lightly, before nodding his head. ¡°Okay, first of all, you need to make magic seeds of each of the five base elements. Don¡¯t worry about darkness for now, you can add it in later. In order to create the seeds, you need to cultivate each element and condense the energy into a small shape. Then, using your Nature Magic to give it form, you turn it into a seed. Be careful of how much mana you put in each one. The quality of your inner world will depend on the balance between the different mana types, and can only be slowly shifted over time if a mistake is made at the start.¡± Again, I nodded, and decided to start with water mana. I chose this one, because out of all five mana types it was the easiest to shape, with light being the hardest. So I used my Water Manipulation to pull some of the water over from the pond to me, and used it to cultivate. I¡¯m not really sure how long it took, but in order to not have to pause to refresh my mana, I only skimmed from the top of the water mana that I took in. It was just enough that it didn¡¯t cause my mana to drop faster than it was restored. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. I had started in the evening, and when I opened my eyes next, the sky was already dark. However, I could feel that I was coming closer and closer to completing this seed. I was packing the water mana into a single spot as much as I could, until I felt it couldn¡¯t hold any more. Then, once I felt it was at the breaking point, I used my Nature Magic as instructed, to convert it into a physical object. The object created was a pure blue orb, about a third the size of my fist. Jarl, having seen that I was finally done, smiled lightly. ¡°That is the first one, a Seed of Water. It¡¯s actually a fairly valuable object by itself, since they can be used in the process of creating an item to give them an elemental ability. They are condensed essences of magic, and produced almost exclusively by druids, or mages capable of creating an enchantment that causes the same effect. The only other way to obtain them is by killing a magical beast or monster with a high affinity towards an element.¡± I smiled, looking down at the orb in my hand. If I could mass produce this thing, then wouldn¡¯t I be able to make money even without alchemy? I decided that I¡¯d check the prices of these seeds once I journeyed to the big city. Next, I slept until morning. What, you didn¡¯t think I¡¯d been cultivating and training for nine days without bothering to sleep, did you? I am not some kind of training monster that could pull that off! When I woke up, I ate, and then started on the next element. This one would be earth, since like water was fairly easy to get a desired shape. The process was very similar to what I had gone through with water, so there¡¯s not much point in going in detail. Same with wind and fire. Only light had a bit of a difference, because I had to wait until the following morning or else I might get interrupted and lose all my work. Also, each pellet took nearly five hours to create, and by the time I was done, Sharon had gotten the Light Manipulation ability, leaving only one more before she was ready to do what I had just done. I really felt like she was training too fast. Or was I just going slower than normal? After I was done with all five seeds, Jared told me to use my Nature Magic to fuse them together, by siphoning all of their mana into a single pellet. This was apparently the most complicated part of the process, and failure meant I would have to refine all five seeds again from scratch. So naturally, I wasn¡¯t allowed to fail! ¡­.Yeah, I wish. About halfway through the process, my focus slipped, and the pellet I was working on shattered. So¡­ naturally, I had to go through the entire seed refinement again. By the time I was done with making the seeds this time, Sharon was starting on her first one. It really felt bad being outdone by someone that started later, so I tried to rush through the process of creating the pellet the second time¡­ which made it fail again. Of course, by the time I was ready to try again, Sharon had refined all five seeds and already succeeded in combining them her first try. I even asked her how she had done so as quickly as she did, and she just said it was easy. That annoyed me more than anything else, since it seemed she was really telling the truth, and not trying to brag. So, for the third time, I put all of my focus on creating this pellet. Sharon, being the kindhearted soul that she is, even decided to wait for me to finish before moving to the next step. Thankfully, I managed to create the pellet on my third try, the energies all falling into place and fusing into a single sphere. Although the orb was about the same size as the seeds had been, it was no longer a single color. There were patches of brown, blue, swirling red and white, it even emitted a soft glow. Seeing that I had finally finished, after a total of four days of trying to make this pellet, Jarl let out a relieved sigh. ¡°Okay, now that you¡¯re both ready to move on, the next step is the easiest. What you have in your hands right now is called an Essence of Nature. Simply place it in your mouth, and dissolve it with Nature Magic, and it will be taken care of.¡± I smiled slightly, glad to know that this stage was so easy. Looking over to Sharon, we met each other¡¯s gaze and nodded, before we both put the pellets in our mouths and began the final process. Thankfully, the pellet just barely fit in our mouths, or this would be a very awkward training attempt. Once in our mouths, each of us began draining it with Nature Magic, much in the same way that we had created the pellet in the first place. Except, this time, instead of five different types of mana, there was just one strong combined type flowing into our bodies. After about ten minutes of this, the pellet had already completely dissolved. Opening my eyes, I saw that Sharon was just finishing up as well, and we both looked at Jarl, confused. I certainly couldn¡¯t detect anything different about myself right away, and my mana signature appeared the same as I remembered it. Noticing our gazes, Jarl only smiled at us for a moment before speaking. ¡°Congratulations, it seems both of you have already successfully created your inner world. To explore it, simply meditate like you would when cultivating mana, but direct your senses inside yourself. You should be able to find it.¡± I had already basically done that, hadn¡¯t I? Well, without the meditation. Shrugging my shoulders, I closed my eyes and tried meditating like I would when cultivating mana. However, like he said I focused on myself rather than an element. Soon, I understood what he meant, and it was like I was floating above a small patch of soil, about ten meters wide and long. If this was my inner grove, I was really disappointed in myself.
Congratulations on establishing your Druid Grove!
This is a crucial step for nearly all druids, as it gives them more options for training and convenience than ever before. Current size of grove: 6 meter radius. Elemental Balance: Decent
I felt very disappointed in myself. -------------------------------------------------------------- Author¡¯s Basement: Sorry if the chapter seemed lacking today, feeling under the weather but wanted to get something out before people had the chance to arm themselves. Enjoy! Chapter 23: A Single Blade Author¡¯s Corner: Rejoice, for the writer is no longer sick! Chapters for everyone! -------------------------------------------------- After a few moments of regret for my tiny plot of land, I allowed my consciousness to emerge again and looked around. Jarl was looking at the two of us expectantly, and when he saw that we had both ¡®woken up¡¯, he spoke. ¡°Your grove will always present itself in the form of a sphere. Roughly a third of the innermost part of the sphere will be used for the ground, while the rest will be the atmosphere. So, how big are your inner worlds?¡± I answered first, saying that it was six meters radius. Next, Sharon spoke up, and somewhat shyly said that hers was almost a ten meter radius. Somehow, I feel like she is just a better druid than me, even though she¡¯ll have trouble leveling up the normal way. Jarl nodded his head, having somewhat expected these numbers. ¡°They¡¯re both a bit below average. But, like I said before, the hardest part is establishing your grove. From now on, whenever you cultivate, any excess elemental energy will be absorbed by your grove to help it grow larger. The only time it will stop growing is if the elements are too out of balance. At that point, you¡¯ll need to absorb a large amount of the missing elements in order to make up the difference.¡± He then looked over to Sharon. ¡°For you, your grove needs to be at least an acre of ''ground'' to support a budding colony. Right now, you¡¯d only be able to house one or two animals at most.¡± Afterwards, he directed his attention to me. ¡°As for you, the size of your grove isn¡¯t really that important, since you are just planting herbs. A ten meter cubed space is sufficient for you to plant a few items. Once it grows more, you¡¯ll need to change the layout to match the herbs you¡¯re planting. For instance, if you get something that only grows underwater, or in a desert, you¡¯ll need an environment that matches it.¡± With that said, he clapped his hands together once and looked at both of us. ¡°Either way, first you¡¯ll need to learn how to move things into and out of your grove. Since food is not magically provided, Sharon will have to grow her own plants and establish an ecosystem.¡± I winced a bit, as I understood what that meant sooner than she would. In other words, her wolves will eat her rabbits¡­ Jarl, seeing my reaction, nodded slightly to it. ¡°For that reason, Sharon, you¡¯ll need to get both males and females of any species that you want to keep in your grove. Don¡¯t worry, if they are born and raised inside your grove, they will have an automatic loyalty towards you.¡± It took a few more moments for Sharon to process what had been implied, but then she immediately looked down to the rabbit in her arms and became saddened. ¡°So¡­ they¡¯ll fight each other like normal, then..?¡± Jarl nodded his head, but said nothing, so she eventually gave a bitter smile. ¡°Well.. I suppose it is the natural order of things¡­ right?¡± She looked up at him, but it was easy to see that she was still reluctant. ¡°Exactly, Sharon. We are not druids because we seek to preserve life in all its forms. Trying to do so will only lead to more pain. The spider eats the butterfly to live, and so nature will go on. If we tried to save the butterfly, the spider would instead starve. What we, as druids, must do is instead seek to preserve nature itself. That is why we cultivate our inner grove. A single druid can save a species from going extinct by sheltering it until they are strong enough to emerge again. Just one of us can create a vast forest for people to call their home. We do not provide the technologic advance of the mages, or the defensive strength of the fighters, or the cunning of the rogues. ¡°That is not to say that we are weak. A well trained druid can make the world itself fight against the enemy. Who can withstand the air being ripped from their lungs, or the water in their blood boiling? Druids are a highly respected class among many cultures, because it is through our efforts that uninhabited worlds will support life.¡± Sharon looked up at him, and nodded her head again, still unwilling to speak. Seeing that, Jarl began talking again, this time to both of us. ¡°Now, I¡¯m going to teach you how to transfer a plant into your grove. This time, we¡¯ll use just a single blade of grass to start with.¡± Saying so, he extended his hand downwards, and three blades of grass flew up from the ground to land on it. Each of these blades of grass had their roots in tact, and he stretched his hand out towards us. ¡°Take one each. Remember, when moving a plant to your grove, you must either take all of it, right down to the roots, or plant its seed. Doing the latter will naturally make it take longer to grow, but if you use Nature Magic or are able to manipulate plants, then you can accelerate the growth speed.¡± Sharon and I each took a single blade of grass from him, and held it in our hands. ¡°Okay, now the next step is a bit tricky, and I highly suggest you practice a lot on plants before you try it with an animal, because failure could very well kill them.¡± Sharon froze up at his words, before hastily nodding her head. Obviously, given her nature, she wouldn¡¯t intentionally risk her animal companions. ¡°In order to move something into your grove, you have to feel its aura, and use your own to completely wrap around it. After that, you are able to will it inside yourself, so long as it doesn¡¯t resist. If a creature were to resist, or have an aura too strong for you to fully envelope, then it would be impossible to store it. Likewise, if you have gaps in your hold over its aura, and it does not resist¡­ only the places you were covering will be sent.¡± I thought about that for a moment, and then looked at Jarl. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that sentient creatures and monsters could be stored inside the grove as well?¡± He smirked at my question, but nonetheless nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. Though, to store such would require a far more powerful druid than either of you. You would have to completely surround their aura with your own, preventing even the tiniest bit from leaking out.¡± He then frowned, and sighed while shaking his head. ¡°Unfortunately, this also means that druids are capable of smuggling people across borders undetected. Because aside from the druid himself, it¡¯s impossible for others to detect the grove, let alone investigate it. And just like with all things, there are druids swayed by greed, who would rather use their talents for such things. Most smuggling operations will tend to have a druid for slave trafficking.¡± I raised an eyebrow slightly at that, while Sharon seemed downright appalled to hear that such a thing could happen. Nonetheless, he continued. ¡°Anyways, both of you should try to move this grass over to your grove. It¡¯s a fast growing species that we typically use to cover wide areas. With the sizes of your groves, it would only take it a week to fill. By that time, you will also have been able to move other plants over as well. Once you have it transported into your grove, you¡¯ll need to once again meditate to enter the grove yourself, so that you can place it. If you don¡¯t do so, it will just appear in a random area.¡± I nodded my head, and went to work on my assigment. Since I had been studying mana signatures for quite a while now, this part was fairly easy to me. Surprisingly, I even managed to finish before Sharon did, though she still seemed disturbed by what had been discussed previously. Once I had the aura of the grass tightly wrapped up, I pictured it entering my body. After that, I watched it dissolve in strands of green light, which then flew into my chest. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. With that part taken care of, I quickly entered the grove again, and found that green light floating above the ground. Since I didn¡¯t have a physical body here, I simply willed it into the ground. Almost immediately, the green light shot into the ground, where it formed that single blade of grass, already planted. Exiting my grove, I smiled triumphantly. Though, I was a bit saddened when I looked over and saw that Sharon was still struggling to finish the first step. That must have been a pretty heavy blow to her. After a few more minutes, she let out a relieved sigh as the grass similarly turned into a series of green lights that flew towards her chest. Seeing her enter the meditative state, I watched for a little bit before she emerged, a slight smile on her face. Now that I thought about it, I really didn¡¯t know anything about Sharon. Even if she was a member of the net communities or a Seeds tester. We hadn¡¯t spoken much at all since that first meeting. With that, I began thinking about other things. If the grove carries over when I log off, that meant I could take the birds out of the game. It also meant that I might be able to take other people out too, once I got strong enough. I might even be able to bring out someone that¡¯s already been virtualized. Though the net communities would feel very real, there was always the problem of it being a virtual environment. Like I had said previously regarding other VR games, there would always be a feeling of wrongness. While most people are able to move past that and accept their new lives, some still longed for the real world again. I felt a bit wrong, thinking about using this ability to let others experience the real world again as a chance to make some easy money, but the poor man in me naturally thought of it. To distract myself, I took a moment to go over the gains I had received from my two week session of refinement and cultivating.
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 1111%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health120/120Health Regen0.2
Mana400/400Mana Regen0.45
Strength12Wisdom68
Agility20Intelligence40
Dexterity19Charisma9
Vitality12Luck14
Points Remaining0
Earth 7%Fire 7%Wind 8%Water 7%
Lightning 0%Light 7%Dark 1%Plant 6%
Luck 2%Madness 2%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Basic Level 6: 35%
Nature Magic - Basic Level 4: 20%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 6: 41.5%
Archery - Beginner Level 3: 25.9%
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 3: 14.1%
Wild Luck - Beginner Level 6: 0%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 50%
Herbology - Beginner Level 2: 2%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Alchemy - Beginner Level 5: 2%
Mana Signatures - Basic Level 3: 12%
Cooking - Basic Level 3: 52%
Flight - Beginner Level 6: 12.3%
Aura Sight - Beginner Level 2: 33%
Looking at that, I was quite satisfied. The process of refining the pellets three times each had let all of my affinities increase by a further two percent, and now my Wind Affinity was nearing the point where I wouldn¡¯t have to focus on it anymore in order to cultivate. Though, I had my suspicions. Cultivation should naturally proceed faster if you focus on it, so if I let it go on in the background, the effects would be significantly less than if I actively purused it. Although my stats hadn¡¯t skyrocketed through intense training to make me match a character ten times my level, like in a classic novel, I considered myself fairly talented. With basic control over five of the primary elements, I could fight pretty much anywhere except in outer space. And by the time I got there, I should have a few additional tricks as well, I would hope. Thinking a few things over in my head, I looked at Jarl and decided to ask something that had me curious. ¡°Since the grove is based on elements we absorb, what about the elements that aren¡¯t part of the ¡®big seven¡¯? For instance, my Plant Affinity?¡± Jarl looked over towards me, and thought about that for a moment. ¡°Different affinities will have different effects. The ones that influence the size of your grove are fire, wind, earth, and water. However, having a weaker Light Affinity will mean that the light will not cover your grove as strongly, so it is suggested for that to be in balance as well. If you add in the Lightning Affinity, then there will be the chance to have a weather cycle in your grove. Dark Affinity grants day and night. As for Plant Affinity, that should have an effect on the growth speed of plants in your grove, as well as their quality.¡± He then looked over towards Sharon. ¡°Same with the Beast Affinity, the strength of animals raised in the grove would surpass normal ones.¡± Sharon looked up at that, and nodded with a slight smile. ¡°As for the other minor affinities, I¡¯m not too sure. They should generally either have an impact on the organisms in your world, or your world itself.¡± I nodded my head again, and then asked. ¡°So how do we add another affinity to our grove? Do we have to go through the entire process again?¡± Jarl shook his head at that before answering. ¡°Just make a seed for whatever element you want to add, and then ingest it the same way you did to start your grove. It¡¯s only necessary to mix them together for those five elements. Though, I would strongly suggest that Sharon learn the Dark Affinity before moving animals into the grove, as many rely on a day and night cycle.¡± She nodded, seemingly a bit more energetic than before, while I decided that I had to refine a plant affinity seed next. Having my herbs grow faster and have stronger effects would be a great benefit as an alchemist. Chapter 24: Goldilocks Never Had To Put Up With This. Author¡¯s Corner: For those that read the last chapter early, I would like to point out that I made a slight adjustment to the last two chapters. Rather than a cube shape, the inner groves are now spheres. Thanks to dan for bringing it up! -------------------------------------------- Placing my hands down on the grass, I began the process of refining my Seed of Plants. Seriously, that name sounds redundant. Well, I should probably save up a few of these eventually and have Jacobs do some enchanting with them. Either that, or I¡¯d have to learn how to enchant in order to do it myself. And really, that didn¡¯t seem like such a bad idea since I already had my heart set on Technomancy. Since most devices are made with at least some level of enchanting in this game, the two skills compliment each other as well as Alchemy and Nature Magic. A few hours slowly passed before the small pellet gradually formed in my hand, with varying shades of green. If I had to describe it, it¡¯d be like someone painted a classic camouflage pattern on it. Shrugging my shoulders, I popped it into my mouth like a pill and let it dissolve with my Nature Magic. I think by this point I had the process worked out pretty well. Even though I was essentially just doing the same thing I had spent a few hours on, but in reverse, the effect was still clear. In order to introduce a new element into the world, rather than gradually letting it pour in over time, you had to shock it with a large amount all at once. Doing so would force the world to adapt in order to accept this new element. To my pleasant surprise, my grove actually expanded a full meter in radius after I put the plant mana into it. Then, I pulled out a few of the herbs I had gathered so far. Starting with the most rare plant I had acquired to date, the mushroom, I planted a total of four herbs. First was that mushroom, second being blood Weed, then fireflower so that I could make health potions whenever I wanted. Finally, I decided to plant the mushroom that said it was a component in mana potions, spider cap. I still needed to learn what other herbs go with it to make the mana potion, though. This process went fairly smooth, since I had previously pulled the entire plant out of the ground in case the roots might be an ingredient of their own. Thankfully, they didn¡¯t seem to have withered away while in my inventory, so replanting them was not an issue. Now I simply had those four herbs planted at equal distances around my small globe, with only that single blade of grass breaking the pattern. And, when I concentrated, I was even able to sense that several other blades had appeared around it beneath the surface, just unable to break through yet. Must be because of the plant mana. Now, I had a few options. I could either cultivate Dark Affinity to have a day/night cycle in my grove, or I could cultivate one of the elements already present to expand it. However¡­ I chose neither option for now. I still needed to advance my other class skills, specifically my shapeshifting. In order to do that, it was time to begin a leveling frenzy! Thanks to my flight a couple weeks ago, I now knew that this pond was at the center of the forest, meaning that the strongest animals should be directly around it. Looking to the two lovebirds that were just coming back from getting themselves a meal, I instructed them to stay behind mentally. Rather than it being because I cared about them, it was more because I didn¡¯t want them getting in my way. However, they didn¡¯t seem to get that part, and only happily agreed, thinking I was doing so for their sake. God, I sound like one of those cheap characters from an old story. What were they called? Tsunders? Thundere? It doesn¡¯t matter, either way I focused for a few moments to activate my Aspect of the Armored Beast, covering my entire body with snake scales as I stood. Sadly, it took a bit longer than normal to activate, and there was a bit of pain suggesting that I didn¡¯t get it completely right. I really needed to hurry up and get Technomancy. Maybe with that I¡¯d be able to solve the issue of memory. Although I had taken the precaution to equip my scales, I did not intend on playing the role of the brute melee fighter again. My vitality was not nearly high enough to do that if I ran into a bear. Rather, I planned to try out some of my new magic abilities instead! Guiding a bit of mana into my eyes, I activated Aura Sight, and my vision was bathed in various lights. I had a theory that this skill could be used for more than just failing to memorize auras, and as I set out into the forest my hunch was soon proven correct. I mean, why would there be an entire skill that just covered such a small purpose? After I was about twenty meters from the clearing, I began seeing irregularities in the aura of the ground. At first, I was able to overlook them, but then they turned into a pattern and my eyes were naturally drawn to them. Specifically, the pattern was as if something had walked by, a sort of magical footprint. Kneeling down next to it, I decided to study the pattern for a few moments, to see if I could gain a new skill or ability. However, the only thing I was able to determine was that it did not match the aura of the wolf I had killed previously. Knowing that, this should be a different animal. With the track being on the ground, it obviously wasn¡¯t a bird. They were clearly not snake tracks, so it eliminates that as well. The most likely option, then, would be a bear. At least, I hadn¡¯t seen any other animals this close to the clearing besides those. Either way, I had a target. Comparing what I knew from other games, if a wolf was considered level 10(and I hoped they were, given the difficulty I had in killing them), then an average bear should be level 15 or 16. That would put it at the same tier of difficulty as the Great Boa. However, each had their natural weaknesses. The snake could only attack in one direction at a time, but had incredible strength if it got ahold of you, and its defense was likely among the best in the forest. As for bears, they were typically known for strength as well, and while their thick hides were weaker than a Great Boa, they were more versatile while attacking. By the way, I¡¯m sure there are some people wanting to know why I¡¯m not simply using my Light Manipulation to bend the light around me and make myself invisible. To be honest, that was the first thing I did after I gained the ability. And yes, it even worked. However, there was an inherent flaw with that technique. If all light is bending around my body, that means that it is not being directed into my eyes to be processed by my brain. In other words¡­ light bending invisibility blinded me. Maybe if I got a higher affinity, I¡¯d be able to selectively make it so that light can hit me, but passes through? But that is way beyond what I can do now. As such, I was left stalking through the forest, my dagger at the ready. I had a feeling that I was getting closer to the source of these aura footprints, but if Celeste didn¡¯t keep interrupting me I would have already found them! Why does an AI need to clear her throat anyways? This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked as quietly as I could manage, looking down at my wrist. When I did so, I saw a rather timid looking hologram slowly pointing in front of me before vanishing. Following where she had pointed, I was reminded of an ancient saying, passed down from generation to generation. Such a wise saying had saved many lives, and ensured the continuation of the species to this day. However, I seemed to have forgotten it until now. Always watch where you¡¯re going. Ahead of me, staring in a rather upset manner, was a bear. A rather big bear at that, easily as big as I was while still on all four legs. Oh, hey, look, it has a friend¡­ make that friends. Three bears. Three, really big, really brown, really angry bears. I suddenly felt like a sudden blonde girl who had stumbled into a dangerous cabin. His teeth are too sharp, her teeth are too dull, but his teeth are just right to bite me in half. Okay, I can do this. This is just like that time against the snake. No, wait, bad example, that time there was only one, and it ate me. I crouched down, planting one hand against the ground while the other held the dagger in front of me in what I assumed to be a defensive posture. If I was going down, I was at least going to look cool doing it! Gathering the earth mana below me, I prepared to make the ground suddenly rise in order to launch me at the pack of bears. A dumb idea, which is exactly why it will catch them off guard! The three bears slowly walked towards me, which I took as my sign to begin. Suddenly lifting the ground with my Earth Manipulation, I launched myself towards them like a catapult, aiming my dagger towards their vitals! Yeah, since when has that ever happened? ¡°Waaaah!!¡± I screamed as I tore through the air, faster than expected, my arms flailing to either side. Thankfully, I managed to keep a grip on my dagger, because I felt it sink into something soft, which made my flight path change from a straight line into a sideways arc. Next thing I knew, I collided head first into something not as soft, and heard a dull cracking noise. However, it also made me black out for a moment. When I woke up, I saw one of the bears staring rather dumbly at the scene before it, not even paying me much attention anymore. For some reason, one of the bears had a giant gash straight down one of their sides, with their entrails spilling out. Obviously, it was already dead. Then, some distance away on the other side of it, another bear was lying limp on the ground, blood coming from a wound on the side of its head, right behind its eye. Did I just¡­ no¡­ that¡¯s not possible, right? I took a quick look, and saw that Wild Luck had surprisingly gained two full levels, while my luck stat even increased by a point. Apparently, snake scales beat bear skull, and chain dagger beats bear hide¡­ However, I had also lost half of my health, by what the message window labeled a ¡®head on¡¯ collision. I seriously wanted to smack the developers of this game. Looking at the last remaining bear, I decided to go back to my original druid fighting plan. Drawing a bit of fire mana from my body, I amplified it with wind mana, while pulling out any water mana from nearby it. Although it took nearly all of my concentration to simultaneously command three elements, it was not nearly as difficult as it had been to form that cursed pellet. And the result was quite satisfying, an intense fireball forming in my hand. However, my hand was starting to blister just from being so close to the burning flame, so I quickly threw it at the distracted bear, setting its fur on fire. Well, that didn¡¯t kill the bear, but it certainly got its attention, as the beast was flailing its arms angrily to try to put out the fire. It even laid flat on the ground and rolled around, which would have proven successful if I wasn¡¯t still feeding it fire and wind mana to keep it going. Eventually, it simply stood up, and charged at me. At this point, I was perhaps more terrified than when I was facing three bears at once. I mean, now I was facing a giant, angry, FLAMING bear. So, doing the only thing I could, I charged at it as well. No longer feeding the flames on the bear, I instead switched to Light Manipulation, and performed the equivalent of shining a bright flashlight in the animal¡¯s eyes. Although this didn¡¯t stop it, or even slow it down, it made it close its eyes. Hoping to take advantage of that, I lunged at the charging bear, preparing to sink my blade into its flesh. Have you ever seen what it looks like when a ragdoll is hit by a speeding car?
Ragdoll physics!
-30HP, Broken Arm(x2), Broken Leg(x2), Broken Rib(x5)
I have! Sadly, my dagger didn¡¯t even find its way to the bear¡¯s throat, and stabbed uselessly into its shoulder while I was launched several meters into the air behind it, collapsing into a broken heap. Thankfully, the bear died a few moments later from the flames, but I was left crying out in pain from what felt like every bone in my body being shattered. Thanks to the lesson I received from the snake, I instinctively cast Alchemic Heal as soon as the pain arrived, which only made more pain come as my misaligned arms and legs forced themselves in the proper position. Another spell took care of the bleeding and started the process of mending my arms. A third, final spell fixed my broken bones, but still left me missing some health. Sadly, between the three heals and all of the magic I had thrown around to fight the bears, I was now running on empty. Moving over to the dead bears, I winced slightly with every step. It seemed that last bit of health missing made my bones still sore, so every movement caused a bit of pain. Once I got to the bodies of the bears, I put the burnt one, and the one that I headbutted into my inventory. As for the one who was painting the forest with its intestines¡­ it made me sick just to look at, so I left it alone and went on my way towards somewhere I could rest. Once I had the mana, I would fly towards town to sell the bears¡­ after thoroughly studying them.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
Chapter 25: Bending Genders No More! Author¡¯s Corner: Yeah¡­ I kind of feel weird not putting anything up here, so yeah¡­ enjoy the chapter! It¡¯s actually a bit longer than usual by a few hundred words! ------------------------------------ I hadn¡¯t walked more than ten steps when two tiny forms barreled into me from behind, knocking me over and making me groan in pain. At the same time, a series of agitated chirps came from those forms, and I recognized them as the lovebirds Yin and Yang. Somewhat to my surprise, I was able to understand a bit of their chirping, in one way or another. Apparently, they felt the sense of danger over my mental link, rushed over as soon as the fight was over, sensing that I was in pain. I couldn¡¯t help but soften a bit towards the birds when I found out how worried they were about me, though at the same time I confirmed that the Aspect of the Armored Beast hadn¡¯t deactivated when I was briefly knocked unconscious. On the other hand, my Aura Sight skill had been disabled, since it was something I had to constantly focus on. Since I didn¡¯t particularly feel safe before I arrived in town, I kept the aspect spell up for a while longer. First thing I¡¯d need to do would be study the bodies of the two bears. Correction, first thing to do was spend my points from leveling up. I felt like I had enough wisdom for now, but my mana pool was lacking, so I spent all ten points in intelligence, bringing my mana up to an even five hundred. With that, I should be able to shift into a wolf, according to my estimates. I could test that out when I make my way back to the pond. Would also be fun to test out a combination of wolf form, snake scales, and bird wings. Would be like a tiny feathered dragon¡­ sort of. Either way, about ten minutes after I left the scene of the previous fight, I decided to take a rest. With my current mana regeneration, ten minutes was enough to recover most of my mana. One final Alchemic Heal spell rid me of the last bit of soreness from the fight, and after that I made a small barrier around myself with Earth Manipulation. Nothing major, just a wall to keep random mobs from charging at me while I worked. With that done, I went ahead and pulled out the two bears. Two my surprise, I had managed to grab both a male and a female bear, which made me rather happy. Going by what Jarl had told me before, this would be the key to letting me control my gender when I shifted forms. As for what other traits I wanted to copy from the bears, I was hoping to copy their muscular frames to make myself stronger, but in order to do that I¡¯d probably need to do a full shift. I wasn¡¯t experienced enough to just single out muscle mass and add it to myself. The first bear I studied was the female one, which had been the one unfortunate enough to burn to death. Then again, the other was unfortunate enough to die from a headbutt¡­ I wasn¡¯t really sure which one to feel more sorry for. Either way, I fully studied the aura for this bear over the course of an hour, before moving on to the other one. From there, I compared notes on the two, measuring where they were similar and different. After noting the differences between them, I looked at the male side of the differences, and compared them to the wolf aura I had studied, and finally my own. Although there were some minor differences, I managed to identify four parts of the aura that were nearly identical between the male bear, wolf, and myself. These same aura components were completely different when compared to the female bear and lovebirds. Assuming my assumptions were correct, and yes that is quite an assumption, those should be the parts that determine gender. As such, to test this theory out, I tried it on myself. Seeing how excited the birds almost got, I did NOT turn into a male lovebird, but a female half-elf. That lasted for all of a minute of me oggling my own chest like a mad person before I changed back, glad to be back to my own gender. Though, I had to admit I looked far more attractive as a woman than I had imagined. Now that I knew the trick of it, I would never again need to turn into a woman! Well, not unless there was a really drastic situation.
New Ability Unlocked!
Gender Control - Nature Magic - ¡î For when you feel the need to stare at the opposite gender, without anyone else thinking that you''re a creep, you can just transform and be a creep to yourself! Mana Cost: 20
I did my best to ignore the rather condescending flavor text of the ability, not at all surprised by its low rank. Taking a moment, I inspected my inner grove for a moment, I found that the single blade of grass had already grown into a small patch, while the herbs I had planted were starting to settle in and absorb the nutrients in the soil. I couldn¡¯t wait to harvest some blood weed and fireflower to see what the extra strength from the herbs would do for health potions. With my work here done, I lowered the small earth barricade I had erected around myself and stood up, returning the bears to my inventory before making my way back to town. Hopefully, I could get what I needed now to get Technomancy, so that I could get started on that. On the way, I made sure to cultivate Plant Affinity, as it was currently the lowest affinity I had that affected my grove. Once I arrived closer to town, I dispelled the Aspect of the Armored Beast, though I felt like I hadn¡¯t quite done it right. Part of my skin felt itchy, so I inspected my aura and did my best to correct any irregularities. Once I had done so, the itchy feeling faded away, and much happiness was had. I was about to head back into town when I looked down to Celeste. ¡°Celeste¡­?¡± ¡°Yes, Falenel?¡± She instantly appeared above my wrist, in a more casual hologram outfit than before, wearing a simple robe. ¡°You record everything I see¡­ right?¡± I asked her curiously, and she nodded her head quickly. ¡°So¡­ when I look at something with Aura Sight..?¡± ¡°That¡¯s correct, I have the visual representations for the auras stored in my memory. However, my hologram quality is not sufficient to properly display them in full color. I also recorded the sensations felt through your mana while you were studying various auras, however I lack the hardware necessary to reproduce such sensations.¡± She answered with a slight smile, and I nodded my head. Figures, would have been way too easy if I could have just studied the auras she recorded. Was worth a shot. ¡°Thanks, anyways, Celeste. Maybe eventually I¡¯ll be able to get you some nice upgrades. We shall not always be poor folk!¡± I let out my inner eight year old a bit as I said that dramatically, earning a small giggle from my holographic companion. ¡°That¡¯s fine. However, may I ask a question?¡± This caught me a bit off guard, because until now she had always simply responded when called. Seeing me nodding my head, she continued. ¡°I am quite interested in the place you go when you¡­ as you say it, log out? I can¡¯t actually follow your mana flow when this happens, as it appears to go to a very remote location.¡± This caused me to blink a bit, surprised. She was actually able to sense that my mana went somewhere else when I logged out? Of course, it would be useless to ask her where, since she already said she couldn¡¯t follow it. ¡°I guess you could call it my home world?¡± I said, trying to say what I could to answer. I mean, in most settings there is something bad that happens if you tell an NPC that their world is a video game. And honestly, I am not quite sure if this is? On the one hand, it¡¯s a video game. On the other hand, I am now actually a half-elf capable of using magic, and that is totally not something possible with current technology. I mean sure, they could have used nanites or something to supply a gene therapy while I was playing the game to change my physical characteristics to match the game. One company did that in the past, but was sued so fast the game died in a week. Also, even if that was the case, it would not explain my ability to use magic. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. So far, there were two leading theories in my head. One, extra-dimensional entities invaded the world and are using the game as a means to open up a portal to invade. Definitely not a fun theory, but the most plausible of the two. The other one, is aliens. I mean, this is beyond human technology, but who¡¯s to say that there isn¡¯t an alien race somewhere out there capable of manipulating energy in a way we perceive as magic, and planted the game on our world? No idea what possible reason aliens would have for doing it, so my bet was on the first theory. Of course, given my track record with ideas lately, it¡¯s more likely that neither of those are right. Anyways, once I was in town, I went ahead and stopped by Harlan¡¯s shop to sell off the two bears. Apparently bears are not nearly as good for trading as a Great Boa, since you can¡¯t make anything special from their bodies, so I only got three silver from each. That was still enough to bring my total earnings up to twelve silver, and I made my way to the mage spire. Once inside, I looked around for a familiar face, before finding Rita. Smiling I went over and greeted her. Somewhat surprised, she looked over to me. ¡°Falenel, been a while since you came to town. Was starting to think Jarl had already sent you to the capital. So, what are you coming by for today?¡± She asked with a slight smile, wearing the same robes as usual. ¡°I actually wanted to learn another field of magic. A friend of mine said that could be done here, but a fee of ten silvers was required?¡± She thought for a moment before nodding. ¡°That¡¯s right. So, what kind of magic are you interested in? Summoning would fit you quite nicely as a druid, or you could even go with Gravity Magic, or Barriers to keep you safe.¡± I shook my head, having already decided what I wanted. When I told her, she made a bit of a strange face. ¡°Technomancy? Well, sure, I can understand how it would be helpful to any caster in this day and age. Most get cybernetic implants to handle the issue of memory, though. Alright, then, I can take you to the Tech-Mage instructor. Though, you won¡¯t have very many chances to practice until you get to the capital, since we don¡¯t have that many devices in the forests.¡± I thought about practicing on Celeste, but dismissed it rather quickly. If I failed on an experiment, which was very likely I might end up breaking her. And I definitely did not want that. ¡°Thanks, I plan to head for the capital before too long. Just need to finish up a couple things, and make sure that I¡¯m done with my training from Jarl first.¡± I had already put off leaving far too long in my mind. From my friends list, I could see that both my dad and Jacobs were already over level twenty. My hope was that my druid abilities would allow me to close the gap more quickly since they required so much time to practice. With a nod, Rita led me over to a man wearing grey robes with a circuit-like pattern of black lines. ¡°Malan, this is Falenel. He came in order to learn to attune to Technomancy.¡± The man looked over to Rita and raised an eyebrow, before turning to look at me. ¡°Did he pay the fee?¡± With a nod, I pulled ten silver coins from my inventory and handed them over. ¡°Very well. I¡¯ll attune to Technomancy for one minute and let you get a feeling for the magic. How you take it from there is up to you.¡± I nodded again in response, and used my Aura Sight to watch for what he was doing. Like when I studied Celeste¡¯s aura, what he emitted in the air in front of himself was a criss crossing mass of sharp turns and abstract geometric shapes. I cast a bit of my own mana into it to get a better feel for the magic, when a skill popped up that momentarily distracted me.
New Ability Unlocked!
Mana Sense - Mana Manipulation - ¡ï This is the ability to throw your aura out to sense objects and other auras without the need to actually touch them or stare like an idiot. Mana Cost: 20/Minute
Okay, will admit that it made me feel like an idiot for not having done this sooner. Would have been so much easier to study the fire element. Thankfully, I got back to my senses before the minute passed, and was able to get a feeling for Technomancy. Focusing on my own aura, I took a bit of time to attempt to manifest what I had observed. What I was used to doing with magic so far was wind and nature, soft shapes and patterns. This felt completely different, After standing there for a few minutes, and earning a curious look from Rita, I managed to replicate the basic feeling of Technomancy. Though I still wasn¡¯t sure if it was entirely right, the instructor seemed satisfied enough, as was the system when it awarded me the skill.
New Skill Unlocked!
Technomancy - Beginner Level 3 Exp: 12.5% This field of magic is widely hailed as innovative, capable of creating, controlling, and even assimilating technology with magic.
I was somewhat satisfied now. I doubted I would ever encounter a situation where I was in an environment completely devoid of both technology and nature. I¡¯d always have one of the other to use, and even if I didn¡¯t for some reason, I had my shapeshifting. Though, I was slightly surprised that it started out at Beginner Level 3 instead of 1. That was likely because I had done a decent job copying the aura. Thanking Rita and Malan, I made my way back to Lisara¡¯s alchemy store. As I entered, I saw that she was just finishing up with a customer, who had purchased a green potion and was happily leaving. From what I saw of her merchandise, that should be an antidote. ¡°Hey, again.¡± I said to the woman behind the counter, who smiled as she noticed me. ¡°Ah, hello. What can I do for you today?¡± ¡°Actually came by to ask about a couple prices, and if they were affordable, maybe spend some money.¡± I smirked to her, which made her laugh lightly. ¡°Well, I shall certainly do my best to relieve you of your coin, good sir.¡± ¡°Thanks. First, how much is the recipe for a basic mana potion?¡± I needed this one most urgently, as I had already come up with nearly every other type of beginner potion there was. ¡°Thirty copper for the recipe.¡± I was relieved when I heard the price, though I almost choked when she said thirty, thinking she¡¯d be asking for silver. Nodding with a smile, I asked my next question. ¡°And how much for a more detailed guide to plants in the area? I¡¯m looking to find some with certain characteristics to use with my magic.¡± This time, she had to think a bit longer to say her answer. ¡°Well, there isn¡¯t really a more advanced guide than what you bought before. If you were in the capital, you could download a database of plants, but for out in these forests there¡¯s not that much. If you¡¯d like, you can tell me what traits you¡¯re looking for, and I¡¯ll tell you if I know of any plants that match in the area.¡± I nodded, and went over the list of things I wanted. ¡°Well, first, I need something fast growing, that can produce a lot of seeds. I also need something straight and firm, and something with sharp thorns.¡± She took another moment to process the information before laughing. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re looking for an arrow vine?¡± I just sat there blinking dumbly, not having expected her to know right away what I wanted. ¡°Harlan sells seed pouches for those. This is a nature-heavy area, so lots of people want weapons they can grow with their magic. Especially disposable items like arrows.¡± Of course they do. Why would I ever think that it might have been an original idea? Chapter 26: Advancement, and Fluff! Author¡¯s Corner: Behold, author-sama has a new fancy avatar! Now we just need proper cover art(rather than something found by a random google session) and the collection shall be complete! -------------------------------------------------- ¡°So.. the recipe for mana potions?¡± I asked, still a bit deflated after learning that the arrow vine was already a thing. Had I known, it would have saved me so much trouble. After I put a silver coin on the counter, Lisara took it and gave me my change. ¡°Right. First, you need half of a spidercap mushroom, ground into a powder. Then, you need to mix in the juice from an enrichment fruit until it turn into a thick paste. After that, heat it up until it dries out, and grind it once again while mixing in a blood weed. Finally, pour the powder into boiling water and wait for the mix to turn a dark blue.¡± As she was mentioning the shade of blue, she led me back to a shelf in her store where she had her own mana potions to show me. There was just one thing that bothered me¡­ ¡°Enrichment fruit? I don¡¯t think that was mentioned in the herb guide.¡± ¡°Oh? Dear, we¡¯ll need to fix that, then. It was likely an oversight, since the only medicinal use it has is for beginner mana potions. Otherwise, it is just a rather delicious fruit. Its appearance is spherical, with thick brown skin. If you bite into it, it tastes particularly sweet and gives an instinctive feeling of happiness due to a chemical reaction.¡± Wait, that sounds a bit too familiar¡­ Reaching into my inventory, I retrieved one of the chocolate oranges and showed it to her. ¡°You mean this?¡± ¡°Hmm? Yes, that¡¯s right. I see you already have one, then. Now, something you should know about mana potions. Unlike most, they have a unique reaction when you first make them, and will suck the mana out of the area nearby. If you mass produce them, that will mean that the mana might dry up enough to impact your natural recovery rate, until nature balances itself out.¡± I nodded my head, accepting that. ¡°Alright, and how much would you be willing to buy mana potions for?¡± She gave a small smile, before nodding her head. ¡°As long as they are of decent quality, I can buy them for twelve coppers each. In other words, I could buy a full batch for exactly two silver, if I supply you with the vials.¡± Hearing that made me smile slightly as well. ¡°Can you clear off an area for me to work, then? Also, I¡¯d like to buy enough vials for two batches, and I¡¯ll sell you half of the second.¡± With a light laugh, she led me into a back room, which was mostly empty. There were various shelves, though they were currently void of any objects. ¡°This is where I keep the surplus potions if I get bored and brew in my spare time. You won¡¯t be disturbed here.¡± I nodded, and called the two lovebirds off my shoulder to give them some instructions. Since they have been able to listen so far, I had high hopes that this could work. Pulling out one of the spider caps from my inventory, I attempted to communicate that I needed more of these. The two birds looked at the mushroom curiously before shrugging their shoulders and flying off. I could have had them bring me more ¡®enrichment fruit¡¯, but I still had plenty of that in my inventory, same with the blood weed. But, I only had a few of the mushrooms. So as they left to go gather the plants, I sat down and got to work, pulling out the mortar and pestle, as well as the bunsen burner and beaker. Now that I had Water Manipulation, I was able to pull in some of the moisture from the air to fill up the beaker, which thankfully we were in a forest so there was ample humidity. Then, with a touch of mana, I started up the burner while pulling out the ingredients I needed to make two batches of potions. She didn¡¯t say how much juice I would need from the enrichment fruit, so I assumed two for each batch of potions. Aside from that, I also had two stalks of blood weed, and the one full spidercap. First, as she said, I cut the spidercap vertically in half with my Chain Dagger, before putting it in the mortar. Since it was so much thicker than a simple weed, it took longer to work it into a powder. By the time that the powder was ready, the water in the beaker was already boiling. Next, I simply used my Plant Manipulation to remove the skins from the two fruits, and held one over the mortar. With Plant Manipulation again, I had it gradually drip the juice from the orange into the powder. It would seem that I underestimated how much juice a single fruit contained. I held the fruit in one hand and gradually mixed the powder and juice in the mortar with the pestle in the other. By the time that the mixture had become a thick paste, there was still plenty of juice left in the fruit. Reactivating the burner again, I snatched a bit of flame from it with Fire Manipulation, and tossed it into the mortar. This part took a considerable amount of control, as I had to sustain the flame until the paste became hard again. Once done, however, I dismissed the flame and tossed in one of the blood weeds, again crushing it all into a fine powder. With that done, it was a simple matter of pouring it into the boiling water and watching as it switched between shades of blue. I kept my Mana Sense on the concoction the entire time, because there was something that I wanted to try for the second batch. Once it got to the shade that Lisara had shown me, I poured nearly a hundred mana into the mix all at once, causing the potion to instantly stop changing colors. Out of curiosity, I activated my Aura Sight to watch the next part, and could see as the beaker of liquid took on the appearance of a vortex, causing a lot of the ambient mana in the room to rush into it. I even felt a slight pull on my own mana, but was easily able to resist it. Calling back out to Lisara, I let her know that I was done. While she came back and gathered the potion, pouring it into twenty small vials, she nodded happily. ¡°Very good. Most people can¡¯t get the right shade on their first try. But, I suppose you¡¯ve had a bit of time to practice controlling your magic, so it shouldn¡¯t have been that hard for you.¡± I smiled slightly, saying nothing as I waited for her to be done extracting the potions. To my surprise, Yin and Yang had not yet returned, but they likely had to go out a ways to find the mushroom. Even then, they might not be able to pick one while keeping it intact. Though, I was able to sense that they were safe, so I wasn¡¯t really that worried. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Once Lisara was done, she returned to the front of the store. Meanwhile, I simply sat there and let my mana finish recovering. My next experiment would require quite a bit of mana if it worked, but if it did it would save quite a lot of time in the future. After allowing my mana to recover, I placed the remaining fruit, half of the mushroom, and the blood weed in front of me. At the same time, I filled the beaker with water again using my magic. However, this time I did not activate the burner. Rather, I relied on my Manipulation abilities to conduct Alchemy this time. For the first step, I reached out with my Mana Sense to isolate the medicinal qualities of the three herbs. Then, rather than using Plant Affinity to control the plants themselves, I used my mana to gently pull those sections of the aura out of the plants, before pushing them together as one. In a corner of my mind, I used Fire Manipulation to pull in fire mana to the water, making it quickly start to boil. The next part was going to be tricky, as I pushed the medicinal aura from the three plants into the boiling water. Using Plant Manipulation and Water Manipulation, I did my best to adjust the aura of the water with the aura of the plants, until it matched what I had sensed from the mana potion earlier. This ultimately caused a series of things to happen. First, the plants I had pulled the auras from quickly shriveled up. Next, the potion did actually turn blue, just like the previous one. Finally, there was that same vortex of mana, however this time my own mana found it hard to resist. If anything, that was likely because I already had such a deep connection to the mana in the potions. But, to my great surprise, the batch of mana potions stabilized, which got me thinking about a few things. If it worked like that, then why wouldn¡¯t it work if I just copied the auras from the plants? I gave it a quick experiment, copying the auras of the three familiar plants in small quantities, and pushing them into water created by the Water Manipulation ability. However, the two refused to properly mix no matter what I tried. Maybe it¡¯s a matter of the plants being natural creations, and me copying it still isn¡¯t a good enough substitute? Shaking my head, I called Lisara again, telling her I was done.
Alchemy has advanced to Basic!
She seemed quite surprised that I was done already, since it took less than half of the time of the previous batch. Meanwhile, I was surprised by the smooth transition to Basic level Alchemy. Was it because I conducted my own experiment, and figured out how to bypass the more archaic brewing process? I shook my head, and collected the total of two silver and eight large copper coins from Lisara. With this, I at least had a bit of spending money again. At the same time, I looked towards the door of the shop, as two birds slowly flew in. I could feel that they were a bit depressed over the link, and soon saw why. In Yang¡¯s tail feather was most of a poorly harvested spidercap, while Yin didn¡¯t even have that much. It would seem that it was truly hard for them to accurately gather herbs with their body types. With a shrug, I walked out of the alchemy store and went back over to Harlan¡¯s. He was a bit surprised to see me twice in one day, though laughed slightly when he heard the reason. It seems that he had actually been wondering why I was still using normal arrows, when there were so many other options available. Most fields of magic apparently had some way to supplement ammunition, or enhance it in some way. Since the packet of seeds was a one-time purchase, rather than something that customers had to come back for every time they ran out, the price was two silver. When I asked, apparently a full quiver of arrows only cost a tenth of that, so it was a bit understandable. I also asked him about the different properties of the vine, and it turned out almost exactly as I had been hoping for. The only thing missing was the poison, which I could add myself. As for the seeds, each arrow vine could produce a dozen seeds after it got up to two meters long. And growing it to such lengths took just over a week, so it was still affordable in terms of mana. As long as I did not use every single seed in a single fight, I¡¯d easily be able to regrow more. With my business taken care of, I went back out to the edge of town, heading towards the grove. Like I had decided before, I still wanted to test out my wolf form on the way back, so I stopped just a bit after leaving the elven village. Carefully recalling the aura from the wolf I had studied, I shifted my own aura to match it. Like when I turned into a bird, I did not feel much in the way of sensations, however this time I kept my eyes open so as to see the effects. My body slowly hunched forward onto all fours, my size decreasing slightly as fur sprouted all over my body. My limbs all narrowed, my legs shortening to match my new frame. Next, my back narrowed a bit as well, and my face elongated. The last things that changed were my senses, which became surprising sharp despite some colors blending together. With my body now fully shifted into that of a wolf, I slowly took a few steps forward. It felt weird having to walk with my arms as well as my legs, but I managed to adapt fairly easily. This was still nothing compared to flying with four wings. Taking a glance at my mana pool, I was somewhat surprised to find that it had only drained 400 mana, rather than all 500 like I had expected. Once I was finished coordinating myself with my new body, I ran off into the forest, doing my best to ignore the almost nauseating mix of smells that permeated the air. If I wasn¡¯t afraid of looking entirely too silly, I¡¯d have shifted my nose back to that of a human. Instead, I just increased my running speed, eager to get to the pond and shift back as quickly as possible. It took less than a minute running at full speed before I finally arrived in front of that pond. Nearby, Sharon was staring at me in shock, and a bit of joy as she saw a strange wolf run up next to her. However, after I cancelled my transformation, she pouted slightly, mumbling something under her breath that I caught just before my senses returned to normal. ¡°Looked so fluffy¡­¡± Chapter 27: So long, farewell Author¡¯s Corner: Insert witty banter here. Behold my rapier wit! Also, sorry for the chapter being later than usual, had to go back through the story to write down the timeline. Accuracy is very important! --------------------------------------------------------------- Looking over to Sharon pouting because I was no longer a fluffy wolf made me smile wryly. I had the feeling that she really did try to befriend every animal she came across. I looked once around the pond, and noticed that Jarl wasn¡¯t there again, so decided to sit down and chat with Sharon for a little while until he got back. The only thing I was still here for was to see if I needed any additional training before I was ¡®released unto the world¡¯, so to speak. Honestly, I felt I was already far stronger than I had previously been, before I received my druid abilities. Even if accidentally, I managed to kill three fully grown bears, when before I would have run away while emitting a rather foul odor. Anyways, talking to Sharon! Must not get distracted. ¡°So, you really seem to like animals, huh?¡± I smirk over to her as I watched her pet the fluffy white menace of my early days. She nodded her head happily, looking over to me. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve always wanted a pet, on the animals in this game are just so real¡­ They¡¯re so adorable.¡± I chuckled, thinking about that. ¡°I take it you¡¯re not virtualized, then? It¡¯s pretty rare for someone your age to go through the process.¡± I wasn¡¯t really sure how old she was, but given her looks and personality I figured she couldn¡¯t be much older than twenty, at most. And most people who became virtualized were in their thirties at least, people who had already experienced some of what the world had to offer. She nodded her head. ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right¡­ I take it you know about what¡¯s been happening with the Seeds, huh?¡± At that, she looked over at me, making my smile dryly. ¡°Yeah, happened to my own, too. Even got a special call from the police to verify the information.¡± She seemed a bit surprised at that. ¡°Ah, so you too, huh? Small galaxy.¡± She smirked slightly, making me chuckle in response. ¡°Well, thousand starter Seeds, I figure that with all the races out there we might be the only ones that chose the wood elf home world. And we can count ourselves lucky that neither of us chose something too far from human.¡± She giggled slightly at that, then looked down to her chest. ¡°Yeah, but elves have their disadvantages as well¡­.¡± After saying so, she blushed slightly, focusing her attention on petting the bunny. My guess was she had a larger chest before, but being an elf shrank it. Elves with large busts must be truly rare. I couldn¡¯t help laughing at her reaction, which only made her face even more red. ¡°Hey, look at the bright side. At least you still only have two arms, two legs, and one head. I imagine that once the rest of the Seeds are released, with the information known about the races being real, almost nobody will pick a non-humanoid species. Though, someone might play a drake just so they can fly around as a dragon.¡± She thought about that, and nodded her head. ¡°Yeah¡­ though with magic entering the world, you never know¡­ Some people dream of being something else.¡± ¡°Well, they¡¯ll get their chance. I think the world is in for a big change.¡± Again, she nodded her head, and brought up a point I hadn¡¯t considered. ¡°I looked around a bit, and the Seed seems to be the source of magic, at least in my house. It was always slightly denser around it than anywhere else. If more Seeds appear in the world all at once¡­ wouldn¡¯t it be like what happens when we add an element to our grove? The shock of adding it all at once spreads it out to make it a natural part?¡± I blinked a few times as I thought about her words. ¡°If that did happen, then the mana in the real world would be at least as dense as here. Jarl said that monsters were spawned out of pure magic in the world, so monsters might appear out of nowhere. Magical beasts would also be able to start evolving, though they¡¯d have a slower time of it¡­¡± ¡°Right¡­ I think, once the Seeds activate¡­ one of two things will happen¡­ either a single, tremendously powerful monster will be created to balance out the mana¡­ or a bunch of small ones. Either way is bad for us¡­¡± She looked down to the rabbit sadly. I nodded my head at that. If what she guessed turned out to be true, and the shock of a large amount of mana made our world naturally generate and adapt to it, then either of those would be the best case scenarios. Worst case, both happens, and it keeps happening. It was at that point that Jarl decided to come back, noticing the depressed mood, and looking at me. ¡°Did you ask if she was a vegetarian?¡± I blinked again at his question, before laughing lightly. For some reason, that seemed to help. ¡°Sorry, stopped by to ask you a couple things.¡± Jarl nodded his head, seeming to have expected this. ¡°You wanted to know if there was anything else I need to teach you before you go off on your own, right?¡± For the third time in just a few minutes, I was left briefly speechless, making him smirk. ¡°It¡¯s pretty obvious, given your growth. Actually, both of you are about ready to move on. I¡¯d suggest that Sharon stay a little longer, until she is able to house some of her animals in her grove first. Once you¡¯re in the city, you¡¯ll need your animal companions to either remain in your grove, or wear special collars that show their status. It¡¯s how people recognize them as not being wild.¡± That sounded pretty realistic to me. I mean, a wolf won¡¯t stop looking like a wolf just because you tame it. After seeing me nodding my head, he continued. ¡°However, it¡¯d probably do you good to stay here for a few more days as well. Right now, your grove should count as just a small garden, but if you cultivate for a couple of days, it will be big enough to start growing more herbs.¡± I thought about that, and had to agree. Right now, I was barely able to hold a few herbs in my grove, so it was inconvenient if I were to go to another planet where the basic herbs were different. And there was no real penalty for me in waiting a couple more days. After all, I¡¯d only been in the game three weeks, and there were still two more before the Seeds were released. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. That, and it was getting pretty dark out by now, as today had been a fairly busy day. After eating another enrichment fruit, I cultivate my Plant Affinity for about an hour before falling asleep. By that time, my Plant Affinity had managed to rise another percent, and my grove had expanded by half a meter. The next two days, I decided to actively cultivate my Dark Affinity, after seeing the increase that had happened in my grove when I added plant mana and considering that I¡¯d need it eventually anyways. Likewise, Sharon was also cultivating the same element, since a day/night cycle was important for her animals. On the second day, after I had increased my Dark Affinity to 7%, I condensed the Seed of Darkness and ingested it. Immediately, I meditated to allow my consciousness to enter my inner grove, and found it rapidly expanding, while a sliver of darkness fought back against the light, until each covered half of the tiny sphere. Unlike what I had been expecting, the grove expanded a total of four meters, bringing its radius up to 12 meters. Maybe it expanded more because what I used was a primary element, instead of a secondary one like plants? I thought about it, but I had no way to really test it yet. The only remaining element from the ¡®big seven¡¯ was Lightning Affinity, which I currently had 0% with. Still, this let me plant a few more herbs in the grove, since my surface area tripled. Even with the ¡®ground¡¯ only being a third of the grove itself I still had a good sized garden. Not to mention that I felt like I could adjust how much of the space the ground took if I wanted¡­ I didn¡¯t do that, though, because it likely needed that space for other reasons, such as recycling the air. I did, however, plant an enrichment fruit tree, stilleaf, maple blossom, and heart grass in my grove while I was there. I wasn¡¯t too surprised to see that there was grass covering the entire grove, though it had been spread a bit thin from the sudden expansion. Now that I had all of the basic herbs from this forest planted in my grove, I was ready to get moving. Well, I would be after sleeping one more night. Until then, I would poor as much mana as I could into growing the enrichment fruit tree more quickly. The next day, I made sure to add Sharon to my friends list so that we could keep in touch after I left. To my pleasant surprise, I had managed to constantly poor a steady stream of mana into the enrichment fruit tree until it had grown large enough to bear fruit. While I would never have been able to do this if I did so all at once, I had instead devoted just enough mana to growing it that my recovery rate would cover it. After a few hours, the tree had already been fully grown. After that, I had Jarl instruct me on how to store Yin and Yang inside my grove. With that taken care of, I closed my eyes and activated the Aspect of the Bird to grow my angelic wings. I had a simple plan at this point, just get as far as I could for now, and then find somewhere to rest. If I managed to make it all the way to the city, that¡¯d be great. If not, I had another plan. Either way, I wanted to start practicing my Technomancy as soon as possible. While I would much prefer to practice on technology of this world, I could just as easily do so with devices from the real world. Sharon seemed rather excited when she saw my bird wings, and even tried to reach out to touch them. However, by that time I was already launching myself into the sky, bringing myself just over the tops of the trees to reacquaint myself with the surroundings. Nothing had visibly changed, so I took off towards the single shining city on the horizon. According to Jarl, it was known as Landfall, the capital of this world and the site of the initial colonization. Since Jarl had already known that I planned to leave, he gave me some information to help my travel. The giant birds I had noted when I first flew up were known as harpy eagles, and were magical beasts capable of using wind and sound magic. Apparently, the reason that he would often randomly disappear would be to deal with these and other magical beasts attempting to invade the grove. According to Jarl, the harpy eagles weren¡¯t too much of a threat, so long as I didn¡¯t allow them to surround me. There were two other races of magical beast that lived on this planet, which he called Hascion. The first were the wind wolves, which were simply wolves capable of increasing their speed with wind and shoot wind bullets from their mouths. The second was the one he urged me to be cautious of, and was the reason that I was flying even despite the harpy eagles. The second race of magical beast was the land wyrm, a gigantic worm-type creature that rarely attacks large caravans. While Jarl is able to prevent it from attacking his grove by controlling the land around it, I don¡¯t have the same kind of confidence. As you can imagine, the land wyrm is able to use earth magic for various purposes, and is attracted to any significant shifts in the ground. It registers such things as either food or a potential mate. Either way, I was confident in my ability to survive with my current powers. To my surprise, when I got up to 5% in Dark Affinity, the ability I had received was actually very useful.
Darkness Manipulation - Dark Affinity - ¡ï¡î This ability allows the user to meld with, manifest, and manipulate shadows.
While I had not been able to meld with a shadow, I was able to create a ball of darkness in my hand and shoot it out. In my experiment, the shadow ball had the consistency of tar, and exploded like a sludge when it hit a tree. Maybe when I became more skilled I would be able to make weapons out of shadows, but for now it was already a useful control skill. Most of my journey was spent simply gliding, using minor expenditures of mana with Wind Manipulation in order to send me back up. It wasn¡¯t until I had flown for over an hour, and my wings were starting to get sore did I hear the shrill cry of a harpy eagle from above me. Chapter 28: A Loss and a Gain Author¡¯s Corner: Finally, we are out of that forest! Now onto the inevitable aerial battle! ------------------------------------------------ I¡¯d like to say that I fought with honor, or that I knew what I was doing, but¡­ Well, you¡¯ll see. When I turned my head to look, I saw one of the harpy eagles baring down on me, its wingspan easily ten meters. Thanks to my inexperience with flight, turning to look had caused me to veer to the side, narrowly dodging the massive creature¡¯s claws. However, in the next moment, a gust of wind blew me back away from the creature. I was tumbling through the air, unable to see what was going on, and only got myself stabilized after about twenty meters. By that time, the bird had already changed direction, its black feathers flying towards me and almost completely blocking my view of the surroundings. This time, it opened its beak and let out a shrill cry, which rang in my ears and caused my vision to blur. In the next instant, I felt searing pain as one of my wings were ripped off. With a hiss I quickly dismissed Aspect of the Bird, causing me to enter a freefall. However, at least the pain was gone, and since the damaged parts of my body were no longer there I did not have any health loss. Looking down, I was about fifty meters from the ground, so I hurriedly cast Aspect of the Bird again in a panic while the ground came closer and closer. Thankfully I managed to cast it at the last second, and angled my new wings to pull up just in time to avoid becoming a pool of gore on the ground. However, thanks to that short exchange, I was able to somewhat measure its level. Sadly, as far as I was concerned, its level was simply ¡®run away¡¯. Closing my eyes, I focused on flying forward as I began controlling the elements around me. I could hear the eagle approaching towards me, and feel how the wind parted for it with no resistance. Before it could catch me, I decided to act. From my feet, I gathered as much fire mana as I could, releasing a stream of flame directly behind me. The earth would help me little in a battle above the skies, but fire is still my friend. With the sudden unexpected flames sprouting up, the eagle let out another cry as it changed course, though this one was not meant to attack me. A few moments later, I came to know what its new plan was, as I felt a shadow descend over me. As that was the case, I stopped playing with fire, and moved onto darkness. Above and below, my body was already covered by shadows, making this one of the best times to use that particular element. Looking up, I could almost see the eagle diving at me, talons extended for the kill. So what did I do? ¡­ I did a barrel roll! Pulling in my wings, I rolled slightly to the side while having the wind push me back. Once I re-extended my wings, the eagle was now the one below me, so I dropped a shadow ball on top of it. When the ball of darkness collided with the black feathers, it was hard to see what had happened. However, the movement of its left wing had become slightly more sluggish, indicating that perhaps the attack had succeeded. Though, restraining a wing meant little when the enemy could just change how the wind hit it to get the same result anyways. So far, I had used up roughly half of my mana, and knew that there were just a few ways I could actually win this fight. Maybe if I forced it to swallow an arrow vine, I could use my Nature Magic to have the vine grow inside of it, spearing it from within. That seemed like the best plan, so I pulled a single seed from my inventory, clutching it in one hand. Now it was my turn to dive, and dive I did! Angling my wings, I increased my speed to the maximum as I flew towards the slightly unstable eagle¡­ and then I remembered that this thing controls wind. The moment I was almost upon the harpy eagle, a gust of wind knocked me off course, again making me tumble back several meters. Sadly, I accidentally dropped the seed I was holding thanks to the surprise reaction. By the time I had myself stable again, the eagle was once more heading right for me. However, this time its aim was obviously off, instead moving to fly past me by a wide margin. Must be unable to properly steer with one wing bound. However, my thoughts quickly proved themselves wrong as the eagle passed by me, the barest tip of the wing brushing against my side.
Cut in half
-999 HP
You have died
Exp -25%. Exp insufficient for current level. Level -1, points have been deducted from most recently increased stats
You will be unable to log back in for 24 NeoLife hours, exactly 4 hours, 48 minutes.
I could still feel the pain in my side when the Seed opened up to let me out into the real world again, and took in a sharp breath of air. Once again, I was still equipped with my bird wings, so I immediately dismissed them. Gripping the sides of the silver coffin, I slowly sat myself up. One hand went down to my side, making sure that there was no actual wound. My thoughts drifted towards Yin and Yang, who had been in my inner grove when I died. Had something happened there because of my death? A quick inspection made me sigh in relief, as the grove was unharmed. The two birds were happily sitting on the branches of the enrichment fruit tree, nestled against each other. However, this did confirm that the grove carried over between the game and the real world. For a simple test, I plucked a fruit from the tree and brought it out in the same manner I would within the game. Though I should not have been surprised, I was slightly startled when the green lights emerged from my body and formed the enrichment fruit in my hands. Okay¡­ next time I¡¯ll just walk. No earth magic, and I likely won¡¯t attract a land wyrm. I¡¯d rather deal with the wind wolves than those eagles again. I sighed to myself, and got up out of the Seed. I had nearly five hours in the real world, so I had to do something with it. For my first trick, I checked to see if there was any more news about the new sensation sweeping the nation. I found that the world was adapting surprisingly well. The players of NeoLife were being treated as victims under the Genetic Crimes Act, and able to resume life as normal. Those who were changed into nonhuman forms were even seen with pity. This is because this wasn¡¯t the first time people have had their bodies forcefully changed. A couple decades back, there was another game. It was the one that I mentioned used nanites to reshape the human body in order to match the character. At first, victims of that were treated as freaks. By the time it was exposed, there were already fifty thousand people changed. That was not a number the public could just ignore, but at the same time they couldn¡¯t easily accept people that looked so different. Despite our cultural advances over the last millennium, humans still had a prejudiced nature. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. However, the people in question were truly not at fault for what happened to them, and some were even the children of politicians. As such, the Genetic Crimes Act was established, stating that anybody who has their bodies altered due to genetic manipulation against their will shall be protected by the law. Discrimination against them was considered a felony. Now, many people had already lived with someone that had been altered in such a way by that event, or even grown up with them. This made the world far more prepared for what the Seeds did, to the point where there was only the briefest acts of violence when they were first revealed. Even with the protection of the law, people who did not know what happened might think a monster was attacking them. Thankfully, there were no fatalities among the Seed players. That said, there were currently two conflicting opinions on the subject of the Seeds and NeoLife. One party said that the game was bringing nothing but trouble, and that people should not play it for fear of inviting true monsters upon us. The other party believed that true monsters were already coming, whether we liked it or not, and the only defense we had against them was to play the game and grow stronger. With that taken care of, I shut off my computer while shaking my head, and moved downstairs. There were still four and a half hours remaining, and I needed to do something constructive with my time. I did a brief experiment and tried to check my status window as I would in the game. To my surprise, the blue lights I had first seen very gradually wove themselves together to form the window, as well as the normal menu. Although, obviously the logout button was absent.
NameJohn HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 1278%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health120/120Health Regen0.2
Mana400/400Mana Regen0.14
Strength12Wisdom70
Agility20Intelligence45
Dexterity19Charisma9
Vitality12Luck14
Points Remaining0
Earth 7%Fire 7%Wind 8%Water 7%
Lightning 0%Light 7%Dark 7%Plant 7%
Luck 2%Madness 2%
I nodded slightly, the losses having been within my expectations. My lower mana regeneration was probably because of the mana being so thin here. However, the rest of my time had to be spent trying to get stronger, advancing my magic in some way. The mana here was still far too thin to properly cultivate, so I did the next best thing. On the counter in my living room was a flash drive, it was a cheap one I had bought to store holo-vids on, and only held a petabyte of data, but that was enough for my purposes. I moved back up to my room with the flash drive in hand, and sat down next to the Seed. Like Sharon said, the mana seemed slightly denser next to the large machine. Though the drive itself did not contain any mana, by placing it near the Seed I was able to see how mana interacted with it. At first, the mana just washed over it, like it wasn¡¯t even there. However, after a few minutes it began to show a slight reaction. I kept watching, waiting to see what would happen with my Aura Sight. My computer was much closer to the Seed than the flash drive had been downstairs, but I would rather experiment with something easily replaceable. If it worked on the flash drive, then I could try with my computer. After nearly a full hour, something happened. The flash drive began emitting its own mana, in small amounts. However, this was plenty for me to see its aura forming. Since the aura is appearing from scratch, I thought it might even help me memorize and recreate the process. I kept staring at the flash drive, constantly working my Aura Sight to memorize every detail as the lights formed into a hard pattern. Reaching out, I touched it with my Mana Sense to fill in the gaps, until an hour later I had fully memorized the aura of the flash drive. Looking over to my computer, I extended my Mana Sense towards it, searching for a similar aura. I did manage to find it, which I assumed to be my computer¡¯s fifty exabyte hard drive. However, the pattern was more complex, likely to be because it allowed for far more data storage. I took my time memorizing this aura as well, another hour and a half. By the time I was done, it was just under two hours left before I would be able to log into the game again. I debated with myself, should my first experiment by attempting to mimic a data storage device, or to alter it? After some time, I decided to go for the former, but with an additional precaution. A flash drive by itself is useless. You also need an input device. For that, I would need a camera and microphone. Thankfully, my computer has both. Again, I reached out my Mana Sense to my computer, attempting to isolate the aura of the camera. Once I had it, I traced it back to the motherboard, then the hard drive to study the connections, and then took in the full aura. For the most part, there were similarities between it and my own, though the ones in the computer were more complex, less natural. Likewise, the connections between the microphone and the motherboard were very similar. For my first experiment, I focused on my right eye. Gritting my teeth, I prepared myself for an intense pain if this didn¡¯t work. With my brain as the motherboard, I began altering the connections between it and my eye, and then my eye itself. While the shape of the eye remained the same, there was a clear uncomfortable feeling from it, like I had an eyelash stuck inside. This persisted for several minutes until I finished the process.
New Spell Unlocked!
Cybernetic Adaptation: Eye - Technomancy - ¡ï By copying the aura of a camera, and adapting your eye to mirror it, you are able to store visual information recorded in your altered eye, at the cost of mana. Information storage is limited by your brain''s capacity. Information retrieval dependent on brain¡¯s ability. Mana Cost: 50 to shift, 30/second to record.
Chapter 29: Civilization, at last! Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the chapter being later than usual! Hope you enjoy it! Also, I¡¯m impressed with the maturity of the readers. There was not a single ¡®Do a barrel roll!¡¯ comment about last chapter! ----------------------------------------------- After I had received the Cybernetic Adaptation spell, I conducted a few brief experiments. Thankfully, I discovered that the altered eye did not prevent the use of Aura Sight. My next experiment was the ¡®record¡¯ feature of the Cybernetic eye. From my understanding, the spell is split into a passive and active mode. The passive mode increases my ability to see things, to an extent where I was practically able to ¡®zoom in¡¯ on tiny objects across the room. Maybe once I figure out how to better control Technomancy, I¡¯ll have telescopic vision. The active portion of the spell was what would allow me to save an image into my mind. Looking out the window, I poured a constant stream of mana into the Cybernetic eye, and could faintly see a red glow in front of me. At the same time, I felt like I might never forget the simple scenery of the cityscape outside my window. Even though it was just a brief look, I quickly closed my eyes and focused on the memory. I found that I could reexamine every detail of what I had captured, even things I had not initially focused on. For instance, I was able to point out all the different birds in the sky, or count how many people I was able to see. As long as I upgraded my memory storage and retrieval abilities, I should literally have a photographic memory for everything I record. I still had a bit of time left before I could get back in game, and I wouldn¡¯t suffer if I was a few minutes late anyways. As such, I got back onto my computer and looked up all I could about how the brain stores and retrieves memories. If I was going to be messing around with my own head, I needed to be very careful which parts I tampered with. If I accidentally changed the section of the brain dealing with emotion into an extra memory storage, then I¡¯d be screwed. After a little while, I had all the necessary information in front of me. For convenience, I simply ¡®recorded¡¯ it all down with my Cybernetic eye so that I could review it whenever I needed. Sadly, I did actually have to go back over it to review, as the information wasn¡¯t automatically transferred when I did this. I¡¯d probably need a software update for that to happen. Once I had that taken care of, I again used my Aura Sight with the Cybernetic Eye to record my computer¡¯s hard drive and motherboard, so that I could accurately remember them in the future. Afterwards, I used the same method to re-memorize all of the auras I had learned thus far, by putting them in front of me with my Mana Manipulation, then recording them. This way, I shouldn¡¯t run the risk of forgetting key parts of an aura I already memorized. The last thing I did before getting back into the Seed was to analyze it with my Mana Sense. I had my suspicions, but I wanted to verify. Once my mana scanned the Seed, I found that it was practically bursting with magic. Every aspect of the device seemed to have magic incorporated into it, and if I looked deeply enough I even saw tiny, unfamiliar symbols embedded in the aura. Must be runes¡­ I shook my head, and didn¡¯t dare try to copy any part of the Seed. After all, I had no idea what any of the runes did. Some may have even been countermeasures against being copied for all I knew. In the end, I just got back in the device and let it send me off to Hascion. When I opened my eyes, I was back in the elven village at the edge of the woods. Looking over myself, I confirmed that I hadn¡¯t lost any of my equipment. In fact, when I logged in, I noticed that my Technomancy had even increased in level a bit, likely due to my experimenting. ¡°Huh? How did we get back here?¡± I heard the familiar voice coming from my wrist, and looked down to see my companion AI bracelet. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem to be damaged. ¡°We were just flying¡­ right?¡± ¡°What do you remember?¡± I decided to ask out of curiosity, while probing the bracelet with my Mana Sense. Like with the Seed, I could see a few runes embedded in the structure of the aura, though it was nowhere near as complex as the device that brought me here. ¡°We were flying, the harpy eagle came in, and there was a brief feeling of pain. After that, we just appeared here. What happened?¡± She looked up to me, obviously confused with the events that had gone on. ¡°We, or to be more accurate, I died. Apparently, the eagle had a wind blade or something extending from its wing, so it cut me in half as it passed by.¡± That was interesting. Maybe when a player died, their gear was stored until they logged back in. If that was the case, it would have been a strange sight for a naked human to suddenly fall from the sky, cut in half like that. I could at least be thankful that the two deaths I experienced so far were quick and painless, instead of being eaten alive¡­ Though I had experienced that as well, I just didn¡¯t die from it. ¡°I¡­ I see. I would rather that not happen again, if you would be so kind.¡± She looked pleadingly to me, making me laugh. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t plan on dying often. This next trip should be far safer, but first, I want to visit the mage¡¯s tower again. By the way, how far did we make it before?¡± I asked as I started walking to my new destination. ¡°About two thirds of the distance. Had you managed to sustain flight for another forty minutes at your previous speed, you would have arrived at the edge of the city.¡± Now that she knew what was going on, her tone quickly returned to normal. ¡°Sweet¡­ in hindsight, surprised I made it that far. Next time, we¡¯ll be going on foot.¡± Once I went into the mage¡¯s tower, it was an easy matter to find the Technomancy instructor. Although he was still not exactly friendly, he did his job properly and answered my questions regarding magic software. Apparently, in order to create a software for Technomancy, or other devices that use magic to read information, it is necessary to upload it to a special device called a Soft Stick. When asked, the Technomancy teacher showed me what it looked like, and I nodded my head in satisfaction. This was the same type of metal strip that Jarl had used to upload the affinity program to Celeste. They were basically CDs for magic. Each strip was capable of holding a single program, but that program could be erased or replaced as needed. Once a program was uploaded, the aura of the Soft Stick would shift to match it. I was rather thankful when I learned that the actual programming was not done in runes, but in a coding language. Apparently, the runic programming came in the form of simply enchanting an item. I asked how I could upload a software onto a Soft Stick, and how I could get one for myself. Thankfully, I learned that my companion AI bracelet was a suitable terminal to upload software from, and that a single Soft Stick cost one silver. I happily bought it, and went off to work. My last question for him had been on how to adapt a living brain in order to house an AI. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. This seemed to be a common question, because it didn¡¯t take too long to say that it was possible. Although it would not be a direct adaptation, but rather an addition. If I were to simply try to augment my brain to house my AI, then I would have essentially been replacing myself with Celeste. Instead, it was possible to create a secondary system through which the AI would reside. She would have access to all my senses and be capable of communicating with me, but be unable to directly control me. Likewise, she would lose any abilities granted by the hardware she initially occupied. When I asked how I could do this, he told me to head to the capital, because it was something too advanced for my current ability. He was actually surprised when he noticed the change in my eye, as not many people choose to directly alter themselves as soon as they receive Technomancy. I didn¡¯t mention that I was planning to do the same for my other senses as well, and even my memory. After I left the tower, I summoned Yin out of my grove, and asked her to go find her favorite fruit. Since I¡¯m taking the birds with me, I might as well plant a heart¡¯s apple tree in my grove for them to enjoy. While she was gone, I had Celeste open up a holographic window for me to work with. Since she herself was a program, she was naturally well versed in the programming language. Otherwise, things like a self diagnostic or virus scanning would be impossible. With her help, I quickly got the flow of this game¡¯s programming language, which wasn¡¯t that different than my world. There were many new terms, to compensate for the presence of magic, and a few gimmicks in the language itself. Thankfully, Celeste doubled as a debugging software, able to quickly correct any errors I made. I had considered leaving the entire thing up to her, but decided against it. I wanted to be able to do this myself. About ten minutes later, Yin was returning with a heart shaped apple just as I finished this software patch. I had the options of either applying it to Celeste, or saving it on a Soft Stick. Apparently, mass-produced programs could not copied onto a second Soft Stick, since they had some protections against illegally redistributing them. Though, it was likely possible to overcome this with hacking, just like in the real world. After returning Yin to my grove, and planting the heart¡¯s apple seeds, I placed the Soft Stick up in front of my Cybernetic eye, and activated Aura Sight. Using my Mana Manipulation while attuning to Technomancy, I gradually incorporated the software into my eye.
New Skill Unlocked!
Programming - Intermediate Level 2 Exp: 75% The ability to write code and create programs for technology.
Software Applied to Cybernetic Adaptation: Eye
Photographic Learning This software enables the owner of a Cybernetic Eye to instantly know the contents of images they record, even if they are unable to understand the meaning behind it. Mana Cost: +50% cost to record images.
I smiled, satisfied with that. Sadly, the software wasn¡¯t retroactive, so I didn¡¯t immediately know the information regarding the brain that I had looked up before. And it was also nice seeing that Programming was my currently highest level skill. If I worked a bit longer on the code, I might be able to reduce the cost to record images, but I¡¯ll save that for later. Moving out of town, I decided that this time I would change into my wolf form to run towards the city. Since the wind wolves don¡¯t differ much visually from normal wolves, they shouldn¡¯t bother me if I take that form. Surprisingly, my Cybernetic eye remained even after I changed. I guess, since I was using a different type of magic to create it, Nature Magic wouldn¡¯t automatically change it to match a new form. I wasn¡¯t going to complain, since that meant I had one eye that still had perfect vision. I actually went ahead and spent the extra mana to alter my other eye as well, temporarily. Once I had rested for a few minutes and grown accustomed to the new forms, I ran off out of the forest, once again heading to the city. Though, this time the city wasn¡¯t quite on the horizon due to the change in elevation, that was soon fixed. I should also note that I saw something I hadn¡¯t noticed the first time I took my wolf form, and that was the metal bracelet on my front paw. It seemed to have adapted to my new size just like my armor would. With this form, I was largely unobstructed during my travel. The only attack that came for me was from another elf, who seemed to have misunderstood me as an attacking wind wolf. After that encounter, which was solved by me running away for dear life, I ran parallel to the road without running on it. There was little difference for me, but for normal people on the road, it relieved them to see that I wasn¡¯t attacking. They would be on guard as I approached, but relax the moment I left. My running speed as a wolf was only about half of that of my flight form, but the additional measure of safety was worth it. As a result, the normally two hour flight turned into a four hour run. I heard a little beep from my wrist some time around the third hour, and knew that Celeste was letting me know I had officially gone further than the last time. That thought made me chuckle slightly, an odd sound in my wolf form. While running, I began to make ideas for other programs I would make once I had ¡®reformatted¡¯ my brain for increased memory. My mind already counted as a simple operating system, so I at least didn¡¯t have to make that from scratch. I would, however, need to make a program to let me experiment with my memorized auras to combine different aspects of creatures and create new forms. While I could simply do it manually one piece at a time, having a preset would save me a bit of time when I need it most. After the fourth hour, I finally approached a large steel wall, and jumped over onto the road. A pair of guards looked at me warily, moving to grab what looked like pistols at their waists as I shifted into my elf form and dismissed the Cybernetic spell on my left eye. Immediately, the two relaxed, and even bowed respectfully to me. I guess that druids really are respected a lot in this society. Chapter 30: The Plan! Author¡¯s Corner: Behold, as the author bestows unto you a surprise second chapter! Or a first chapter for tomorrow, depending on how you look at it.
As I approached the large metal gate in my half-elf form, one of the guards came forward to stop me, much to my surprise. ¡°Excuse me, sir, do you have any identification?¡± The guards were dressed much like you would see a soldier, with streamlined black full-body suits. Each of them had a pistol, and what looked like the hilt to a sword at their waists. I tilted my head curiously at his question, but shook my head. Nobody had provided me a means of identifying myself to others in this game yet, so naturally I couldn¡¯t provide it. Noticing my reaction, the guard let out a soft sigh. ¡°Traveler?¡± To his simple question, I nodded my head. ¡°Okay, well, we¡¯ll issue you an ID then. After that, you can simply show your companion to someone, and it will display your ID.¡± Waving me forward, he led me to a small terminal near the gate. ¡°Simply put your left hand on the panel, and it will read your aura and load the program.¡± I nodded my head, thinking this must be a pretty specialized device to be able to do that. As he instructed, I put my hand on the panel, which beeped once before the companion AI wristband lit up with a holographic blue screen that seemed eerily familiar.
Name: FalenelClass: Druid
Level: 12Patron: Malthan
My eye twitched a bit as I read that window. They have a concept of levels here widely known, and they aren¡¯t told to people in the newbie village?! Is everything just considered so weak that it¡¯s not worth knowing about the levels? The guard nodded his head, satisfied. ¡°Thank you very much, Mr. Falenel.¡± He seemed a bit surprised when he saw my information, so likely someone getting through at level 12 was uncommon. ¡°Mind if I ask a couple question?¡± I looked to the guard, who nodded his head. ¡°Could you tell me the levels of the wind wolves, harpy eagles, and land wyrms?¡± He raised an eyebrow curiously at that, but shrugged. ¡°A wind wolf is typically between levels twenty and thirty. A harpy eagle can be between thirty and fifty, depending on their size. As for a land wyrm, they are roughly level one hundred and fifty.¡± Okay, I am NOT sticking around to study the birds. I can see if they have any examples of magical beasts or monsters in the city and go with that. ¡°Ah¡­ thank you. Guess disguising as a wolf really was the right call to get here quickly.¡± I had run over a hundred miles as a wolf, so no doubt it would have taken me at least a day to cover the distance in a normal form. The guard seemed to agree as well. ¡°Yes, though you may want to increase your strength a bit before you leave the city.¡± I smiled slightly, nodding my head. ¡°I planned on it. Do you know if there is anywhere I can sell elemental seeds in the city? And if so, would you know how much they tend to go for?¡± The guard thought about that for a moment before he nodded. ¡°Their selling price should depend on their quality, but you can sell some in the market district. Just look for a map kiosk once you get in town, and it will tell you where to go. If you want to pay a silver, you can also buy a guide program for your companion, that will tell you where to go for various things.¡± I thought about it, and nodded my head again. If I could mass produce and sell element seeds, then I¡¯d easily be able to make back that silver. Walking past the guard, I moved into the city itself, which was full of tall, metallic buildings. Surprisingly, there were no flying cars, though I did see a few flying people. A bit impressed, I decided to take a ¡®screenshot¡¯ of the scene by doing a very brief recording through my Cybernetic eye. To my surprise, my earlier program worked very effectively, and I immediately knew exactly how many people I had seen, their shapes, and looked a bit down and to the left of where I had been focusing on before. Thanks to the Photographic Information program, I noticed the small kiosk up in the corner. Walking over to it, I tapped a button on its screen to activate it. ¡°Welcome to Landfall, the first city of Hascion, one of the key tourist locations of the wood elf territories. Would you like to see a map, purchase a guide program, or ask a question?¡± A large blue holographic face with female features appeared above the kiosk and spoke to me. ¡°I¡¯d like to buy the guide program.¡± I answered simply. The image pouted slightly, but nodded her head. A small coin slot opened up on the kiosk itself. ¡°Please insert one silver coin, and place the wrist containing the companion AI near the terminal.¡± I did as instructed, after which the hologram faded away, its work apparently done. ¡°Woah¡­ now that¡¯s a bit of info.¡± I saw Celeste appearing above my wrist instead, smiling slightly. ¡°You want the market, right? Hmm, there¡¯s info on it in here, as well as some basic prices. The low quality element seeds go for one silver each if they are of a primary element, or fifty percent higher if they belong to a secondary element.¡± I nodded my head, though I was a bit disappointed in the prices. Makes sense, since any druid can produce them. Though, if I was in the territory of a culture that was lacking in druids, the price would likely skyrocket. ¡°The kiosk said this was a tourist spot, can you tell me if there are any pet stores selling magical beasts or monsters? Also, I want to visit an enchanter for training, if at all possible.¡± She thought for a moment and processed my questions. ¡°Okay, there are two stores selling pets like what you mentioned. One sells combat monsters and magical beasts, while the other sells novelty pets. From what the information says, the novelty pets can have some peculiar skills, but are not trained for battle. As for the enchanter, there is one located in the market. It is the same location that is suggested for selling elemental seeds.¡± ¡°Alright, then, lead the way. I want to visit a Technomancy instructor at some point, too. But that is a secondary concern for today.¡± Celeste smiled at me as I started walking forward. ¡°Looking to get that spell you asked the other one about? The one that would have me in your head?¡± I chuckled, following her directions as she gave them. There were surprisingly few people of different races than the standard wood elf, though I did take a pair of snapshots for each so that I could study their auras. Like I had expected, the auras of a sentient creature were far more complex than any animal. Much like myself, the auras were more detailed, and brighter. Two wood elves standing next to each other may look radically different, but have nearly identical auras from a first glance. ¡°Would you like that?¡± The hologram at my wrist nodded. ¡°If my container is damaged I will, in essence, die. Although you will be able to get a new companion, and it may even develop nearly identical to myself, it wouldn¡¯t be me. Naturally, I would like to continue to exist. Plus, I am very interested in your home world.¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see what we can do. My magic isn¡¯t nearly skilled enough yet for everything I want.¡± Jarl had said that accurately copying the traits of another race would be similar to brewing a potion spell consisting of twenty parts. I wasn¡¯t sure if that was an exaggeration or not, but I should have an advantage now. Once I get an inn room, I can practice my Technomancy some more. Worst case scenario, I die and get a forced logout. However, for some reason I¡¯m confident I¡¯ll be able to copy the recorded auras from my computer. The auras of technology are far more basic in the real world than the tech I¡¯ve seen here. Even Celeste is several times more complex than my computer. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°By the way, Celeste, how much is an inn room? I¡¯ll be needing a place to stay.¡± ¡°Already looked into it, and the most expensive inn room is ten silvers a night. However, I doubt that¡¯s the one you¡¯re wanting, so I made a note for a cheaper one, which goes for the price of thirty coppers.¡± While the latter price made me wince, I nearly coughed up blood at the first one. Back in the village, I had gotten an inn room for just a fraction of that! Sighing, I resigned myself to accepting the increased rates. Either way, if I created some seeds, I¡¯d be more than able to pay off that bill. Since I was able to create one seed every four or five hours at my current ability, I could make three or four a day. This would also let me increase my affinities, and naturally advance my skills. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the inn first. I¡¯ll need to create at least one seed to sell before I can visit the enchanter, and they might have precautions against druids reading the auras of beasts at the pet shops. So, I¡¯ll spend the night at the inn and go to the enchanter tomorrow. Should also make a note to stop by an alchemist at some point to learn new recipes, once I¡¯ve got some more money. Harlan said it was thirty silver to get the basic alchemy program for you.¡± Celeste nodded her holographic head, and changed the directions she was giving to that of the inn. There was another program that I wanted to write before I got started, but it would likely only work after I had ¡®upgraded¡¯ my brain. Once I got to the inn, I found it to be a regular hotel, like what was often found in the real world. If it was like this, then thirty copper was not a bad price at all. Even ten silvers wouldn¡¯t be more than what was spent on an average hotel room. Paying for the room for two days, I was given a key card, and went up the elevator. Once I got to my room, I found it to look just like a hotel room. There was a single bed in the center of the room, a lamp on either side, a desk against the wall, and a holographic TV stand opposite the bed. ¡°Sweet¡­¡± I smiled, moving over and laying down on the bed. Now that I was here, I could get to work. In my mind, I reviewed all of the information regarding the brain that I had recorded again, and isolated the regions that worked for memory storage and retrieval. Then, I searched my own aura with Mana Sense and located those same regions. ¡°Celeste, if this goes wrong, then in ten minutes tell me to cancel all spells I have active.¡± That should function as an insurance, in case I damage my brain accidentally without causing enough damage to force a logout. My only worry was if I damaged my memories, and lost the memory of how my brain¡¯s aura originally looked. If that happened, then even if she told me to cancel the spell I wouldn¡¯t know how. At that point, I could only hope that the Seed registers that as a form of character death. After getting her approval, I began working. The process was faster than any transformation I¡¯ve done so far. This is likely because current computer technology was designed to reflect how the brain worked, so it was easy to adjust. I basically just had to simultaneously compress and replicate the memory centers for my brain, and rearrange them slightly to match the new pattern.
New Spell Unlocked
Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Storage - Technomancy - ¡î By copying the memory banks of a computer into your own skull, you have increased your brain''s ability to store information. Retrieving it is another matter entirely. Mana Cost: 30
My mind felt slightly sluggish after that, and I was lightheaded for a few minutes. ¡°Falenel? Are you okay?¡± I looked down to the holographic woman at my wrist who was staring at me with a worried expression and nodded. ¡°Fine, just a bit of a backlash, I think.¡± I took a deep breath, and worked on the next section, focusing on memory retrieval. When that was taken care of, the lightheadedness completely faded, but was replaced by a massive headache. This headache persisted for roughly ten minutes, during which time Alchemic Heal had absolutely no effect on my head. After the ten minutes expired, my brain had apparently adapted to the new spell, because the pain began to subside.
New Spell Unlocked
Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Retrieval - Technomancy - ¡î By copying the aura of a computer into your own skull, you have increased your brain''s ability to retrieve information. This provides a passive recollection boost, but any data properly recorded will be instantly retrievable unless damaged. Mana Cost: 50
I let out a sigh as I saw that, but smiled slightly. Next, I had Celeste open another programming window for me, and got to work. What I wanted this time was a bit more complex, and would require a bit of time to implement properly. Rather than the rushed ten minutes I spent on the first program, this one took nearly two hours before I was finished. I copied it over in much the same way as I had the first software, but this patch wasn¡¯t meant for my eye, rather my upgraded brain.
Software Applied to Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Storage and Memory Retrieval
Auto-Pilot This program has two modes, Record and Automatic. After performing an activity in Record mode, it is possible to do it subconsciously in Automatic mode. However, while in Automatic mode, you will have no control over your own body unless disturbed by external stimulus. Automatic mode can be set to complete after a period of time repeating an action, or after the action has been completed once.
I smiled at the completion of the program. Although it had a more profound effect than Photographic Learning, it was set up in a way so as not to cost anything to use. The downside was that I could not cancel the program myself once it was activated. I would basically be asleep until it finished. Maybe in the future I¡¯ll be able to increase my processing ability to accurately handle two tasks at once, and be able to rework the program to allow me to maintain control of unused aspects of my body and magic. But for now, I recorded myself cultivating each of the seven elements I currently possess, so that I could simply autopilot my way through it in the future. With that taken care of, it was time to get some seeds! Chapter 31: What a Rush! Author¡¯s Corner: Here we are again, and this time, with technology in the story! At last!
After recording the methods of cultivating my various types of mana, I went ahead and focused on producing a Seed of Plants. Naturally, I was recording this process as well. Putting my all into focus, I cultivated the plant mana from various herbs that I pulled out of my inventory to create the seed over the course of four and a half hours. With this, I was able to start working on other stuff tomorrow. By now, the sun had already set, and it was time to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, my first move was to go downstairs and have a proper breakfast, purchased from the hotel for a small sum. Thankfully, since this is apparently a tourist city, they had various kinds of food. I was finally able to have bacon again! Once I had finished eating, I went out to the city and walked around. ¡°Celeste, do they have ship schedules and fees in the guide program?¡± The AI appeared above my wrist wearing a casual t-shirt and jeans, smiling as she spoke. ¡°Yup! Every day, they send shuttles up to the orbital station X-23, from which passengers can board ships bound for various destinations. As for the cost, it¡¯s ten silver per passenger on the shuttle, and the fee for outbound travel from the station is between twenty silver to ten gold, depending on the destination. Since you¡¯re still new, you¡¯ll probably want one of the cheaper fares. My recommendation would be to earn money for a while, maybe get a temporary job until you have the funds necessary for travel.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that. ¡°Makes sense. I also want to exchange my bow before I leave. Something more advanced would be nice.¡± ¡°But, wouldn¡¯t you have wasted the money you spent to get the arrow vine seeds, in that case?¡± She asked innocently, making me think about it for a moment. ¡°They grow pretty long, so even if I upgrade to a gun or a bow that doesn¡¯t fire regular arrows, they can still be used as spears.¡± It¡¯ll just take quite a bit more mana to do¡­ She nodded her digital head. ¡°Alright, then. I¡¯ll run a search for local job opportunities matching your skill set.¡± She paused for a few moments before speaking again. ¡°There are a few entry level positions available. I believe the most suitable to you at this time would be as a mechanic. Technomancy is listed as a highly sought skill for that position, and it would give you an opening to find work on a ship in order to reduce the fare.¡± I smiled at that, accepting her suggestion. ¡°Okay. After I build up a bit of coin, I¡¯ll do that. I think we should spend about a week here before moving on, that way I can make the money I need and learn the needed skills.¡± I was walking towards the enchanter¡¯s shop now, following Celeste¡¯s occasional guidance. I would still take snapshots of any new race I spotted with my Aura Sight and Cybernetic eye, but there was little I could do with a 2D representation of a complex 3D shape. At most, I could store it as a reference image for the future. When I arrived at the store, I found an old man standing behind the counter, and a few aisles of shelves running through the front of the store. On the shelves were various objects, from glowing dust, wands, ornate staves, even a few assorted spheres like what I planned to sell. As I entered, the old man at the counter looked over to me. ¡°Yes, yes, can I help you lad?¡± Unlike most of the people that I had spoken with in the game, this man appeared to be entirely human, with a long white beard and next to no hair atop his head. He wore a black robe with multiple white dots on it arranged like the stars in the sky. Even though he looked frail, my Aura Sight showed me that his magic was far denser than anyone I had met so far. ¡°Yes, I¡¯m here for two things. First, I was hoping to learn how to enchant objects.¡± He let out a sigh when I said that, but allowed me to continue. ¡°And second, I wanted to start selling these.¡± When I held my hand out to display the Seed of Plants, his eyes sparkled slightly. ¡°Hmmm, the quality is still quite low, but that should be from the Plant Affinity, yes? And since you are bringing it, that likely makes you a druid, or else acting on behalf of one. If it was from wind, I could assume that you received it from one of the magical beasts of this planet.¡± I nodded my head. ¡°That¡¯s right, I¡¯m a druid.¡± There was really no point in hiding it, since he might demand to see my ID before teaching me anyways. ¡°What elements are you capable of refining seeds for?¡± I thought about it, but shrugged. ¡°Any of the primary seven, aside from lightning, and plants.¡± He nodded his head a bit at that. ¡°I see, I see. Yes, that would be quite helpful. Lately, all the druids of Hascion are off maintaining their groves, and they have the most efficient means of producing a seed. Though, the ones produced by the local druids would be too high of quality for a beginner to use. You say you want to learn how to enchant, lad?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I think it would be a good idea in the long run.¡± ¡°Yes, yes it would. A young adventuring druid like yourself, eventually able to make his own equipment and enchant it. If that look in your eye is any indication, you dabble in Technomancy as well. Yes, a very good combination.¡± The more the man spoke, the more I doubted his sanity. However, he was here and ran the shop, so his skill should be the real thing. ¡°Alright, we have a deal. If you can provide me with one seed of every affinity you possess, I¡¯ll teach you enchanting, and even give you a small bonus. Furthermore, I¡¯ll even compensate you half their value.¡± The man grinned as he spoke, but this was a pretty good deal for me. I could make the other six seeds today and tomorrow, then come back for his training. ¡°Alright. I should be able to have the other six ready by tomorrow evening.¡± After speaking, I placed the seed on the counter in front of it, and he nodded, passing me seventy five copper as the ¡®half payment¡¯ for my work. That extra bonus better be worth it.. With that taken care of, I went back to the hotel and began working again. With a not-so-brief experiment, I found that I could actually form two seeds at once, but the time needed would increase roughly by half. Still, that allowed me to finish four more seeds in one day, and the last two were done the day after, before lunch. Since I had said that I would be there around evening, I decided to wait a bit and cultivate until the time we had planned to meet. After eating a quick lunch provided by the hotel(I never thought I¡¯d be so happy for a burger), I went back to my room and activated my Auto-Pilot program, choosing to cultivate Dark Affinity for four hours. As I finalized my choice, I felt my mind slipping away from me, and it truly did feel as if I had fallen asleep. Just a moment later, I awoke, thinking something might have failed. However, the sky outside was definitely different than before, and the clock on the counter next to the bed confirmed that four hours had passed. I went to check my status, and was disappointed to find that Dark Affinity did not increase to 8%, even though I felt it was so close after I refined the Seed of Darkness. Suspicious, I checked my Mana Signatures and Mana Manipulation skills, and neither of them had made the slightest progress either even though they naturally advanced the more in tune I became with the elements. Worried that my four hours had been wasted, I checked my grove, only to find out that it had indeed expanded a bit more. It was with that that I figured it out, since cultivating affinity required me to try to match the element and slowly change my aura to match it, Auto-Pilot would do nothing but pull the mana into my body to feed my grove. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Still, since I had recorded the methods for refining all of the various seeds, I did show a bit of progress in my other affinities. Earth, Water, and Light all increased to 8%, leaving only Dark, Plant, and Fire at 7%. With this, I at least had a bit of improvement to be proud of. Putting the six seeds into my inventory, I moved off back to the old man¡¯s enchanting store. When I came in, he was rather happy to see me. ¡°Ah, there you are¡­ well, I never really got your name. But names aren¡¯t important anyways, so what does it matter? Did you bring the remaining seeds?¡± When I nodded, and placed the six pellets on the counter, his smile widened beneath his beard. ¡°Excellent, excellent. As promised, I¡¯ll teach you how to enchant. As for the extra bonus..¡± He pulled out a Soft Stick and showed it to me. ¡°This contains the Identify software, allowing your companion to scan the aura of creatures or objects to roughly determine their ability. If you have encountered something before and know its name, the name will be provided as well, naturally. You simply have to use Aura Sight when you wish to Identify something. I¡¯ll assume you know how to do that.¡± Thanks to the system treating me like an idiot¡­ I nodded my head to him, indicating that I knew. This software would have a variety of possible uses for me, as it could even help me analyze auras. Holding out my left wrist, he placed the Soft Stick against it, and there was a slight beep of acknowledgement before he pulled it back. ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s get started! Enchanting really isn¡¯t that hard of a job, it simply requires more control over your magic than a normal starting mage would have, and a more abundant mana reserve than a starting druid. But, naturally, with every obstacle comes a solution.¡± He lead me to a very familiar looking staff with a black gemstone atop it, much like the one Jacobs had used when enchanting my armor. ¡°This staff contains a low quality mana gem, able to supply an additional thousand mana to its user. However, like all mana gems, it requires nearly a full day to fully recharge.¡± I saw where he was going with this, and couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°How much is it¡­?¡± Hearing me, the man¡¯s smile grew a bit more. ¡°It can be yours for just two silver, since it is after all low quality. Also, before we begin, you should go to the terminal in the back of the store and look up the rune language. I assume that your eye has some sort of recording feature, so you should be able to memorize the entire language pretty quick.¡± I nodded my head. Since he had mentioned something about my eye the day before, I had looked into a mirror back at the hotel. My previously dark green eye now had lines of red streaking through the iris, with a tiny red dot at the center of my eye. Likely, that was a physical manifestation of my Cybernetic Adaptation spell. I was left wondering if integrating the other senses would give similar features. Moving back to the room behind the counter, I saw a simple desk with a silver orb sitting at the back of it. Figuring that was his ¡®terminal¡¯ I sat down at the desk. Immediately, a holographic keyboard appeared on the desktop, and a blank blue screen of light flashed up above the orb. ¡°Greetings, unregistered user. Please type or state the object of your search.¡± I looked curiously at the device, and couldn¡¯t help but extend my Mana Sense towards it. Although I had considered Celeste to be advanced, this device had an aura dozens of times more complicated than hers. It was like the universe was playing connect the dots with every star in the sky at once. ¡°Uhm¡­ rune language, please.¡± ¡°One moment.¡± Soon, a series of strange symbols flashed out on the screen, scrolling almost faster than I could keep track. ¡°Would you like a second language to compare with?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ yes. The local elf language, please.¡± I did not think for a moment that what I was speaking would be English. Likely, I had an instinctive knowledge about both the human and elf languages due to my character¡¯s heritage. After speaking, the jumbled mass of characters became a neat list, with a single rune labeled next to a word or description. I calculated my mana usage, and sighed slightly. ¡°Scroll down for ten seconds on my mark. Show each page for half a second before moving on.¡± I then focused mana into my eye to begin the Record process. ¡°Mark.¡± The instant I said the word and saw the red glow in front of me, the screen began rapidly scrolling. As I requested, the screen flipped forward every half second, showing me a total of twenty pages before my mana ran out. Since there were roughly twenty words per column, and two columns per page, that meant I had learned eight hundred runes.
Runic Language Completion: 0.001%
I felt my mouth gaping at the absurd number of runes there must be in this language, and then shook my head. I had accurately learned eight hundred runes, and even now could understand the meaning of each of them. However, those were only so few. I decided to do another method after my mana recharged. ¡°Okay, on my mark, continue for another ten seconds. This time, increase the speed to fifty pages per second.¡± This was only half of the speed that my computer was able to record images, so I hoped that my Cybernetic Adaptation spell was good enough to give me some measure of clarity in this. Again, I focused the mana into my eye and began to Record again. ¡°Mark.¡± Again, pages flashed in front of me, though this time dozens of times faster than before. I felt my head starting to hurt from the rapid rush of information, but forced myself to endure it for ten seconds. After it was done, I was left holding my head in a bit of pain as my mana began recovering slowly. This time, I had learned a whopping twenty thousand runes, but my completion of the language had only increased by another 0.025%. I started to truly believe that there was a rune for every single word, and maybe a few words that didn¡¯t exist normally. About twenty minutes later, I was ready for the next round. ¡°Computer¡­ this time, eliminate all words not necessary for enchanting up to the intermediate level. How many words does that leave?¡± ¡°That leaves roughly 15,300 runes, not counting the ones you have already learned. Do you wish to continue at the same speed as before?¡± I sighed, knowing I¡¯d regret this. However, it was either get it all over with at once, and deal with a headache while my brain rushed to process the information, or be here all night. ¡°Yes. On my mark¡­¡± I began to Record again. ¡°Mark.¡± The images came just as fast as before, but this time at least it didn¡¯t last as long. By the time I was done, there was a new window waiting for me, this one presented by the game itself.
New Skill Acquired!
Runic Language - Intermediate Level 1 Exp: 0% This knowledge skill marks the progress of the owner in regards to learning the language of magic. After reaching Master level, this skill will be deleted, and the user will be considered fluent in the language.
Author''s Basement: Here we are again, at the bottom of the post! We seem to meet here a lot. Now, I''d like to ask everyone to think about something. I''m going to leave the last name Falenel chooses at level 15 up to the community! I won''t be making it into a poll, but reply with your choices, and I''ll look them over. If one seems to be an obvious favorite, I''ll pick it, otherwise will just pick whichever one I think sounds the best. Chapter 32: To Enchant or Not to Enchant? Author¡¯s Corner: Wanted to get this up earlier, but RRL has been giving me problems all day. Anyways, enjoy! For those of you that didn¡¯t see my comment in the thread of the last chapter, I went back and fixed a derp I made when John checked his status in the real world. It no longer shows his character name.
I sat there for a little while longer to recover from the sudden rush of information. If possible, I¡¯d need to look into increasing my processing abilities in the future. Maybe with that I could even write a program that increases my perception to a degree where time seems to slow down. Leaning back in the chair, I thought about the various symbols I had instantly learned thanks to Technomancy. With this, not just enchanting, I should be able to make some Runic spells as well, right? The only prerequisite to use that is memorizing the runes and creating the scripts. I smiled slightly as I considered the bounty from this session. Likely, anyone who delves heavily into Runic spells will use a method similar to what I just did in order to memorize the language. Though, I imagine that it¡¯s not that simple. Cybernetic implants should be considered mid-level gear, going by common standards. The fact that I was able to copy it with Technomancy was likely only because I was basing it on a far more primitive tech than what is used in the game. If I tried to copy this computer currently in front of me, I might have truly fried my brain at my current skill level. Once I was done recovering from the headache, I got to my feet and made my way out to the main room of the store. The old man was waiting for me, the ¡®basic¡¯ staff leaning against the counter. Part of me was glad that I hadn¡¯t considered using it to help with learning the runic language, since I could barely put up with ten seconds of the constant image streaming. Seeing me exit the room, the old man looked back at me. ¡°Oh? You finally came back out. I take it you learned enough runs to satisfy yourself?¡± I nodded my head slightly. ¡°Everything relevant up to Intermediate enchanting. I¡¯ll have to learn the rest later, maybe through a direct download once I figure that out.¡± I wanted to simply have Celeste download them all, but thought I remembered Harlan saying that doing so was a special software that cost money. The old man nodded his head, satisfied with my answer. After I paid the two silver for the staff, he handed it over and began the lesson. ¡°Okay, there are two methods of enchanting, but one basic trick needed for both. That is the ability to probe an item¡¯s aura and discover what type of enchantments would fit it best. Since you¡¯re a druid, you¡¯re likely familiar with how intricate auras can get, which makes this easier. ¡°It¡¯s hard to properly explain, so I will do my best, and then give you some examples to test on. Most of it is trial and error until you figure out the pattern. For the very basic levels of enchanting, you will learn how to enchant based on major properties such as durability, strength, and defense. The next level involves enchanting special effects, which is where your elemental seeds will be useful. That part will also be easier for you as a druid, since it requires measuring an item¡¯s innate affinity with the elements.¡± I nodded my head, indicating that I understood. After I practice a bit with this, then wouldn¡¯t the Identify software Celeste received earlier automatically show what an item would be best equipped for? Maybe she¡¯d have to write another program for that, but I think she could do it. After that, the old man pulled out a large, heavy chest from behind the counter. ¡°Now, I¡¯m going to show you an example of each of the beginner enchantments. An item is typically most attuned to enchantments that match its strength. As such, you are building on what¡¯s already there, rather than shoring up a weakness. You can do that instead, but it will not have as strong of an effect. Altering an item¡¯s aura more than it can withstand will cause it to shatter, so you must be careful.¡± He pulled out ten pieces of identical wood and placed them side by side. ¡°Go ahead and study the aura of this piece of wood to form the template. After I enchant them, you¡¯ll study each one, and I¡¯ll explain which enchantments they have. Then, I will enchant another set, and have you identify it yourself. Finally, I¡¯ll show you ten different materials, and ask you to determine the best enchantments for each.¡± I nodded again, and he got to work. Though, rather than the process of drawing runes like I had seen Jacobs do, he simply placed his hand on each of the pieces of wood for a few seconds before moving on to the next one. Once he was done, he placed the first piece in front of me. ¡°This has a strength enchantment. Study it and find the difference.¡± I picked up the log, and examined it with my mana. Indeed, there was a difference. Certain patterns within the log had extended and thickened. Though, I could not see any of the runes I had noticed in other enchanted items like Celeste, my dagger, or the Seed. He was likely doing that on purpose so I wouldn¡¯t cheat. Instead, I memorized the new appearance of the log, and how it had changed. We continued this process for the other nine enchantments, which were durability, dexterity, agility, charisma, intelligence, wisdom, vitality, attack, and defense. I had expected there to be a luck enchantment too, but he did not show it. Next, he pulled out ten logs of a different type from within the chest, and repeated the process. When I examined them after he was done, I got almost all of them correct, only confusing durability and defense. Finally, he pulled out ten different items. These were all spheres of the same size, but their materials were vastly different. One was a ball of glass, another wood, one metal, yet another was stone. This was the final test he had mentioned, and I took my time going through it. Since I had analyzed the enchantments before, I knew what to look for. Out of the ten different aspects of the item¡¯s auras, which were the most prominent? Although their arrangements were different, each item had those aspects hidden somewhere inside of it. I spent roughly five minutes with each item, so the entire test took nearly an hour before I was done. But, to my surprise I had gotten each of the items correct in my assessments. This made the old man smile and nod again. ¡°Good, very good. Now, there are only two steps left. Enchanting, and disenchanting. The latter is a more advanced step, but easy enough to do if you have the right equipment.¡± He smirked as he looked at me. Most likely, he was referring to my eye. ¡°First, enchanting! It is much like casting a spell with runes, except you are embedding the spell in an object, rather than letting it go free. Integrate the runes with an object¡¯s aura, and it will change accordingly.¡± After saying so, he held up the glass sphere, which I had identified as the medium most suiting a wisdom enchantment. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Nodding my head, I took hold of it and began drawing runes with my finger, much like I had seen Jacobs doing when he enchanted my bow. While drawing the runes, I made sure to send a bit of mana to my fingertip to manifest it, and then sent the rune into the sphere. In total, I only drew two runes, ¡®increase wisdom¡¯. Then, I inserted my Mana Sense into the item, and frowned as there failed to be any visible effect. Shaking his head, the old man told me what I had done wrong. ¡°No, no, you aren¡¯t using nearly enough mana. For even the most basic enchantment, a hundred mana is required to make each rune permanent.¡± I sighed when I heard that, and tried again. No wonder Jacobs had to tap into his mana gem in order to enchant my entire armor set. This time, I repeated the process, but poured a hundred mana into each of the runes. When I inspected the glass sphere again, I watched its aura gradually change, the runes attaching themselves to the segments I had identified as corresponding to wisdom and enhancing them.
New Skill Unlocked
Enchanting - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% This skill marks your ability to bestow magical properties upon ordinary items.
Intelligence +2
¡°Good, good. Now, you¡¯ll learn how to disenchant. In order to disenchant, you must return an item to its original state. This is most easily done with runic enchantments, as you merely need to peel the runes off of the aura for it to return to normal.¡± After the old man spoke, I nodded and inserted my Mana Sense into the sphere again, this time grabbing the runes with my aura and gently peeling them off. To my surprise, they did not resist much at all before coming off of the item and fading away into nothingness, after which the glass sphere¡¯s aura returned to normal. ¡°Good, very good. With this, you know the techniques for starting on enchanting. Now you¡¯ll just need to expand on it yourself, and either experiment, or find someone to teach you once you are ready for the next step.¡± I was a bit depressed that I couldn¡¯t enchant special abilities right away, as I had considered disenchanting my dagger, and then enchanting it to emit a wind blade when used. Still, I nodded my thanks to him and left. Doing a quick bit of math in my head, I calculated roughly how many runes I would need to learn before I knew them all. The result made me shudder, because if 25,800 runes was only 0.026%, that meant that there were nearly a hundred million runes in the entire language. Though, from my first attempts at learning the language with the computer, one of the runes I had learned meant ¡®to water the grass once a week¡¯. So, likely it wasn¡¯t just a rune for every word in English, there might be a rune for every word in every language. If that was the case, then the runic language truly was a universal written language. Once again I headed back to the hotel room, and used the money I had gotten from the old man to pay for a few more nights. There were a couple of things I needed to experiment with regarding Technomancy before I was ready to take up a job involving it. Specifically, how to interact with technology, as so far I had only adapted myself to it. Inside the hotel room, I attuned my magic to Technomancy and sent it into the bedside lamp. On an almost instinctive level, I could feel the functions of the lamp. That is, on and off. There was a tiny part of the aura that seemed like the switch, and when I pushed it, the neighboring parts of the aura lit up as energy coursed through it. At the same time, the lamp turned on.
New Spell Unlocked!
Activate Device - Technomancy - ¡î By studying the aura of a device, you have learned how to activate it. Congratulations, you may now turn on a light without having to get up, you lazy bum. Mana Cost: 10
Again, the flavor text of the window made me shake my head with a sigh. Next, I did the same thing with the holographic TV on the wall. This time, I found several sections that felt like switches, and chose to activate the one that separated the ¡®on¡¯ parts of the aura with the ¡®off¡¯ ones. As expected, that caused the rest of the aura to light up and the TV activated. Then, I tried to activate some of the other functions of the TV. Unlike the lamp, I wasn¡¯t sure what all the TV could do, aside from turning it on and off, and obviously switching channels. After some experimentation, I managed to finally find the part of the aura I had to focus on in order to change the channel. This is way too much work for this¡­ I decided to go with a more direct approach, and channeled my magic again. This time, rather than going through and tampering with the aura, I simply imagined the TV turning off. When I pushed the spell into the TV, it indeed turned off.
New Spell Unlocked!
Deactivate Device - Technomancy - ¡î By studying the aura of a device, you have learned how to deactivate it with a thought. Congratulations, you may now turn off a light without having to get up, you lazy bum. Mana Cost: 10
A bit surprised how simple it was, I shook my head, depressed with how I had tried so hard to get an effect I could have achieved with so little effort. Next, I did the same thing, but this time sent the command to turn on, and then instructed it to change channels. I found that as long as my mana was connected to it, I could act as a remote control, making it do anything that I knew it was capable of. Of course, this did not mean I knew what a device did, just that I could control it after I figured it out.
Activate Device and Deactivate Device have merged into a new spell!
Control Device - Technomancy - ¡ï¡î By studying the aura of a device, you have learned how to control it from a distance, provided you know what it is capable of. Mana Cost: Dependant on instructions.
Well¡­ at least it¡¯s not calling me a lazy bum. Chapter 33: Lore? Lore! Author¡¯s Corner: Behold, another chapter! We are rapidly approaching Christmas, so with it I shall bring you the gift of plot(maybe, if my fingers determine plot shall be written).
After I was done with my simple test for controlling technology, I began writing software again. This time it was a software for both myself and Celeste. I recalled how Harlan and Rita talked about there being the possibility to get an extension for the companion AI that would allow it to display information in front of me eye, like a heads up display. Since I already have a Cybernetic eye, and Celeste can tap into my mana to ¡®connect¡¯ to me, why not make use of it? My first test was unsuccessful, because I did not take into consideration that Celeste was unable to alter my mana flow, meaning that she could not output energy in the same way that she takes it in. However, there were other ways that she could output it, as proven by the fact that she creates holograms. I simply had to create a workaround that let her hologram function pass through my aura and connect to my Cybernetic Eye. Meanwhile, I had to also create a special access program for my eye that would allow the connection. Rather than copying technology, or controlling it, this was the method of Technomancy where one interfaced with it. After I wrote the two programs, I simply had to use a bit of my Technomancy to bridge the connection, and a series of windows appeared before me.
Connection Program established between Falenel and Celeste
This program will enable the companion AI to interface with the Cybernetic eye, and alter perception within a set of effects.
Technomancy has advanced to Basic!
Mana Manipulation has advanced to Novice!
Aura Sight has advanced to Basic!
New Spell Unlocked!
Interface Technology - Technomancy - ¡ï This spell enables you to interface with technology, and use yourself as a medium for information to be displayed. Mana Cost: 50
I smiled at the three advancement messages before testing out the connection. ¡°It working alright for you, Celeste?¡± After I asked, the room suddenly lit up in a brief yellow light, which was only visible from my Cybernetic eye. Though, if I looked carefully, it wasn¡¯t the room that was lit up, but each individual object was highlighted in a thin border of yellow light before moving on to the next in rapid succession. Afterwards, a small white text displayed itself at the bottom of my vision. Testing, testing? ¡°A bit too fast on the targeting system, but otherwise alright. Now, next step, calculate trajectory.¡± I pointed my finger at a nearby wall, and from my Cybernetic eye I could see a thin red beam emitting from my finger, colliding against the wall. I moved my finger around, and the beam followed it. ¡°Good, that should help a lot in the future. Now, bring up a 3D representation of the wolf aura.¡± Although it was still only visible to my Cybernetic eye, a 3D model of an aura appeared in front of me. ¡°Switch the skin pattern for the snake scales. After that, add on the lovebird wings.¡± As I spoke, changes were made to the aura. ¡°Good¡­ Now, if I can get a few more pieces, I should be able to make a small dragon. Well, the body of one, at least.¡± I recorded the finished aura with my eye, having it turn at various angles to get the full picture. The connection program with Celeste offered her a number of minor abilities. The primary one was the ability to create holograms within my Cybernetic eye by changing the information I received. This is what let her do all of those previous acts. With her own processing ability, she would be able to easily calculate wind resistance based on the wind mana flow when I activate Aura Sight, so the targeting system should be spot on. The second most important ability was how she was able to save the auras directly to my memory, so that I could have preset forms to shift into. Lastly, this let her display information obtained through her software directly into my eye, as an extension of her holograms. This would give me everything I needed to at least be competent with whatever I needed to do. Sadly, this wasn¡¯t enough to let her AI inhabit my head, but it was a step in the right direction. I would still need to be wearing the bracelet in order for the program to work. But with this, I should be able to do my work as a mechanic much more easily. It was already late by the time I finished the programs, so I went ahead and went to bed for the night. When I woke up in the morning, I did a quick inspection of my grove, and was rather surprised with what I saw. One of the birds, I¡¯m not sure which, was sitting on the ground next to the sapling of the heart¡¯s apple tree, singing to it. Since I was in tune with all of the magic in the grove, I was able to feel a slight magical reaction from it. Likewise, the other bird was perched on the enrichment fruit tree, seemingly resting. However, I could feel the rush of wind mana entering and exiting her, as if cycling. They¡¯ve started learning magic? One in Nature Magic, and the other cultivating Wind Affinity? Well, guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. I sighed slightly, before exiting the grove. The next two hours, I spent on starting to cultivate Lightning Affinity. Although I had only managed to raise it to 1% through connecting to the hotel¡¯s power grid, that was still a good advancement, as long as I kept it up. When I left the hotel today, I went towards the transit station, where Celeste indicated I should be able to get a job as a mechanic. When I arrived, I saw that it looked rather similar to a bus station, except the busses were large spear-shaped vehicles that shot into the sky. Celeste directed me towards the side, where a large muscular human was standing around barking orders at people. When the human turned around, I was shocked¡­ Wait, that¡¯s a woman?! Although from the back she looked like a professional weightlifter, when she turned around there were clear traces to her gender. Almost not enough to make me believe it, but they were there. Most notably, though, was her distinct lack of a companion AI bracelet, even though both wrists were fully revealed. ¡°Yes, what do you want?¡± My mind had blanked for a moment after she spoke, before I managed to recover. ¡°Ah, yes, sorry. I heard that you were hiring, so I wanted to apply for a position.¡± She looked me over for a moment and sighed in resignation. ¡°Show me your ID, then.¡± When she saw it, she scoffed lightly at my level. ¡°Just 12? Well, not like it matters much for this anyways. Do you have any skills that would help out around here?¡± ¡°I am a decent programmer, and am practicing Technomancy, if that counts.¡± She seemed a bit surprised by this, as it quite clearly breaks the ¡®druid equals nature¡¯ mold, but nodded her head. ¡°Yeah, it counts. You able to use fire or metal affinities?¡± To her question, I nodded slightly. ¡°I can use fire, but I haven¡¯t cultivated metal yet.¡± To be honest, I hadn¡¯t even considered that metal would be its own affinity, more a subset of earth. However, Celeste showed me in my eye that I did have a 1% Metal Affinity. Maybe I should cultivate that at some point? ¡°Well, that¡¯ll at least save on welding torches. Your job will be diagnostics and repair. If you display some skill, I¡¯ll move you to a tougher job. The pay will be based on the amount of work you accomplish, so no slacking off. You¡¯re probably here to earn passage on a ship, right?¡± The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. When she asked that, I nodded my head again, making her sigh. ¡°Few people actually stick around for a full time position, but it¡¯s understandable. You want to get out and see the universe and all that. See that scrawny guy over there?¡± She pointed to someone sitting at a desk amidst a mountain of metal parts. ¡°You¡¯ll be working with him while you¡¯re here. He¡¯s the only other Technomancer we have, so he¡¯ll be glad for the help. How long are you staying on for?¡± ¡°Thank you very much, ma¡¯am. And until I can get the funds, or a job on a ship.¡± I spoke and went off to my designated partner. He was pretty helpful, though asked me to do most of the heavier lifting, as he was not very well built. I quickly found out that he was not a player, but a native to the world. Through him, I learned a few interesting facts about the game itself. First of all, the current date in the game was Month Twelve, Day Twenty-Three of the year 3015 A.G. When I asked what A.G. stood for, he replied that he wasn¡¯t really sure, and it was an ancient measurement that has existed since the races began their interstellar journeys. Since he liked to talk, I wasn¡¯t going to stop him. I might be able to learn something interesting from the lore of the game. Over the next few days, the process repeated like this. In the morning, I¡¯d wake up and cultivate Lightning Affinity for two hours, then go to the starport and work with my partner, who turned out to be called Joseph. We¡¯d talk as we work, sometimes about the history of the world, and other times about the work itself. When I got back to the hotel, I would cultivate Lightning Affinity for another two hours before going to sleep. As for the things I had learned from the ¡®history lessons¡¯, there was actually a bit of controversy. Many races claimed to be the first that developed interstellar travel, though they all agreed on when it happened. The first interstellar journey was launched from a planet that has varying names depending on who you ask, so must simply call it the Cradle of Life, and it was launched in the first year of the current method of tracking time, so 0 A.G. This first voyage went out and contacted many new races, sharing their technology in order to allow all races to share their journeys. Though, at first it was said that the ¡®first race¡¯ did not share their technology, but did so over time after being the sole power in control of it. Several people have gone looking for the Cradle of Life, calling it the center of the known universe, but nobody has ever succeeded. Or, to be more accurate, nobody has ever succeeded and been able to report back. The closest report was someone claiming to have found a Dungeon Planet. Naturally, I asked what he meant by that, and he told me that many worlds had dungeons, places of extremely high density magic where monsters and items would randomly spawn. In the first days of A.G. this was where people learned the runic language. And very rarely, these dungeons would become larger than the norm. Sometimes, there would be planets with a Dungeon City, Dungeon Continent, or even a Dungeon Moon. However, there was only the one report of a Dungeon Planet, so many people debated over the validity. Now, about the work itself. Even though I had almost no experience being a mechanic, I found the task surprisingly easy with Joseph¡¯s help. When scanning an object with Technomancy, it was easy to find the broken pieces of the aura to identify the fault in the device. After that, I used a spell he showed me to dismantle the device, passed him the broken piece for repair, then reassembled it with another spell. The reassembly was actually quite easy, since I had Celeste¡¯s help memorizing the original condition of the aura, and merely had to fit the pieces in place to replicate it. Doing this work gave me a number of bonuses, with the most obvious being two new skills, called Engineering and Maintenance. The former was a skill which showed my understanding of machines, while the latter was a sub-skill to repair them. Surprisingly, my Sketching sub-skill also applied for Engineering, likely for drawing schematics. I also received other bonuses, such as my Technomancy advancing by a few levels, and my intelligence increasing. For some reason, I even gained a total of two levels, even though I had not killed a single monster. When I asked, I was simply given the explanation of it being ¡®work experience¡¯. Though, I didn¡¯t get stat points when I leveled up, so it was likely a reflection of the bonus points I received. On the last day of work, I managed to finish getting my Lightning Affinity to 5%, granting me the Lightning Manipulation skill. I had a feeling that if I continued developing Lightning, Wind, and Water Affinities, I would eventually get an ability to control the weather. Though, I wasn¡¯t too worried about that for now, and went ahead to condense a Seed of Lightning. With that, I was able to add a weather system to my grove, and it expanded even further. Rather than getting paid a large sum and being able to buy my way onto a ship, the boss(I found out her name was Sam), paid me a decent amount and put in a recommendation for me to get a mechanic job on a ship from X-23. So, although I only made twenty silver from my five days of work, I wasn¡¯t dissatisfied. Especially since it meant I could ride the shuttle up for free. With that taken care of, I went to the hotel for one last night, making my plans for tomorrow. Pet shop, and then the shuttle. Can pick up the Technomancy later, or try to figure it out myself. Either way, not really skilled enough to do it yet.
NameFalenelRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 1428%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health150/150Health Regen0.25
Mana570/570Mana Regen0.67
Strength12Wisdom70
Agility20Intelligence57
Dexterity20Charisma9
Vitality15Luck14
Points Remaining0
Earth 8%Fire 7%Wind 8%Water 8%
Lightning 5%Light 8%Dark 7%Plant 7%
Luck 2%Madness 2%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Novice Level 2: 0%
Nature Magic - Basic Level 4: 20%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 6: 41.5%
Archery - Beginner Level 3: 25.9%
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 3: 14.1%
Wild Luck - Beginner Level 8: 30%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 50%
Herbology - Beginner Level 5: 2%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Alchemy - Basic Level 1: 0%
Mana Signatures - Basic Level 8: 11%
Cooking - Basic Level 3: 52%
Flight - Beginner Level 6: 12.3%
Aura Sight - Basic Level 2: 0%
Technomancy - Basic Level 5: 19%
Programming - Intermediate Level 3: 10%
Runic Language - Intermediate Level 1: 0%
Engineering - Basic Level 1: 18%
Maintenance - Basic Level 3: 2%
Chapter 34: Operation Dragonfly Author¡¯s Corner: Might not be able to post a chapter today/tomorrow(depending on how you define time. It is not a new day until I have slept!) since I am getting stuff ready for Christmas. As such, since I am currently suffering from a bout of insomnia, have an early/late chapter!
The next day, I didn¡¯t spend any time cultivating in the morning like I had been. I had a schedule to follow, and I planned to stick to it. ¡°Celeste, pet store?¡± I smirked down to her. Now I had a bit of coin, so maybe I could at least get in to look at the pets. All I needed was something with batlike wings and a serpent¡¯s tail. Then I could have my nerd moment and turn into a tiny dragon. Celeste appeared at my wrist, giggling slightly. ¡°Yes sir.¡± She smirked, and the directions appeared in my Cybernetic eye, like a path of blue light. After having my quick breakfast, I went down the path she laid out for me. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you know the prices of some of these pets we¡¯ll be looking at?¡± ¡°Nope. Novelty pets aren¡¯t considered a big business, so there wasn¡¯t much information in the guide program aside from where to find them. If it was a combat pet, I could tell you the price for a wind wolf pup or a harpy eagle chick. They even sell Great Boa eggs.¡± The AI answered from my wrist. I really needed to hurry up and upgrade my hearing so that I could add that connection to her program. That way, at least I wouldn¡¯t feel like I was talking to a midget all the time. ¡°If they only sell local animals, we might not be able to find what we need. Hopefully, they have a few exotic pets. I¡¯d settle for just the wings at this point, we can get a snake tail pretty much anywhere.¡± Soon enough, I arrived at the pet store that Celeste identified from the program. Inside, was an alien I had only seen a couple times before. I did not know the name of the race, but it appeared to be a four armed purple toothpick with a giant head. Well, the head looked more like a big balloon with two large black eyes and an oval mouth, but the body was definitely scrawny enough to qualify as a toothpick. Since there were no distinct gender characteristics, I had to use Aura Sight to look into the person¡¯s mana and find out if they were male or female. ¡°Excuse me, sir?¡± Yes, it turns out it was a he. ¡°I¡¯m looking for something, and I was hoping you¡¯d help me.¡± Thankfully, the alien understood my language. It would have been weird if it didn¡¯t, since it had a shop in the capital city. ¡°Hmm? Yes, what do you seek?¡± Its voice sounded like it was talking through a fan, which made me chuckle inwardly. ¡°Can you show me a list of your pets? Specifically, any that are reptilian, can fly, or both.¡± He looked a bit confused at my remark, but shrugged his upper arms and tapped on the counter. A moment later, a holographic list appeared, and he began inputting commands. ¡°We have a flying iguana, if that is what you are looking for. Not a very popular pet, as they don¡¯t have many utility skills that are useful. If you¡¯d rather, I can show you our silkweaver bat. It is capable of producing a supply of silk threads, so it is a bit more popular.¡± While that did sound interesting, it also sounded expensive. ¡°Can I take a look at the flying iguana? I never got the chance to see one in the forest, and this is my first time in the capital.¡± The man gave another shrug, and led me through the store. On the way, I saw various creatures, from two headed puppies to cats with angel wings. I even saw a turtle that turned into a rock when we got too close to its cage. I¡¯ll be honest¡­ I really wanted to buy the two-headed puppy¡­ It just looked too adorable. Off in the back of the store, with the ¡®less popular¡¯ pets, the clerk showed me another cage, this one with a lone branch in it. On the branch sat an iguana, with large fleshy wings. I briefly activated my Aura Sight, and discovered that the cage was shielded with a series of runes that prevented me from seeing the aura of the creature inside. That made me a bit disappointed, until I saw the price for the creature. They¡¯re willing to selling it for five silver? Even the puppy went for fifteen. ¡°This really must be an unwanted pet, huh?¡± I turned my head to ask the clerk, who nodded his balloon head. The balloon head was being very distracting every time I turned to look at him, so I did my best to focus on the lizard. ¡°That¡¯s right. Most animals in this store have the ability to use some kind of utility ability or support magic. For instance, the stone turtle is able to detect mineral veins, and absorb ores to strengthen its shell. The angelcat is able to use very low level light magic to illuminate a room. However, the flying iguana can¡¯t do anything like that. So, nobody wants to buy one. If we don¡¯t sell it soon, we¡¯ll just have to release it outside the city.¡± I thought about that, and sighed. If it were the puppy, I¡¯d have bought it to save it from that fate. But the only thing I wanted this lizard for were its tail and wings. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d let me have a few minutes with it before you do? I¡¯m a druid, and for various reasons, I need to study this animal to learn its aura.¡± The man¡¯s pitch black eyes widened a bit, but he nodded. ¡°Alright, but you¡¯ll have to pay the standard fee. Any druid can study an animal here if they pay two silver. Naturally, that¡¯s two silver per animal.¡± I nodded my head to him, and pulled out two silver. Then, after thinking about it, I asked. ¡°By chance, what is the special ability of the two headed dog near the entrance?¡± He tilted his head sideways a moment, before it naturally gravitated back upwards. I had the distinct feeling that if his body were any lighter, he would float up into the air. ¡°That¡¯s a lesser orthrus. Although they can be raised to become combat pets, their magic is generally not strong enough to support someone. They¡¯re fire and water aligned, with one head having minor control of each element. Unfortunately, that means their strength with those elements is halved compared to their stronger counterpart races.¡± I suddenly wanted to buy the puppy even more¡­ However, I simply pulled out another two silver and handed it over. ¡°I¡¯d like to study it as well, after I¡¯m done with the lizard.¡± Even if it was weak, fluffy, and adorable, it was still a magical animal. And that meant I needed to study it¡­. for science. Yes, for science. Not at all because I wanted to pet it. I¡¯m not Sharon. Speak of the devil, and she will send you a whisper. I received a message from Sharon as soon as the clerk had opened the cage to let me study the lizard. ¡°Hey Falenel. I finally made it to the capital. Saw your level increased a bit, so wanted to see if you had already moved on yet?¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I shook my head, replying as I sent my Mana Sense into the lizard, reaching into the cage to grab it. Not only was it a useless pet, but it was too lazy to avoid me. ¡°No, was planning to later today, but had some stuff to take care of first. Your training finish up well enough?¡± I glanced to my contact list, and saw that she had gained a couple of levels as well since we left, likely from the same method I had. ¡°Yeah¡­ Finally managed to make the grove big enough to fit everyone inside me. Would you like to meet up?¡± I thought about it for a bit, but I had just spent four silver to study a pair of animals. ¡°I¡¯m at the pet shop right now, studying a couple of their pets. I warn you, though, there is fluffiness here.¡± After that, she didn¡¯t say anything, so I was able to quickly study the flying iguana in peace. I had already memorized one set of wings, and my ability to memorize things had improved greatly, so it only took me ten minutes to finish up. In total, I copied its wings, tail, and the tiny spines on its back. I felt like it¡¯d be a nice little addition. ¡°Celeste?¡± I spoke to my wrist after putting the iguana back. ¡°Yesss?¡± She asked in a drawn out voice, a grin plastered on her holographic face. ¡°You know what to do, I take it?¡± She giggled lightly, nodding her head. ¡°Operation dragonfly is a go!¡± With that, her hologram vanished, and she brought up the image in my Cybernetic eye of the compiled aura I had created before. The four feathery wings were replaced by two large fleshy ones, the wolf¡¯s tail was replaced with that of the iguana, and the spines were added all along its back. ¡°Saving preset as baby dragon. Estimated mana cost, five hundred and fifty.¡± I chuckled a bit at her comments, before moving back to the front of the store. Once there, I saw that Sharon had already long since arrived, and had her face plastered against the cage for the angelcat. ¡°I warned you that there was fluff.¡± When she heard me speak, she turned her head a bit to look, smiled, and turned back to look at the cat. ¡°It¡¯s so cool¡­ I wish I could afford it¡­ I wonder where they are born.¡± ¡°No idea, but you could probably find a job somewhere around here to get the money to buy it. Though, wouldn¡¯t you still need to get both a male and a female one for your grove?¡± She thought about it for a second, and then shook her head. ¡°Jarl showed me how to separate my grove into different sections, that way certain animals can live in it without fighting. I can¡¯t do anything about my wolves needing meat, but I can at least keep my favorites safe.¡± So she essentially has two groves. Wonder how that works. ¡°Well, in that case, if you earn up some silver, you¡¯ll be able to buy your very own angelcat.¡± I smirked, before taking the flying iguana back to the clerk, who walked off to put it back in its cage, and then got the lesser orthrus out for me to study next. Naturally, when she saw this, she looked at me confused. ¡°You have to pay, but you¡¯re able to study the animals here to get their auras. Most of them are magical animals, so I wanted to do this while I had the chance.¡± She nodded her head slightly, but her eyes were more focused on the two headed ball of fluff in my arms. Smirking, I held the puppy up and studied it with my Mana Sense. It was absolutely necessary for me to pet it behind its ears while I was doing this. The aura of the magical beast was surprisingly similar to that of a normal wolf, with a few key differences. Most notably, the streaming lights of mana were thicker. Also, I could sense a small part of the aura in each of the two heads that was attuned to one of the elements. I had spent enough time matching my own aura to both water and fire to spot it in something else. Following the mana paths from the elemental sections of the aura throughout the rest of the head, I nodded my head in satisfaction. With this, I should be able to create breath weapons of any element for my tiny dragon form. Maybe if it were a full grown magical beast, or a more powerful species it would have been more difficult, but studying this little guy¡¯s aura was surprisingly easy. About fifteen minutes later, I was still petting the puppy and received a message in my eye. You¡¯ve already memorized the aura. I knew that¡­ Reluctantly, I went and gave the puppy back to the clerk. When I did this, both of the puppy¡¯s heads whined pitifully at me, and I almost spent the last of my money to buy it right there on the spot. However, I steeled myself and handed it over. As I did so, I saw Sharon, no longer in front of the cages. Instead, she was standing next to the clerk, begging him to let her work in the store. I chuckled a bit as I watched her wear him down until he finally agreed to give her a part time job. Though, she was given strict warnings not to use her druid magic to study the animals without paying, since he had overheard our conversation about her being a druid as well. Seeing her vigorously she nodded her head and agreed to that condition made me smirk. Naturally, I knew that she was only here for the animals, and would likely continue working until she managed to buy both the lesser orthrus and the angelcat. Leaning over, I tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. ¡°If you refine some elemental seeds, the local enchanter will buy them off of you.¡± After I said that, she smiled brightly and thanked me, since that meant she had another source of income to speed up her inevitable purchases in this pet shop. Part of me was glad I hadn¡¯t taken her to the store selling combat pets. They would likely be far more expensive, and she would have to work much longer in order to buy one. As I went towards the starport to head up to the station and bid farewell to this planet, a thought occurred to me. I finally have a dragon(ish) form, but when am I going to get the chance to use it!? I had no idea how long it would take before the ship that left from X-23 would arrive at its destination. Do interstellar journeys take hours, days, weeks maybe? I¡¯d need to find that out once I got up there!
As always, I shall do my best to answer any questions people may post in the replies¡­ After I wake up and take care of my Christmas preparations. But now, I have a pillow that is beckoning me closer. Chapter 35: Imma Firin Mah LAZER! Author¡¯s Corner: Okay, so I managed to get some time to write after everything was taken care of. Though, this chapter is being posted after midnight, so I must say Merry Christmas Eve to one and all! Hope you enjoy the chapter(I¡¯m actually more awake for this one than last night, so things might make more sense!), it¡¯s a bit longer than the average.
As I was walking towards the starport, I heard a light coughing sound from my wrist. Looking down, I saw Celeste looking up to me expectantly. ¡°What is it..?¡± ¡°Weapons.¡± She said with a tiny grin, making me facepalm. How did I forget to upgrade my weapons? ¡°Don¡¯t suppose I can get away with saying that I didn¡¯t think they would let me take it with me?¡± I looked down to her with one eye, the other still covered by my hand. The holographic girl snickered, shaking her head. ¡°Nope!¡± Afterwards, she pulled up another blue path for me to follow. ¡°With your Technomancy and Engineering abilities, I¡¯m taking you to a junkyard. It should be within your power to fix broken weapons, or assemble the parts needed to make your own. Doing it this way would be far cheaper than simply buying new weapons.¡± I couldn¡¯t argue with that logic, so I nodded my head slightly. ¡°Alright. But, surely other people can do so just as easily. Why is there even a junkyard?¡± The hologram smiled slightly at me. ¡°I do not have all the information needed to provide an adequate answer. However, the guide indicates that any device sold at the weapon and power armor stores can also be assembled with parts from the junkyard. Likely, any weapons there have some defect or missing component, and its owner thought it would be simply cheaper to buy a new one than to get it repaired. However, if you combine the parts from two identical weapons, you should be able to make up for any deficiencies.¡± ¡°Fine, fine, I get it. As long as there are people throwing things away, there will need to be a place for it to end up. The island of lost toys.¡± I chuckled slightly as I walked down the path. I didn¡¯t have much to worry about when it came to picking weapons. I mean, if the battery wasn¡¯t charged, I could fix it with my lightning, or simply replace it with a Seed of Lightning. I might even be able to replace other key parts to devices with similar objects to increase their effects. Celeste¡¯s directions lead me to the edge of the city, a wide fenced off area with a single gate. Above the gate was a crooked sign, reading ¡®Mike¡¯s Garage. Fixer¡¯s Keepers, Loser¡¯s Weepers.¡¯ The slogan made me shake my head with a light laugh before I walked in. A rather round human was manning the counter, and by the oversized nametag on his filthy brown jacket, I discovered that he was Mike. He stood just over six feet tall, and looked as if he hadn¡¯t bathed in a year. However, I could clearly see that one of his eyes were robotic, giving off a distinct metallic shine while a red light emerged from where the iris should be. ¡°Here to shop around?¡± He looked at me and smirked, crossing his arms over his chest, which only amplified the awareness I had of his¡­ roundness. ¡°Three silver to get in, but you can bring out whatever you can carry. Ask the AI for help in finding and identifying parts, but it won¡¯t help you put them together. That¡¯ll rely on you.¡± I nodded, and handed over the three silver coins. I could feel my funds constantly dwindling today, and it was not a good feeling. After receiving the payment, Mike nodded and pressed a button, opening a door off to the side of the counter. ¡°Have fun.¡± He chuckled, his whole body shaking with the motion as I walked through the door. Beyond the door, I came across the real junkyard. I could see rows of broken bows, guns, swords, armors, even a few items that looked like small vehicles, all assorted into various bins. ¡°Celeste, mind giving me a hand here? You know what I want.¡± I smiled to the AI, and then focused on my Aura Sight. ¡°Roger roger!¡± She said in a robotic tone that reminded me of an old movie. Immediately, several of the bins lit up in my Cybernetic eye. ¡°Pistol, rifle, or semi-auto for the gun?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile bitterly as a bow was not even part of the question, but as it stands a bow would likely do me more harm than good. ¡°Both, pistol and rifle. Want some versatility.¡± After I said that, a few of the bins that had been highlighted were dimmed. ¡°Melee weapon, you wanting energy or physical?¡± She asked again, and I nodded a bit this time. At least she hadn¡¯t taken that choice away entirely. ¡°Hmm¡­ Energy, I think it would go best with my magic. Same for the gun, if the options are the same.¡± By the time I had finished speaking, only half a dozen bins were still lit. ¡°Okay, marked all the ones that seem to have the relevant parts. That Identify software is really something.¡± She grinned up to me as I approached the first bin. Inside of it was a collection of rusted blade hilts, some broken, while some looked relatively intact. Don¡¯t have anything that can take care of rust, I think¡­ Hmm¡­ Maybe.. I had an idea, but wanted to wait before I tested it out until I at least had a working product. If I was able to do so, even if it was a bit rusted, I could possibly remove the rust afterwards. For now, I looked over the different handles. Many of them had different styles, so I knew they weren¡¯t all the same model. I could only hope that they mostly used the same parts. Grabbing five at random, I sat down in front of the bin, and began scanning them with my Technomancy to determine their faults and similarities. For the most part, the weapons were indeed identical in function, but had slight differences in design. As for the faults in them, three had bad wiring, one had a cracked power core, and the last looked as if someone tried to break it apart on a rock to get it to work. Still, that meant all I had to do was replace the bad core with a good one, and that weapon would be operational. Sadly, the type of core that model used was unique among those five. And given its size, I wouldn¡¯t be able to use a seed to replace it, unless I managed to get them much smaller. ¡°Alright, Celeste, we have a winner.¡± I said as I tossed the other four devices back into the bin. ¡°You able to do a scan for one with the same type of core?¡± She hesitated a moment before responding. ¡°Extend your Mana Sense into the bin, and I¡¯ll mark any possibilities.¡± With her assurance, I did as she asked, and soon a half dozen handles were highlighted in my view. ¡°Each of those have similar cores, but they are all empty. From the scan, I think they should be chargeable with a delicate balance of lightning and fire mana. I suggest practicing with one of the cores before you settle on it.¡± I nodded, and channeled my Technomancy through my mana that was already in the bin. Doing so, I grabbed onto the six hilts, and pulled them out with my magic. This was one of the techniques I had learned from Joseph, allowing me to move technology telepathically. Though, the definition of technology was vague, as it allowed movement of almost any manufactured product. The only restriction was the more natural products were harder to control. Once I had the six out, I used my disassembling spell to break them apart, took out the cores, then reversed the spell to put them back together before discarding them again. The cores themselves looked like small crystal cubes. Once again, Celeste helped me out when it came time to prepare the charge. In my Cybernetic eye, two graphs appeared side by side. Each had two columns, one with a lightning bolt symbol below it, and the other with a fire symbol. One of the graphs was left unfilled, while the other showed a balance of roughly 6.7:3.3 balance of fire to lightning. ¡°Thanks¡­¡± I muttered softly, and began to manipulate my mana to try to match. As I did so, the second graph started reacting, the lightning and fire bars fluctuating as I attempted to achieve the proper balance. Once I did so, and managed to hold it for a couple of seconds, the graphs lit up green to indicate they matched. After that, I did my best to maintain the feeling, the bars fluctuating slightly while I grabbed the first core. Thankfully, I had a method to cheat here. ¡°Celeste, mark how quickly the energy increases.¡± After I spoke, I activated Aura Sight to allow her to measure the climb of energy, while I also Recorded the process of charging the core for two seconds. Afterwards, I stopped recording and pulled my mana back. Seeming to understand my intention, Celeste spoke up. ¡°Five percent charge every ten seconds at that rate, and you are able to maintain that expenditure for up to thirty seconds. The current power level is barely at one percent.¡± If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. I sighed, nodding my head. ¡°How long if I also used my staff to support me?¡± ¡°You could triple the duration if you did that, but you would need to be out of Auto-Pilot to draw the mana.¡± ¡°Alright, so I can get fifteen percent in thirty seconds. That will at least be enough to see if the item works or not.¡± I smiled slightly, lifting the core again and triggering my auto-pilot program. The next thing I knew, the program had finished, and I heard Celeste speaking up from my wrist.
New Spell Unlocked!
Charge Device - Technomancy - ¡ï By measuring the type of energy accepted by a device, you are able to charge the device by matching the energy with your mana. Mana Cost: Varies
¡°Looks like a success. Try it out and we¡¯ll know for sure.¡± I nodded to her instruction, waiting a minute to recover a bit of my mana before using my magic to take apart the ideal handle, slip the core in, then put it back together. As an experiment, I turned the device on, and an orange beam of light shot out of the hilt, extending a full meter. Almost instantly, Celeste called out. ¡°Turn it off, quick!¡± Naturally, I was not one to question her decision when I was wielding something that could potentially kill me if something went wrong. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°I noticed energy fluctuations as soon as you activated the beam saber. Likely, the damaged core was caused by a software malfunction. You¡¯ll need to find the flaw and correct it before trying again with a new core. Although the exposure was brief, this one is damaged slightly now as well, and will leak energy if it¡¯s not replaced.¡± I sighed, nodding as I took out my Soft Stick. Connecting the two devices with my Technomancy, I downloaded the program from the weapon and opened it up on Celeste¡¯s holographic terminal. The code itself wasn¡¯t that complicated, so finding the flaw didn¡¯t take very long. I was able to correct it by the time my mana had finished recovering, and uploaded the new software back to the device. After that, it was simply a matter of charging up another core, and slotting it in. This time again, I waited a bit to recover my energy so that I could keep an eye on it with my Aura Sight. After pressing the button, I watched the beam once again extending from the hilt, stopping just short of where the last one had. ¡°Okay, looking good so far. Test its damage out against your bow.¡± I winced when I heard her say that. ¡°You really don¡¯t like that bow, do you?¡± ¡°Sorry, Falenel, but you sucked with it. I don¡¯t think I ever saw you hit anything with it if you didn¡¯t guide your arrows with magic.¡± I had to admit, she had a point. And besides, it was my last starter weapon, so it wasn¡¯t like there was a real problem destroying it. Pulling out my wooden bow, I tossed it into the air, and held the beam sabre at my side. When it came down, I abruptly slashed across, and the wooden weapon was cleaved in two. I had actually expected a bit of resistance, due to the durability enchantment, but it appeared that it didn¡¯t help the bow out at all. On the edges that were cut, I noted distinct burn marks, so I knew that the blade had an extremely high temperature. ¡°Alright, now we can move on to the next one!¡± Celeste smiled happily, and highlighted two of the bins that had been shown before. These seemed to contain sleek pistols of various designs, and we ended up going through the same process as before. The one we settled on was a design that was thicker in the middle, with various circular grooves on the barrel. When firing, the beam was a deep blue, and this one simply required the programming to be fixed up a bit and recharged. Naturally, Celeste had me shoot my old bow with this one as well to test its firepower¡­ as she did when I settled on a long range rifle for my last weapon. This weapon came out a bit rusty, and the scope was busted. However, Celeste showed me a working scope and offered to have me replace it. Instead, though, I did something different. The scopes of these guns were based on high powered cameras with different vision modes. So, once I had a working scope, I scanned it with my Mana Sense, and very carefully upgraded my Cybernetic eye. I actually failed twice, which had led me to be temporarily blind in that eye until I reverted my aura to normal, and on the third try it felt as though nothing had changed. I clearly felt that the mana signature in my eye was far more complex than it had been before, so the spell should have worked. Maybe I just don¡¯t have a way to visually tell the difference? Celeste was still helping me out with the connection program, so I knew I hadn¡¯t lost the software. However, the fact that I failed twice before managing to upgrade my eye to a ¡®low leveled¡¯ camera from the game world greatly dissuaded me from trying to do the same thing with other body parts in the near future. But, since I had the eye, I went ahead with my plan. First, I copied over some of the software from the scope¡¯s camera, and modified it to work with my Cybernetic Eye. This gave me the following message.
New Software Applied to Cybernetic Adaptation: Eye
Vision Modes This program allows the user to alter how they perceive the world through several different ways. Current Vision Modes: Aura, Zoom, Infrared, Ultraviolet, Night, X-Ray Mana Cost: 30
After I was done, Celeste nodded from my wrist in a satisfied manner. ¡°So, you¡¯ll use your eye¡¯s zoom function to replace the scope, and have me calculate the trajectory to replace the sights?¡± I nodded with a smile, before testing it on the last remaining piece of my bow. This time, the damage was quite easily visible, as it even left a scorch mark on the metal floor. ¡°Alright, I can wash off the rust some other time. Now that I have the weapons, and a way to charge them myself, I can get going.¡± I had spent my full mana capacity on each of the device¡¯s power cores to charge them, though none of them had even gotten a quarter of the way charged from that. In terms of energy efficiency, the blade was easily the best, as Celeste calculated that it burnt through one percent of its maximum energy per minute it was active. The pistol, on the other hand, took one percent per shot fired. Finally, the rifle took a full five percent for a single shot, and even had a higher energy capacity than either of the others. Going by the various bins I had visited, I returned the parts I had previously left out and got ready to leave. As I passed by Mike at the counter, he nodded to me, noting the three new items in my hands. Since I had just ¡®purchased¡¯ them, I didn¡¯t want to shove them in my inventory until I at least made it out the front door. After I did so, however, I no longer had any issues and stuffed the three weapons in with my staff. Since I had a large enough grove now, I had planted more of my herbs, freeing up a good bit of inventory room. My next stop, naturally, was the starport. However, as I got there, I was just in time to see the needle-shaped shuttle blasting off into the air, leaving me behind on the ground, feeling like I had just missed my bus to work. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Falenel.¡± Celeste spoke up consolingly from my wrist. ¡°There¡¯ll be another one in a few hours¡­¡±
Author¡¯s Basement: And now, with chapter complete, I resign myself to sleep. The chapter should be much earlier tomorrow, if nothing interrupts me. However, as it is Christmas Eve, there is always the chance I won¡¯t be able to post one at all. I beg of you all to cast aside your pitchforks during this holiday season! Chapter 36: Alien reference? This cant be good. Author¡¯s Corner: Behold, a chapter released before midnight! My writer¡¯s spirit can not be stopped by such things as holidays(this time at least). Enjoy the chapter, and as always, have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Although I had to sit and wait for a few hours, it wasn¡¯t a total waste. It gave me time to refine another elemental seed, this one being a Seed of Lightning. I had a theory that I wanted to test out regarding these seeds, so once I had time I wanted to refine one of each element again. By the time that the shuttle arrived, I was more than ready to depart. Sam had already sent a report up to the station to let me get a job once I arrived, so all I would have to do is show my ID and I¡¯d be fine. As such, getting on the shuttle was easy. Once inside, I saw that there were three rows of seats, each having about two dozen chairs along the inner wall. I did not have to wait very long before most of the seats were filled and the shuttle door closed. A voice like a flight attendant spoke out as various engine noises started up. ¡°Please remain in your seats for the duration of this journey. We will soon be arriving at station X-23, and you will be able to disembark at that time. When going through security, please keep in mind the safety of those around you.¡± So the security checkpoint is at the station, rather than on the planet, then? After the voice faded, there was a slight pressure on our bodies as the shuttle launched into the air. However, the dampeners seemed to be working pretty well, because the sensation lasted barely a moment before it faded. Looking out one of the windows on the outer wall, I could see the ground rapidly vanishing from view. Soon, all I could see was the boundless sky, and a minute after that we were out of the planet¡¯s atmosphere, and all I could see were stars dotting the endless void. The date was now 12/27/3015, but there was no celebration of Christmas like there would have been in the real world. I had actually asked Joseph about this matter, and he explained that things worked a bit differently. Now, the year had twelve months, each month having exactly thirty days. This was the universal method of tracking the date. However, each planet also had their own seasons, and even differences in the duration of a day, so naturally one standard would not apply everywhere. Instead, they had their ¡®Christmas¡¯ celebration on the last day of the year, Month Twelve, Day Thirty. There were also a lot of services that closed on that day, such as the shuttle I was currently riding. Although the holiday was not mandatory, many welcomed it with open arms. Sadly, the shape of this shuttle did not allow a passenger to see where they were going, or the areas they had already been. By the time we arrived at the station, it was simply as if a giant metal mouth had surrounded the shuttle and consumed it. Shortly after, the shuttle came to a slow stop as it docked, and the voice sounded out again. ¡°Thank you for flying with us today. Please proceed through the security checkpoint in an orderly fashion. X-23 offers a wide variety of service stations unavailable at Hascion, so enjoy your stay.¡± When the voice finished speaking this time, the door slowly opened, and people began calmly walking out. It was at this point I learned another rather interesting fact about the natives of this world, during the security check. Each person ahead of me pulled a series of items seemingly out of thin air and placed them on a table. After that, the security officer, an elf by the looks of him, held up a device to scan him. At the same time, a blue light shined out from the table itself to scan the items. Once that was done, the guard nodded and let him recollect his things, placing them back in that mysterious pocket space that resembled an inventory far too much. This was only further verified when it got to be my turn, and the guard spoke to me. ¡°Sir, please empty your inventory onto the table.¡± Ah¡­ so everyone has an inventory¡­ I nodded, and did as requested, hoping that the weapons would not raise a red flag. When he saw the weapons being brought out, he raised an eyebrow slightly and looked to me. ¡°Is there a reason you do not wear these on your person?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I just got them from a scrapyard, so I don¡¯t have straps or holsters for any of them¡­¡± He was a bit confused with my answer, but after scanning me with the same device, shrugged his shoulders slightly. ¡°There is an energy dampening field in the station, so they won¡¯t function while you are here, except in special zones.¡± I nodded my head, collecting my items again after he finished his scan, determining that I wasn¡¯t carrying any illegal goods. Maybe some of the poisonous herbs in my grove would have raised red flags, if I didn¡¯t already transfer them over? With this, I was relieved that Jarl was right about them having no method of detecting or investigating my grove, and moved on. ¡°So, Celeste, any suggestions on where to go next?¡± I looked down to the bracelet, where the holographic girl soon appeared. ¡°Well¡­ I don¡¯t have much information about the station, and I don¡¯t think we should spend any more money to get a guide program like last time. Let¡¯s just find a map, and see what there is.¡± I nodded to her suggestion, and went to a nearby wall where a map was positioned. Taking a snapshot of it with my Cybernetic eye, I immediately knew the layout of this station. I love that ability¡­ Maybe I should convert it into a mini-map program? ¡°Let¡¯s get something to eat first, then we can look into getting a job on a ship. As for the destination¡­¡± I pulled up my contacts list and sent a call to Jacobs. ¡°Hey, Falenel, long time no see. Everything alright?¡± His voice came back over the connection, and from how calm he was, it was clear he wasn¡¯t in a fight. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m at X-23 now, and need a suggestion on where to go next. Since you¡¯ve already been at this point, figured I¡¯d ask you where you went next.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I went to void elf territories in order to further my magic. Not sure how useful that would be for you, since you didn¡¯t have any abilities that would help you out here last time I saw you.¡± It didn¡¯t take long for me to remember the information I had read about void elves, the race capable of breathing and flying in outer space. ¡°True¡­ There a nearby planet good for a low level explorer?¡± ¡°Let me ask.¡± There was a short pause on his end, presumably so that he could ask around for recommendations. ¡°Not one nearby, unfortunately. However, I¡¯ve got a friend of a friend who started on a different wood elf world about twenty parsecs from Hascion. According to him, there¡¯s a jungle planet called Crailor, where the local civilization is still getting settled in. The mobs aren¡¯t too high leveled, and there is plenty of room for people to hunt. He¡¯s on his way there now, but it¡¯ll take a couple days to arrive.¡± I thought about it for a bit. I still needed to do a lot of work with my alchemy and druid skills in order to finish becoming a Xeno-Shifter. A natural jungle planet would be a great spot to practice. Though, at the same time, it didn¡¯t seem like I¡¯d be able to earn much money there. ¡°What about low level dungeons? Any word on those?¡± Another pause, and Jacobs spoke up again. ¡°Apparently Crailor has one, but it hasn¡¯t been fully explored yet. There are various planets with dungeons around, but once a planet is fully settled and colonized, all but the toughest dungeons are wiped out.¡± I nodded my head, and decided I¡¯d head to Crailor then. ¡°Alright, thanks. Hope we get the chance to meet up again.¡± ¡°Same, later man.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!With that, the connection was cut, and Celeste appeared again. ¡°So, Crailor then? Sounds interesting. Why were you so eager to find a dungeon?¡± I thought about whether or not to tell her, but ultimately shrugged and decided to. ¡°Dungeons are places where powerful magic items can spawn. In my ¡®homeworld¡¯, I don¡¯t exactly have a stable income, so I need to find some things from here to supplement it. Just in case the world isn¡¯t overrun with monsters.¡± And if it is, having the ability to fight said monsters would make me a rich man anyways. ¡°I see¡­ If that is the case, I can understand. However, your current course of action doesn¡¯t seem like it will bring you money very quickly, so you likely have a considerable amount of time before it is necessary. Likely, the most valuable items will be those that anyone can use, correct? In that case, I would recommend paying special attention to the flora of Crailor, and experimenting with potions. While it would be best to have the guide to help, we do not currently have the funds to procure it. If by chance, you earn enough money on the ship to pay for the program, it will greatly increase your earning speed.¡± I nodded my head, moving to the food district of the station as we spoke. ¡°Yeah, a guide would have been nice. But it¡¯s not that bad, since I can do everything I need to while I wait to get there. Once we get to the planet, I can let the birds out, as well. It seems like they¡¯ve started practicing magic on their own for a while now.¡± Even without me doing anything, the heart¡¯s apple tree had now fully matured thanks to one of the birds using magic on it. Unfortunately, I had to pull them out of my grove for a few minutes while I was on Hascion, because I noticed it had actually decreased slightly in size. I discovered that this was because of a sudden imbalance, due to a lack of wind mana. Naturally, this was caused by the bird that was cultivating Wind Affinity. Thanks to Celeste, I learned that the one cultivating wind was Yin, and the one practicing Nature Magic was Yang. That wasn¡¯t too much of a surprise, given how the two had reacted when I first probed them with magic. After I sent them back to the grove, Yin started being more careful with her cultivation, never taking more mana into herself than she was letting out. With that, the grove was able to return to normal after gathering a bit more wind mana. I wasn¡¯t sure why, but they seemed more able to follow my instructions now, so they were likely becoming more intelligent. The mere fact that they were using magic showed that they had advanced from being normal animals into magical beasts. Now, back to my situation at the station. After a little bit of walking, I found myself standing outside a row of fast food restaurants. Unlike the technology in the real world, they appeared to be making everything by hand, which left me confused as so many other things had advanced far beyond what man was currently capable of. Maybe it is just because the taste is better? Most of the signs were written in the local elven language, but a few were written with strange characters I couldn¡¯t read. However, all of those also had subtitles written in the local language. There were stores for every kind of food I could think of, and several that were likely alien delicacies. For me, though, I went to a store run by a human family. I knew what they were right away, because although the symbols on the sign looked strange at first, I was able to read them. Aside from the elven language, there should only be one other that I can read so easily. Also¡­ This was a family pizzeria. I could see aliens of every shape and color sitting at the tables, enjoying the greasy food. It had been so long since I had a real pizza, I couldn¡¯t help myself but walk in and order one. The meat choices were strange, since most likely most of the same animals from the real world weren¡¯t as common here. But it was still easy to decide, because my choice was always the same. ¡°One meat lover¡¯s, please.¡± I said to the man behind the register with a smile, moving to take a seat at an unoccupied table. It¡¯s good to know, that even at the edge of the universe, the finer things in life will always survive. About ten minutes later, I had a delicious pizza sitting in front of me, full of various meats I had never tasted before. Many of them tasted similar to normal meats from the real world, but a few stood out. Not in a bad way, as they only made the pizza even better. After I finished up, I paid for the meal and went back out. When I got to a nearby terminal, I pulled up the information and found out which ships were leaving for Crailor. The journey information was listed as well, stating that it was a hundred and fifty parsecs from X-23, and would take three full days of travel to arrive. This seemed a bit strange to me, since there were some destinations listed farther away with travel time of only a few hours. When I asked the terminal¡¯s AI about this, it responded that those destinations made use of interstellar gate technology to shorten the travel time. Since Crailor was not a major world, it did not have such a luxury. Nodding my head slightly at the information, I went to the docking area for the Nostromo, the cruiser that was leaving for Crailor tomorrow. Since it was a pretty long journey, there tended to only be one or two ships heading in that direction a week, and even less that came back. I had my suspicions about that, but kept quiet for now. Once I got in the docking bay, I found that the cruiser was infinitely larger than the shuttle I had flown up here on. If the shuttle was the size of a public bus, then this cruiser must be the size of an entire city! Only now did I fully realize how big the station I was in must have been to support all of this. Likely, it was the size of a small moon. Of course, most of that space would be taken by docking bays, to accommodate all of the large ships. It didn¡¯t take too long to find the ship¡¯s maintenance crew, as they were the ones running around handling machinery. Seeing that, I approached the man in charge, who was yelling orders to everyone. He was a blue humanoid, with two rows of slanted yellow eyes on his head. ¡°Excuse me, sir. I am here about joining the Nostromo as a mechanic for this journey.¡± The man looked down to me, as he was a full head and shoulders taller, before speaking. ¡°Show me your ID.¡± After I did so, he let out a sigh. ¡°So you¡¯re the one, huh? Oh well, not like it matters much, we need all the help we can get. Not many want to join this route.¡± It was now that I decided to voice my suspicion from earlier. ¡°Possibility of raiders?¡± He nodded his head slightly, crossing his arms in front of his chest. ¡°That¡¯s right. Journeys without gate support are more dangerous, because of the risk of raiding parties. Even more, we¡¯re going off into the edge of locally colonized space, which is popular pirate country. If you¡¯re going to be on the engineering team for this trip, you need to be on call in case we get attacked or a part fails at a moment¡¯s notice. Understood?¡± ¡°Understood, sir.¡± Even with that condition, I would still have plenty of time to cultivate. The chief engineer nodded his head again. ¡°Good. You¡¯ll get paid based on your performance, but as you are becoming a temporary member of the crew, you won¡¯t be required to pay for lodging and meals. However, naturally if the trip goes smoothly and you aren¡¯t needed, you won¡¯t be getting paid either. Of course, some people think that means they can sabotage the ship in order to get a commission, but there is still constant security. If you are discovered to have done so, we will not hesitate to jettison you.¡± I gulped slightly, nodding my head. ¡°Understood.¡± Chapter 37: Xeno-Time! Author¡¯s Corner: My body has determined that I shall not be allowed to sleep tonight, so therefor have another chapter! The gift that keeps on giving!
Since I had already been accepted as a crew member of the Nostromo, I was allowed onto the ship, and given my own room. As a possibly added bonus, the room I received was at the edge of the ship, meaning there was only a thick sheet of metal separating me from the vastness of space. On the one hand, this meant that if the ship was attacked and my section was damaged, I am pretty much a dead man. On the other hand, it is the perfect place to cultivate void mana! The inside the ship was very different from X-23, as the corridors were all much smaller. On the station, there might have been enough room to drive a car down the hall, but in the ship, there was just enough room for two people to walk next to each other. I did a few estimations in my head, and figured that the ship needed at least a hundred people in order to fully function. And that was a bare minimum, not even taking into account everything else that could be needed, such as rotating shifts. The facilities inside the ship were more like what you might find on a military vessel than a transport ship. There was a kitchen and dining area for the crew, but no tavern. There was a small recreation area which contained an interactive hard-light hologram. Aside from that and living quarters, most of the space on the ship was used for essential systems or weapons. The thing that scared me the most was that the chief engineer still seemed to think it might not be enough. I had played some space games before, and a cruiser of this caliber could generally take on a small fleet by itself. As the chief engineer(whose name I can¡¯t pronounce, so I¡¯ll just call him Chief) told me, the ship was severely understaffed, especially when it came to noncombat personnel. There was no lack of soldiers aiming to join the forces at Crailor to help establish the new world, but engineers, doctors, even chefs were all in short supply. In total, there were only fifteen engineers. Three senior engineers, including Chief, were stationed at the main power core on rotating shifts. The rest of us all had the ship divided into twelve sectors, and we were each in charge of our sector. Aside from eating, we were to remain near our sector. That way, if an emergency were to occur, we could all make it back in time to tend our areas. Sadly, my sector did not include the hologram chamber, so I was unable to play with that. Hard-light holograms were still considered a work of science fiction in the real world, so I always wanted to test them out whenever I was in a game that had them. Naturally, there was no trouble before we even left the station, so I went ahead and practiced my cultivation. Although we had not yet left the station, I could still sense the void mana slightly permeating the air around us. With Celeste¡¯s help, I was able to quickly isolate it and began cultivating. Before we left, Chief took each of the engineers on a tour of the ship, making sure everyone knew and was able to perform their duties. This included making us crawl through small air vents to reach enclosed equipment, and being able to force our way past stuck doors. The latter took quite a bit of my mana to work, as I had to use my Technomancy to achieve it. Hacking the door open wouldn¡¯t have achieved anything for the situation, so I decided not to simply do that. Thankfully, by the time we left, I had managed to cultivate 3% Void Affinity, moving it up to the top three secondary affinities that my status screen automatically tracks. I also experienced a large increase in cultivation speed as soon as we left the station, even greater than when I trained Plant Affinity in the forest. ¡°All crew, brace for warp speed in three, two¡­¡± After a loud voice appeared on the intercom of the ship and spoke briefly, there was a slight tug of gravity towards the back of the ship, which was quickly dampened. ¡°Proceeding at warp, estimated time to arrival is three days and two hours.¡± I shook my head at the voice, and resumed my cultivation. With the speed I was working at, I only needed a single day to get all the way up to 5% and gain the related ability.
New Ability Unlocked!
Void Manipulation - Void Affinity - ¡ï¡ï By attuning yourself to the void of space, you are able to replicate its unique nullifying effects on magic over selected areas, or suppress such effects.
I could clearly see why this ability was rated as two stars, even at such a low affinity. The ability to set up magic nullifying areas would be death to any mage. Furthermore, being able to suppress the effect might mean that I¡¯d be able to use my other magics to breathe in space. That wasn¡¯t something I was too eager to test out, though. With the new ability in hand, I decided to explore my section of the ship. After having a couple of meals here already, I was in no rush to head to the mess hall. Aside from the ranking officers, all meals were prepared by a cheap synthesizer. However, I came across a peculiar sight as I wandered the hall. Well, more accurately, a peculiar sound. Although I had not gone to the mess hall, it still occupied a large portion of my sector, so I was able to faintly hear voices from within. And it sounded like they were singing. I had not been present for the full song, but decided to listen in to what was sung out of a mix between curiosity and boredom. From what I could tell, it was the spaceship equivalent of a sea shanty. We watch the stars, they guide our way We watch the planets dance and sway. We see the sun, our work be done Don''t cast your soul astray. For cast your eyes, up to the skies The moon has danced away. We watch the stars, they guide our way We watch the planets dance and sway. Through journeys long we sing our song Let starlight guide your way. While it was interesting, I did not feel like it was important enough to inquire about. As far as I could tell, it was simply a song invented by bored navigators, about how they use the stars for directions because the moon is only a local body. And when they see the sun, they¡¯ve reached their goal, so their work is done. After listening in on that for a while, I made another round of the sector, before heading back to my room. Aside from a pair of drunken soldiers bumping into each other and getting into a brawl, there was nothing really important to see in my part of the ship. As such, I made my way to my room, preferring to eat an enrichment fruit over two blocks of blue protein with a side of yellow¡­ After eating, I began refining a pair of seeds with the Void Affinity. I had a theory that, if I kept one of the seeds on me at all times, I would be able to use it as a tool to cycle mana even if the element did not exist around me, as they radiate mana of that element. As such, I put one of the Seeds of the Void in my inventory, and used the other one to enhance my grove. The result was rather intriguing, to be honest. My grove ¡®planet¡¯ did not increase in size at all, however at the same time the space around it expanded, a void forming around the grove. After taking in more void mana, I noticed that only the void expanded when I did this. However, when I took in a bit of water mana, I was able to form a ball of water outside of my grove¡¯s ¡®atmosphere¡¯, making it a completely separate body. This must be what Sharon meant by being able to split her grove into multiple parts. If I took in enough void and earth mana, I might be able to make a scale model of the solar system. Maybe the bodies in the grove will begin to rotate around each other if I cultivate gravity? Since my Void Affinity did not help me to increase the size of my grove at all, nor did it affect the balance of mana in my grove, I decided not to further pursue that element. Instead, I went ahead and slept, waking early the second day and began preparing the other seeds I needed. Naturally, I had no means of gathering earth mana, since there was not dirt, rock, or anything similar in this ship. They didn¡¯t even have a hydroponics bay, and relied purely on ration packs and the synthesizer. The second day went fairly smooth. The only real work I had was in the mess hall, when one of the soldiers accidentally broke the synthesizer trying to get it to work faster. He wasn¡¯t a mean guy or anything, just hungry and tired of bland food. If I had to eat that stuff, I would be hitting the machine too. Nonetheless, I did the repair work with the aid of my Technomancy before heading back to my quarters. Just in time, it would seem, to hear another announcement from the captain. ¡°All crew, be advised, we are officially leaving protected space.¡± Well, that¡¯s just lovely. I shook my head with a sigh as I watched everyone else in the corridor tense up at the words. By that time, I had only refined seeds for fire and water, so I finished heading back to my room in order to work on wind, light, and dark. Like with earth, plant mana will be much easier to gather when I am on a planet, rather than simply pulling things out of my grove to cultivate. I¡¯m guessing the quiet lasted for about another eight hours, as I had just finished refining both a Seed of Wind and a Seed of Light, when the lighting of the ship turned red and a blaring alarm sounded. ¡°All hands, prepare for battle. Raiding fleet detected half a parsec ahead.¡± Since I was part of the engineering team, naturally I was told the basic specs of the ship. At warp, moving two parsecs an hour, we¡¯d reach the enemy in fifteen minutes. If they also charged at us, it could happen much faster. ¡°Celeste?¡± The holographic woman appeared at my wrist, having been bored this entire time I spent cultivating. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s showtime, boss!¡± She grinned widely to me at a change in pace. ¡°Please don¡¯t raise any death flags¡­¡± Seeing my suddenly depressed look, Celeste simply tilted her head in confusion, not knowing what I was talking about. Meanwhile, I stuffed the two seeds into my inventory, and quickly left my room. As I mentioned earlier, my quarters were a very dangerous location once a fight broke out. I had no idea the size of the enemy, or their numbers, and I likely never would since my job did not require me to head to the command deck. I had, however, memorized the layout of the ship, and had Celeste display my sector as a map in my vision, ready to highlight areas I needed to move to. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. A couple of minutes later, there was another brief intercom announcement. ¡°All hands, prepare to drop to sub-light to engage. Security personnel prepare to receive boarding parties.¡± I saw people all around pulling guns out of their inventory and standing guard, looking around as if the enemy could appear from anywhere. With a shrug, I also retrieved my pistol and beam saber from my inventory. A moment after the announcement, there was the first bang echoing through the hull of the ship to mark the start of the battle. ¡°Damage in sector eight. Power line rupture in ventilation duct B-2!¡± I heard Chief¡¯s voice coming in loud and clear through the intercoms, likely having been sent directly to me, as that was my sector. After the report was finished, Celeste marked the ventilation duct on my holo-map, and I ran there as fast as I could. There were several more crashes that rang out through the ship, but no other damages appeared in my sector before I made it to the vent. Looking inside, I could see the ruptured power line, one half of it flailing about wildly while sparks flew out. Reaching out with my magic, I forced it to reconnect with its other half before holding it in place and crawling in. Once I was close enough, I let out a thin stream of flame from one of my fingers and welded it together. Not the best fix, but it was a good rough patch. Afterwards, I removed myself from the vent before anything else in there had the chance to break. Another loud crash rang out, this one much heavier than the previous ones. Again, Chief¡¯s voice sounded out. ¡°Shields are at critical. Damage to life support, power couplings, and weapons in sector eight. Prioritize weapons for now! Head to corridor A-25 and repair the panel near junction 16.¡± This time, three damages appeared simultaneously in my area, and likewise another red dot appeared on my map. However, things weren¡¯t as easy right now, as the captain¡¯s following announcement made everyone take a step back to prepare themselves. ¡°Shields are down, prepare for boarding parties.¡± Moments later, as I ran towards the location I was given, I could hear sounds of battle echoing out from the halls behind me. They couldn¡¯t have already made it here, right? Did they teleport in? That was my best guess, especially when someone appeared directly in front of me. The enemy was a large creature whose body seemed composed of natural armor. It had a long spined tail whipping behind it, an elongated dome-shaped skull with no eyes, and thin arms. If not for the pistols it was carrying, I¡¯d think it was some monster out of a horror movie. The moment it appeared, it turned towards me and aimed its pistols, preparing to fire at the only target in immediate range. ¡°Celeste!¡± I called out to my companion as I raised my own pistol and beam saber. I wasn¡¯t using my Aura Sight this time, because I wanted to fully focus on this fight. Celeste drew three trajectory lines out, two in red from the enemy¡¯s pistols, and one in green from mine. Naturally, I did my best to contort my body to dodge the enemy¡¯s fire. However, I only managed to dodge one, using my saber as a shield to attempt to deflect the second. Thankfully, that seemed to work, and the laser bounced off my beam saber, instead crashing into a wall. Taking advantage of the brief pause while the enemy was surprised, I lined up my own shot at the creature¡¯s thin leg, and fired twice in rapid succession. Though the first shot alarmed it greatly, and made it resume battle, the second crippled its leg and made it fall to the ground. Even if that was the case, I was not daring to approach any closer, for fear that it¡¯s tail could be used to attack me. I simply did my best to dodge the trajectory lines as they approached over me again and again, blocking them with my saber when a complete dodge became impossible. I should be thankful that he didn¡¯t always fire when he thought he had a shot, because it saved me a bit of trouble. However, after a few moments of this exchange, he seemed to figure out I was tracking his pistols and stopped firing altogether. Instead, he simply watched me dance around to try to avoid the lines which could possibly spell my death if he decided to pull the trigger. I¡¯m sure this scene would have been far more impressive if he had kept firing at me.
New Skill Unlocked!
Dodge - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 20% Congratulations, you know how NOT to take a hit!
Since he no longer paused to give me an opening, I had only managed to get a single shot off, which seemed to have been harmlessly absorbed by his natural armor. I would really love to copy that when I get the chance¡­ My biggest despair came when he threw aside his pistols, and leapt towards me with his remaining limbs. His clawed hands were extended forward, ready to rip my throat out, so I did the only thing I could. Stop, drop, and roll under the crazy monster alien! When I passed under it, I wildly swung out with my beam saber, and managed to hit possibly the largest part of its body, severing roughly half of its tail. The enemy let out a sharp hiss as its tail fell to the ground. Wait¡­ no it didn¡¯t. The metal floor let out a hiss as it was corroded away from the blood leaking out of the tail. The alien itself seemed to entirely ignore what should have been excruciating pain. It let out a series of clicks and clacks, likely its native language, before it leapt at me again. Unload into its face! That one thought resounded in my head, knowing that diving under it wouldn¡¯t work twice. I wasted no time in lining up the shot and firing as many times as I could, which was maybe three before it reached me and I began flailing my beam saber. Although it was annoyed by this, it merely shoved me aside as it dove past, grabbing its pistols and vanishing as quickly as it had arrived. I looked down to the melted away parts of the floor, and shuddered, being thankful that I had not been the one hit by its blood. ¡°Dammit, we¡¯re being overrun. Everyone, get to the nearest escape pods!¡± This time, the panicked voice came from the captain of the ship, and my holo-map changed immediately to show me where to go next. There was an escape pod near the damaged section I was running towards, so I simply kept my current course. I was surprised by the lack of people I saw on my way to the escape pod, though there were many signs of battles being fought. Scorch marks lined the walls, with intermittent sections of melted floors. I could even hear a chittering sound coming from all around me that scared me out of my wits. If it was possible for me to hide in my grove, that¡¯s exactly where I¡¯d be right now. Upon reaching the escape pod, I found that I was the only one arriving to this one, likely meaning I was the only one alive close enough to come here. Using my Void Manipulation, I jumped into the pod and made it into a void zone in the hopes that they wouldn¡¯t be able to teleport in as I hit the launch button. It was only at this point that I saw the scale of the enemy. What I had assumed to be a half dozen medium sized ships, possibly accompanied by a cruiser, was instead a massive force that looked more like it was preparing for war. Of the smaller ships, the fighters, there were too many to count(341, Celeste helped). There were also a dozen other ships the size of the Nostromo, and a single massive one that was at least three times as big. All of the ships had similar designs to the alien I had seen, with the same organic armor. I watched as over a dozen escape pods were jettisoned from the Nostromo, all heading in random directions. Some had fighters pursuing them, likely indicating they were key targets, while others like myself were completely ignored. After a few moments of watching the ship sitting in eerie silence while the enemy raiding party¡­ no, raiding army seemed to make no action, a computerized voice sounded out in the escape pod. ¡°Plotting course to nearest planetoid. Initiating distress beacon. Estimated time of arrival, two hours. Estimated time of rescue, unknown.¡±
You have leveled up!
New Skill Unlocked!
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 2 Exp: 13% This skill measures one''s ability to hit people with the pointy end of the sword. Remember, the pointy end.
New Skill Unlocked!
Marksmanship - Beginner Level 6 Exp: 20% This skill measures one''s accuracy with a firearm.
New Sub-Skill Unlocked!
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0% This Sub-Skill shows your experience in dealing with energy-based weapons, rather than physical ones. Current Applicable Skills: Marksmanship Swordsmanship
You are now eligible for a last name! Congratulations!
Author''s Basement: Merry Christmas! I got you an extra long chapter! And now, I''m glad I can''t sleep, because the thought of a xenomorph space pirate army would give me nightmares. I honestly did not expect there to be so many Alien references! I swear, I just named the ship randomly and went with it! Chapter 38: Welcome to the Jungle Author¡¯s Corner: Hope that everyone had themselves a good Christmas! As always, here is another daily chapter of our story. I wonder how many people have been keeping track of the days? I suspect not many, because it¡¯s a troubling process to do so in a story where the current date isn¡¯t regularly brought up! However, for the sake of randomness, decided to put it up here. The current date is 12/29/3015, which is also Day 34 of his time in game. I totally did not realize when I arbitrarily made the date near Christmas that it would mean that the Seeds would be released on the first day of the new year, but hey! It works, so I can roll with it!
I had two hours until I landed on an unknown world just beyond the edge of wood elf space. So what did I do? Well, first of all I gave myself a last name! Now that I knew I wasn¡¯t able to introduce myself in the game with my real name even if I wanted to, I at least wanted to have the same last name. That way, if need be, I can just call myself Mr. Hulett. I also took a moment to spend my five points from leveling up on increasing my intelligence again, because I definitely needed more mana if I wanted to pursue the path of a Xeno-Shifter. By my basic estimates, an average animal like a wolf would take just over four hundred mana to transform into. Taking into account the shift in complexity and mana density, a magical beast should take around eight hundred. With the same standard applied again, a monster would need at least a thousand. The idea that a simple slime would take a thousand mana to turn into annoyed me, but I was probably assuming a bit much. Naturally, some monsters would be less complex than others, such as slimes. That problem was sentient creatures. I had no idea the mana cost necessary to turn into a sentient, as they could technically be evolved forms of either an animal, magical animal, or monster. Either way, this is what my stats looked like now.
NameFalenel HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 152%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health150/150Health Regen0.25
Mana620/620Mana Regen0.72
Strength12Wisdom70
Agility20Intelligence62
Dexterity20Charisma10
Vitality15Luck15
Points Remaining0
Earth 8%Fire 8%Wind 8%Water 8%
Lightning 6%Light 8%Dark 7%Plant 7%
Void 5%Luck 2%
Most of my elements were getting pretty close to the point where I would be able to cycle them constantly, without focusing on them. Once I was able to do so, my grove should begin expanding explosively, as it means I¡¯d be able to take in mana on a far more regular basis. Likewise, it should mean that my passive mana regeneration might even improve for the same reason. There were still two hours left before I¡¯d land, and I needed to be prepared. I hadn¡¯t expected to get into fights yet, so I had previously forgotten about charging up my weapons. Now, however, it was entirely necessary to do so. I didn¡¯t have enough time to fully charge all of my weapons, and I knew it, so the first thing I did was finish charging my beam saber until it was full. After that, I did one round of charging up my pistol, and was recovering my mana from that when the escape pod¡¯s mechanical voice spoke up again. ¡°Entering planet atmosphere. Please secure yourself to prevent damage during entry.¡± Never one to argue with the wise opinion of an AI, I hastily found a large seat and planted my behind in it, strapping myself in for what promised to be a wild ride. Looking out the window, I was relieved to see that this planet was green, indicating the likeliness of plant life, and thus breathable air. Unfortunately, what I could not see from this distance was signs of habitation, but that wasn¡¯t unusual. Typically, unless you were looking at the dark side of the Earth, it was hard to notice anyone living there if you looked through the naked eye from space. I felt the craft rocking slightly as we entered the atmosphere, like turbulence on a plane ride that just kept getting worse and worse. Unlike the shuttle or the cruiser, this escape pod didn¡¯t seem to be equipped with the same level of inertial dampener. Thinking such, I rated my odds of entry without injury as rather poorly. ¡°Sorry, Celeste¡­¡± I said as I looked down to the watch, an idea coming to mind. ¡°What do you mean--¡± She tried to answer, before I quickly used as much mana as I could muster to wrap around the small wristband. Jarl had said I would need to be able to completely suppress the aura of a magical item before I could transport it into the grove, but I had to at least try. Celeste was powered by my aura, so I gave myself decent odds of success. And sure enough, a moment later the bracelet vanished from my wrist. Briefly entering my grove, I made sure she landed safely on the ground, rather than getting planted somewhere. Though, her hologram appeared above the bracelet a moment later. ¡°Oh come on! This is so not fair!¡± She yelled out to the empty air, drawing the attention of the two birds. It¡¯s a small world, after all. ¡°Come on, Falenel!¡± She pouted, seeing that I wasn¡¯t bringing her back out. But, if she were to become damaged or broken in the inevitable crash, that would suck royally. I was actually enjoying her company, and didn¡¯t want to lose her like that. Briefly, I realized that being able to put her into my grove meant that I could take her with me now when I logged out, which made me smile slightly before I went back into panic mode. Since I used most of my mana to put Celeste in my grove, I didn¡¯t have enough to activate the Aspect of the Armored Beast. I could only ride out the turbulence and pray that nothing broke. ¡­ Fun fact, I¡¯ve never actually been in a crashing escape pod, even in the science fiction games I had played before. I had expected the entire process to be over in a matter of seconds. However, the ride to the ground took far longer, as the view outside the craft became red for a short while and the turbulence grew to new heights. I was starting to worry that the escape pod might shatter before even hitting the ground, when it slowly began dying down. After about five minutes, there was barely any turbulence left. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Looking out the window, I could more clearly see the ground approaching, though it still looked some distance away. The red haze that had appeared had entirely vanished, and I could only shake my head as I called Celeste back to my wrist. Immediately, the holographic woman flared to life as I felt the metal return to its normal place. ¡°Now, you listen here!¡± She began, raising her hand to point at me accusingly. ¡°Don¡¯t just go sending me off at the first sign of danger! We¡¯re supposed to be partners, aren¡¯t we?¡± I sighed, shaking my head with an embarrassed smirk. ¡°Yeah, sorry. Didn¡¯t want you to get broken if we crashed. And I really was expecting a crash.¡± I looked back outside, and she seemed to understand we hadn¡¯t landed yet. Celeste let out a huff at that. ¡°Well¡­ as long as you understand, it¡¯s fine. But you put me in your grove! That means I can visit your world, right?¡± She suddenly looked to me, her previous anger having completely vanished, instead replaced by a hopeful expression. I chuckled, and if she had a physical body I would be patting her head by now. ¡°Yes, yes, don¡¯t worry. Next time I go back I¡¯ll take you with me. Satisfied?¡± After I asked that, she nodded happily before fading back into my wrist. I looked out the window again, and saw that the ground was becoming very close. In just a few more seconds, we¡¯d land and find out what our situation is. Sure enough, a moment later there was a dull thud as we gently touched down. I didn¡¯t know what kind of propulsion the pod had used to counteract the fall, or if it had been some kind of magic, but whatever it was, I was just glad that I was still in one piece. ¡°Computer, do you have any information about this planet?¡± A moment later, the mechanical voice rang out. ¡°Negative. Planet not registered in data banks. Conclusion, either an unexplored planet, or one of dangerous origin.¡± I did not like the sound of that. ¡°Explain dangerous origin, and give an example.¡± ¡°A planet which is extremely inhospitable or possesses particularly threatening circumstances may be removed from data banks to prevent discovery. Example, sentient worlds capable of draining the life of any creature that lands on them.¡± Now I really didn¡¯t like the sounds of that. ¡°Has such a planet been found before¡­?¡± ¡°...Unknown. If such a planet has been discovered, it has been removed from data banks due to dangerous origin.¡± Now I felt a bit silly for asking. ¡°Alright¡­ next question. This thing should have sensors, since it was able to find the planet. Is the air outside breathable by my species? Also, what is the standard rescue protocol for situations such as this?¡± Both were very important questions. If I was expected to stay in the pod until help arrived, I needed to know this. ¡°Scans show that the atmosphere outside is capable of sustaining your species. Alliance policy for rescue attempts, in the event of a hostile faction capturing or destroying a ship, and escape pods successfully reaching an uninhabited world. Survivors are strongly recommended to remain near their escape pods until help arrives. In the event this proves impossible they are suggested to remove a portable beacon from the pod to ensure easy retrieval. Should it be impossible to send ships to rescue, a summoning ritual will take place on the nearest inhabited world to rescue survivors.¡± So, as long as I take the beacon with me, I¡¯m guaranteed to be safe one way or the other. Thinking of something, I decided to ask. ¡°Does the beacon work when placed in the inventory?¡± I didn¡¯t want to have to carry around a homing beacon while also worrying about fighting off monster attacks. ¡°Affirmative. After forty eight hours, if a rescue has not yet occurred, the summoning ritual will be initiated at the nearest inhabited world. At that time, all survivors will be relocated and capable of reporting to the rescue team.¡± I sighed, nodding my head. If I needed to, I could theoretically stay in this pod for as long as I had to. Between the food in my grove, and my ability to logout when nature called, I could sustain myself for well more than two days. However¡­ I looked at the door to the escape pod. There was adventure just outside that door! Worst case scenario, I die and respawn back on X-23, no big deal. ¡°Computer, where is the beacon?¡¯ A small compartment opened up next to my seat, containing a palm sized metal object. Taking the object, I placed it in my inventory before unstrapping myself from the seat and getting up. After taking out my pistol and beam saber, I moved over to the door and had the computer open it. ¡°Celeste, keep an eye out for any signs of movement, and alert me to anything you consider a danger to my health.¡± Suddenly, my entire body was highlighted in my Cybernetic eye with the same yellow light that Celeste always used. ¡°...Very funny¡­¡± I heard a small giggle before the light faded, and the door to the pod opened. Outside, the area was a vast jungle, with there being only a small clearing around myself caused by the pod landing. Turning around, I was able to get a good look at my escape pod for the first time. It was big, roughly five meters in diameter, and six tall with a cone shape. On the side was the word Nostromo, likely referring to the ship that it came from. Returning my attention to the jungle, I prepared myself to be assaulted by random fluffy, scaled, fuzzy, slimy, or scraggly menaces. However, much to my disappointment, nothing arrived. Celeste was even unable to see any animals nearby. Aside from the plants, there was absolutely no sign of life from anything. I don¡¯t like this¡­ I began to inch my way back to the escape pod, when the ground suddenly began to shake, as if an earthquake had appeared. Looking back at the pod, I saw the ground splitting below it, and instinct said that the pod was currently the least safe place I could possibly be. I hurriedly activated my Aspect of the Bird to grow the angel wings and flew off into the sky, just in time to see a sight I really wish I could forget. Beneath the pod, the ground opened up, roots and vines flailing. Beneath the surface, the plant life writhed as if with a mind of its own, grabbing onto the pod and pulling it down into a giant circular, green maw that appeared below it. I watched as the plants ripped apart the metal escape pod, destroying it in seconds before the ground slowly closed up. ¡°Celeste¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t like this world.¡± I heard an audible gulp from the AI at my wrist. ¡°If it makes you feel any better¡­ I don¡¯t think it likes us either.¡± Chapter 39: A World of Green Author¡¯s Corner: So, bit more of an update up here for you guys this time, so pay attention if you could. And try not to raise the pitchforks until you have read the entire thing. Recently, I¡¯ve been working on copying my story over to a Wordpress site, in the hopes to have it hosted in both locations. Now, the perk of this(for me) would be that it would be possible to include a donations button so that readers with too much money might be able to help support my writing hobby. However, try as I may and try as I might, I could not get the button to work. If you guys would still like to have this story on Wordpress, then I will go ahead and finish copying it over. Will still try to get the button to work somehow(because poor author is poor), but the priority is being able to push out chapters that people enjoy. With that said, you may now pick up your pitchforks, but first enjoy the chapter!
After watching the ground literally consume my escape pod, I couldn¡¯t help but gulping slightly. In my mind, I was very thankful for the fact that I had grabbed the beacon before leaving the pod, or else I would be well and truly stranded here. ¡°Okay¡­ let¡¯s just hope that not every plant is hungry¡­ I can¡¯t keep flying for two days straight.¡± Saying that, I flew down closer to the ground, but refused to land on it. Instead, I used my Aura Sight and Mana Sense to scan the nearby trees, making sure to watch for any that might attack me. In all the games I¡¯ve played before, I can honestly say I¡¯ve never had to be afraid of a forest because of its trees.
Flight has increased to Basic!
As my Mana Sense swept over them, a few plants reacted by throwing their branches at me, or vines sweeping out. However, none responded except for the ones I scanned. So, I simply dealt with the branches and vines that attacked by withdrawing my Mana Sense and dodging away. Near as I could tell, the plants had two methods of sensing ¡®prey¡¯. The first, and also the way it found the pod, would be through a form of tremorsense. Something big and metal landing on the ground likely alerted all the big baddies in the neighborhood to come to a dinner party. Said big baddies were probably still lurking underground, so I most definitely was not going to land on the grass. Instead, I kept scanning trees until I began to notice a pattern. All of the trees that decided to attack me had a far more complex aura than the ¡®docile¡¯ trees. Though, not all of the docile trees had the same simple auras, making me think that some were waiting to trap me. At least it gave me something to go off of, and it was something that I could easily scan with my Aura Sight without wasting mana. Moving over to one of the simpler trees, I did my best to gently land on it, my eyes darting around me to watch for a possible attack. After a full minute of waiting, there was no sign of an attack, so I sighed lightly and got to work. It would be great if I could just spend my time on this one tree for two days, as my sense of adventure was entirely used up by now. After I landed, I began cultivating a Seed of Plants. Not surprisingly, I found a very dense plant mana permeating the atmosphere of this planet, so much that it was even carried on the wind. Part of me worried that this might be the planet¡¯s form of Mana Sense, but if that were the case I¡¯d be pretty much dead already. With the density of the plant mana, I managed to finish refining the seed in barely two hours, after which I began work on a Seed of Darkness, which took considerably longer. I was tempted to go to a lower branch and refine a Seed of Earth to complete my set, but found that my legs refused to move in order to comply with the request. The scene of the escape pod being ripped to shreds repeated itself in my mind, except it was me instead of the pod. Sometimes, having an upgraded memory is more of a burden than a help. Instead, I sat on the branch and decided to try something new. ¡°Celeste, pull up the energy combination needed to charge the energy weapons again.¡± ¡°What are you thinking, Falenel? You don¡¯t have nearly enough mana to burn down the jungle, if that¡¯s what you had in mind¡­¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°No, I just wanted to have you see if the combination matched a possible affinity.¡± A mixture of fire and lightning mana was far enough away from either to possibly be considered its own affinity, such as the difference between earth and magma, or steam and ice. Celeste paused for a moment, before smiling slightly and nodding her head. ¡°Yes, it is in fact. It is known as the Plasma Affinity, of which you currently have a single percent of proficiency.¡± I smiled, nodding back to the AI. ¡°Figured as much.¡± After spending so much time using my Technomancy on the weapons, I was able to tell that they directed some form of energy charge through a magnetic current. and the only energy I could think of that was controlled in such a manner and had the same effects was plasma. ¡°You¡¯re going to try and learn the Plasma Affinity now, aren¡¯t you?¡± Celeste asked with a tired expression, making me laugh lightly. Sadly, that laugh seemed to be loud enough to cause the vibrations necessary for the plants to detect me, as I had vines piercing towards me from the nearest tree. Rather than dodging them this time, I used my Fire Manipulation to burn the vines with a thin screen of flame between us, which caused them to recoil, apparently in fear. With a sigh, I moved from this tree to another one that my Aura Sight registered as safe. ¡°Yeah. I think it¡¯d be a good idea to do so. If I get good enough with it, I should be able to use the control skill to deflect energy weapons.¡± After a moment, Celeste gave a nod. ¡°In that case, I¡¯d suggest also studying the Magnetism Affinity. I am unsure if the manipulation ability you gain with plasma will be sufficient to control it, and if not it would be a good idea to have a backup.¡± I thought about it, but had to agree she was right. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have any magnets on me to practice that affinity. Then again, the only plasma sources I had were my weapons, and I¡¯d rather not drain them to get the affinity. After all, I might need to shoot something in this planet where the entire jungle wants me for lunch. ¡°I can work on those after we get rescued. Until then, I¡¯ve got other things to worry about.¡± Celeste went quiet for a few moments, before speaking up. ¡°Do you think it¡¯s possible to copy the traits of these plants? I think the hostile trees should either be the plant form of a magical beast, or a monster. Your Nature Magic should be able to replicate it, right?¡± ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Jarl had said that it was possible to turn blood into a potion, so copying the traits of plants was certainly possible. The question is, what would I get from doing so? Flexible bark armor? The snake¡¯s scales should be far stronger. I could maybe learn their tremorsense and mana detection abilities. So far, none of the plants had displayed a particularly useful ability for me aside from that. ¡°Keep an eye out for any plants that have useful abilities. For now, I¡¯m going to focus on training.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. Pulling out my enchanting staff that I received at Hascion, I decided to experiment a bit. The staff itself had no magical properties, and merely served to hold the mana gem. But that also meant that it was still, for the most part, unaltered wood. With my Plant Manipulation, I made a series of hollow sockets in the wood, and in each one I placed an elemental seed. Fire, water, wind, light, dark, lightning, void, and plant. Eight affinities, and eight seeds to go with them. If I had my Seed of Earth, I could have completed the set. Once each seed was socketed into the staff, I used Plant Manipulation again to close it up, hiding them inside the wood of the staff. Although they weren¡¯t plainly visible, Aura Sight still showed the eight different sources of mana hidden in the staff. With that taken care of, I began to cultivate my Plant Affinity, as I highly doubted I would ever find a more suitable environment to do so than a world full of plants, without a single animal in side. Doing it this way also had an added effect, I soon discovered. Since cultivation required me to match my aura to match plant mana, it made me all but invisible to the local species. And no, I did not discover this by walking up and poking a plant, or using my Mana Sense on it¡­ ¡­ I fell out of the tree while cultivating. Thankfully, though, my aura seemed to match well enough, because the grass(yes even the grass had the complex aura of a plant waiting to attack) did not do anything to me. If I had to guess, this was likely a planet where only a druid would be able to survive peacefully, as anyone else would be attacked constantly by the plants. Of course, now that I knew I could hide myself by simply cultivating Plant Affinity, I was free to move around as I liked. It seemed like the plants that detected me with tremorsense also read my aura as a plant, and did not attack. With the lack of any kind of animal on this planet, I began to wonder how the plants sustained themselves, but they likely fed on the abundant plant mana in the air. Naturally, there was no way I was taking Yin and Yang out while I was here. Neither of them were able to cultivate Plant Affinity, so there was no chance of them being safe. Every now and then, I would scan one of the plants that I passed, assessing its aura and seeing if it had any uses in alchemy. Since I kept my aura attuned to plant mana, this didn¡¯t cause any ¡®misunderstandings¡¯ with the locals. I wouldn¡¯t be dumb enough to take a carnivorous plant into my grove, but I did find a few plants that were docile and had some medicinal properties. One, a large tree that bore a fruit in the form of a five pointed star, had a sap that seemed to contain a powerful medicine aura. However, the fruit itself had the aura of an equally potent poison. Using my Plant Manipulation, I plucked one of the fruits and stored it in my inventory. Once I could make a second grove, I would plant this tree there. Wouldn¡¯t want the birds to eat it by mistake. The next herb I found was actually a weed, which looked very similar to blood weed. However, the medicinal aura it held felt different, so it likely held a different use. Using the same trick as before, I gathered a few of these weeds for my inventory as well. This went on for a few hours, until my inventory was too full to accept anything else. In that time, my Plant Affinity had also risen sharply, from 7% to 9% in one go, and I felt like it would soon break through to 10%. Honestly, I was getting to the point where I really wanted to sleep, but I knew that if I did, my cultivation would lapse and the jungle would attack again. Looking over to the plants, I decided that there was in fact something I could get from them, and began studying the aura for the tallest tree I could find. Specifically, I wanted to study its leaves, and how they fed energy to the tree. As I suspected, I noticed that the leaves on the tree absorbed the plant mana in the air, and transmitted it through the tree as sustenance. This was true for both the docile and hostile trees, so I copied from the former. If the hostile trees qualified as a monster, than it would be far harder to copy their version of the ability. Closing my eyes, I focused on copying this ability onto myself. For some reasons that I¡¯m sure nobody could possibly guess, I didn¡¯t want leaves growing out of my head. So, instead, I turned the feathers on my wings into leaves, giving me a rather interesting plant wing appearance. At the same time, I also received a handy new spell.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Mana Leech - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï By copying the ability to absorb mana and putting it on your own body, you have gained the powerful skill to sustain yourself purely on mana. Mana Cost: 200
The cost and rank of the spell surprised me, but then I considered just how strong this could be. If I changed the mana it absorbed, I could siphon off the energy of spells, and use it to fuel myself. When I opened up my status window, I also saw that my mana regeneration had multiplied by four simply by having these leaves absorbing the abundant plant mana in the air. Thankfully, it also served the purpose to relieve my exhaustion, which was the main point. ¡°See? Knew they¡¯d be good for something.¡± Celeste said from my wrist, sounding slightly smug. ¡°Yes, yes. Don¡¯t worry, I appreciate it.¡± I smirked down to her, and she smiled happily before vanishing. With this, I¡¯d be able to train faster than ever before, at least until help arrived. And no, before you ask, there was no way I was abandoning the beacon to stay here longer. If I did that, then I¡¯d never be able to leave. That night, I easily managed to get to Plant Affinity 10%, which let me simply have it work as a background process while I refined a Seed of Earth. I could feel myself still absorbing the mana and cultivating like normal, but it was as if it had become a second nature, as easy as breathing. I could focus on it to increase its effects, but otherwise it was just a constant thing. Once I had the Seed of Earth refined, I put it into the staff like the other seeds, before returning my staff to my inventory. With that taken care of, I spent the rest of the night cultivating Earth and Dark Affinities. Chapter 40: A Day in the Life of a Tree. Author¡¯s Corner: I doubt anyone actually reads this part, so enjoy the chapter! Current stardate: 12/30/3015, Day 35 of Falenel¡¯s journey where no man has gone before.
The night passed without much in the way of special events happening. Since the plants here fed off of mana rather than sunlight, there was no sign of them hibernating during the night. Though perhaps, I should instead be thankful that the day and night cycles resemble what I am used to so much? Either way, I managed to get through the night while cultivating my Earth and Dark Affinities, bringing them both up to 9% by the time morning came around. I could feel that just a bit more work on Earth Affinity, and it would make a breakthrough. However, I had other things to worry about. Shortly after the sun came up, I saw something that I hadn¡¯t seen the entire day I was here already. I saw movement beyond the trees. Using my Cybernetic eye, I had Celeste play the scene again with some visual editing. I saw a¡­ naked green woman walking casually through the jungle. And before you ask, no, I did not get a peep show. Celeste took the liberty of adding black censor bars over the important bits. Still, now I knew that there was actually someone living in this place! Even if they might be a plant person¡­ still a plus. Standing up, I cycled through vision modes on my eye, giving it X-Ray and Zoom so that I could find the person again. From that, I could vaguely see her figure walking a few hundred meters ahead of me. Thankfully she was still just walking casually, so I would be able to catch up if I flew between the trees. Thinking that, I launched myself into the air, finding that the leaf feathers were surprisingly capable as I flew towards the slowly advancing woman. In hindsight, I really should have thought this through before charging in. But, as we¡¯ve determined, that¡¯s not really my style, is it? In under two minutes, I was already swooping down towards the woman, who seemed to notice my presence and let out a scared shriek. She knelt down in a defensive position, using her hands to cover her head when I landed in front of her. ¡°Hello, don¡¯t be scared? I come in peace?¡± I held my hands up as I spoke, hoping to calm her down. At some point, I should have realized that she wouldn¡¯t speak my language. I mean, this is a non-listed world, why would whatever creatures inhabit it speak wood elf? After a moment, she looked up at me, her eyes wet with unshed tears. Or maybe it was water, or both. Seeing that I didn¡¯t intend on attacking, she slowly lowered her arms. Who are you? I heard the voice, like a thought in my head, and felt a slight increase in plant mana I took in. It was a gentle, high pitched voice, like a scared little girl. What do you want? I blinked slightly, suddenly realizing the language barrier, and thinking about how she is communicating with me. Gathering a bit of plant mana, I sent it to her with the intention of relaying the message, I¡¯m Falenel.
New Ability Unlocked!
Treespeaker - Plant Affinity - ¡î By carrying a message through plant mana, you are able to communicate with plants and plant-based beings.
Thankfully, Arcane magic like this works mostly based on intention, since she seemed to react to it positively. ¡¯I am Arianne. You do not look familiar¡­ what species are you?¡¯ I looked myself over, thinking that was a very good question. ¡¯I guess you could call me an elf? I fell from the sky yesterday, and you are the first person I¡¯ve seen with¡­ well¡­ legs. Suddenly, Celeste appeared at my wrist, looking between myself and Arianne as the latter giggled from my comment. ¡°Something wrong? You two are just staring at each other¡­¡± Looking down to her, I was a bit surprised. ¡°You can¡¯t hear her? Guess it¡¯s not something shared in the link, sorry¡­¡± Though I said that, there was really nothing I could do about that if she couldn¡¯t interpret the plant mana communication method. ¡°Aww¡­¡± She pouted cutely, making me smile. Meanwhile, Arianne just stared at the holographic woman with wide yellow eyes. ¡¯You have a wrist ghost.¡¯ She said simply, seeming to misinterpret what Celeste was. ¡¯Kind of. She¡¯s really nice, but she can¡¯t speak like we are. Are there more people like you around here?¡¯ She thought about it for a moment, and nodded. ¡¯I am surrounded by my family, above and below, day and night.¡¯ With a wave of her arms, she indicates the trees around her, making me sigh slightly. ¡¯Anyone with legs?¡¯ Legs were an important characteristic, in my mind. They seemed to be a key difference between Arianne and the rest of the jungle. The plant woman looked down to her legs, thinking, before shaking her head. ¡¯Not for several hours walk. It is not often that the dryads meet, as they tend their own family.¡¯ Ooh, a dryad. ¡¯Ahh, I see¡­ well¡­ can you ask your family to not try to attack me?¡¯ She tilted her head curiously, though maintained the magical communication. Perhaps it was thanks to my wings absorbing the mana, but I was not running out of energy from this. ¡¯Why would they attack you?¡¯ I tried to think of a way to say this without either scaring her or making her want to eat me. I¡¯m not sure if dryads would eat people like the trees do, but still¡­ ¡¯I am not of this world. I fell from the sky in a metal pod, and then the ground opened up and swallowed it. I have been attacked repeatedly since then, until I learned to match my aura to that of this world.¡¯ ¡¯Ohh.. you are not plant-kin. Your ¡®pod¡¯ as you call it, likely landed on grandfather. As for the others..¡¯ She turned her head away and seemed to be communicating with the trees. ¡¯They thought you were an invader, come to destroy us as others have before.¡¯ I shook my head at that. ¡¯No, I am simply waiting to be rescued. Some time tomorrow, I will be pulled from this world and return to my own.¡¯ She thought about it for a moment, and nodded. ¡¯I understand. The family shall continue watching you, Flanel, to ensure that you keep your word.¡¯ If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ...Flanel? My name is not Flanel¡­. Oh well¡­ not like we¡¯d meet again anyways. ¡¯Thank you. It¡¯s never good to think that everything around you sees you as dinner..¡¯ She smiled slightly, looking to one of the nearby fruit trees. ¡¯No, it is not, is it?¡¯ Okay, I deserved that one. Pretty much any animal ever deserved that one. ¡¯Is it alright if I gather some of the plants here? I am a druid, you see¡­. or, you might not know that term¡­ Some call us guardians of nature?¡¯ She looked surprised at that, glancing to the trees again before looking back to me. ¡¯You may take what you wish, but only from those without a will of their own.¡¯ I nodded to her condition, having no intention of putting intelligent plants in my grove. ¡¯If possible¡­ could I get you to help me? I am looking for plants that can be used to produce medicines.¡¯ Saying such, I plucked a stalk of blood weed from my grove and materialized it in my hand. ¡¯This is one such plant, although its effects are only of the lowest grade.¡¯ Well, even though I say that, I feel like it is significantly more powerful than the ones I gathered on Hascion. Again she thought about it for a moment before nodding. ¡¯I can help you. I know the qualities of everyone in my family. Although I may not be able to tell you their effects on your kind, I can show you which ones possess a form of healing factor.¡¯ With that, she turned around and walked off. While following behind her, I planted a could of the less deadly plants in my grove, which had grown significantly since I started cultivating here. After I leave, I should focus on gathering enough void mana to make the second grove. ¡°Where are we going?¡± Celeste asks again, appearing from my wrist. I smiled down to her. ¡°The nice dryad lady is going to help us gather herbs.¡± Celeste pouted again. ¡°You only like her because she¡¯s naked.¡± ¡°That is entirely not true.¡± I casually rejected her claim. ¡°I like her because she¡¯s naked and hasn¡¯t tried to eat us.¡± That earned me a tiny giggle from Celeste, who quickly returned to her fake pouting. After a moment though, she sighed and shook her head. ¡°You could probably take her with us, you know? There should be room in the grove for her to hitch a ride.¡± I smirked bitterly, having already thought of that. ¡°Something tells me she wouldn¡¯t enjoy the idea of leaving her ¡®family¡¯...¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ probably right.¡± Celeste turned to watch as Arianne gently picked a fairly common flower from near a tree, bringing it to me. ¡¯This is known as a heartbroken rose. Its quality is similar to the one you showed me before, though more powerful.¡¯ I gently took the flower, and swept over it with my Mana Sense. Indeed, the medicinal parts of the aura felt much like the blood weed, though more complex. Without wasting any time, I absorbed it into my grove, planting it alongside the blood weed. It¡¯s a good thing that I managed to get 10% Plant Affinity, because I¡¯m not sure if the plants here would be able to survive suddenly being transplanted into an area without dense plant mana. Likely, they¡¯d be absorbing it constantly, just like the bird had done when she cultivated wind mana. Through all of this, I made sure to continue cycling earth and dark mana, and eventually made the breakthrough in Earth Affinity to 10%. Like with my Plant Affinity, it was now a constant thing in the background. Though, instead of taking advantage of this to increase the speed of cycling dark mana, I added wind to replace earth. Now I was cultivating both Wind Affinity and Dark Affinity. Inwardly, I had determined that before I started focusing on gathering new affinities, I would at least train the primary seven all up to that point. Arianne led me around to find several more herbs, all of which I either placed in my inventory or in my grove. Surprisingly, she only gave me one poisonous plant, and that was because it also had a strong medicinal aura. From what I could tell, the pollen of this flower was good for medicine, but the petals of it contained a strong poison. According to Arianne, it would grab anything the touched its petals, and hold them there until the poison was done. After that, the petals extracted its life force and used it to produce more pollen. Definitely a plant going in the ¡®second grove¡¯. I thought as I carefully placed it in my inventory. From there, Arianne led me to get a total of two more plants, before she said that I had now received all of the ¡®healing plants¡¯ in this family. ¡¯Thank you very much, Arianne. I would try to compensate you in some way, but I really don¡¯t know what you would like?¡¯ I smiled to the naked green lady, and did my best to keep my little soldier from saluting. It was a difficult task, let me tell you. She smiled gently to me, shaking her head. ¡¯That is not needed. It is good to have someone new to talk to, if even for only a short time.¡¯ She looked around discretely, and then sent a message in a particularly quiet tone. ¡¯The family is not usually very good for conversation.¡¯ I laughed when I heard that, having to hold my stomach. Again, Celeste appeared at my wrist. ¡°Come on? What¡¯s so funny?! Don¡¯t leave me out like this, man!¡± ¡°Sorry, sorry. You know I don¡¯t mean to. How about this, once we get rescued I¡¯ll let you see my world for a little while?¡± I smiled down to Celeste, who was quickly placated by the bribe. ¡°Okay¡­ fine. But you better keep your promise!¡± She huffed out before disappearing into the metal wristband again. After that, I decided to say goodbye to Arriane, who seemed somewhat reluctant to part. Though, as she said before, it was merely because she liked having someone to talk to. When I offered to let her come with me, she firmly refused, saying that she would not leave her family behind. Only if I could take her entire family would she come with me. And naturally, my grove was not nearly big enough to accommodate all of the plants she considered her family. Especially that ¡®grandfather¡¯ that ate my pod¡­ Though, now I couldn¡¯t help but seeing that massive hungry plant as an old man shaking his cane at people and yelling for them to get off his yard. Chapter 41: Slime Time Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the late chapter today folks, had to take down Christmas decorations today. Busy busy.
The next few hours passed uneventfully, and I even managed to get Dark Affinity to 10%! However, after that, I began seeing movement again through the trees. Part of me thought that Arriane had come back for some reason, and that part was rather happy for the chance to see the naked plant lady. Of course, that part was located entirely in my lower body. Sadly though, what I saw was not the movement of a beautiful dryad, but the birth of a monster. Using my X-Ray Vision, combined with Zoom and Aura Sight, I was able to watch as a particularly dense mass of plant mana surged into a fallen seed on the ground. As it did so, the seed thickened, becoming a round sphere similar to the Seed of Plants that I could refine. Around the green pellet, the mana began to condense in the form of a viscous liquid. It was at this point that I realized the monster being birthed here was not a dryad, but a plant-based slime. With interest, I watched the process until it was completed. I had never seen a slime before, let alone seeing as it was formed. More and more of the liquid mana poured in around the slime¡¯s core, until it had a diameter of a meter. At that point, it seemed to stop, the slime sitting there with an occasional jiggle of its body. Huh¡­ If that¡¯s all it takes to form a slime, then druids should be able to do so by liquefying a layer of mana around an element seed. I¡¯ll have to experiment with that later. If I can produce slimes of my own, I could learn all of their special powers and add them to my repertoire. Plus, if I can make them loyal, they¡¯d be an excellent bodyguard for my real body. I began thinking up plans for the slimes as I watched the new one idle in the spot it had appeared. From what I could see, it was not sentient by any means, and was simply a mindless monster. Shrugging my shoulders, I got up and went over towards it. Navigating around the trees that were in between us, it started moving as soon as I was in sight. Though, its moving was to try and eat me, I think. It was difficult to tell, because all it did was bubble hungrily and slowly slither towards me. Okay¡­ if I plan to make slime bodyguards, I am going to have to make them better than this. Seeing that I could evade the slime simply by slowly walking, I watched it for a little while. To my surprise, it had an acidic quality to it. Any of the leaves or twigs it passed over dissolved almost immediately. Naturally, I didn¡¯t want to subject myself to that. Thinking back to what I knew about slimes, their weaknesses in games were traditionally magic and energy attacks, and they were all but impervious to physical attacks. Thankfully, I had next to know physical attacks, aside from punching. And no, I was not about to punch a slowly rolling ball of acid. I did, however, want to do a few tests. Pulling my magic staff out of my inventory, I focused on the seeds I had ¡®planted¡¯ in it. Using the Seed of Void as a focus, I formed a field of void magic around the slime. Instantly, its body dissolved, leaving the core lying in a puddle of gooey acid. When I lifted this field, the slime slowly began to reform itself, a process that took over a full minute to complete. Interesting, so slimes are literally constructed of pure magic. Take that away and they break down. Next, I shot a ball of plant mana at the slime, seeing if it was possible to simply will its core away from it. That test¡­ did not work out as planned. Rather than being controlled by the plant mana, it was strengthened. The slime immediately increased in radius by another foot, and its speed also increased somewhat. I did a bad. Next up, fire! My experiment continued, this time sending a thin beam of fire at the slime, which visibly shook as the attack connected. I watched as the slime slowly reduced in size, apparently burned away by the magic attack. I then repeated the process with wind and light, and the same thing happened. By the time I finished, it barely had a layer of slime, and couldn¡¯t move at all. Just as I was about to destroy it, I had a thought that made me realize what an opportunity this was. I had an already defeated slime in front of me, with no power to resist. Time to study! There was a chance my later experiments would result in failure, so I should take advantage of this while I can. There was even the possibility that studying this slime would help me create my own later. After I knelt down next to the slime, I began pushing my Mana Sense into it, and frowned as I saw the slime trying to absorb it. Right away, I created a barrier of light mana around the slime to prevent it from growing while I worked. And honestly, the slime was currently only six inches in diameter, making the study process extremely quick. As I had suspected, the nucleus of the slime was a Seed of Plants, but it seemed to be a bit more pure than the ones I refined. Likely, that meant it was a medium grade seed. When I asked Celeste, she confirmed my theory. That also gave me a hint on how to refine seeds of higher quality.
Incoming call from Jacobs.
There was a slight ringing in my head as the window appeared, and I accepted the call. ¡°Hey man, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Wanted to check in. You make it to Crailor okay?¡± ¡°Not quite. Hit an alien blockade, and crash landed on a hungry jungle planet.¡± I said as I continued studying the slime in depth. ¡°A hungry¡­ jungle planet? Anyways, that¡¯s not important. You said an alien blockade? I just got a message from my other friend a bit ago that was heading there, and he said the same thing. Looks like some race is making their move to expand their territory¡­ and they¡¯re not doing it nicely.¡± ¡°I¡¯d say not. Looked like a monster from a horror movie. All thin limbed with an elongated dome head, long blade-like tail, and its blood was acid.¡± I briefly described the alien that I had fought on the Nostromo to Jacobs, who seemed to be passing the information on to someone else. ¡°Looks like they are called the ¡®Klax¡¯. I asked them why, and you want to know what they said?¡± There was a hint of laughter in his voice, so I said sure. ¡°They only speak in clicks and clacks, and Clix was already taken by a different species.¡± Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! I let out a chuckle at that. With my study of the slime complete, I compressed the light barrier to remove the last traces of it clinging to the core. Afterwards, I leaned down and picked the core up, placing it in my inventory. Never know when a medium grade seed could come in handy. ¡°So, the Klax attacked your other friend too?¡± ¡°Yeah, from what I¡¯ve heard, they are attacking any ship that comes within a hundred parsecs of their borders. Since Crailor was on the edge of space between wood elves and the Klax, that means they have essentially claimed the planet as their own.¡± ¡°Sounds more like they¡¯re getting ready for war or something. It wasn¡¯t exactly a small fleet I saw taking care of the Nostromo.¡± There was a pause at that. ¡°You seriously rode on a spaceship called the Nostromo..?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ yeah, why?¡± ¡°Dude¡­ that¡¯s like getting on a ship named the Titanic. You really haven¡¯t watched the old horror movies, have you?¡± ¡°Did they get remade in holo-cards?¡± I shrugged my shoulders as I stood up and walked back to my previous spot. Old DVRs were expensive, and the quality wasn¡¯t nearly as good as a hologram movie. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so, but that¡¯s not the point!¡± He sighed, and I could just tell he was shaking his head. ¡°Anyways, they should be able to rescue you before too long. They¡¯ve got a bunch of other people they¡¯re having to pull out of escape pods or planets from attacks like that. So they¡¯re just talking about doing it all at once.¡± ¡°Sweet. Though it¡¯s not all that bad here. I¡¯ve managed to convince the trees not to eat me.¡± I smirked slightly, knowing how that must have sounded. ¡°....Sure, whatever. I give up.¡± He said with a sigh, letting the connection end. I laughed lightly, setting my staff down and looking at it. I did not enchant my weapons yet, partially because there is the chance I¡¯ll need to take them with me to the real world if monsters start spawning. However, this staff already is far too magical for me to put it in my grove to transfer. So, there is no reason for me not to enchant it! Probing the aura of the staff, I found that it would be suitable for either durability increase, wisdom increase, or attack increase. Out of those three, the only one that really mattered to me was the wisdom one. This staff was not meant for fighting, at least not a physical fight. With a bit of focus, I recalled the runes I needed, and began tracing them in the air over the staff, empowering it with my enchantment. If my skill was higher, I would directly give it a special effect, but right now this was all I was able to do. Jacobs probably had a high enough skill to do, but he was definitely too far away to help me directly. Maybe if I called him, he could walk me through the process, but I¡¯d rather not risk nine element seeds and a mana gem on a phoned in experiment. Though, with this, I began thinking about what kind of enchantments I might be able to do with this staff. There was one that I thought would be really good, and that was the ability to fire elemental blasts from the staff, using different elements depending on which seed or seeds I focused on. If that was possible, it would be really good, because I could use any element that I put a seed into the staff for it. Another thought I had would be to enchant it with a barrier spell, since defense is always a good thing to have. However, I couldn¡¯t do either one yet, so instead I turned my attention elsewhere. Specifically, I wanted to try copying some slime traits. ¡°Celeste, going to need to take you off again. If I turn my skin into acid, would rather I didn¡¯t dissolve you.¡± The holographic woman appeared on my wrist, ready to raise a fit about what I had said, until she heard the last part. Then, there was an audible gulp, and she slightly nodded her head. With that, I went ahead and put her into the grove, before closing my eyes to focus. What I wanted to do here was change my skin into the same substance the slime had coated itself with. If I did that, I might gain some resistance to physical attacks, as well as an acid touch. Ssss¡­.. ¡°GAAAAHHHH!!!!¡± I let out a blood curdling scream, as my experiment unfortunately worked. However, I immediately cancelled it and began healing myself. Note¡­ to self¡­ acidic skin burns muscles and veins too! The moment my skin had turned into that of the slime, there was a massive drop in my health due to my skin trying to dissolve the rest of my body. If I had waited even a couple more seconds, I might have accidentally killed myself with that experiment. Instead, I was collapsed on the ground, struggling to breathe as I repeatedly healed myself. It took a full ten minutes before the pain faded away enough that I was willing to move my body, and another ten minutes before it was completely gone. After the pain was gone, I summoned Celeste back to my wrist. ¡°Never¡­ again¡­¡± I did not even want to try doing a full conversion into a slime now, because the mere thought of turning into that plant slime filled me with pain. Celeste appeared at my wrist, looking up to me with a worried expression. ¡°What happened¡­?¡± ¡°Acid skin is officially a terrible idea.¡± She winced a bit as I said that. ¡°Ouch¡­¡± ¡°That is the understatement of the millennium.¡± No longer concerning myself with the outside world, I did my first attempt at a Runic spell. It was a pretty basic one, and should function as a perimeter alarm. All I did was a ¡®lasting, field, intruder, sound¡¯ set of runes and cast it around myself. The small mana requirement made my eye twitch as I realized just how little mana is needed for Runic spells. If I didn¡¯t have the druid¡¯s Worldcasting method, I might put in more work and learn the hundred million runes to master that language. Anyways, after I set my alarm, I focused purely on cultivating. At my current levels of mastery, I could focus on all four of my 8% affinities, and also Lightning Affinity, which was only at 6%. Doing so took all of my attention, but with my wings absorbing the surrounding plant mana I had more than enough mana regeneration to sustain it at this level. I wouldn¡¯t be able to get them to 10% before being rescued if I split my attention between five affinities, but it is the easiest way to grow my grove, since I am evening out the balance of mana. Chapter 42: A Storm Cometh Author¡¯s Corner: Rejoice! For I have been unable to fight the desire to write an extra chapter tonight.
The cultivation went fairly smoothly, especially since there weren¡¯t any plants trying to eat me. My cultivation showed only a bit of progress, with my Lightning Affinity increasing to 7% after the first few hours. None of the other elements I was practicing showed a noticeable increase, though. On the other hand, the Plant Affinity that I was only passive training increased to 11%, which surprised me. This was likely only due to the dense plant mana this planet offered, and I wouldn¡¯t see such increases after leaving for a while. Anyways, after a few hours of cultivating, I got rather bored and wanted to do some experiments. Specifically, I wanted to see if I could alter my wings to be able to take in mana types other than plant. Like I had done with the lesser orthrus, I focused on a single leaf of my wings. Having studied this aspect, I naturally knew which part it was that absorbed the plant mana, so I tried changing that single part of the aura to wind. To my surprise, this seemed to trigger a chain reaction throughout the entire aura, with every piece of plant mana in the aura changing into wind mana. Naturally, I suspected this meant my feather leaf would fade away, but when I looked there was simply a small gap between the feathers. According to my Aura Sight, it was still there, but had been rendered invisible due to becoming one with the wind. I did another quick change and switched it back to plant mana, and the leaf returned. Over the course of the next hour, I experimented with changing the leaves into every element I was currently capable of wielding. Earth had the leaf turn to stone, which unbalanced me a little due to the extra weight. Water had the leaf turn into a large drop of water just hanging off my wing, which I quickly turned back in case it fell off. Fire had the leaf burst into flames, which hurt a bit as it burnt the surrounding leaves. Lightning had the leaf crackling with electricity, which shot off of my wing into the ground. That one actually hurt more because I felt the feather forcefully plucking itself from my wing. Light and dark turned the leaf into a stationary mass of light and shadow respectively. Finally, void was interesting, as it turned into a black feather similar to how it reacted to dark mana. However, there were tiny specks of light on it, which looked like shining stars. Out of curiosity, I expanded this effect to an entire wing. It actually looked like a scene of a starry sky, like one would find in space. Though, there was hardly any void mana to be found in this planet¡¯s atmosphere, except for the Seed of Void I brought with me. After that experiment, I did one more. This time, I changed all of my leaves into light feathers, and actively absorbed the light mana around me. It was still a couple of hours before the sun will set, or else I would have done this with darkness instead. I could see the light warping around me as it gathered in my wings. Rather than letting myself take it in like I had been with plant mana, I held the light mana in my wings for two or three minutes, until it felt like I couldn¡¯t hold anymore. This caused my wings to continue growing brighter and brighter, until I finally let them release. Not wanting to be the enemy of the forest again, I directed the release upwards to the sky. Immediately, a thick beam of light emerged from each of my wings, shooting off where I had directed until my wings had exhausted the stored energy.
New Ability Unlocked!
Element Burst - Elemental Affinities - ¡ï¡ï¡ï By absorbing pure mana of a given element and storing it up without allowing it to circulate through your body, you are able to release a blast of that element at its full potential of power.
Well¡­ that would be an epic attack, if I had the time to gather the mana like that¡­ I shook my head, knowing that expecting two or three seconds in a heated battle to charge an attack is hoping for a miracle, let alone two or three minutes. Maybe when my affinity increases I¡¯ll be able to take the mana in faster and use the attack in combat. Still¡­ the power of that attack. I should have gathered somewhere around three hundred mana, but it was all pure light mana. That means it would have been a 100% affinity, rather than my 8%, so it should have been the equivalent of me firing a light blast with over 3500 mana. I¡¯ll have to remember that trick in the future, because it could come in handy. ¡°What was that?¡± Celeste suddenly spoke up from my wrist, staring in the direction that the light had gone. ¡°Ah¡­ guess you could call it an ultimate attack?¡± I smiled slightly. ¡°Huh¡­ Well, it was certainly interesting. But, if there were any creatures that were still hostile towards you¡­ you just sent them an invitation.¡± She smirked to me as my face paled. She was right, Arriane had assured the cooperation of this section of the jungle, but a blast like that might have been seen or sensed by others. Immediately, I changed my feathers back to leaves, and flew into the sky. In the distance, from four different directions I could see the trees shaking, some moving aside while others advanced forward. When I focused my X-Ray and Zoom combo, I found massive plants burrowing closer from underground as well. No time to sit around! I shook my head and flew off, cultivating Plant Affinity again to help me blend in with the forest. Between the big trees above, and the giant squid-like roots below, I had no hopes of winning an all out battle. And even less desire to try! My body continued to fly farther and higher, because the further away I was from the ground, the better right now. I had yet to see a flying plant, and I doubted I would see one now-- RWAAAAAA!!! Ohfuck, was that a roar? Looking in the direction it came from, thankfully behind me, I saw what looked like a massive tangle of vines flying through the sky. Its body was in the shape of a giant serpent, with two wings made of wood and leaves that spread out dozens of meters in each direction. Its teeth were like giant thorns, and it had two front claws, each made of twisted branches. I was no longer happy to have such an effective zoom feature on my eye. But that wasn¡¯t the worst part. The worst part¡­ was that this one had eyes. Eyes that could quite clearly see the only creature on this planet that was not in some way born of plants. Unlike all of the other plant monsters, this dragon(because there is really no better name for it, seriously) came flying straight towards me. ¡°Come on, come on, not going to be dragon fertilizer!¡± I flew as fast as I could, and when that wasn¡¯t enough, I cast a series of runes on myself to increase my flight speed even more. Even with all of that, I was still just barely as fast as the hungry hungry plant. I could fight it. I would almost certainly lose, but I really don¡¯t have a lot of options at this point. Wanting to probe its ability, I stored my magic staff in my inventory and instead retrieved my rifle. ¡°Celeste, need some aiming help!¡± ¡°I¡¯m on it!¡± Immediately, a red line was drawn in my vision, emitting out from the tip of my rifle. Doing a quick spin, I activated my Record function on my eye for a split second as I lined up the shot. Since this made me instinctively know everything caught in my vision, I was able to pull the trigger the instant the shot lined up. 360 no scope, bitch! I grinned to myself and resumed flying, cancelling the Record. After a moment there was a sharp roar, and I turned my head to see that the plant dragon was missing a chunk of its face. Maybe with a half dozen more shots like that, I could even bring it down! Unfortunately, my rifle was the one weapon I hadn¡¯t focused on charging. There was enough energy in it for two more shots at most, but after that it would be empty. And that dragon did not look like it would wait for me to charge it up. I might be able to finish it off if I empty my pistol into it, but every time I do a spin to take a shot I¡¯d lose a bit of space between myself and the dragon. A hundred shots¡­ I¡¯d get eaten first. I might be able to do an Element Burst, if I can live long enough to charge up the mana. The only question is what element? A blast of plant mana would likely heal the dragon like it had done for the slime before. The only other abundant mana types in the air were wind and light. I didn¡¯t really trust a light blast to finish it off, and wind even less so. ¡°Dammit, if only¡­¡± I looked around quickly, until I saw somewhat dark clouds off to my left. I¡¯ll lose a bit of distance, but it¡¯s my only choice. Refreshing the speed buffs, I shot off towards the small storm clouds. I just had to be thankful that this was not a true dragon. If it was, it would probably have magic or a breath weapon to fire at me, instead of simply charging. ¡°Faster, Falenel, faster!¡± Celeste spoke up from my wrist, looking behind me with a worried expression. If she was actually able to see through her hologram, I¡¯d just have her guide my shots without having to turn back. It was a bit of a waste of mana, but I urged wind mana to push my wings further and harder, letting me gain a bit of distance. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. By the way, I should go ahead and state just how dumb I think this is, with my flying TOWARDS a storm cloud with the INTENTION to get struck by lightning multiple times. On the off chance I survive this, I then plan to FIRE said lightning at a fucking DRAGON. Taking a quick glance back, I did not like how close those teeth were getting. I almost didn¡¯t have to use the zoom feature to see how angry it was. Just a few more minutes till the cloud¡­ I thought to myself as I kept flying as fast as I possibly could. ¡°Celeste, mind if I put you away for a moment? Don¡¯t want you to get fried if this falls through, or worse yet, if this works.¡± ¡°Uh huh, sure¡­¡± She said, nodding her head quickly. Being stuck between a dragon and a lightning storm, she didn¡¯t seem to have too much hesitation towards hiding in my grove. If it were possible, I¡¯d have been right there with her. It took most of my mana to send her into the grove, but the dense plant mana was steadily increasing it back up. Not only that, but I was just now arriving at the edge of the storm cloud. With my Aura Sight, I was able to see where the densest mass of lightning mana was, and flew straight towards it. At the same time, I changed all of the leaves on my wings to match the lightning element, and did my best to control them so as to stop them from flying to the ground again. ¡°Come on, you big ugly storm. Show me who¡¯s boss!¡± I yelled at the cloud. Why not, everything else here wants a piece of me. After a few moments, the first bolt of lightning struck. I could already feel it gathering at my wings, overloading them and running through my entire body.
Lost an argument with lightning.
-60 HP
As soon as the bolt hit, I hurriedly cast my Alchemic Heal spell in preparation for the next one. By the time I had cast the second time, a third bolt of lightning struck me, further charging my wings. By now, sparks were flying everywhere from my body, and it looked as if I was the center of the storm. However, I simply continued casting Alchemic Heal, again and again. The small bit of lightning that I allowed myself to absorb to fuel that spell was quickly replaced a hundred fold by more bolts. Finally, I turned back to face the dragon, who was now mere seconds from eating my face(and the rest of me in the same bite, if I was lucky). Fully extending my four wings, I felt myself losing altitude with my new posture. If this works, I¡¯d be able to recover in time to land, and if not then I just wouldn¡¯t really need to worry about that rescue anymore. The eighth grader inside of me couldn¡¯t help but yell out as I released the lightning in a single massive bolt. ¡°Lightning Burst!¡± I would like to point out at this point, that my 7% lightning affinity gave me next to no control over 100% pure lightning. As such, I could merely give it a direction to go, and pray to god it moved in a straight line. For the most part, the lightning did indeed move straight. About a third of it branched off and spread in pretty much every direction. However, that also left two thirds pure lightning moving straight towards the dragon. And fun fact, lightning moves at a third of the speed of light, over one hundred million meters per second. By my estimation, the dragon was less than a thousand meters away from me, giving it¡­ less than one percent of one percent of a second to avoid the blast. Another fun fact, this dragon is not that fast. If it was, I¡¯d have been dead long ago. After the blast was fired, I was left blinded for a while, correcting my wings and returning them to normal as I used the wind currents to right myself. Note to self, next time you fire a mega blast of lightning, DON¡¯T LOOK AT IT! It took several long minutes before my eyes were able to make out anything. The mere fact that I survived that long would seem to indicate that the dragon had been defeated. When I was finally able to see, I found that I was only a few dozen meters from the tops of the nearby trees, and quickly changed as much of my aura as I could to plant mana, by cultivating Plant Affinity and making the leaf wings. Ahead of me, I saw a large path of collapsed trees, and smoke rising from the front of the path. I had barely a sliver of health remaining after the repeated lightning strikes, but it was worth it since I killed the dragon! ¡­ Wait, why didn¡¯t I level up? I did kill the dragon, right? Oh god, I really hope I didn¡¯t just make it mad. Flying over, I saw the massive body of the flying plant serpent being wrapped up by vines, and with my Aura Sight I saw plant mana being injected into it. Oh, you have to be kidding me¡­ they¡¯re healing it?! I looked back to the shrinking storm cloud, wondering if I would be able to get one last blast in. I quickly decided that I probably couldn¡¯t, and that I should instead use this time to make like a tree and leaf.
Almost defeated a Nature Wyrm. Almost, but have a reward anyways.
You have leveled up(x5) Inventory space increased to 5x5 Luck increased by 5 Wild Luck has increased to Basic
Wow, five levels at once, from only a partial defeat¡­. and does this god have a fetish for the number five? I turned around and flew away as fast as I could, not wanting to be anywhere nearby when that ¡®nature wyrm¡¯ woke up. At the same time, I took a chance to look at my status and spend my points, because I may be needing them soon.
NameFalenel HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful HeartFame0
Level 2035%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health150/150Health Regen0.25
Mana770/770Mana Regen1.02
Strength12Wisdom80
Agility20Intelligence77
Dexterity20Charisma10
Vitality15Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 10%Fire 8%Wind 8%Water 8%
Lightning 8%Light 8%Dark 10%Plant 11%
Void 5%Luck 2%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Novice Level 4: 3%
Nature Magic - Basic Level 4: 20%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 6: 41.5%
Archery - Beginner Level 3: 12.9%
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 3: 14.1%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 1: 0%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 50%
Herbology - Beginner Level 9: 2%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Alchemy - Basic Level 1: 0%
Mana Signatures - Basic Level 9: 11%
Cooking - Basic Level 3: 52%
Flight - Beginner Level 6: 12.3%
Aura Sight - Basic Level 6: 0%
Technomancy - Basic Level 5: 19%
Programming - Intermediate Level 3: 10%
Runic Language - Intermediate Level 1: 0%
Enchanting - Beginner Level 7: 8%
Engineering - Basic Level 1: 18%
Maintenance - Basic Level 3: 2%
Dodge - Beginner Level 1: 19%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 2: 13%
Marksmanship - Beginner Level 7: 0%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 2: 42%
Chapter 43: First Arc, Complete! Author¡¯s Corner: Enjoy the chapter!
After my brave and heroic fight with the evil nature wyrm¡­ okay, so I was running like a scared puppy the entire time and only managed to knock it out with a cheap shot that nearly fried my entire body, but still. After my BRAVE and HEROIC fight, I decided not to stick around and wait for the cheers of the audience, and left fashionably early. Once again, I made sure that I was disguising myself with as much plant mana as druid-ly possible to avoid the detection of the trees or other monsters. Every now and then, I would hear a roar from the distance that reminded me that I had made a very angry enemy on this planet, and would likely be spending the rest of the time here running away from it. On the bright side, forcing myself to absorb so much lightning at once kicked my affinity up by an extra percentage, bringing it to 8%! But¡­ I¡¯m not going to be throwing myself into lightning storms just to raise my affinity like that. After flying until the sun finally decided to set, I found a nearby tree to land on(one I made sure wouldn¡¯t eat me if my mana control slipped). Before doing anything else, I decided that I would first fully charge my rifle. Given that the fight might have ended far sooner if I could have just shot it to death, I no longer put off charging my only long range weapon. Though, the charging process took ages, even with my increased mana regeneration. Three hours later, and all my weapons were charged. Looking down to my wrist, I figured now would be a safe time to call Celeste back, and thus the metal bracelet appeared in my wrist again. Almost instantly, the holographic woman appeared above the device. ¡°Is it over? Are you okay?¡± She quickly noticed that we were still in the forest. ¡°Did you manage to escape? You didn¡¯t kill it, did you?¡± ¡°Yes, yes, sort of, I wish¡­¡± I took my time, laughing as I answered her questions in order. ¡°Unfortunately, a condensed lightning bolt in its face was not enough to kill it. I took off while the trees were healing it. Willing to bet that it¡¯s not very happy with me right now.¡± As if on cue, there was a loud roar in the distance, but I guessed that it was moving away from me since it sounded a bit farther away than the last one. Celeste shuddered slightly at the roar, but then let out a relieved sigh. Afterwards, she quickly looked up to me. ¡°You gained a power boost, didn¡¯t you? Your mana feels stronger than before.¡± I nodded my head a bit. ¡°Five levels, most I¡¯ve ever gotten at once. If I had to guess, that should have been at least a level fifty monster, which would explain why a giant lightning bolt to the face didn¡¯t kill it.¡± Celeste nodded slightly, still looking slightly worried. ¡°But, it¡¯s safe now, right?¡± I smiled to her. ¡°Should be. But when we get out of this, I am going to pass out for a week, I swear.¡± She giggled a bit at that. ¡°Fine, fine, but not until you show me your world!¡± ¡°Deal. Now, let¡¯s see about doing some maintenance on these weapons.¡± I pulled my three weapons out of my inventory, setting them on my lap. ¡°It would be good if I could fix them up a bit and increase their performance. As I just learned, I am not at the level yet where I can just rely purely on my magic.¡± As I spoke, I began to work my Technomancy, searching out any flaws I could find in the hardware. ¡°Yeah¡­ Okay, I¡¯ll help however I can!¡± The holographic woman called out encouragingly, and we searched through the aura of the first weapon, the beam saber. Now that I understood what the principles behind the weapon were, it was much easier to look for the faults. Before, it was just a matter of finding which parts were unusable, now I could find which parts were not working as well as they could. For instance, the magnetic field generator looked like it was only operating at around half of its best, which made the blade take more energy to maintain the same shape. It also gave it the possibility of failing if energy ran low, and having the plasma explode outwards, which might kill me as well as the enemy. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have any spare parts to fix it with, so I was at a bit of a loss. If something were cracked, I could weld it together to fix it. But this was corroded, likely by the same malfunction that had originally damaged the energy core. If I was able to use metal mana, I could probably fix this¡­ will add it to my to-do list. I sighed, shaking my head slightly. After that, I went through the code of the device, having Celeste help me as I confirmed that none of it was corrupted. I figured that the code of the weapons would be fine, because they still worked without catastrophic failures, but always better to check first. With that done, I moved on to the pistol, and actually found a crack in the casing of the energy core. Although it didn¡¯t cause a constant leak, it likely caused a bit of energy to be wasted after every shot. Using my Technomancy, I caused the gun to fall to pieces, with each piece hovering in the air in front of me. Then, I used a high intensity flame from my fingers to seal the crack. After letting it cool off, I then had the pieces reassemble themselves into a gun. I was tempted to fire it to check how much the difference was, but there was the chance that would attract more monsters. Finally, I went on to the rifle. Is there a rule saying that bigger weapons have to get beaten up the most? There were five different cracks I had to seal up in the rifle, including the magnetic accelerator, and the energy core chamber. Aside from that, I noticed that the magnetic accelerator had a damaged connection that I would need to fix later, making it unable to propel the blasts as fast as it should. Maybe if this thing had been working properly, I would have been able to knock down that dragon in three shots. I sighed, shaking my head. After fixing the cracks, I began an age old process of removing rust¡­ with citrus fruits. Retrieving three enrichment fruits from my grove, I used my Plant Manipulation to remove their juice, and sprinkle it over the metal. After letting it set for a bit, I turned my hand into a roughly furred bear paw and brushed at the metal. While not an entirely effective solution, it did help a little bit. Repeating this process with all of the weapons took more time than I care to explain, but after I was done the sun had began to rise. The rust was not entirely removed from any of the weapons, but I was starting to run out of enrichment fruits, and did not trust any of the vegetation here to be safe to eat. More likely, I¡¯d try to pick a fruit, and the tree would eat me instead. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.I decided that the best use of my time at this point would be to continue cultivating. I had five affinities all stuck at 8%, and wanted all of them to be at 10% before I started training the new elements I wanted. And so far, the new elements I was wanting were plasma, magnetism, and metal. I¡¯m sure if I gave it long enough, I¡¯d find more elements that I really wanted to add to the list. I could most certainly advance my individual elements more quickly if I just focused on one or two at a time, but I wasn¡¯t really in a rush at this point. Having raised my level to twenty, I was now more worried that my skills wouldn¡¯t match up to my level. I didn¡¯t really know what the standard was for power, but I figured that by level twenty I should probably have at least one combat oriented skill at novice rank. While technically, I could use my knowledge of runes to create spells of that level, I¡¯m a druid not a mage. I want to do druid things! With that in mind, I spent the next several hours practicing my cultivation, not raising a single percent in any of my elements even though I felt myself drawing closer. After a few hours, I felt a new energy around me, something I had never felt before. Looking at my inventory, I found the signal beacon and took it out. It seemed to be radiating this energy while vibrating. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time to go.¡± ¡°Finally!¡± Celeste spoke up from my wrist. ¡°We¡¯ve been waiting ages.¡± I smiled down to her, nodding my head slightly as the energy continued to surround me. After a few moments, it began condensing into a visible shroud of light, and the nearby plants apparently took notice of the new mana. Before the light completely blocked out my view, I saw branches and vines surging towards me. Thankfully, this seemed to be a summoning spell, and the plants didn¡¯t have time to skewer me. A moment after I was completely shrouded in light, the light just as quickly vanished. I now found myself sitting inside a large domed building, atop a giant runic circle surrounded by several dozen people. Some of them were nothing but corpses, with either slash wounds or missing limbs, while others like myself were fully intact. Most people had some form of injury, though. Standing around the circle were several people in mage robes. Each one was holding a large gem similar to my staff¡¯s mana gem(though likely containing far more mana). A few had passed out, and were being carried off by nearby personnel, while others simply walked off to find somewhere to sit. Finally, there were people dressed in official uniforms, mostly elves, that walked up to the group of rescued people. ¡°I¡¯d like to have your attention, everyone. We understand what has happened to the various ships you were all riding on, and we apologize. We had no way of knowing that the Klax would decide to take up such hostile actions.¡± There were various murmurs from the summoned crowd, as only a few agreed with the representative. Obviously, nobody would be happy if they were suddenly attacked, and this guy got saddled with the PR. Now that we were here safely, though, I decided to dismiss my plant-like angel wings. Almost instantly, I felt the result of going two days without proper food. Although the mana had been enough to sustain me, it had not filled my stomach. ¡°Now, I would appreciate it if you would all take a moment to speak with the officers here to go over things. While we are aware of the general situation, any details you can provide would help.¡± As he said that, he waved towards a line of men in similar uniforms, who stepped forward in unison. Shrugging, I moved up to my feet, one hand on my stomach which was demanding food. ¡°Now, I¡¯m sure all of you are worried, but we will be reimbursing you the cost of your trips so that you may get food and rest until you are ready to move on.¡±
Incoming call from Dravin
Dad? Why¡¯s he messaging me? I shrugged my shoulders and answered the call, speaking as quietly as possible. ¡°Yes? What¡¯s up, pops?¡± ¡°You online right now?¡± His voice sounded a bit worried, catching me by surprise. ¡°Yeah, why?¡± ¡°You should log off and check the news as soon as you can.¡± Again, I was surprised by his statement. Part of me considered just logging out right now, but falling over asleep in this situation would not be the best thing in the world. ¡°Will do so soon, thanks.¡± Since he told me this much, it was probably not something he could easily explain to me, so there wasn¡¯t much point in asking. I quickly made my way over to one of the officers, who nodded and led me out of the room, and into an adjoining room with a single table and two chairs. From there, he asked me various questions, such as who I was and which ship I was on, followed by what happened to the ship. I was in a hurry to get out of here so that I could A) get myself a bite to eat, and B) find out what¡¯s wrong on the outside. Of course, I had a fairly good idea what was going on once I left, because the officer said something that made me freeze in my tracks. ¡°Take care of yourself, and happy new year.¡± Once he said that, I immediately remembered what day it was, the day that the Seeds would be released to the world. Suddenly, my stomach seemed like a secondary matter as I found a bench to plant myself on before moving Celeste to my grove and logging out. I nearly threw the lid of my Seed off as I got up, heading to my computer while bringing the AI bracelet back. Just as I was sitting down, a blue window flashed into existence in front of me, with none of the slowness it had previously shown in the real world.
Mana integration is now at 100%, welcome to the Genesis of a new world. Over the following days and weeks, monsters will begin spawning randomly. It is suggested that people take measures to prevent monsters from spawning within their homes or places of business. We at Manifest Industries apologize if this is an inconvenience.
A quick search showed me that this message has already appeared for everyone in the world, whether they have logged into the game or not. Looks like it¡¯s really started now¡­
Author¡¯s Basement: And with this, Arc One: Genesis has been completed! Stay tuned tomorrow for the beginning of the second story arc, which will be more focused on the real world problems faced by the actions of this game. Chapter 44: Second Arc, Start! Author¡¯s Corner: Curse you sleep, for making me unable to write until late!
After confirming that the message was sent to everyone, I began looking for other important news. What I found made me quite angry. It turns out, every home in the world now had at least one Seed in it, more for larger families. There was no explanation about where they came from, they were just suddenly installed in the room when nobody was looking. I spent three month¡¯s worth of money to get that damn Seed, and now I find out everyone gets it for free?! What was the point of the preorders then? I grumbled under my breath as I continued reading the news. There weren¡¯t any reports of monsters appearing yet, but I was sure that was only a matter of time. Naturally, my first priority was to protect my house from monsters spawning in, and I had just one way of doing it(at least, it should work). Gathering my mana, I attuned myself to the Void Affinity, and began gathering my mana to begin the process of refining a Seed of Void. Since magic doesn¡¯t function properly within a void field, there was a fairly good chance that monsters would not spawn normally inside of one. Unfortunately, there was hardly any void mana in Earth¡¯s atmosphere, so I had to rely entirely on what I could personally produce. This made the first seed take a full eight hours to be completed, after which I began working on a field energy spell with runes. It wasn¡¯t uncommon for area effect spells to be included in enchantments, so naturally I knew about the runes to do this. And after seeing that large runic circle that had summoned me from another world, I had an idea on how to do this. Simply writing the runes isn¡¯t enough, I also need to power them with mana to activate them. In my room, I walked over to one of the wooden walls and activated my Plant Manipulation, engraving the pattern of runes in a circular formation. When I had seen Jacobs drawing a circle with his staff, it made me think that he was doing so to contain the energy from the enchantment. However, I didn¡¯t want the energy contained for this, so I excluded an outer circle. The instructions I wrote into the runes were quite simple, they would take energy from the air, pull it in, and then match that energy to the strongest mana type already inside the formation. With that done, in the absence of a restraining circle the energy should naturally dissipate into the air in its new form. As the final touch, I made a small socket at the center of the runic spell, and placed the Seed of Void inside, essentially guaranteeing that the strongest mana type would be void mana. Thanks to my Void Manipulation power, I could suppress the effects around myself, letting the mana return to its natural state. Otherwise, I was worried that breathing would become quite a problem if there wasn¡¯t any wind mana. However, this was still the safest method of protecting my house.
Enchanting has increased to Basic
New Sub-Skill Unlocked!
Spell Formations - Basic Level 1 Exp: 0% This skill measures one''s ability to create written spell formations with lasting effects. Currently applicable skills: Enchanting Runic Language
I was a bit surprised to have unlocked a skill, and a Basic level one at that. However, it was not that important. First, I needed to see how far the area of this spell was. Walking out of my room, I moved down the hall while using my Aura Sight to scan the mana. The spell had activated almost instantly, and the mana in the air had already been changed to void mana. About ten feet out of my room, the mana began returning to its natural state. As such, I went ahead and prepared another Seed of Void. This time, I had an ample source of void mana to work with, so there was no problem with the time taken. After creating the second seed, and installing it into an identical pattern, it was already time to sleep. Thinking such, I was going to head up to my room when my feet froze, and I remembered that my room was currently like the vacuum of space, with no breathable air unless I maintained my Void Manipulation. Grumbling, I decided to go sleep on the couch until my Void Affinity was high enough to be maintained without any focus. It was rather different, sleeping in the real world after so long. Not that my couch was uncomfortable or anything, I just had gotten used to sleeping in the game. Though, by now I was wondering just how much of a game it was. Was it possible that the game was, in some manner of time and space, real? And if so, what was the reason? This was definitely not an invasion to wipe out the species, because any race with this kind of tech could just as easily erase the planet from the solar system. Then, another thing that was just as disturbing, was the realization that there were humans in the game. Obviously that shouldn¡¯t be possible if this was just a case of aliens transporting us somewhere to adapt to a new ¡®galactic policy¡¯ with magic. Unless by some freak coincidence, humans evolved the same way on another world as well. I put these thoughts out of my mind as I let myself fall asleep. When I woke, I ate an enrichment fruit for breakfast and then began cultivating Void Affinity. If I can get that up to 10%, sleeping in my bed shouldn¡¯t be a problem anymore. I could only grumble helplessly, though, because Void Affinity was the lowest of affinities I had cultivated, so it would take several days for it to reach 10% even if I focused entirely on it. Part of me considered logging back into the game in order to speed up the training, but my house wasn¡¯t secure yet. If a goblin or something spawned in, they could wreck the place while I was training. At least with me here, I could either disperse the mana while the monster tried to spawn or kill it after it had done so. And sure enough, after I had spent about six hours cultivating my Void Affinity, I could feel a shift in the flow of mana. Opening my eyes, I got up and followed the shift, finding currents of mana running through the halls and into my kitchen. ¡°Oh hell no, I am not letting some monster rampage in my kitchen.¡± If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Once I got to the kitchen, I found streams of fire, wind, water, and earth mana spiraling in a single spot. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Celeste spoke up from my wrist, making her presence known for the first time since I got back to the real world. ¡°Looks like a monster is forming.¡± While this would be an excellent time to study it and learn more about monsters, maybe even how to create my own, my priorities were more inclined to stop it. As such, I sent out a wave of my own mana, controlling the various elements to disperse before they could form into something solid. Thankfully, the mana types involved this time weren¡¯t some obscure secondary element that I had no control over. Then again, the more rare an element, the less likely it would come together with enough density to form a monster in the first place. ¡°So¡­ is that it?¡± Celeste asks in a rather disappointed manner from my wrist. ¡°I think so? Doesn¡¯t look like the mana is gathering anymore. But this means that monsters have started spawning.¡± No sooner had my words ended than I got an alert from my house¡¯s AI about an incoming call. ¡°Put it through.¡± What I saw on the wall, displayed by a hologram of far less quality than the one that made Celeste, was that same officer that had spoken to me before. What was his name? Fenec, Fingers¡­ Faraday! Right, Officer Faraday. ¡°What can I do for you, officer?¡± The man let out a sigh. ¡°Surely you¡¯re aware of the situation by now, unless you just came out of the game.¡± ¡°Yeah, the Seeds were released, and by now monsters should be starting to appear. I just had to disperse one in my kitchen.¡± The officer raised a curious eyebrow at that. ¡°Do you know what type of monster it was?¡± I shook my head in answer to his question. ¡°No, I stopped it from spawning before that became an issue.¡± I swear the officer nearly choked on his words. ¡°Y-you can stop them from spawning? How?¡± I thought about it, and realized this wasn¡¯t anything obvious, so went ahead and explained. ¡°Monsters are formed by dense mana coming together and giving shape. My class ability lets me interfere with most common types of mana, so I stopped it from gathering before it could coalesce.¡± He paused for a moment, and then looked off to the side. ¡°I¡¯m going to put you on hold for a little bit, alright?¡± When I nodded, the hologram vanished and a rather annoying song began playing instead. ¡°Mute the call until he comes back, please.¡± I really hated the ¡®on hold¡¯ music places offered. It took roughly fifteen minutes before he reappeared as a hologram on my kitchen wall. ¡°Sorry, had to talk with the chief. I¡¯ve got him listening in now. What can you tell us about your current class?¡± I blinked a bit, surprised, as I could see where this was probably going. ¡°I¡¯m a druid, and our special ability is to interact with the ambient mana of the world. In order to do so, we have to spend some time training our magic to properly match the elemental affinity of the mana in order to control it.¡± After listening to my explanation, there was a second voice that came in through the call. ¡°Can you teach it to others? If our officers were able to do that, we could stop monsters from spawning along our patrol routes.¡± I thought about whether or not I could. ¡°You¡¯d have to learn how to control and sense mana first, which is best done inside NeoLife. Training there would also be faster, since time moves five times as quickly. If you got the mana control and mana sense, then I could teach you how to cultivate the affinities.¡± There was a pause as they seemed to talk about it. I could see where they were coming from with this. Although warriors and mages might be better equipped to fight monsters after they¡¯ve spawned, a druid¡¯s abilities could keep them from appearing in the first place. Now, if they were able to learn the rune language, they¡¯d have an even greater chance of fighting. Unfortunately, asking someone to learn language composed of a hundred million symbols was essentially an impossible task. ¡°We don¡¯t have that kind of time, but we¡¯ll have our off duty officers participate in this game. For now, we need a more immediate solution. It¡¯s not widespread yet, but monsters are appearing randomly all over the city. We¡¯ve confirmed only small ones so far, green monsters likely to be goblins or something, as well as slimes. We can handle the goblins, but those slime creatures are practically unkillable with conventional weapons.¡± I nodded at that, and explained. ¡°I encountered a slime monster in the game recently. They are strong against physical attacks, but can be easily destroyed with energy attacks or magic. As long as they aren¡¯t a fire slime, you can try burning them to death.¡± The man let out a sigh, and I felt like he was nodding his head in the background. ¡°That¡¯ll help a bit. Flamethrowers are better than nothing, and if energy works we can use shock sticks. Still, that¡¯s going to be a rough job.¡± They talk amongst themselves for a few more minutes before they get back to me. ¡°I won¡¯t beat around the bush here. We need someone able to fight these monsters as they appear, and currently the police aren¡¯t able to do that yet. You want a job?¡±
Author¡¯s Basement: I know! Short chapter, but that just felt like the best spot to end it on. Chapter 45: First Day on the Job Author¡¯s Corner: I swear I¡¯m not a bear, I just like to hibernate.
I thought about the offer for a few minutes, nodding my head. ¡°Sure. I need some income, and this works out perfectly.¡± The officer flinched a bit when I mentioned money, but I really did need some income, and he had called this a job after all. However, the other voice seemed to understand. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they had investigated me and knew about my financial situation. ¡°Deal. But we¡¯ll need you on call whenever a situation arises, until our own officers can handle the problems.¡± I nodded, understanding that. Monsters could appear in the middle of the night just as easily as during the day, so I couldn¡¯t exactly ask for specific hours. This also meant I¡¯d be unable to get back in the game very easily, since I could be needed at any time. ¡°Alright. I take it you¡¯ll just be calling me when more slimes, or other difficult monsters appear?¡± Again, it was the offscreen voice that spoke. ¡°That¡¯s right. And there¡¯s a few you can take care of now. We managed to corral some slimes at the mall on 6th Street, but we haven¡¯t been able to kill them. Head on over and take care of the situation.¡± With that, the connection was cut, leaving me blinking at where the hologram had once been. ¡°Well, he was pretty rude.¡± Celeste spoke up from my wrist, making me smile wryly. ¡°Yeah, but it¡¯s a bad situation. You¡¯ve got to remember not to come out around other people. They might want to take you to study, and we wouldn¡¯t want that.¡± After I said that, her digital face paled a bit and she nodded. ¡°You can talk to me through the Cybernetic eye, and I¡¯ll respond when I can. Now¡­ let¡¯s go play at being a dragon.¡± Hearing me say that made Celeste grin broadly as I walked out the front door. Although I didn¡¯t have my adaptive armor with me in the real world, which I didn¡¯t think about until after I shifted. My body hunched over like a wolf, covered in green scales, with large bat-like wings coming out of my back. I could feel as the various spines protruded from my back and along my new tail¡­ and as my clothes were torn to shreds during this process. Well¡­ guess I won¡¯t be changing back until I return. With a brief flap of my wings, I adjusted to the new flight method and awkwardly took to the skies. It took a few moments before I was able to fly the direction I wanted, but my practice with the lovebird wings paid off. As my mana began recovering, I also added in the aura I had learned from the lesser orthrus to let me breathe elemental magic. For right now, the element I aligned it to was Void, as it would do the least harm to the surroundings.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Magic Breath - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡î By studying the aura of a creature with a magical breath weapon, you have discovered and replicated the secrets to releasing the power of the elements in your breath. Mana Cost: 500
I was a bit surprised by the window suddenly appearing, but managed to correct my flight before it caused me to tumble into the ground. With a bit of difficulty, I turned my body and flew off towards the mall, located just a few miles from my house. It only took about five minutes for me to get to the large square building, and I could clearly see the police forming a blockade around the mall. Each of the two entrances were surrounded by concrete barricades that had been quickly erected. As I swooped down towards the front entrance, a few of the officers looked up at me in alarm and pulled out their weapons. I¡¯m on your side, idiots! I thought to myself as Celeste drew out their trajectories, and I dodged sideways to avoid the hail of bullets while making my way into the mall by crashing through the door. Now that I was inside, I was able to determine that it was more than ¡®just a few¡¯ slimes. Everywhere I looked, the slimes were covering the floor. They might have duplicated after arriving, but this was still a lot to look at. I estimated that there had to be at least a hundred slimes the size of the one that I saw in the jungle planet. Well, that one was almost painfully easy to deal with, so let¡¯s just get this over with. Taking a deep breath, I poured the magic from the small sphere of void mana in my aura into my mouth, preparing to unleash my new attack. However, what I released was not a breath of magic cancellation like I had expected. Instead, it felt as if there was an intense suction force applied to my breath. After releasing the magic, all of the slimes in front of me began to shiver, their bodies all sliding towards me faster than they should naturally be able to move. However, the chairs and loose objects did not show any reaction. With my Aura Sight, I could see that only mana was being drawn towards me, so likely only creatures made of mana like monsters would be affected in this way. Still, as I held the breath in place and the first slime was picked up off the ground just a few feet in front of me, I began to worry I might be swallowing acid. Hoping that I was wrong, and I mean really hoping, I let the slime finish its course and watched as it got sucked into my mouth. I prepared myself for internal burning which never came. Instead, it was like there was a surge of mana inside of me, as slime after slime flew into my mouth. After I was finally done breathing out(in?) with the void mana, I took a look at what had happened. I quickly discovered two effects from this breath weapon. The first one was that it completely refilled my mana pool, but the second was far more interesting. When I inspected my grove, I saw that it had expanded by a full four meters in radius, bringing it up to 15 meters. Though only a third of it was for the ground, that was still a massive improvement for all at once. Sadly, my affinities didn¡¯t increase from this, but I¡¯ll take what I can get. Turning to another group of Slimes, I released a second void breath weapon. This time, I fully appreciated how it was like my mouth had become a black hole for magic, sucking in slimes of every color. Green and yellow, black and white, even a few red ones. Eventually, they all ended up as fuel for my grove. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. This process repeated for a few more times, before I was done with the slimes in the immediate vicinity. Making a quick run of the mall, I found a few stragglers around, and quickly took care of them. The most interesting was a slime that had appeared in the clothing store. Well, I call it a slime¡­ but it was like its body was made of sticky threads. I¡¯ll call it a cloth slime for now. That one didn¡¯t help my grove expand any, but by the time I was done clearing the mall, I had gained another six meters of radius. While I was in there, I decided to help myself to an outfit. The security camera just ¡®happened¡¯ to be on the fritz as a small dragon walked in, grabbed some clothes, and went to the changing room. After I left, I made sure to ¡®fix¡¯ it, so kind of me right? When I emerged from the mall, I let out a light burp, and felt as if I had eaten a full meal. The officers on the other side of the barricade stared at me, some with their weapons aimed in my direction. ¡°Identify yourself!¡± One called out, and I let out a sigh. ¡°I¡¯m John Hulett, your chief sent me over to clean up. You can check with him if you want.¡± The officer blinked, but got on his radio to verify. After a few moments, he looked up at me. ¡°What about that other monster that just flew in there? Did you take care of that one too?¡± Again, another sigh. ¡°That was me. I was in a hurry to get here, so I decided to fly. Check with Officer Faraday, he¡¯s seen me change before. These are clean clothes, so I don¡¯t want to ruin them by doing so right now.¡± Once again, they verified the information with their headquarters, and then the officer lowered his weapon, signalling the others to do the same. ¡°Well, thanks for the support, then. I take it you got them all?¡± ¡°Well, I couldn¡¯t check the air vents, but I got all of them I could find.¡± I nodded, though really I did check to see if there was any slime on the vent covers. I just didn¡¯t want to go digging around in them. Also, wasn¡¯t I the one doing all the work here? Since when was that simply support? Turning to the side, I walked off to head back home. I had considered flying, but I just got these clothes. I didn¡¯t want to ruin another set so quickly. On the way, I noticed a number of people had already been changed by the game over the last day and a half. Although I had expected nobody to choose a non-humanoid race, since it was already public knowledge, I did see a few. For instance, shortly after leaving the mall, I saw a woman slithering down the sidewalk with the lower body of a snake. There were also plenty of elves, especially among the women, and a couple of orcs. The strangest person I saw on the way home looked like he belonged to the balloon-headed race of the pet shop clerk I had spoken to on Hascion. I could understand people choosing elves because they wanted to look younger, or even a naga because they have an attractive upper body, but why would anyone choose that when knowing that the choice would carry over? Suddenly, a message appeared in my Cybernetic eye from Celeste. Your world has so many different species, Falenel. It¡¯s like we¡¯re back at X-23.. I chuckled dryly, shaking my head. ¡°Call me John out here. And we were all humans once. This is a new thing that you wouldn¡¯t have seen a couple days ago.¡± Wow.. And sure, John. You have a different name here? ¡°Yeah, I chose the name Falenel on a whim, and then was unable to change it. Here, I¡¯m just John Hulett.¡± Talking to Celeste wasn¡¯t a problem here, because people were far more interested in looking at the balloon head or snake woman to notice one elf that might be talking into a headset. Wow.. I never thought I¡¯d be able to see so many races living together, even if they were all once humans. But, you¡¯re seriously going to go around hunting monsters for those people? They didn¡¯t seem to appreciate it much at all. ¡°They¡¯re the local law enforcement, so they might see me as some kind of mercenary, which wouldn¡¯t really be wrong. And there are some perks to it, aside from just the money.¡± There was a line of question marks flooding my Cybernetic eye, making me laugh. ¡°I checked my grove, and it had a massive expansion after I sucked in the mana from those monsters. If I keep at this, it shouldn¡¯t take too long for me to be able to make my grove pretty big¡± Ahh...But mostly it¡¯s for the money, right? ¡°Naturally. I¡¯ve got to be able to pay the bills, after all. And once the cops train themselves up, I can head back to the game and work on getting that spell to transfer you over for good.¡± I could feel her excitement as the bracelet buzzed slightly at that. Yay! I hope they don¡¯t take too long. ¡°Same. But, whenever I have downtime, that gives me the time I need to train my affinities. I should be able to get everything up to 10% within a week, if I¡¯m really lucky.¡± By now, I was turning the corner, and able to see my house. I could sense a disturbed flow of mana, rushing into my yard. Running forward, I got there in time to see the mana starting to condense, a pair of cloven hooves touching the ground. This one seemed far bigger and more powerful than the monster that would have spawn before, but I just grimaced, activating the Aspect of the Magic Breath again to send another void breath towards where the mana had been gathering. Like with the slimes, the hooves(and the mana that had been trying to construct the rest of the monster) began flying into my mouth, disappearing into what must have been an infinite void. ¡°I really, really like that spell.¡± I heard a giggle from my bracelet after I said that, and turned to head into the house. Sitting back on the couch, I pulled out an enrichment fruit to eat while getting back to work cultivating my Void Affinity. I was determined to get to 10% in that, so that I could once again sleep in the comfort of my bed. Chapter 46: Not all Changes are Good. Author¡¯s Corner: Enjoy the chapter! Sorry again for the lateness, the only thing worse than preparing for the holidays is cleaning up after them.
The rest of the day passed by without much incident. The house AI alerted me that a deposit had been made to my account, which made me happy. With that, I could pay the bills for a bit longer, at least. However, there wasn¡¯t another call from the police today. Either no more slimes spawned, or they had been able to take care of everything that appeared. Instead of religiously training my Void Affinity, I stopped late that night after reaching 8%, and decided to test out whether other game systems transferred over to the real world. First, the inventory. I was a bit surprised to find that it was the same size as the one on my game character, but at the same time it was entirely empty. This only confirmed again that the only way for me to transfer items would be to use the grove. Next, my friend¡¯s list. When I opened my friend¡¯s list, I saw all of the same names as from the game. Jacobs, Sharon, Dravin, and Marion. However, except for Sharon, they all had the word ¡®Unavailable¡¯ next to their names. Does that mean that they are logged in? It wouldn¡¯t be weird if the real world couldn¡¯t connect to chat with the game. On the other hand, it¡¯d be extremely weird if it could, given the time differences. For the time being, I decided not to call Sharon. Maybe later, but for right now I needed to talk with Jacobs. Hopefully, the chat wouldn¡¯t take too long, as I just wanted a simple explanation. ¡°Computer, can you connect to my NeoLife contact list?¡± ¡°Affirmative.¡± The mechanical voice responded. ¡°Alright, please do so, and send a message to contact Jacobs that I need to have a word with him, if he can log out for a few minutes.¡± If need be, I could temporarily disable the spell formation in my room and log in. It would just be a matter of removing the Seed of Void and filling the formation with wind mana. In fact, now that I thought about it, even if I just removed the Seed of Void from the formation, it would still work properly now that it¡¯s been activated. I could create more throughout the house and just activate them with the same seed. Something to think about when I get Void Affinity to 10% I sighed mentally, shaking my head as I awaited the response. I didn¡¯t take too long before it came. ¡°What¡¯s up, man?¡± I could hear Jacobs¡¯ voice over the hologram call, and could guess he logged out. ¡°A bit inconvenient for me to log into the game right now, and wanted to have a word with you. You¡¯ve got Enchanting up to Basic, right?¡± This was what I needed to call him for. Although it might not be a proper lesson, I could at least get a basic explanation from him and start enchanting special effects onto items. ¡°Hmm? Yeah, a while back. Guessing you picked it up too, and need advice on the second stage of enchanting items?¡± ¡°Pretty much. If you know about what¡¯s happening here on the outside, you can understand why I don¡¯t have the time to go find a trainer.¡± I could hear a sigh from the other end of the call. ¡°Yeah, I heard about that a couple days ago. Alright, the trick to it isn¡¯t that complicated. Basically, you just have to create a spell effect, and link it to the aura of an item with a rune that will activate it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t suppose you know which rune¡­?¡± This time it was a chuckle. ¡°Depends on the purpose of the enchantment. Usually, it¡¯s a simple ¡®trigger¡¯ rune, unless you want the ability to be constantly active, or only activate in certain circumstances, in which case you need to get creative. The hard part is finding somewhere to add the spell in without collapsing the aura. If the effect is activated by the trigger rune, then you can just place it so that the outer edges of the two are touching. However, if it is a more involved effect, you¡¯ll need to find somewhere to properly integrate them.¡± I nodded, thinking it over. ¡°And the need for the elemental seeds?¡± ¡°Hmm? Ah, that¡¯s just to basically let the enchanter prepare the spell if they are not able to do so by themselves. For instance, I have no ability to produce a good water spell. They¡¯re also used as fuel to fuse a runic elemental spell with an item.¡± ¡°Alright, thanks. I¡¯ll try it out here in a little bit.¡± With that taken care of, we said our goodbyes, and I laid on the couch again to rest. I began thinking what I would like to enchant. In the game, obviously I wanted to enchant my weapons, maybe my armor. However, I didn¡¯t have any gear yet in the real world, and I didn¡¯t have a crafting profession that would let me make any.¡± If I had the Metal Affinity, I could just make myself a simple sword. Add in the Plasma and Magnetic Affinities, and I might be able to construct a basic beam saber to mimic the one I had in the game. For right now, though, I needed something more basic. After letting myself sleep for a while, I woke up and had a simple breakfast, making sure to keep my Aura Sight up constantly. I didn¡¯t want to risk a monster spawning around me, after all. Once I was done eating, a simple breakfast of bacon and eggs, I sent my mind into my grove, searching around. My void area of my grove had grown to be several times the size of my grove itself. Likely, void space took very little mana to maintain compared to other elements. Breaking off a piece of my grove, I gathered it and sent it into the void area, surrounding it with a bit of wind to make a tiny, separate grove. Once that was done, I planted one of the poisonous fruits I had gotten from the jungle planet, wanting to make a tree to harvest the medicinal sap. Casting my attention back onto my main grove, I smoothed out the area where the earth had been taken, and then snapped a single branch from the enrichment fruit tree. Finally, I brought the branch out of my grove and let it appear in front of me. With a bit of Plant Manipulation, I managed to warp the branch into a simple staff, and began enchanting it. Though, the only enchantment I put on it was to create a void field. Like Jacobs had said, I created the spell effect in front of me, and then brought it to the aura of the staff until the two sides just barely touched. Finally, I ¡®glued¡¯ the two auras together with the ¡®trigger¡¯ rune. Immediately, the aura of the enchantment dimmed, much like a device that had been turned off. If it¡¯s like this, I won¡¯t even need the seeds for my own enchanting¡­ I sighed, realizing that they really wouldn¡¯t have much purpose for someone already capable of using this kind of magic. However, at this time, I got another call from the police. Officer Faraday, who at this rate seems to have been chosen as my liaison, appeared on the hologram. ¡°Mr. Hulett, time to go to work.¡± He said with a serious expression, making me nod my head in acceptance. ¡°Details?¡± I looked at the hologram, wondering if I¡¯d be able to afford a more detailed one at this rate. ¡°Not really sure how to describe it¡­ 14th Street, just outside city hall. If I had to call it something, it¡¯d be a living tornado. It just appeared out of nowhere, and everyone¡¯s panicking. Head over quickly, and take care of it.¡± I blinked a bit, and Celeste appeared on my wrist just as the call ended. ¡°Still rude¡­ but what does he mean a living tornado?¡± ¡°Probably a wind elemental. Hadn¡¯t expected them to start spawning this soon, and it might be troublesome.¡± I groaned as I applied a quick enchantment to the shirt I was wearing, a runic one to let it adapt to my form. This was the same enchantment that my armor in the game had come with, so it wasn¡¯t too hard to copy. After that, I ran outside and activated Aspect of the Bird to create my angel wings, taking this chance to summon Yin and Yang as well. They were overjoyed to be summoned again, and instantly began rubbing up against me. However, I quickly told them that we had a situation to take care of, and we all three took off into the sky. City hall was an old building, made back in the 1900s, but had been modified a bit in the last fifty or so years to be more stable. It was very easy to spot, especially when I used Aura Sight and saw the mass of wind mana converging in front of it. However, something seemed wrong. Although people were running and screaming, and the elemental appeared to be chasing them, it was not launching any attacks aside from knocking aside large objects that were right next to it. Is it mindless? That would certainly help. With that thought in mind, I dove down towards the creature with my birds. I had no confidence in fighting a wind elemental in control of wind mana, but I still had plenty of other things that I could do. I could at least devote a bit of my attention to absorbing the excessive wind mana. However, the moment I landed, I heard something in the back of my mind that caught me off guard. It sounded like a little girl crying. Don¡¯t run away, please.. somebody help.. Looking over, I could tell that Yin had heard the voice as well, but Yang was still vigilant against the creature. Oh, don¡¯t tell me¡­ Looking at the elemental, I felt a bit of pain in my chest as I activated a void field around it, a bubble to stop its wind mana from going out of control. Although it could not negate the blasts of wind, it could slow them down enough to prevent property damage. Focusing, I tried to use the same technique I had used to communicate with Arriane, except this time with wind mana. ¡¯Hello? Can you hear me?¡¯ I made sure to allow my wind mana to go through the void field without being suppressed. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The moment I ¡®spoke¡¯, the elemental whipped around to face me. If I didn¡¯t have a theory about what was going on, I probably would have been terrified right now. I mean, a living tornado just focused its full attention on me. Sure, it was only two meters tall, but still, that was a living tornado after all. ¡¯I can¡¯t hear you right now, I¡¯m using my power to stop your wind from causing too much damage. I need you to calm down a bit, and then we can talk. Can you do that for me?¡¯ It had no head, so obviously it couldn¡¯t nod. However, after a few moments, I felt the strength of the wind lowering slightly. With a sigh of relief, I lifted the void field. The elemental seemed to be able to sense that, because afterwards she spoke to me, in a frightened little voice. ¡¯You can really understand me?¡¯
New Ability Unlocked!
Voices of the Wind - Wind Affinity - ¡î By understanding the principles behind Worldcasting, you are able to communicate with species that have a high Wind Affinity by using wind mana.
I nodded my head. ¡¯That¡¯s right¡­ Can you tell me your name? And how old are you?¡¯ ¡¯I¡­ I¡¯m Tessa, and I¡¯m six¡­ can you help me mister..? Everyone is running away¡­ I didn¡¯t do anything wrong¡­¡¯ I could hear how sad she was as her voice was carried along the wind mana. ¡¯I¡¯ll do what I can. Tell me, did you play a new game? It would have been in a shiny silver capsule that just arrived at your house.¡¯ I could at least hold onto the hope that people weren¡¯t randomly being changed into monsters without logging into the game. I swore I heard a sniffling sound from the elemental in front of me, who had calmed down enough that she was no longer a tornado. Instead, she was all but invisible unless I used my Aura Sight. ¡¯That¡­ that¡¯s right. Something life¡­ I thought mommy bought it for me¡­¡¯ There was another stabbing pain in my heart as I heard about that. Some child randomly got in the game, and thought it would be fun to play as an elemental. How could she have known that she would turn into the creature she chose to play as? Her mother might not have even noticed that she played the game, and thought she went missing. ¡¯I¡¯ll do what I can, I promise. For now, can you show me where you live? I¡¯ll take you back to your mom and explain what¡¯s going on.¡¯ I could feel a bit of acceptance from Tessa at that, and she slowly glided down the sidewalk, with me following behind. Suddenly, from my wrist I heard Celeste speak up. ¡°What happened? Why wasn¡¯t there a fight? There was supposed to be a fight, right?¡± I shook my head, and couldn¡¯t help but be sad at this situation. ¡°No, just a little girl who was scared.¡± While we were walking, I started to think of ways that I might be able to help. If I was better with my shapeshifting, I might be able to turn her human again. However, I was a long ways off from even having myself take on a full racial shift, let alone performing it on someone else. ¡°Ohh¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­¡± Celeste spoke out sadly from my wrist, and I nodded my head slightly. After we walked for a while, we arrived in front of a small house with blue walls and a dark brown roof, and there were two police cars out in front. Having an idea what they were here for, I walked up to the front door and knocked on it. Thinking about Celeste had given me an idea on how I could at least help them talk to each other. A few moments later, a police officer(still human by the looks of him) appeared at the door and looked to me. ¡°Can I help you with something, son?¡± I took a deep breath and nodded. ¡°You¡¯re here about the missing girl, right? Tessa?¡± He blinked at my question, but then appeared to be on guard against me, thinking I might have something to do with the disappearance. ¡°How do you know about that?¡± ¡°I met her a few minutes ago. It¡¯s a bit hard to explain, but she¡¯s here right now.¡± I sighed slightly. ¡°She got into their Seed, she said.¡± His eyebrows furrowed as he thought about that. ¡°Do you have any way to prove your claim?¡± ¡°I was just called to a scene in front of the city hall. I guess you could say that I¡¯m the local monster hunter now?¡± I weakly smiled at that, and he nodded as he looked at my wings. Apparently, that bit of information had been spread around. ¡°Living tornado was running amok. When I got there, I was able to speak with it, and it turned out to be Tessa.¡± His face paled slightly as he understood the implications of that. It meant that the little girl was no longer human, by any stretch of the imagination. ¡°I think it¡¯d be best for you to come inside.¡± He stepped aside, holding the door open. Looking over to Tessa, I nodded and sent her another message through the wind. ¡¯It¡¯ll be alright now, we¡¯re going to see your mom. But you¡¯ve got to stay calm for me, okay?¡¯ I felt another weak acceptance, and then walked through the door, my two birds perched on my shoulders as if they had never left. I could feel Tessa walk through the door behind me, just before it was closed by the officer. Just before we reached what was likely the living room, he stopped me so that he could go explain to her mother what was going on. After a few minutes, I could hear a loud crying from the room beyond, and a second officer signaled me in. Inside the living room, I saw a young woman leaning forward while sitting on the couch, her face in her hands as she sobbed. Her hair was a mess, and she was being comforted by the officer that had gone in ahead of me. After a moment, she looked up at me and spoke, her voice broken by her cries. ¡°Can you¡­ can you really¡­ is she here?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°She can¡¯t understand anyone right now but me, but I think I can make something to let you talk to her, if you want.¡± After I spoke, I could see a faint light of hope in her eyes, and she nodded her head quickly. ¡°I¡¯ll need an item to work with. She¡¯s a wind elemental right now, and can only speak by using the wind. I can enchant an item to let you take in the wind to understand her, and emit wind mana when you speak so that she can hear you.¡± ¡°Will it¡­ will it let me talk to my baby girl again?¡± ¡°If it works, it will. She said she played NeoLife, so there is still a chance to turn her back to normal, but I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯ll work. When I had just started the game, someone told me that it was possible to pay for a character reset. With what¡¯s happened, I don¡¯t know if it¡¯s still an option, but if it is¡­¡± She nodded her head quickly again. ¡°I¡¯ll.. I¡¯ll check. If it¡¯ll help her get back to normal... ¡° I smiled slightly. ¡°After I train more, I might be able to turn her back myself, but my skills aren¡¯t good enough yet, and I wouldn¡¯t want to risk it on a little girl unless I was absolutely sure. Now, do you have something I can enchant? It¡¯d be best if it wasn¡¯t too valuable, because if the enchantment fails, it might break.¡± She seemed to think about it for a moment, before looking down at her bracelet. It was a simple chain link bracelet, likely a gift she had had for a long time. ¡°Would.. would this work?¡± I looked at it and nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll need you to take it off for a minute, but it should work perfectly.¡± Given how magic circles seemed to prevent the release of magic, I was hopeful that a circular object would be able to hold an enchantment well. She quickly took the bracelet off, and then carefully handed it to me. The ¡®spell¡¯ that I was enchanting the bracelet with was one I was only all too familiar with, and would essentially be a cultivation tool for wind mana. As long as she wore it in an environment that had a lot of wind mana(which would always be the case around her daughter), she would naturally take in the mana, releasing some of her own at the same time. That should let her communicate with Tessa the same way I do. The tricky part was rigging it to work. Like Jacobs had said, I would need more than just a trigger rune for something like this. I ended up overlapping the auras of the two objects slightly, and connecting them with two ¡®passive¡¯ runes. When I was done, I handed it back to her to try out. Hesitantly, after putting the bracelet back on, she looked around. ¡°Tessa..?¡± There was a sniffling sound from the air, and the mother immediately looked hopeful. ¡¯I¡¯m here, mommy¡­¡¯ Obviously, I was still not completely satisfied. Even though they could speak, a mother that could never hold her daughter was a tragic sight. Who knows how many other little boys or girls climbed into the Seeds without knowing? How many turned into something that their parents could no longer see or touch, or even speak with. I had the feeling I would be needing to get to my full Xeno-Shifter status soon in order to fix things. ¡°I¡¯ll be back when I can help turn her back to normal. I hope you won¡¯t have to wait for me to be able to, though¡­¡± I said softly as I turned around to leave, letting the mother speak with her daughter as I showed myself out.
Author¡¯s Basement: This chapter is a good bit longer than normal¡­ but the feels it gave me were real. Chapter 47: The State of Things Author¡¯s Corner: Author-sama has no excuses. The feels from rereading last chapter were too real. [th_015_orz-v2.gif]
After leaving Tessa¡¯s house, I wandered aimlessly around with the two birds on my shoulder. Given what had just happened, neither I nor Celeste really felt like talking. Even the birds could feel that the atmosphere wasn¡¯t right for their usual antics, and simply obediently sat on my shoulders. I was walking around for nearly an hour before I finally settled on a destination, heading to a simple fast food restaurant to get something to eat. Of course, fast food places always used food synthesizers, so their taste wasn¡¯t that great. However, it also meant that your food was ready as soon as you ordered, and since the register was typically manned by an AI, it was very rarely messed up. After sitting down and having a bite to eat, I gradually let my mood improve, though it was still quite a shock to have seen Tessa like that. On a whim, I checked my contacts list, and found that both of my parents were offline now. Did something happen? Normally, they wouldn¡¯t really need a reason to log off, unless they were just spending time together that they couldn¡¯t in the game. Once I was done eating, I threw away the trash and started walking back towards my place, while calling them up. ¡°Hey, John. How are things going in the real world?¡± I could hear my father speaking with a bit of worry, likely remembering that just a couple days before he had told me about the Seeds. At least, a couple days from my perspective, nearly two weeks in the game. ¡°Not that good.¡± I said, trying to hide what I was feeling from my voice. ¡°Mom, I¡¯ve got a question to ask you, is that alright?¡± ¡°Sure, dear. What is it?¡± ¡°Your character is a type of elemental, right? What¡¯s it like to be an elemental, and is there a way to get a physical body?¡± She paused for a moment at the question, and then there was a light gasp from the other end. ¡°Who?¡± Looks like she figured it out. Not like there would be very many reasons I¡¯d ask, given the circumstances. ¡°A six year old girl.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ Oh, I¡¯m sorry. Of course I¡¯ll help, but I don¡¯t know what good it¡¯ll do. The planet I started on was a stray planet without a sun, locked in perpetual night. As a Shade, I couldn¡¯t ¡®see¡¯ with my eyes, or ¡®hear¡¯ with my ears, or even touch or smell or taste. But I could sense everything under the cover of darkness, like a kind of radar. My race is incapable of making sound without striking something, so my only mode of speech is an ability called Shadow Tongue, which is used to communicate with other dark-attuned races. She should be similar, able to see through a radar anything touched by her element. As for a physical body¡­ after I reached level thirty, I started to be able to condense my body into a solid shape, but it took quite a bit of focus to maintain. According to the elder shades I encountered, a true body isn¡¯t established until level fifty.¡± I nodded my head. There was no way I¡¯d make a little girl fight until she had enough experience to be level fifty. By that time, I¡¯d be more than able to give her a race change, if she didn¡¯t manage to buy one from the game. Speaking of.. ¡°Is there still the option for players to restart their character with a new race?¡± This time, it was my father that answered. ¡°It¡¯s possible. All you have to do is find a shrine of the gods and pray to be reborn. The cost is five hundred dollars, or ten gold coins. Though, I¡¯m a bit worried what will happen when people start using that.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± In response to my question, he simply sighed as he spoke. ¡°From the news we¡¯ve heard, the company that developed the game, Manifest Industries, no longer technically exists. At least not in the physical sense. Normally, if you were to reset your character, the money spent would go to the company, who would then spend it on other things to continue circulation. However, if it is just being offered up to the ¡®gods¡¯, then something like that won¡¯t happen. It would be the same as burning a pile of money. The same thing would happen with everyone that paid for a Seed as well.¡± My eye twitched slightly as I started to understand why the option to preorder had still been available. ¡°They¡¯re wanting to force us into use coin currency, the same as in the game. Precious metals can easily be mined from other worlds once we explore space. Although new currency can be printed, it would only prolong the inevitable.¡± ¡°Exactly. Like this, everyone will be forced to use the same types of coins as they have in the game. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if bankers gained an ability that let them convert one type of currency to the other.¡± I nodded my head slightly, changing my direction to begin walking home a bit faster. ¡°Possibly. If I could get into the game, then I might be able to finish developing my class abilities. At least with that, I could help people change their physical race.¡± My father laughed a bit at that. ¡°Good, good. You probably have one of the best classes available for this new world. As for time to train¡­ why not establish an Adventurer¡¯s Guild? By now, people who logged on right away have had nearly two weeks to train. Quite a few should be strong enough to have classes at this point.¡± I thought about his suggestion, and nodded. With a thought, I quickly dispersed some suspicious mana that had been gathering across the street from me. ¡°True, and this way other people could get involved and I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about being everywhere at once.¡± Of course, I had no idea how to establish an Adventurer¡¯s Guild. And by the time I figured it out, someone would have likely beaten me to it. There were a thousand beta testers for NeoLife, and I highly doubted I was the most forward thinking of them. If I was, then this world had bigger things to worry about than a few monster invasions. Saying our goodbyes, my mother wished me luck with helping the little girl, and I quickly found my way to my house. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t seem like another monster had attacked yet. Once I got inside, I suppressed the void field while moving up to my computer. Seeing that my mood was no longer as bad, Celeste spoke up while the birds resumed nuzzling my face. ¡°How¡¯d it go? Get any good information?¡± Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Yes and no. Some good, some not so much. Trying to find out more now.¡± Looking over to the spell formation on the wall, I decided to disable it for now. With Plant Manipulation, I ejected the Seed of Void from the wall, and then filled the formation with wind mana. There was an audible whoosh as the air once again returned to the room. Once I picked up the Seed of Void and put it in my inventory, I went back to looking up recent news related to the new changes. The first thing I found was that, after the message appeared for everyone, people began getting skill notifications while going through their everyday life. Things like gaining the cooking skill, or a doctor getting a medicine skill. Apparently, politicians even got a leadership skill. Though, I suspected a few probably got some other skills, such as bribing, blackmail, etcetera. Along with that, a few people discovered that they could check their status, and even had an inventory. Though, almost nobody started out above level five, so their inventory size was pitifully small. However, this did mean that the friends list worked for everyone as well, almost completely invalidating the need for modern communication devices. On the religious front, people had initially proclaimed that this was divine providence, brought forth by their respective gods. However, when it was revealed that the new system had its own gods, the believers did a complete change. Now, they openly persecuted the system, saying that anyone who willingly logged into the game was an agent of a false god or some devil. They called those who had transformed from the game as monsters, leading to quite a number of arrests. Next, rumors of potentially powerful monsters appearing. The strongest was one which was reported to affect the oceans itself, as the tide had been fluctuating wildly lately. People believed that there was likely something similar to a kraken or leviathan beneath the waters, and so boat travel had been quickly stopped in order to prevent casualties. Storms had also been raging unpredictably, causing it to snow in the deserts while the arctic experienced a heat wave. Thankfully, nothing like a dragon had been reported appearing yet. Aside from the mysterious monster beneath the ocean, the most terrifying thing reported had been minotaurs and elementals. Hearing about the elementals brought back memory of Tessa, and I had to ask myself how many of those were simply people that had lost the ability to communicate. Finally, I came across a petition to establish an Adventurer¡¯s Guild. As I had expected, I wasn¡¯t the first to think about it. Though, the changes to the world were barely two days old, so it was still merely a petition. However, it was incredibly popular as it offered a real solution to stop the monsters spawning over the world. Well, not like I was going to be leading the guild anyways, even if I had been the first to suggest it. To my surprise, it looked like everyday life had been largely unobstructed, aside from the need to watch out for monsters which caused a heavier police presence in the city. Turning off my computer, I glanced over to the Seed, debating whether or not I should log in to do some quick Technomancy experiments. I still refused to do such in the real world when it could have any significant effect on me, especially after I repeatedly failed to mimic the camera scope of my rifle. Shaking my head, I decided to wait to do that until later. First, I sent Yin and Yang back to my grove, and then reset the void spell formation. I needed to cultivate my affinities until they reached 10% before I did anything new. Once I was done with that, I could work on new affinities and new experiments. Though, I did determine that I would study the next slime that I fought. Worst case, they don¡¯t call me to fight one, I understand the basic process to make one myself. When I sat down on the floor to begin cultivating, Celeste spoke up again from my wrist. ¡°So many things changing so quickly. It¡¯s a miracle your race can adapt to it all.¡± I smiled slightly and looked down to her. ¡°This is too much for some of them to take in, so I¡¯m sure that there are many that are unsettled by this. Some even downright reject it. But, life goes on. Whether the cashier at the grocery store is a well mannered young man or an elf, you pay for your purchase and move on. There will be a bit of hesitation towards the more drastically altered people, but most likely there are a few that barely notice any change in their life at all.¡± Celeste listened to what I said, nodding her head slightly. ¡°I see.. Still, it¡¯s quite amazing. When you said that everyone had been human just a few days ago, I had expected mass panic. Aside from what you read about the more fanatical religious followers, there doesn¡¯t seem to be much trouble. ¡° ¡°Pretty much. There¡¯s probably going to be more changes soon. Once a few people get high enough level to study the enchantments worked into spaceships, there will likely be a race to develop the first interstellar voyage. That will cause a whole new level of excitement, I think.¡± The holographic woman nodded her head slightly. ¡°I see¡­ To think that the world you came from is one where you are restricted to a single sun, and yet you have these devices capable of sending you all the way to Hascion, and even seem to hold sway over the flow of time. It seems well beyond the ability of your planet, no offense¡­ So where could they have come from.¡± Once again, I cast my sight over towards the Seed. ¡°That¡¯s a very good question, and it¡¯s one that is getting very tiring. My best guess is some other dimension. If it was simply space that was crossed, and the time ratio was the same, I would believe it might be an alien race. But the time difference wouldn¡¯t make sense in that case. Best I can think of is that it connects to another dimension where time moves five times faster than here.¡± Celeste thought about it, looking over towards the Seed. ¡°Is it really?¡± Chapter 48: A Day at the Beach Author¡¯s Corner: Alright, now on to some more action! Pew pew and what not.
That night, I devoted all of my attention to cultivating Void Affinity. For the first time, aside from the jungle planet, I even decided not to sleep first. I needed to get this one to 10% as soon as I could, so that I could finish securing my house. After that, I could begin working on the others. I had decided at this point that I would log into the game to finish my training after my house was secured, and have my AI alert me if there was a call for me. With that, I¡¯d be able to finish my element training a lot sooner, and not end up falling behind. Over two weeks in the game now, if they devoted a single officer to training up as some kind of mage or soldier during this time he might already be able to take care of things. However, I was still called early in the morning once again. Moving down to the living room, I accepted the call. This time, Faraday had a rather tired look on his face as he spoke. ¡°We¡¯ve got another slime issue. This time, it looks like they¡¯ve joined together to become bigger, so our usual methods aren¡¯t working. Think you can handle it? It¡¯s down at the beach.¡± ¡°Should be alright.¡± I nodded my head, and again the call ended. ¡°So, a big slime this time. Still want to study it?¡± Celeste smiled as she appeared at my wrist again. ¡°Would like to, yeah. Depends on the situation. If it¡¯s attacking people, I¡¯ll have to stop it. But if there¡¯s nobody around, I can take my time.¡± After I spoke, Celeste nodded, fading away. Stepping out of the house, I went ahead and created my wings again, before taking off into the sky. It may be a bit more tiring to fly instead of taking a car, but it was much better for my wallet. And, for not at least, I had to be careful with how I spent my money. Just a few minutes after I set off, I was already approaching the beach, and could clearly see a giant blue slime slowly walking up and down the shore aimlessly. The size of it should have been somewhere around fifteen meters in diameter, and I could make out over a dozen slime cores inside of it. Most likely, these were all water slimes that had formed in the bay and had come together before making their way to shore. From another point of view, that was at least a dozen Seeds of Water in this slime, most of them probably medium grade. Although they did not have much worth yet in the real world, it shouldn¡¯t take too long before enchanting catches up and people start needing them. No matter what, I absolutely couldn¡¯t use the void breath and simply suck away these cores. Especially since I did still want to study it. Nearby, there was a group of officers who all had their guns trained on the slime, as if waiting to see what it would do. Not like their guns would do anything to it, but it probably makes them feel better. Before I landed, I mumbled under my breath. ¡°Celeste, can you identify?¡±
Giant Water SlimeLevel: 20-25
Mana: 1000Health: ???
Key Affinities: WaterSpecial Abilities: ???
The information appeared in my Cybernetic eye, and I nodded my head as I landed. So this thing is stronger than a couple dozen water slimes individually. Might even raise a level after I defeat it. My landing space was about ten meters in front of the giant slime, and I immediately sent out my Mana Sense to study it. It seemed to be able to detect my mana, because as soon as I began studying it, a bit of slime lashed out from its body like a whip heading straight for me. It was easy enough for me to dodge, and I ducked down away from it. However, after the whip passed over me, I remembered the very important fact that I had large wings sticking out of my back. This realization came right around the time that I was sent tumbling off to the side, cursing as I cancelled the spell. Standing up, I found that the slime had already reached me. Its body quickly wrapped around my own, and I could feel its slimy substance all over. It was, in a word, gross. Thankfully, though, it did not burn my body with acid like the plant slime. Instead, it felt like it was trying to suck out all the water mana from my body. Well then¡­ two can play at this game! I began drawing in water mana from the slime all around me, while it was drawing the same mana in from me. In a strange sense, this was like a form of cultivation. Although I wasn¡¯t quite as good at drawing in water mana as this slime, I wasn¡¯t at too much of a disadvantage. Now I understood how the thing ate, at least. A plant slime dissolves whatever it touches with acid to consume the nutrients, while a water slime absorbs the water mana to dehydrate creatures. So as to avoid becoming slime food, I began releasing a bit of lightning mana to mix in with the water mana it was absorbing. It didn¡¯t seem to like that much, as it recoiled away from me, practically spitting me out in the process. Once again, I tried to study it with my Mana Sense, but it shied away from my mana. Seems like it¡¯s afraid of lightning mana. Not surprised. Even when I wasn¡¯t releasing any lightning mana, it seemed to have remembered what my mana felt like and avoided it. As such, I didn¡¯t really get a chance to study the slime like this. Shaking my head, I couldn¡¯t help but sigh as I was left with no real alternative but beating it until it was a single normal slime, and then taking my time to study it like I had the plant slime. Raising one hand, I began firing off shadow blasts, which burrowed into the water slime and dispersed, making it turn into a dark murky color. Seeing this, I was a bit surprised at the combination effect, but still felt that I had control over the shadows I had fired. As such, I kept firing them. Before long, it looked like a giant black blob, unable to dodge fast enough to avoid the repeated blasts. Once I felt like the shadows had taken root enough to act, I started using them to wrap around the cores of the slime one by one, pulling them out and back to me. After each core was removed, the slime grew visibly smaller, until I had taken out all but one core. Strangely, at that point I felt like there was a disturbance in the shadows within the slime, like they were being devoured. The slime had stopped shrinking at roughly six meters in diameter. I had honestly expected it to become even smaller, but I was too busy being surprised by what it was doing with my dark mana to care. In under ten seconds, it felt like all of the dark mana inside the water slime had been eaten, but the slime¡¯s murky appearance hadn¡¯t changed. The slime¡¯s element has changed. It¡¯s registering as having equal parts Water and Dark Affinities now. Celeste¡¯s words appeared in my Cybernetic eye, surprising me. Well¡­ if I had known that could happen, I would not have played it like that! Still, I had retrieved a total of nine medium-grade Seeds of Water, and five lesser-grade ones. Into the inventory they go, and once more I tried to study the mutated slime. This time, it did not shy away from my mana, which confused me. Either way, I studied it as much as I could while it made its way closer to me. This time, it seemed intent on swallowing me up again rather than lashing at me first, which made me worried. However, I did not feel an aura which suggested acid in the slime, but still¡­ Nope nope nope, all of my nope. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Unlike lightning mana, when I wielded the power of light mana, there was plenty to work with nearby, as it was still early in the day. As such, it took far less mana to attack the slime with condensed lasers! Though this wasn¡¯t as strong as plasma, it still had the effect of burning an ant with a magnifying glass. Except this ant was several meters wide. It recoiled again from the light mana, so naturally I kept shooting more at it, its size slowly reducing. Become my study material! After a few minutes of this extremely one-sided exchange, the slime had been reduced to less than half a meter wide, and barely had any power to move itself anymore. Or, well, that was the impression I got at first. Nobody told me to expect that when I got close to it, its shadow would suddenly spread out and rise from the ground to lash at me! It seemed to have become more intelligent by absorbing the second element, as the shadows tossed me around for a moment like a ragdoll, lashing at my front, back, legs, head, and finally throwing me into the water. Owww¡­ When I pulled myself out of the water, the slime had returned to its full size, making me want to cry. ¡°That is so not fair, you aren¡¯t allowed to trick me like that.¡± My health by this point was fairly low, having just twenty points remaining. I cast a quick Alchemic Heal to fix this situation, and then wondered just how I could kill an intelligent slime. The most obvious method was to remove its core like I had been doing before. However, with how dark the waters of the slime were, I was unable to even see where the core was for this slime. Looking around, I saw one thing that I could probably use here, and there was even plenty of it. Tapping into the earth mana, I made the sands rise up. Go, filter the goo for me! I grinned as I sent a large mass of sand into the slime. Although it was more difficult to control the sand after it had entered the slime, it did not show signs of being devoured like the dark mana had been. The last thing I needed was an even more intelligent slime to fight with. The blackish water slime rushed towards me again, and I hurriedly sifted through the mass of goo with the sand into I struck something solid. Then, with a thought, all of the sand in the slime surrounded the core and yanked it out. The result was¡­ messy. The slime, which had been just a couple feet in front of me, practically exploded in my direction, covering me from head to toe in black sludge.
You have leveled up!
Bringing my hands up, I tried to wipe the gunk off of my eyes, which failed spectacularly since my hands were also covered in it. Instead, I decided to walk into the water and wash off briefly. Once I was able to see again, I brought down the pile of sand holding the slime core. Looking it over, I saw that what should have been a pure blue core now had a mix of blue and black along its surface. You can make dual element seeds? Good to know¡­ I decided to put the core away in my inventory with the rest of the slime cores, and looked over at the mess that had once terrorized the beach. I hate slimes. Since my work here was done, I once more grew my wings and flew off, heading home. I was already at 9% Void Affinity, and felt like there was just a small amount left before I broke through. And, as I suspected, after cultivating for about another hour once I got home, I finally got to 10%. With this, I was able to quickly cover my entire house in a void field spell formation. Good, now my home should be safe against monster spawns. Or random burglars for that matter. I smiled, and began work on my slime studies! Using my own void abilities to suppress the void field around me, I took out one of the medium-grade Seeds of Water. At the same time, Celeste appeared at my wrist, looking curiously at it. ¡°Are you going to try to make a slime? Are you sure that¡¯s a good idea?¡± ¡°Nope, not in the slightest. However, if it¡¯s just a tiny slime, I can destroy it if it becomes a problem.¡± I smiled confidently, and began feeding water mana into the element seed. Very gradually, I could see water droplets converging around the seed, the first step to it becoming a slime. However, since the area was sealed off with void mana, there wasn¡¯t a good source of water mana to use here aside from myself and the other seeds. To test something, I turned my left hand into a clawed fist, and pricked my right thumb. After dropping a single drop of blood on the slime, I noticed a slight change in its aura. After the change, it began rapidly sucking in the mana I was giving it, as if starved for more. I could feel the air around me becoming dry, and even the water mana in my own body was rushing out to meet the slime. However, this lasted for only a few moments, before the slime¡¯s body had grown to be roughly four inches in radius. Unlike a normal slime, it had two air bubbles next to each other that gave it the appearance of eyes. Yay, I made a slime! Now¡­ to see if I can communicate with it¡­ I put my hand on the top of the water slime¡¯s head, and sent a message into it with water mana. ¡¯Can you understand me?¡¯ I was awarded with another ability, just a copy of the last ones saying that I could speak with water creatures. However, looking at the slime, it didn¡¯t seem like it could answer me. Its bubble eyes ¡®blinked¡¯ by popping and quickly reforming. So, instead, I told it to move to the left, which it did so. So, it can understand me¡­ but isn¡¯t smart enough to answer¡­ I decided to perform a test, and used the same animal companion bonding magic that I had used on Yin and Yang. I honestly hadn¡¯t expected it to work on a monster, but sure enough the effect took hold without a problem.
You have made an Animal Companion bond with an Advanced Water Slime.
Please choose a name for this companion.
Advanced water slime? Is that because of the blood? I thought it over for a moment, before looking down at the slime. ¡°Yo.¡± Now I had my three stooges, Yin, Yang, and Yo. Chapter 49: What Will They Become? Author¡¯s Corner: Author-sama has been bad lately with getting chapters out early, so have an extra chapter today as an apology!
With the Void Affinity training complete, and even the new addition of my water slime, I decided to head into the game. However, first, there were a few things I needed to take care of. Looking down at Yo, I sent him a command with my water mana to not resist what I was about to do. He blinked his eyes(popped his bubbles?) confusedly at me, but when I wrapped my mana around him, he did not resist. I noticed that it took roughly five times as much mana to send him into my grove as it took to do the same with either bird, but that was to be expected given that he was a monster. Next, I left an instruction with the house AI to send me a message in the game if I get a call, and then sent Celeste back into the grove. Finally, I went back up to my Seed, cancelled my Aspect of the Bird spell, and climbed in. Been awhile since I logged in, wonder what¡¯s happened with the Klax¡­ Soon, darkness surrounded me, and then I found myself lying on a small bed, a strange device strapped to my arm. It kept beeping at a fairly regular interval, which made me think it was measuring my heartbeat, and I slowly sat up. ¡°Ah, he¡¯s awake!¡± Someone called out, and a woman in a white uniform with a red cross on the chest came over. ¡°Sir, are you alright? Do you need anything?¡± I blinked, a bit surprised at the situation, and then it hit me. I logged out on a bench¡­ and it¡¯s been several days since then¡­ I coughed a bit, looking to the woman who seemed to be a nurse. ¡°How long was I out?¡± ¡°We found you shortly after the rescue summon, and that was seventeen days ago.¡± She answered simply, a bit relieved that I seemed to be okay after checking whatever it was strapped to my arm. ¡°There were a number of cases similar to yours around the same time on other planets, and we found that they were all travelers. Though, you seem to be missing your companion.¡± She looked down to my wrist, but blinked in surprise when the metal bracelet appeared in a strand of blue light. ¡°Ahh, right.. we were told you were a druid.¡± I looked myself over once, and checked my inventory. Thankfully, nothing was missing from my inventory, but¡­ ¡°I was wearing armor when I¡­ ¡®fell asleep¡¯. Do you know what happened to it?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The nurse tilted her head curiously, and then got up to go talk to one of the doctors. After a few minutes, she came back, shaking her head. ¡°You weren¡¯t wearing any armor when you were found. Before we heard reports of other cases like this, we thought you might have been mugged.¡± No¡­ My armor¡­ was stolen¡­ Nooo!! I clenched my fists tightly, I liked that armor! It was awesome! Though, if I wanted to, I could easily go kill another Great Boa with my current strength most likely. But, I wasn¡¯t even sure if there were any on this planet, which made that I difficult challenge. ¡°I see¡­ do you happen to know somewhere I could get a replacement..? Would rather not wander around without any protection.¡± And note to self, from now on stick all important gear in inventory or grove before logging out. The woman nodded her head. ¡°There are a few different shops you could visit to get gear in the city. Once you are discharged, you can find a terminal to view the map.¡± I nodded my head slightly. ¡°Alright, and do you know anywhere I could access the online network? There¡¯s some information I need to look up.¡± ¡°If it¡¯s just to look up information, any terminal would do. However, you should visit a software library if you¡¯re wanting to download something for your companion.¡± The nurse smiled at me. ¡°Thanks.. and, when can I get discharged?¡± I honestly didn¡¯t want to look up new software for right now, but I did want to look up more information on slimes and elementals. ¡°Normally, if someone was unconscious for over two weeks, we¡¯d ask them to stay for a couple of days to monitor their recovery. However, it was almost like your body didn¡¯t require any food or water, and is still in perfect condition. We couldn¡¯t find the trace of any particular blessing on you, but it was still remarkable. Given that, I think the doctors will agree to go ahead and let you out.¡± I smiled and thanked her again, and she went to speak with the doctors. Within another half hour, I had been released from the hospital, and was even given a basic set of clothes to wear since my initial set had been practically ruined by combat, and my armor was missing. For the first time, I noticed that I was actually in shape now, and had entirely worked off the gut I had when I first started playing the game. Small miracles do happen.. Once I was out of the hospital, Celeste appeared at my wrist, giggling slightly. ¡°Well, should have expected something like this to happen. Though, now we know for the future, right?¡± She smiled up at me innocently, and all I could do was sigh in response. Moving over towards the nearest terminal, I did several searches to get information. I was tempted to use my eye and just record everything relevant, but trusting the terminal to decide what was relevant without asking for my input would be a bit much. And every second wasted trying to tell the terminal what to pull up would be precious mana wasted. First of all, I pulled up information regarding wind elementals so that I could help Tessa, in case it was impossible for her to change her race back the normal way. Aside from what I had already known, there were a few important bits of information. Wind elementals, like most, were incredibly difficult to kill because they could freely move their core around within their body and hide it from view. This meant that, at the very least, nobody should easily be able to hurt her. That part put me at ease a little bit while I continued looking for information. The next tidbit was about her creating a human body. Like my mom had said, at level thirty they are able to create a semi-solid form, like a mirage body. Aside from solids like earth elementals, I suspected that that was a universal trait. Once they reached level fifty, they could start practicing with making a fully solid body. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Unfortunately, I had no intention of waiting for Tessa to level up to fifty. Who knew how long that might take? Weeks, months? If she wasn¡¯t able to change her race, I¡¯d train until I was able to do it for her. With my research on Tessa taken care of, I moved on to researching slimes, in particular advanced water slimes like Yo. From what the terminal told me, advanced water slimes were stronger, smarter, and pretty much better in every way compared to their normal version. They had a higher chance to evolve into a sentient race known as slime people, and even other cool evolutions. However, the only way to get an advanced slime was to have it take in the essence of a living creature as it is being born. I was rather surprised the drop of blood I used had such an effect. For example, the highest form of a water slime was known as an ocean slime. This was a rather terrifying thought, honestly, because a single slime could potentially control the entire ocean! Once in the water, they¡¯d be able to control it as if it were their own body. I couldn¡¯t imagine trying to take on something like that with anything short of planetary destruction. Apparently, when I had been fighting the water slime before, it had taken in the dark mana I was using to attack it, and forced an evolution in an attempt to save itself. On the path to sentience, they are able to turn into ¡®mimic¡¯ slimes, which can copy the physical shapes of objects or creatures. I asked, and they don¡¯t make very good weapons. Can you imagine trying to hit someone with a sword made of jello? It¡¯d be about the same thing. They do make great armor, though! And after they gain enough intelligence, they get their evolution to slime people. Finally, when looking up the special abilities of water slimes, I found something rather interesting. Similar to plant slimes, it is possible to create various potions by feeding the ingredients to a water slime, and having it secrete the finished potion. The amount of potion depends on the size and strength of the slime, but generally will not exceed medium quality. That means I could feed it some blood weed and fireflower petals, and have a walking(rolling) health potion! With that taken care of, I moved on to looking for information about my birds, and the evolution paths they could end up taking. For Yin, my ideal evolution would be achieved if she kept focusing on training her Wind Affinity before leveling up, because then she could evolve into a Windslayer. From what the terminal said, a windslayer is a powerful magical beast able to control the wind. However, it required Wind Affinity to reach 30% before level 20 in order for it to evolve that way. If it did evolve into a Windslayer, then it would gain other evolutions for either focusing on Wind Affinity, or branching out into other elements. I was really hoping to get this path, but I didn¡¯t want to look up the information in case I wasn¡¯t able to get it. That would just be teasing myself, which I have already done enough of. Now, if they got to level twenty before getting the required amount of Wind Affinity, but it was still their main ability, they would turn into a Gustwing instead. A gustwing was not as powerful when it came to manipulating the wind, but they were listed as a ¡®low ranked¡¯ monster, instead of a ¡®medium ranked¡¯ magical beast. Although their wind powers were lacking, they had a stronger overall combat power thanks to an enhanced body. With the information for Yin taken care of, I moved on to Yang. Her evolution path was pretty much set in stone, and she would immediately become a sentient creature when she hits level twenty. As long as she kept practicing Nature Magic, this was not something likely to change. The type of species she will turn into is known as a demi, which I guess is what they call evolved creatures. Specifically, a winged demi. A winged demi is a bird that has used magic, or had magic used on it, to bridge the gap between sentient and animal. Their exact form depends on the form they are based on, so they could become demi-human, demi-elf, or demi-dwarf, for example. In terms of potential, they possess all of their innate traits they had as an animal, but are capable of intelligent thought on a level of a sentient creature. If they trained to become a demi on their own, they will likely possess an innate talent for arcane magic. It would be really nice if this was the case, because another caster would help quite a bit. Finally, I decided to end my little study session by looking up information on element seeds. I still didn¡¯t know how to refine higher quality ones, or why the slime¡¯s core seemed to have two elements. The first question I had answered pretty easily. I just had to refine an element seed with a higher elemental purity. So.. the ones I was making right now should be around 25% pure, but I need 50% pure for it to be a medium quality seed. As for my last question, the terminal informed me rather bluntly that an element seed, or the slime core created from it, can only have one element. This element can be a mix of other elements, but must still be an element of its own. So what element is water/darkness, then? I debated whether to ask the terminal, but decided against it. Instead, I walked off to find the armor shop that had been indicated on the map. Now I knew how I could evolve all of my animal companions, and what they could evolve into. I¡¯d need to check what level the birds were at already before doing I went fighting again, but having a winged demi, a Windslayer, and a mimic slime would make for not only an epic fighting group, but also a wide range of traits to study for my Xeno-Shifter class!
Author¡¯s Basement: No real action this chapter, but information! Information is good. Action will be coming eventually as well, but he did just get out of the hospital after all and lost his only armor! If anyone spots any errors or has any questions, as always leave a reply. I''m going to try to pass out earlier tonight, so I will get them tomorrow, but this also means that tomorrow''s chapter should come out a bit earlier! Chapter 50: The Trainers Talks Author¡¯s Corner: Okay, so the plan of early sleep backfired. Enjoy the chapter! 50th chapter, 500 followers, and top 100 stories on RRL! All happy benchmarks.
On my way to the armor shop, I decided that the next element I would focus on cultivating would be water, due to the slime that had become my ¡®animal¡¯ companion. No matter what, having a high Water Affinity would be extremely good for me right now. As such, I began devoting a bit of my concentration to cultivating water mana while I walked. It wasn¡¯t much later that I had arrived at the designated armor shop. Inside, there were several different types of armors, ranging from medieval knights, scale armor, flak jackets, and some more advanced tech armor. Thankfully, I didn¡¯t see my old snake scale armor here, or I would have had to accuse them of stealing it from me. Though, their prices were a bit¡­ expensive. Maybe I had just been spoiled with my old armor since I had provided the materials for it, but even an armor of similar quality would cost me roughly twenty silver now. I was sorely tempted to just forget about armor and use my aspect spell to defend myself. Then again, for now that was my only real choice. With a sigh, I left the store and went off to find another terminal. This time, I asked about the planet I was on, and if there was a nearby hunting ground suitable for leveling up. What I learned was the planet¡¯s name, Gallen 4, and that there was a level forty hunting ground outside of the city. Level forty.. No wonder the armor was so expensive. ¡°What are the available methods to level up?¡± I asked the terminal in resignation, knowing that I could not do so the old fashioned way while I was here. ¡°The most common way to level up is to defeat enemies, taking in a bit of their essence after they lose a battle. You may also level up by increasing your own ability through training, improving your life skills, or various obscure methods such as absorbing the energy of certain powerful objects.¡± That last one is pretty much up to luck. Looks like it¡¯s training for me. Though, what level have my birds gotten to from training in seclusion this entire time? ¡°Is there a way to measure the level and skills of an animal companion?¡± The terminal should be able to answer this, so I might as well ask while I¡¯m here. ¡°The Identify software for a companion, priced at roughly five silver, is capable of determining an animal companion¡¯s approximate level. Skill levels must be evaluated at a trainer, or by having the companion bracelet upgraded to more accurately read the mana of external sources.¡± I gave another tired sigh. ¡°How much is that upgrade?¡± ¡°One gold coin.¡± I swear, I almost coughed up blood when I heard that. I didn¡¯t have half of that amount, and would likely not be getting it in the near future, either. Thankfully, I still had plenty to get myself a hotel room for a while, and hope that training my affinities would count as training to level me up. But first, I went to visit a trainer, following the map I had gotten from the terminal. It may have just been an idle curiosity, but I wanted to know how high Yin¡¯s Wind Affinity and Yang¡¯s Nature Magic had gotten. After that, I still needed to go see if my Technomancy was high enough yet to create the interface in my head that could hold Celeste. So, first stop, a beast trainer! When I arrived there, I found a single stall with a fairly attractive human woman standing behind the counter. She had all the right curves in all the right places, and a fairly revealing outfit to show them. ¡°Hello there.¡± She smiled over at me. ¡°Looking to get a new beast, or have one appraised?¡± I blinked, a bit stunned there for a moment before pulling myself together. Women really know how to use their assets to bring in business¡­ ¡°I¡¯m looking to get my birds appraised. I want to see how close they are to evolving, and heard this would be the right place to find out.¡± The woman nodded her head, smiling a bit wider. ¡°Yup, this is the place. Just bring them on out, and we can get started.¡± I nodded, remembering finally that Yin and Yang were both in my grove still, and retrieved them right away. They appeared as a stream of light emerging from my chest, and each took shape on my shoulders, claiming their usual perches. Well.. at least I¡¯ll be able to tell the two of them apart after the evolve. ¡°Oh? Lovebirds, huh? Not a very common choice for people looking for combat pets. Still, looks like you¡¯re a druid, so they can be trained just like anything else. Their usual noncombat status actually lowers the requirements for evolution a bit.¡± She looked at the two birds, smiling as she explained. ¡°Now, let¡¯s get started with this one.¡± She pointed to Yang first, and her companion bracelet lit up. A deep male voice, like that of a butler sounded out from it. ¡°Level eighteen. Most notable skill, Nature Magic at Basic Level 8.¡± Upon hearing the words, I was a bit shocked again, while the trainer simply nodded with a wide smile. ¡°Yeah, that sounds about right. Now, as for the other one¡­¡± She then pointed to Yin, and the same voice rang out from her wrist. ¡°Level fifteen. Most notable skill, Wind Affinity at 16%.¡± For some reason, I felt a bit defeated when I found out that my animal companions were each better than me in their chosen fields. However, the woman¡¯s next words made me pause a bit. ¡°Hmm, looks like she¡¯s approaching the bottleneck. You¡¯ll have to spend quite a bit of effort to get her to evolve with the affinity.¡± ¡°Bottleneck?¡± I asked curiously, having not known that there was such a thing in druid cultivation. ¡°Hmm? Ah, right. Your teacher must not have told you. Well, the standard cultivating method slows down drastically after 20%, and doesn¡¯t advance it at all after 25%. At that point, the mana being taken in is no longer purifying your own innate mana, and you need to start refining medium grade elemental seeds, then absorbing them into your aura to advance. That should carry you through until 50%, at which point you do the same thing with high quality seeds until 75%, and finally top quality seeds take you up to 100%.¡± ¡°So basically, I need Yin to start absorbing mana from medium-grade Seeds of Wind soon, in order for her to be able to reach 30% and evolve?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± She gave a quick nod. ¡°Though, she might hit the level to evolve before that anyways. It¡¯s pretty hard to get up to 30% in an affinity before hitting level twenty, unless you leave them with a trainer that can stop their level growth while they cultivate.¡± I thought about it seriously for a bit. It would really be nice to have a Windslayer pet, honestly. ¡°How much would that cost?¡± She grinned slightly at my question. ¡°Well, given her level, I¡¯d say ten silver, plus the resources. If you can teach her to refine Seeds of Wind on her own, that would save you quite a bit of trouble. Otherwise, buying them myself would up the price a lot. As for the time, it would take about two weeks for her to advance from her current state to 30% with my help.¡± Why must everything good be so expensive? ¡°Sorry, I can¡¯t really afford that, since I haven¡¯t even been able to refine a medium-grade seed yet. If I can, and am able to teach her how to do so before she evolves, I¡¯ll come back.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. The trainer nods with an understanding expression. ¡°Yeah, it can be hard on lower level people to train up for a really good pet. Most people wait to get their ideal pet until they are able to afford it all in one go, and then leave their pet with a trainer until it evolves to the form they want. For birds, we get requests to evolve them into phoenixes all the time. But doing it yourself is better, I think. I mean, not to belittle my own business or the like, but leaving an animal with a trainer for a long period will really reduce its loyalty towards you. Especially a lovebird like yours, as they are really possessive, and can be quite sensitive towards their bonded partner.¡± My eye twitched as I heard that I could have had a phoenix. That was almost definitely a fire type final evolution, and something that I would never get with Yin. ¡°I can see how that would be an issue. Wouldn¡¯t be good to leave an animal with someone, then come back and have it attack you, right?¡± She nodded her head again as I said that. ¡°Exactly. There are some species that will stay loyal even if left alone for a long time, but those are typically more of the canine races. A few feline races are like that, but they are rare. As for birds¡­ I¡¯ve yet to meet one personally that was still willing to show the same loyalty after being left alone for a full evolution process.¡± She shook her head with a somewhat sad expression. ¡°I see¡­ I¡¯m sorry for troubling you, then.¡± I was about to turn to leave when I looked back curiously. ¡°What about slimes?¡± The woman looked up, raising a curious eyebrow. ¡°Slimes? Well, slimes are typically extremely loyal to whoever¡¯s mana they are composed of at their birth. Taming a slime is much harder than simply creating one, but only certain techniques are able to give birth to a slime. And, if you choose to refine their cores to a higher quality rather than strengthening their slime body, they have the potential to become true elementals.¡± That part surprised me, as it was the first I had heard of a slime becoming an elemental. Though, it did make sense. If an elemental¡¯s core was a top quality elemental seed, then a slime¡¯s core could eventually change into it if refined properly. Would I rather have a slime person, or a water elemental? The female trainer smiled slightly, seeing me think about it. ¡°Looks like you have one of your own. Well, a bit of advice. While an elemental is almost undefeatable when in their element, the opposite is also true when they are out of it. Unless your slime is a wind slime or a fire slime, it¡¯d be best to give up on that path.¡± I smiled a bit and thanked her for that. ¡°What about an ocean slime?¡± ¡°Hmm, those are quite powerful, since their bodies can change size to become as large as a city or as small as the palm of your hand. However, they¡¯re basically just bigger versions of the standard water slime, unless you put it in an actual ocean. Then, they can merge with the water and control it as if it were their own body. If you¡¯ve got a water slime, though, I¡¯d suggest training it to be a mimic slime instead. Those are more versatile, and if they can evolve into a sentient slime, they will gain the ability to practice any kind of magic, just like a normal slime person. Of course, their innate loyalty only lasts until the sentience stage, just like any other creature. After that, they have a mind of their own and can choose who they follow.¡± I nodded my head, thanked her and left again. I¡¯d need to train for a while longer, and then get a job so that I could afford new gear before moving out to the hunting ground or buying my way onto a ship. Either way, at this rate Yang would easily evolve before I left, since she only had two levels to go. I¡¯d need to find somewhere to take Yo to level up as well, which would probably be the hard part. Maybe I could have Yo absorb the water mana of defeated monsters to level up? I thought about it, and that was likely the easiest method to level Yo up. Maybe I could feed him some poison herbs and have him poison enemies to death before absorbing them. At this point, Celeste spoke up from my wrist, breaking me out of my train of thought. ¡°So¡­ Yang is about to evolve and become a sentient race?¡± She had a somewhat awkward expression as she asked that. ¡°Probably pretty soon, yeah. Why?¡± She coughed lightly, and I could see her cheeks darkening. ¡°You already forgot what happened the last time they thought you would be the same species as them..?¡± I blinked, confused for a moment, before I suddenly thought that this was no longer a good idea. ¡°Maybe she¡¯ll lose that characteristic when she evolves?¡± It was either that, or me shoving a horny bird girl into my grove to cool off. ¡°Yeah¡­ You go ahead and hope for that....¡± She giggled cutely, making me shake my head. I shall not be conquered by a bird! My next stop was an implant store, which also advertised as being a great place to train Technomancy. After all, implants would be practically the same thing as what I¡¯ve done to my eye. Inside the store were various prosthetics, and a few chips and small devices. Each one was held behind a barrier, similar to what they used in the pet store to prevent people from scanning the animals. ¡°Welcome, welcome!¡± I heard an energetic male voice from the back of the store, and soon a black skinned, green eyed golem walked out from a door at the back. ¡°Welcome, welcome to War¡¯s Stores. Feel free to look around, and let me know if you are interested in anything.¡± His granite face twisted into a smile as he spoke, waving his arms around like a show¡¯s host. Seeing his overly dramatic display, I sighed and shook my head. ¡°I¡¯m looking for an implant that would store a companion AI. Do you have anything like that?¡± The man brought his hand up to his chin in thought, and I could almost see the lightbulb go off in his head. ¡°Yes, we do indeed! Right this way.¡± He led me over to one of the display cases, which held a small computer chip suspended by over a dozen thin wires. ¡°This is the companion implant, able to substitute as a holding station for your companion AI and prevent its loss in case of the wristband being lost or broken. Of course, you¡¯ll still need to purchase any hardware upgrades if the bracelet is broken.¡± The two birds chirped up from my shoulder, and I nodded my head slightly. ¡°Is it possible to study the device? I¡¯m practicing Technomancy, and would prefer to be able to do it myself than to let someone dig around my skull, no offense.¡± The golem seemed to frown slightly, but nodded. ¡°Hmm, yes, I can understand that. Well, as a standard, it¡¯s 20% of the product¡¯s cost to study it. In the case of this implant, that means five silver. Of course, we can not be held responsible for any injuries done as a result of studying the device. We can only advise you not to tamper with your brain casually.¡± Remembering what happened when I tried to upgrade my camera eye, I nodded my head. The cost was definitely worth it for me, even if I had to pay full price and got the implant. By now, a lot of people in the real world would be able to identify a companion AI bracelet, and seeing one on the outside could make people want to take it and study it. That would definitely not be a good thing. Chapter 51: Leave it to the Professionals Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry guys, my internet has been out all day. Finally got the chance to write up the chapter.
Looking down at the device, I handed over the five silver coins to the golem shopkeeper to study it. With a shrug, he pressed a button to undo the barrier around it and walked back to the counter. After a moment, Celeste popped up from my bracelet, looking up to me. ¡°Are you sure you want to do this¡­? I won¡¯t mind if you wait a while longer, you know¡­¡± I smiled to her, shaking my head. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine.¡± Though I said that, I went ahead and sent both of the birds back to the grove, just in case something went wrong. I could either make this work, or save up to get Celeste a robotic body, but personally I preferred this option. After all, a robotic body could still be broken. Maybe after I get some more money, I¡¯ll be able to afford a robot to copy her AI over to, but really this was a priority. And now I was procrastinating again. Taking a deep breath, I used all of my focus to study the aura of this device. There was a handy little display that showed how it attached to the brain to ensure safety, and that helped me in my planning. However, first I needed to completely memorize the aura of this machine. And this was not exactly an easy thing to do. Unlike the scope, this wasn¡¯t considered a ¡®simple¡¯ device, even by the game¡¯s standards. Each of the various pieces of the implant were enchanted with different runes, and by some stroke of luck they were all ones I had previously learnt from the enchanter¡¯s terminal. Five minutes, ten minutes, thirty minutes¡­. two hours later I was still studying that device with all of my attention. I had already used my Record feature to memorize the visual aspect of its aura from every conceivable angle. I even had twisted and rearranged the thin wires to make sure that the aura didn¡¯t show any extra signs of change. In this time, a few different people had come and gone from the store, but I didn¡¯t pay much attention to them. Finally, after three full hours of studying the implant, I felt like I was ready to start. If my memory served me, this was the longest amount of time I had spent studying a single aura since I began this game. As such, I found a nearby chair along the edge of the shop¡¯s wall and sat down. ¡°Okay¡­ here goes nothing. If this fails, seeya in a few hours.¡± Closing my eyes, I began working, using my Mana Sense to essentially view myself from the outside. I could feel as my mana worked its way into my head, feeling around for the exact place that the device was supposed to be placed. This was the easy part, the hard part was making it. By focusing my mana, I added a bit into my head so that I was not trying to convert any part of my brain. Once I felt I had enough mana to create the basic chip, I got started on changing the aura of the extra mana to match the chip. This part I took extremely slowly, such that by the time I was done, the three hundred mana that I had poured into it had already fully recovered. There was a bit of a nagging pain in my head, but since I hadn¡¯t made any of the connecting wires yet it was just a bit of an annoyance. The next step, I inspected the chip and made sure that I had added each and every little rune into the aura. I wanted to make sure that this was going to be perfect, or else this was going to hurt a lot. For my next trick, I try not to die! In other words, it was time to work on the connection wires. Each one was meant to go towards a different section of my brain, and that meant accuracy was extremely important here. Being off by a millimeter could be the difference between hooking it up to my hearing and hooking her up to my sense of pain. I decided to take it one wire at a time, emulating the connections with my mana down to the smallest detail my puny mind could possibly handle. Each wire took me nearly ten minutes to finish, and after each one there was a growing headache. Smart people take painkillers of some kind before they have other people go poking around in their brain. Other people just do the poking themselves. Six wires in, and it was getting slightly difficult to concentrate. However, I wasn¡¯t even halfway done yet. The one bright side was that the auras for all the different wires were the same, and it was just placing them that I had to worry about. By the tenth wire, I was pretty much fueling myself on willpower while holding my forehead in one hand. I thought I tasted a bit of copper in my mouth, which was likely a bad sign. Somehow, I managed to get through all fifteen wires, before the pain became too much and I fell forward, out of the chair as I lost consciousness. I wasn¡¯t sure how much time had passed, but eventually I woke up¡­ back in the hospital. The familiar metal armband had been reapplied, and was once again measuring my vitals. The same nurse that I had spoken with before noticed I was awake and moved over towards me. ¡°We need to stop meeting like this.¡± I chuckled a bit at that. ¡°So, what¡¯s the verdict, doc?¡± I asked, noticing a blue screen in front of my vision.
You gained a new title!
Amateur Brain Surgeon +5% Success rate when performing brain surgery. For some unknown reason, you lack common sense to the degree that you are willing to perform untested magic inside your own skull, repeatedly. The fact that it works is a miracle worthy of praise, but only inspires your recklessness.
New Spell Unlocked
Implant Magic - Technomancy - ¡ï¡î Through sheer recklessness, you have discovered the means to replicate the effects of implants in your own brain. Mana Cost: Varies
Technomancy has increased to Intermediate.
Mana Signatures has increased to Intermediate.
Aura Sight has increased to Intermediate.
¡°Well¡­ Mr. Hulett, the verdict is for you to stop trying to perform surgery on yourself, and leave it to the professionals.¡± The nurse gave a tired smile. ¡°Almost every technomancer does it at one point or another, trying out their abilities to make an implant, and almost every one of them end up here. Those that don¡¯t¡­ end up downstairs.¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. It didn¡¯t take a brain surgeon to understand her meaning, and I nodded my head before she continued. ¡°Now, from our scans, and consulting with your companion, it would appear that the ¡®operation¡¯ was a success.¡± ¡°Yup, that¡¯s right!¡± I heard a familiar voice in my ear, but since the nurse didn¡¯t react, it seemed like she didn¡¯t hear it. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, testing out the new features!¡± Suddenly, an image appeared in front of me, a young woman standing behind the nurse. I instantly recognized it as Celeste, despite her no longer being miniature or slightly transparent. She jumped around happily, doing some spins and flips before sitting on my lap. Of course, she was still only an illusion in my head, so there was no weight. ¡°Now, don¡¯t you go doing that again! I was worried.¡± She pouted while pointing a finger at me, a bit cutely. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not cute, it¡¯s serious!¡± Uh oh¡­ there¡¯s now a woman inside my thoughts. I don¡¯t think I thought this through¡­ After I thought that, Celeste puffed up her cheeks and pouted again, but soon vanished from my view. ¡°Yeah.. I¡¯d say it worked.¡± I turned to the nurse, who had apparently been waiting for my reaction. ¡°So, what now?¡± ¡°Now¡­ we discharge you again, for the second time in two days. Try not to make it a habit, Mr. Hulett, we don¡¯t give special deals to repeat customers.¡± She gave a tired sigh as she removed the armband from me again and let me up. At least this time nothing was stolen from me. That golem must have called the hospital as soon as I collapsed. ¡°It would be good for you to check back in after a week or so, to make sure the implant doesn¡¯t have a negative reaction.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± I smiled to her, standing up and stretching out a bit. Thankfully, even though it seemed like the entire night had gone by, it had only been a couple hours on the outside. I had been seriously worried that a call would come in while I was focusing on the ¡®surgery¡¯ that would interrupt me. After leaving the hospital, Celeste appeared again, walking alongside me. ¡°This feels so different from before!¡± She happily exclaimed, looking ahead. Naturally, she was still unable to properly look around since she was only sharing my senses. However, now it seemed like she was getting the full range of sense input, rather than simply sight and sound. ¡°Well, everything turned out alright, for the most part. Though, I still haven¡¯t done the rest of the cybernetic spells I want to do yet.¡± After I said that, I suddenly found my hand rising up and slapping myself in the face. Looking down at the hand in shock, I heard a giggling next to me. When I turned to look, there was a very proud looking Celeste smirking towards me. ¡°None of that. We just got out of the hospital, we¡¯re not putting you right back in it.¡± So¡­ she can even take control of my motor skills. This suddenly seems awkward. Celeste suddenly had a deep blush after I said that, and turned away to pout. Though, there were several potential uses to this as well, such as helping me aim or dodge, or maybe even mimic fighting styles. ¡°Fine, fine. I¡¯ll be good. Still, didn¡¯t expect you to have so much control from this implant.¡± Celeste turned around, and gave a small grin. ¡°Well¡­ you see¡­ I think you may have missed just a bit on the implant. From what the display said, I should have access to all of your senses, but I think you messed it up so that instead of ¡®access¡¯, I have¡­ well.. ¡®control¡¯. Now, don¡¯t give me that look, I¡¯ll be a good girl. This is a good thing, really! Now I can stop you from doing half of the stupid stuff you do.¡± I blinked a bit at her, and then just shook my head and sighed. This was going to get awkward if I didn¡¯t get used to speaking mentally and hearing verbally. Just think of it like the elemental speech, and everything should work out. At that thought, Celeste nodded her head, and we left to go back to the hotel. I still had to figure out some way to train Yang and Yo, but having them spar wasn¡¯t an option, and we were all too low level to go exploring the hunting grounds around the city. The best idea I could come up with was to have them fight monsters in the real world. Once we were in the hotel, I sat down on the rather comfortable bed, and Celeste sat there with me. ¡°Okay, so what¡¯s the plan?¡± She asked with a bright smile. ¡°Well¡­ first I need to finish training my affinities. After that, we should head back to my world and train those two. I don¡¯t suppose this control of yours extends to my magic, does it?¡± ¡°Hold on, let me check!¡± She closed her eyes and seemed to be focusing.. ¡°Nope, doesn¡¯t seem like it. I can feel your mana, but I still can¡¯t control it. So no, you can¡¯t just have me refine medium grade Seeds of Wind for you while you practice.¡± She smirked knowingly to me. ¡°Well¡­ was worth a shot. Looks like she¡¯ll be evolving into a Gustwing instead of a Windslayer, more than likely. Should have taken a look at the evolution paths of that one as well. Maybe there will still be some way to get a rather epic type of bird.¡± ¡°Maybe! But at least now, you can mark one item off your checklist, right? And after a while, maybe we can take another crack at learning the runic language? Now that I have a direct link to your senses and memories, I can store information a lot better. I can even slow down the speed at which the information is passed to you over time to prevent another migraine like you had the first time.¡± Now that was something I hadn¡¯t considered. Essentially, with this setup, she could learn all of the information skills from the internet just by searching through them and memorizing it. Although she wouldn¡¯t be able to do so with practical skills, or with special software, that is still a huge boost. ¡°Exactly.¡± She speaks again, answering my thoughts. ¡°I might even be able to look up information on nearby planets and local species to help you plan future adventures. Oh, this is going to be fun!¡± For some reason, the idea of having a female AI, or any AI, or any female for that matter inside my brain and able to essentially take full control of my body whenever she wanted still disturbed me a bit. Sensing this thought, Celeste simply turned to me and grinned mischievously. ¡°Oh, it¡¯ll be fine. But don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know you wanted to use your X-Ray vision to peep on women. I may not be able to stop that, but I can certainly censor it.¡± Alas, another dream crushed before it could be realized. Chapter 52: Discoveries and a Plan Author¡¯s Corner: I say unto thee dudes, enjoy the chapter!
The rest of the day passed fairly quickly. Well, that was mostly because I was focusing on one thing for the entire day, but Celeste was kind enough to not disturb me while training my Water Affinity. I think she knows that, even though she could try to take over my body, since she doesn¡¯t have any control over my magic, I could still get rid of the implant if I wanted. Doing so would, at the very least force her back into the bracelet, or possibly delete her altogether. Neither of us know for sure, and we would both like to avoid that happening. So now, I am basically seeing hallucinations of a helpful AI that can help me with a few tasks. Though, after raising my Water Affinity to 9%, it was time to sleep. I swear, Celeste being in my head is just weird. I had a dream of just sitting up and watching the TV for hours as it flashed through a rapid series of images. Of course, after I woke up, I found out that hadn¡¯t been a dream, and Celeste had taken the time while I was asleep to essentially ¡®download¡¯ a torrent of information. With a sigh, I could only ask her, ¡°So, what all did you get?¡± The idea of her taking over my body while I slept was a bit disconcerting, but so long as she only used it for the right things it¡¯d be okay. ¡°Well, first I looked up whether or not it was possible to infect an AI like myself with a virus, because if it is, I¡¯d need to take countermeasures.¡± Naturally, this alarmed me. ¡°Turns out, it is possible for someone using Technomancy to embed a virus spell into a program, but it has to be passed on through direct contact. Organic optics filter out any possibility for a virus to be transmitted by simply being read. As long as my main consciousness is in the implant, and you are confident in any software you apply to yourself, it should be safe.¡± I nodded, a bit relieved that Celeste wouldn¡¯t suddenly get infected with a homicidal virus or something like that. ¡°Alright, what else?¡± This time, she grinned proudly, pushing out her imaginary chest. ¡°I heard that. But anyways, after that, I started looking up some useful information. Stuff like lovebird evolutionary paths, slime abilities, and so on. Also went through and learned about all of the nearby worlds, their native monsters, and recommended levels. I think, if I keep doing this, I might be able to serve as a good information source for you when we¡¯re travelling. I¡¯ve already been able to store a lot of information for the Identify software.¡± One particular part of that stuck out to me, so I went ahead and asked. ¡°So? What did you learn about Yin¡¯s evolution path?¡± Nodding her head, Celeste began speaking in a lecturing tone. ¡°After turning into a gustwing, the most common evolutionary forms are taken when the gustwing reaches 20% in a second affinity, aside from wind. This has varying outcomes based on what the element is, but the most powerful would be if the second element is lightning. If that is the case, it is capable of evolving into a thunderbird, a high ranking monster able to control the weather in a localized area and release powerful lightning attacks. Before you ask, the phoenix path is totally unavailable to her now, because she would have to take her first evolution from having 30% Fire Affinity. What I did learn was that, at the end of every evolution chain is a chance for a creature to take on a humanoid appearance. ¡°For some, this is in the form of a demi, like Yang will become. Others, like Yo, simply evolve into it if they are intelligent enough. But for most, the ones that advanced down the path of magical beasts and monsters, their final evolution grants them a form of sentience. With it, they are able to change their body between two forms. The first is naturally their default form that they were ¡®born¡¯ with, while the second would be the form of either a human, demi, or other sentient creature that they choose to become.¡± I gave out a soft sigh, shaking my head. ¡°So no matter what, I¡¯m going to end up with two bird girls on my hands.¡± Celeste giggled slightly at that. ¡°Yup, that¡¯s right. What¡¯s more, I discovered that slimes are gender neutral, so there is still the possibility for Yo to take a female form when he becomes a sentient. I¡¯d be careful if I were you, or they may just start teaming up against you.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t encourage them¡­ Did you manage to get anything else, though?¡± Celeste shook her head. ¡°Nope, but I know most of the planets within fifty parsecs of here now, and what they have. I thought about looking up an alchemy guide, but when I felt you starting to wake up I figured it was time to stop studying.¡± I smirked slightly when she said that. ¡°Well, thanks for that. Would have been weird to wake up to be staring at the TV.¡± She nodded her head at that. ¡°By the way, if we save up a bit of money, one of the other planets in this system would be a good hunting ground for you. It¡¯s suggested level is approximately twenty, and would give you a chance to train yourself and your animal companions. And since it¡¯s in the same system, the usual fees for a larger flight from the station are reduced.¡± As she spoke, I began focusing on cultivating water mana again, determined to hit 10% today. ¡°Maybe, but first I need to finish these up. Did you find out what the recommended skill level is for someone at my level?¡± Suddenly, Celeste had a bit of an embarrassed look. ¡°Ah, yes¡­ about that¡­ Well, normally 25% in an element would be the standard for a druid at level 20 focusing on the elements. But! But, for each doubling of the number of elements, that number is reduced by 5%. So, with you training nine elements, it¡¯s roughly 10% for each one. I also found a guide to Xeno-Shifters, but I didn¡¯t have time to read through it.¡± ¡°Well¡­ at least I¡¯m not too far behind the curve. But we¡¯re definitely staying here another night. A guide to shifting is something I need rather desperately. It¡¯s my class focus, and I¡¯ve been neglecting it quite a bit.¡± Celeste nodded her head. ¡°I¡¯ll look at as much as I can about the subject tonight.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. I thanked her, and then focused more on my cultivation. Since I was using the Seed of Water to cycle water mana, I was also slowly refining it as well. At some point, I would need to figure out how to increase the purity of the ambient mana when I make the seeds so that I can make them directly into a higher grade. My cultivation this time lasted roughly four hours, stopping only long enough to grab a breakfast from the hotel, before I got to 10% Water Affinity. However, shortly afterwards, I received a notification from the house AI that I had a call from the police. Looks like it¡¯s time to ¡®train¡¯. Quickly putting away my ¡®staff of the elements¡¯(the name was suggested by Celeste, but it was appropriate enough), I quickly logged out. Afterwards, I dispelled the void field in my room and took the call. As expected, it was Officer Faraday again.The time outside of the game was sometime in the evening now, and I could see the desire to go home and relax on his face even with a low quality hologram. ¡°Let me guess, another situation?¡± He let out a sigh, shaking his head. ¡°Not quite. I¡¯m not sure if you¡¯ve heard about it, but there is a petition to establish an Adventurer¡¯s Guild.¡± I nodded my head. ¡°I¡¯ve heard of it. Figured it¡¯d be another week or so before any progress was made, at least.¡± Faraday chuckled at that. ¡°Well, it came a week early, then. Due to the situation worldwide, pretty much every government I know of is rushing for this. They don¡¯t have buildings set up yet, but that¡¯s only a matter of time. This call is to let you know, and ask you to be a liaison between the Oakland PD and the local Guild branch. Aside from your adventurer responsibilities, you¡¯d be in charge of coordinating with the police in the event of ¡®enhanced¡¯ crime.¡± I raised an eyebrow at this news. ¡°You mean like mages robbing banks?¡± ¡°Exactly. They may not have standard human limits anymore, and some of them may not even be human, but they are still bound by the law. We¡¯ve already got people in the ¡®game¡¯ looking into ways to enhance the security of prisons and such to contain these people if necessary. It¡¯s just lucky that the Seeds didn¡¯t appear in prisons too.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but wince at the idea of all the jails suddenly having mages or dragons popping out of them, letting every criminal out with new and improved abilities. That was definitely not something that the world needed to happen. ¡°Alright, I can do that.¡± I thought about it, and nodded. With the establishing of an Adventurer¡¯s Guild, the need for me to respond in the real world would decrease drastically. It would also let me take jobs more regularly if I wanted to, getting me more money. ¡°Thanks. With this, a lot of the pressure is being lifted from us, but at the same time, standard police are becoming outdated. Thankfully, we¡¯re still being kept around for now.¡± I had no idea why he was telling me this. We weren¡¯t exactly friends, were we? ¡°Anyways, I¡¯ll let you know when the building is up. For now, they are using a website to gather and spread information, which I sent to your AI.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t get anything.¡± Celeste spoke up in my head, before making an ahh sound. ¡°You meant the house AI. Carry on!¡± ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll take a look at it later.¡± I nodded my head to the officer, and the call ended. Shrugging, I decided to check the news. More strange weather, more strange tide, more big monsters. ¡°Maybe it¡¯s an ocean slime that¡¯s messing with the tide?¡± ¡°Hope not.¡± Celeste spoke up, sitting on a chair that I knew didn¡¯t exist beside me. ¡°I looked it up as part of my research into the evolutionary paths. Ocean slimes are almost impossible to fully kill, especially when they are in a large body of water. Their core blends in, or they hide it under the sand at the bottom. And the only way to kill them when they are in the water is to remove the core and cut the link, or destroy the core itself. So¡­ unless you plan to have people search every cubic inch of the ocean for an object the size of your fist, you¡¯re out of luck¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ that would definitely not be good. That would pretty much be the worst possible outcome.¡± I nodded, looking at the website that Faraday had sent me. It was structured pretty plainly, where people could enter in their zip code and it would have a map of monster activity. I couldn¡¯t confirm how current it was, but the page said it was updated in real time by an AI. That meant it was probably someone that had access to city cameras and was linking the sudden appearance of creatures to monster activity. Though, I wasn¡¯t sure how it would account for the nonhuman people walking around in broad daylight. Either way, there were also listings on the site about known monsters and their weaknesses. The site right now had goblins, minotaurs, a dozen types of slimes, and a monster I hadn¡¯t seen yet. It was listed as a stone spider, and appeared to be exactly that, a spider covered entirely in stone. According to the website, it was weak against blunt force, but spawned in swarms and began consuming any rock near them, such as gravel, cement, or concrete. I really did not want to fight them. My only blunt force attack was their food! After that, I saw no real reason to stay logged out for now, and went back in so that I could resume cultivating, this time doing so with Wind Affinity. Since Celeste had found out that I actually wasn¡¯t very far behind the curve, I could train my affinities normally and catch up, while she finds out what I need to do to finally get my racial shapeshifting. Then I¡¯ll just need to study a few more auras, and I¡¯ll be able to look however I want and gain all sorts of powers. The rest of the day passed in relative peace, and I was easily able to get 9% Wind Affinity before going to bed. A few more days like this, and I¡¯ll need to start getting a local job to pay for the hotel.
Author¡¯s Basement: Don¡¯t worry folks, next chapter is going to be the end of the training montage, after which we¡¯ll finally get to see some action! Chapter 53: Training Montage, and a Solar Flight! Author¡¯s Corner: As promised, the end to the training montage has arrived!
The next few days passed relatively quietly, since I no longer had as many jobs to work for the police. There was another elemental, a fire one this time, but it turned out to just be a salaryman who didn¡¯t realize that becoming a fire elemental would mean losing his ability to communicate. I did check in with Tessa, and was relieved to find that her mom had taken money out of their savings to have her take a race change. I can¡¯t imagine how she found an altar of the gods, because I hadn¡¯t seen one yet. Of course, after thinking that, Celeste told me that there had been a small church in nearly every town I had visited so far, I just never paid attention. Still, it was good to see that Tessa had turned back into a human. When I asked, she said that her mommy had told her that she could pick any human type she wanted, so long as she did pick one. So now, Tessa is a human psychic like my father was. I didn¡¯t really understand what the psychic powers she possessed would be like. but the important thing was that she wasn¡¯t an elemental anymore. Tessa¡¯s mother had tried to thank me, by paying me or giving back the bracelet I had enchanted for her. Although I had a money issue myself, I couldn¡¯t justify taking money for returning a little girl to her mother. As for the bracelet, I really didn¡¯t have any use for it, so I insisted she keep it. At the very least, it would let her raise her own Wind Affinity to the point where mine was at when I enchanted it. On the subject of affinities, it took nearly a full week for me to get 10% in all of my elements, but I did eventually manage it. I also felt like my older affinities, like earth and dark, were getting closer to breaking through to 11%. The fact that they hadn¡¯t done so after all this time reminded me just how slow passively cultivating would be. Now, you might be wondering, but Celeste did her own learning during this time as well. For the first couple nights after I did the implant surgery, she stayed up and constantly recording information from the tv. On the second night, she learned a lot of information regarding druids, and more specifically regarding Xeno-Shifters. My line of thinking had been off from the very start. Although I needed a bit more mana to become a magical beast or a monster, really I could substitute my affinities for the extra mana, and focus all of my efforts on my Mana Manipulation skill. Celeste even found a handy calculator to determine the mana cost to shift forms based on their complexity, mana density, and my skills. From what she figured out, my wolf form would only cost half as much mana now as it did back when I first learned to use it. If I relied on my affinities, I could even easily change into a lesser orthrus. Naturally, she couldn¡¯t get any auras from the internet, since I had to study those myself. But with this, I had a benchmark for when I¡¯d be able to do a full race conversion. Mana Manipulation at at least Intermediate level would be needed with my current mana pool. With how I was right now, turning into a monster wouldn¡¯t be hard, as long as it was a monster attuned with one of my elements. This also meant that my dragon form could be done more simply if I supplemented my mana with elemental mana. Though, after the second night, I restricted her to only studying every other night, because my eyes had started to hurt. Anyways, I had gradually been running out of funds, since I had been staying in this hotel for roughly a week now. As such, I had to once again get a job. With my skills in engineering and technomancy, I was able to get a job at the starport again, however this time I didn¡¯t have a handy partner to help. I did, however have Celeste, who was more than happy to flaunt her downloaded knowledge. When I asked why she hadn¡¯t simply given me the information, she said that it wouldn¡¯t be very fun that way. Also, the time it would take to give me the information would require my entire concentration for several hours. She was able to process it much faster than I was, so information that took her a minute to ¡®download¡¯ would require an hour for me to do so safely. Now, I had spent a full two weeks working as a mechanic at the starport, and during this time I had managed to train another affinity to help me out. The affinity this time was metal, which allowed me to control metal with my mana. It wouldn¡¯t let me turn silver to gold(yet, I was hopeful that it could eventually), but it would let me fix broken components and remove rust. I did the same thing to my three weapons as well, finally restoring them to their peak efficiency. Onto my grove, that had shown a considerable increase lately, with all of the mana I passively take in. Over the last three weeks, the grove had grown to a startling 35 meter radius. The secondary grove I had set up had also grown, until it had a radius of 10 meters. With the addition of metal mana, there were even tiny veins of iron and copper that would appear in the center of the grove after I absorbed mana. Before you ask, I naturally made a Seed of Metal and put it in my staff of the elements. I even had to replace my plant and dark seeds, because they had been refined to medium grade. Although Celeste had discovered the method to do so, I had yet to refine a medium grade seed of my own. From her information, it would take the equivalent of twenty five thousand mana at my current level of skill. With that, I would have to focus for nearly seven hours just to create a single one. I¡¯d rather wait until I could do so more quickly. Although I hadn¡¯t gained a level from working, I had gained other things. Most notably was the money, which I got from both working the job and harvesting the metal from my grove. Altogether, I gained roughly half a gold, which I considered to be a pretty good deal for just that amount of work. If I kept at it, I could easily earn enough to get a full gold within the shortest amount of time. Finally, it has been about four days in the real world, and the Adventurer¡¯s Guild already had tens of thousands of members. Practically every city had an ¡®adventurer¡¯, or had one living nearby that could rush over in case of an emergency. After talking with her, I was surprised to find out that Sharon had not become a member. Then again, with her personality she wouldn¡¯t really want to fight the monsters. She had long since surpassed me in levels, likely from training her skills, so the only times that we were able to chat was thanks to the friends list. I was a bit disappointed to learn that she lived in Europe in the real world, so we would probably never meet outside of the game. That thought made me laugh a bit, since I found it easier to meet her when we were on different planets than just different continents. Today, I was planning to take the shuttle to Gallen 3, the neighboring world in this system which would have a better hunting ground for me. Thanks to my two weeks of work, I had earned a ten percent discount on the faire, but still needed to pay thirteen and a half silver. Compared to the cost of going to another system, it was extremely cheap, but it still made a hefty dent in my wallet. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Once on the shuttle, I let myself relax, focusing on my inner grove and investigating my ¡®animal¡¯ companions. I wasn¡¯t sure why, but Yang had yet to get the last two levels needed for her to evolve. Yin, naturally had yet to do so as well. As for Yo, I had to scold him before to not drain all the water mana from my grove, because he had started to make it shrink. However, his current body was roughly four meters wide, so he was far more imposing than that little goo ball I had first created. I had considered creating slimes with the dark and plant seeds I had refined, but really the memory of acid and my time fighting the dark and water slime(Celeste later identified it as a Mire slime) stopped me. I could do so later at any time, but first I wanted to finish training Yo so that I knew what to expect. ¡°Thank you for choosing to fly with Gallen Starliner, taking you anywhere and everywhere in the Gallen system.¡± A hostess¡¯s voice came in over the intercom as I strapped myself in. The flight time was estimated to be around three hours, since the two planets were currently at opposing points of their orbit. With a deep sigh, I pulled up my character and skill information windows, wanting to check out my total earnings from my training period.
NameFalenel HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain SurgeonFame0
Level 2112%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health160/160Health Regen0.25
Mana850/850Mana Regen0.72
Strength15Wisdom85
Agility21Intelligence86
Dexterity22Charisma10
Vitality16Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 11%Fire 10%Wind 10%Water 10%
Lightning 10%Light 11%Dark 11%Plant 11%
Void 10%Metal 10%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Novice Level 8: 5%
Nature Magic - Basic Level 5: 0%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 7: 5%
Archery - Beginner Level 3: 1%
Dagger Mastery - Beginner Level 5: 11%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 7: 0%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Basic Level 5: 12%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Alchemy - Basic Level 5: 3%
Mana Signatures - Intermediate Level 1: 9%
Cooking - Basic Level 3: 55%
Flight - Basic Level 1: 0%
Aura Sight - Intermediate Level 2: 12%
Technomancy - Intermediate Level 3: 21%
Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%
Runic Language - Intermediate Level 8: 50%
Enchanting - Basic Level 2: 30%
Engineering - Novice Level 1: 16%
Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 13%
Dodge - Beginner Level 1: 20%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 3: 20%
Marksmanship - Beginner Level 9: 13%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 5: 3%
¡°Finally, time to go and train with actual combat!¡± Celeste appeared, ¡®sitting¡¯ in my lap, smiling at me. She was the biggest reason for most of my skills improving as much as they had, since she fed me some of the information that she had downloaded. Stuff like new alchemy recipes for the herbs that I had found on the jungle planet and the ones from Hascion, or teaching me several thousand new runes. Although she didn¡¯t teach me everything on the subject, she assured me that it should be enough for the foreseeable future, and she didn¡¯t want to overload me too soon. I could only chuckle at her antics. Although her personality was still fully formed, and she would display the occasional bit of adult wisdom, she still enjoyed acting like a kid a lot. Of course, every time I thought about that, she began pouting. It was still cute, and made me want to pat her on the head. The flight to Gallen 3 was largely uneventful, since the security in this system was high enough to prevent pirates . There were no freak meteors, no sudden explosions, no Klax invasions(it surprised me how quiet that race had been lately). We just flew through the system for three hours from one planet to the other. Though really, the view was amazing. We got to see passing planets like one would see a city from an airplane. We even got to see the star up close, thanks to the shuttle¡¯s shielding. Unlike Earth, the Gallen star was a blue dwarf, which itself was quite a sight to behold. As we approached the planet, I could see that it looked quite similar to Earth, with the majority covered by blue water, and the rest being green continents. Well, that¡¯s what I thought at first. Then I learned that the blue was really the land, and the green was the water. There was some mineral mixed into the water that turned it green, and so it had to be filtered before it was drinkable, according to Celeste. Still, roughly three hours after launch, we had entered the atmosphere of a new planet, and were finally going to be able to begin training. ¡°Thank you for flying with Gallen Starliner, and have a safe stay. If you require special services, please see a terminal upon exiting the shuttle.¡± The hostess¡¯s voice rang out again as everyone began to get up and move out. Now I could finally train my Plasma and Magnetism Affinities, while my animal companions trained to evolve. Chapter 54: Tag Team Lovebirds Author¡¯s Corner: And here we are, folks! Time to get down into the actual combat(I hope! Please fingers, type me up a good chapter!) Sorry for the chapter being so late. To be honest, at first I didn¡¯t feel up to writing at all today, but managed to push one out.
As I exited the shuttle, I was able to look around and see the city. From the air, it looked rather wide, but the fact that all of the buildings were short gave it the appearance of a small town. Since Celeste had already downloaded the relevant information about this planet, I had a fully formed minimap displaying in the top corner of my vision. With my grove, I didn¡¯t have to worry about food, and thanks to my magic I didn¡¯t need potions. Instead, I began walking directly towards the exit to the hunting grounds while summoning Yin and Yang. It would be far easier to deal with either bird if I brought them both out together, since that way they wouldn¡¯t get jealous of each other. If Yo was still his former size, I would have summoned him as well, but he would take up the entirety of the street as it was. I looked over to the two birds and spoke slowly, expecting them to at least partially understand what I was saying, even if only through my thoughts. ¡°I¡¯m going to take you both out hunting today, and you can practice the magic that you¡¯ve been training. If you get stronger, you can evolve into more powerful forms.¡± I wasn¡¯t really sure if it was because I was actually talking to them or because they might have understood me a bit, but they were both excited and immediately began rubbing up against me. I could only let out a helpless sigh and accept it until we walked out of the small city. The entire time, Celeste had been focusing on transferring some information to me regarding this planet. Unlike Hascion, this world was already habitable when the wood elves arrived, so there wasn¡¯t a need for druids to spread out and make a bunch of forests. At the same time, that meant that the planet had evolved its own set of wild beasts and medicinal herbs. She was slowly ¡®teaching¡¯ me about the various herbs that might be found in the hunting ground nearby, and how they might interact with the herbs I already had. Thanks to her lessons, I already understood that I had nearly all of the ingredients to make more powerful potions, and even different types of results than potions themselves. For instance, she taught me a way she learned from a druid guide to use my affinities and create magic pills that had similar effects to potions. While an alchemic pill might not necessarily have a stronger effect than a potion, it would be longer lasting and required more fine control in order to make. It was like this that she suggested I practice my mana control, but I had yet to try it out. The basic requirements to perform alchemic pill refinement were being able to control fire, water, and plant energies. Since I had been staying in a hotel lately, I couldn¡¯t exactly experiment with fire. About fifteen minutes later, I had finally gotten out of the city, and also learned the necessary information about the nearby plants. One in particular caught my attention, but I would come back to that if I saw it. Now that we were outside of the city, I raised my hand and summoned Yo. Thankfully, pulling him out of my grove costed nearly no mana, unlike taking him in. Each time I called him back, I had to have him shave off some size so that I could wrap my mana around him. With the giant blue blob appearing beside me, we walked off towards the north, towards the direction Celeste had recommended we hunt. The hunting ground was about a mile away from the city, but that distance wasn¡¯t very much. It was just a small buffer zone that the guards used to repel monsters. Thankfully, according to Celeste there were no existences like the land wyrm here, or anything that would directly kill me from underground, so I could walk in peace. After roughly ten minutes of walking , we began to see the first signs of enemies. ¡°These are called diamondback wolves. They don¡¯t typically possess any magical abilities, but their strong skeleton makes them a difficult opponent.¡± Celeste informed me of the enemy, and even created small viewing windows with different details. Along the back of the wolf was a diamond-like protrusion, which seemed to be what its bones were made out of. This was further confirmed by the same material appearing as their claws and fangs. ¡°This enemy would be a good one for you to study once you take it down. Its only powerful quality is its diamond skeleton, but even that is quite powerful.¡± I nodded with a sigh, waving a hand. ¡°Yin, Yang, Yo, let¡¯s see how you guys can do.¡± These five diamondback wolves didn¡¯t possess any magic, so it shouldn¡¯t be an issue for a slime to fight them. In this sense, Yin and Yang would be acting as support in this fight. ¡°Celeste, what are their estimated levels?¡± ¡°Given their size, they should be just below level twenty. You can measure the age of a diamondback wolf based on the size of the protrusions from their back.¡± Celeste spoke as the two birds took flight, and Yo did something rather unexpected. Rather than rolling along like I had seen slimes doing before, it lowered its body until it was nearly flat, and then lunged up into the air like an arcing stream of blue goo. In one quick jump, it had travelled twenty meters and landed directly between the five beasts. ¡°Be careful. Although their intelligence is no greater than a typical wolf, they claws can still be compared to diamonds. If they get a lucky hit, they might shatter Yo¡¯s core.¡± Although she said that, and the five wolves immediately turned to lunge at Yo, I didn¡¯t feel it would be too much of an issue. If Yo kept his core in the very center of his body, they would still have to dive entirely inside of him to reach it. At that point, they¡¯d basically just be offering themselves up as food. However, they simply bit and clawed at his outer layer, causing a bit of scooped up slime to go flying. At that time, the two birds also arrived, and began acting on their own. First was Yin, who would open her mouth and let out a powerful gust of wind to knock one of the wolves over. After which, Yang flew over the fallen wolf, and it stopped moving. I could tell with me Aura Sight that it wasn¡¯t dead, but simply paralyzed. Yang must have discovered the properties of that black mushroom and copied it. Though, it was a bit concerning that neither of them were going for lethal attacks. However, Yo did not have that issue, and simply rolled its body over the fallen wolf, quickly causing it to dry up into a withered husk. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that what I wanted from these wolves was their bone composition, I might be a little annoyed that they were so thoroughly damaging the bodies. ¡°Celeste, is the skeleton of a diamondback wolf a good component for armor?¡± She thought about it for a moment. ¡°Hmm¡­ they¡¯re a common enemy on this planet, so you won¡¯t be able to get much for it here. But at the same time, that means you can have one converted into armor for a cheaper price. If you plan to sell it, I would suggest waiting until we go to another planet. There are others nearby where armored creatures aren¡¯t so common, so armor materials are in high demand.¡± I nodded to her suggestion. If possible, I would like to mold it into armor myself. And, I knew it was possible, because one of the guides that Celeste had told me about was a druid forging guide. However, even if I knew the theory behind it, I had no practical experience creating armor. Even in other VR games, I would be more likely to take a weapon crafting job than armor crafting. While I was talking to Celeste, Yin and Yang had knocked over and paralyzed another wolf for Yo to devour. The slime itself had also taken the initiative to wrap its body around one of the beasts that had been incessantly attacking it. The two wolves were turned into dry husks just like their companion, and the last two wolves seemed to understand they were outmatched at this point. Turning around, they attempted to run away, only for one to be stopped by the Yin and Yang combo. Unfortunately, that meant that the last wolf had escaped. Looking to the two birds, I sighed slightly. ¡°Didn¡¯t really expect them to stop being pacifists so soon, but still.¡± Celeste smiled next to me, nodding. ¡°They have good coordination, though. As long as they¡¯re fighting with Yo, dealing the finishing blow can be taken care of. Speaking of, there seems to be a slight change in his aura. He probably gained quite a bit of experience from this.¡± I chuckled, nodding my head. Although Celeste could perceive a change in aura and attribute it to his level thanks to the Identify software, she couldn¡¯t read exactly how high his level was, only a close approximation. Looking over to the birds, I noted that Yang did not show signs of evolution yet. Knowing my expectation, Celeste smirked. ¡°It¡¯ll be pretty obvious when it happens. Evolutions gained through training occur within moments, rather than a prolonged change. Since she was level eighteen when you saw the trainer, my guess is she should be in the upper levels of nineteen now. One more fight like this should do it.¡± ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s go find something else to fight.. but first.¡± I walked over to one of the dead wolves, while Yo was slowly absorbing the ¡®nutrients¡¯ from the one that failed to run. I even called Yang over to see if she could do this as well while I studied the bones. However, I did not feel the presence of her mana scanning it with mine, so she likely did not understand. After she evolved, I would need to get her to analyze the creatures with me to train her. Maybe she could even become a druid too. While I studied the bones and considered this, Celeste spoke up in my ear, careful so as not to distract me. ¡°Races that naturally start out sentient at a higher level, such as elementals, or creatures that evolved into sentience, will gain an advanced class after honing their skills a little while. I can¡¯t say for sure what Yang would turn into, but it will heavily depend on what kind of training she does immediately after evolving.¡± I nodded my head, listening to her as I focused. Now that she was able to feel things through my magic and directly imprint the information into my head, I only had to really make one detailed sweep of its bones to learn what I needed. Perhaps with a more complicated aura, such as with a sentient creature, the process would be more difficult. Closing my eyes, I focused on trying out this new aspect. Going through my body, I carefully applied the new aura pattern to my own bone structure, and suddenly felt a bit heavier. Thankfully it was a smooth transition, and I didn¡¯t receive mind numbing pain from my bones deciding to splinter off and shatter my skin or anything¡­ Which totally could have happened! When I didn¡¯t receive a new spell notification, I looked through and found that this was listed under the Aspect of the Armored Beast. With this, I now had both external and internal armor. If I could find something with particularly strong muscles, I could essentially craft the ultimate combat body. Skin as strong as steel, bones as hard as diamonds. As an experiment, I turned my hand into a wolf paw, and found that the claws looked identical to the diamond ones that the dead wolf had. ¡°Well, this is useful.¡± Celeste giggled happily. ¡°Thanks. And sorry, but there¡¯s not anything with super powerful muscles here. From what I¡¯ve learned, monsters like that only appear in high level areas. However, there are some other creatures here that I think would be good for you to study and train with.¡± That got my attention, and I slowly turned towards her. ¡°Speak.¡± ¡°Hmmm, oh, just a lesser wyvern race. They keep to the mountains in the south, and are too high level for you to fight right now, but they would make a good addition to your dragon collection. There are also the rock beast golems in the east, with bodies of living stone, and the scythe mantis in the forests ahead, which have natural blade weapons. Pretty much every creature that evolves from this planet has rocks, diamonds, or ores as part of their body. The diamondback wolves are simply the most common this close to the city.¡± I felt a grin forming on my face as she listed the different types of creatures on this planet. Many of the features she mentioned were almost perfect for me. Especially if I found a way to manufacture them, such as grafting the scythe mantis blade onto a plant aura. But that involved merging auras from plants and beasts, and I wasn¡¯t too confident in my ability to do so. That did not mean I wouldn¡¯t try! ¡°Alright, then! Let¡¯s keep going till we get Yang to evolve.¡± I stuffed the four bodies of the wolves into my inventory before getting up, hearing another giggle from behind me. ¡°And then head back to town to get her clothes.¡± Okay, I¡¯ll admit, I tripped and faceplanted the ground when I heard Celeste say that. Why would I expect her to evolve with a full set of clothes? When has the game ever been so kind? Chapter 55: Late Information, and All of My Nope! Author¡¯s Corner: Like I said in a post in the last chapter thread, sorry all for not posting a chapter yesterday! Snowstorm came through and knocked out my internet all day. By the time they got it fixed I was already going to bed. So, to make up for it, have a super length chapter! By the way, for those curious, the current game date is 02/21/3016
With the skeleton of the diamondback wolf added to my collection, we went off to find more monsters to use for training. Unless there was an emergency, I wanted to let my ¡®team¡¯ take care of things themselves. That way they could get the greatest amount of experience and level up more quickly. Meanwhile, I was thinking over the things that would happen once Yang evolved. ¡°You said that she¡¯ll get an advanced class soon after evolving, but those aren¡¯t really that easy to get unless there are some specially made for evolved creatures.¡± Celeste nodded her head. ¡°I looked into it a bit, and there are a few. For instance, out of curiosity I looked into the class your mom got, Shadow Stalker I believe? That is a rogue advanced class with a focus on shadow-based magic. It¡¯s a common class for Shades to receive, as they will almost always get something linked with shadows and darkness. For Yang, it should be an advanced class with a focus on Nature Magic. The thing is, nearly every main class has an advanced class like that.¡± When I glanced over to her curiously, having to look over one of the birds as I did so, she continued. ¡°If she goes down a crafting route, she could become a Natural Craftsman. They specialize in creating powerful objects from natural resources like plants and bones. Like how you wanted to make a plant with the scythe of a mantis. Mix a Natural Craftsman with enchanting skills, and it can create weapons as powerful as most tech. ¡°However, if she went for a fighter, she could end up as a Wild Paragon. They imbue their bodies with aspects of different plants or animals to make themselves stronger. Your current ¡®battle form¡¯ would be a good example, but you are a druid instead. If she chose to be a mage, her advanced class would likely be ¡®Mage Alchemist¡¯. Not a very common one, but they focus on Nature Magic and Alchemy to perfect their skills. They¡¯re the types that will figure out how to make a potion that lets you breathe fire or fly. Like I said before, it¡¯ll all depend on what path she picks when she trains.¡± I gave another nod, looking ahead at where we were going. Off in the distance there seemed to be another forest, which seemed to be our current destination. ¡°What are we looking for over there? The scythe mantis?¡± ¡°Right. Also planned for you to look for a few herbs that will let you make stronger products. You¡¯ll need to have a few prepared to sell when we go back to town, because you¡¯ll have to buy a new companion bracelet for Yang.¡± I blinked, glancing over to her at that. ¡°Oh? I thought they were free for the first one?¡± Celeste smirked a bit. ¡°For you, yes. However, Yang will be your evolved companion. With that in mind, they¡¯ll consider it as a second bracelet for you. It¡¯d also be best if you got the upgrades for the two bracelets so that I can connect to them remotely. That way, she won¡¯t have to train a new AI, can benefit from what I¡¯m learning, and I¡¯ll have a second set of eyes to watch things.¡± I shook my head, and couldn¡¯t help but let out a soft sigh. ¡°How much will it cost?¡± ¡°In the local market¡­. about one gold and twenty silver.¡± I felt my eyebrow twitching slightly as she said the sum. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the stuff that you can make combining the plants here with what you already have will be able to cover it after about.. five batches I think?¡± ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t have any vials to put them in.¡± ¡°I know, I already considered that. That¡¯s why you should practice making alchemy pills! Since their production method is a bit difficult, and their effects last longer, alchemy pills are valued at a higher price than potions.¡± I could understand that, so I nodded my head slightly. ¡°Do regular pills not have the same effects?¡± Celeste shook her head as she spoke, and I could tell that she researched quite a bit in case I asked these questions. Or maybe she was just curious too. ¡°Medical pills and alchemy pills are two different things. Medical pills that doctors make are generally more specialized, but have a stronger effect over time. For instance, a doctor might make a pill to cure a certain disease, and it would be more powerful than if an alchemist were to simply make a pill designed to cure diseases in general. For this reason, doctors also rarely use magic when making their medicines, because some species will react to certain types of magic differently.¡± ¡°So¡­ alchemists are the jack-of-all-trades, while doctors specialize.¡± I thought about it a bit. ¡°Different species will probably react to medicines differently, so a doctor would need to take that into account, too¡­ I¡¯m glad I didn¡¯t decide to go with that path.¡± I shook my head, dismissing the idea. Although a doctor would likely make a lot more money than an alchemist, it also takes far more studying. ¡°Right, so once we get to the forest, keep a look out for the mantis.¡± She sent me an image of the scythe mantis, a two meter tall, three meter long green insect that in most ways looked like a typical praying mantis, aside from the fact that their front arms were replaced by long scythes. ¡°In the meantime, I¡¯ll watch for the herbs you need. After Yang evolves, you can send them all back to the grove so that you can practice making pills.¡± We were about a hundred meters from the forest, and I could see that there were a few diamondback wolves blocking the way. ¡°Don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be able to wait for Yang to evolve against the mantises.¡± Hearing that, Celeste grumbled under her breath. ¡°But.. the plan¡­¡± I chuckled slightly, smiling towards her. ¡°It¡¯s alright, we can still use most of the plan. But really, did you think we¡¯d make it all the way without finding another group to fight?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I hoped¡­ It would have made things so much easier.¡± The AI was sulking besides me as she realized that her plan wasn¡¯t going to work out. ¡°Fine, fine. I can take care of these by myself.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh, and pulled out my rifle from my grove. It was even able to put a wound on a giant dragon-like creature in the plant world, so there was no doubt that it would be able to take out a few wolves. Hearing my decision, Celeste perked up beside me, nodding her head quickly. ¡°Okay! Let¡¯s go with that.¡± Now, in most games, there would be an ¡®aggro radius¡¯. That means that an enemy wouldn¡¯t notice you until you approached it. However, still a hundred meters away, and the wolves already turned towards me. Having a giant slime rolling along beside me probably didn¡¯t help, but they noticed me pretty quick. ¡°Six wolves, let¡¯s aim for six shots.¡± I raised the rifle, and Celeste provided the laser sight. Since it was only visible to me, it was natural that the wolf wouldn¡¯t see as it centered on its head. With a quick pull of the trigger, the first wolf was killed, and the other five all jumped into action. With their speed, they would be on me in under ten seconds. Two more quick shots, each one aimed at a head, but one of the wolves jumped to the side as the plasma shot out of my rifle to avoid it. ¡°That is totally not fair.¡± I grumbled as I sent the rifle back to my grove, pulled out my beam saber and pistol, and ran forward. Yin and Yang flew up off my shoulders to watch, since I instructed them not to join this fight. ¡°You know, they can still rip you to shreds if you fight them head on.¡± Celeste advised as I approached the wolves, and I quickly activated the Aspect of the Armored Beast to give me the scale armor skin. ¡°A bit better, but not really going to help against their claws.¡± She sighed helplessly, but soon vanished to let me focus on the fight. There were still four wolves left, and this time I was fighting solo. Though, this time I was also essentially fully outfitted with good gear, so I didn¡¯t worry too much. Celeste, you take the left arm. I thought to the AI as I swung my sword at the first wolf, who dodged to the side. I was in no way proficient fighting with two weapons at once, but I hoped that with Celeste controlling my left arm with the gun, that would be taken care of. Soon, my arm was lifting up and shot the wolf I had just targeted before it had the chance to recover from its dodge. Although it wasn¡¯t a fatal blow, the wolf had been hit near its back legs, so its fighting power would drop significantly. At the same time, the last three wolves arrived as well, and I decided to start using magic to help as well with the fighting. I¡¯m a druid, after all, I should be doing druid things! Out of the surrounding elements, earth would be less useful thanks to their skeletons, while fire would be the best choice. As such, I used my magic to grant myself a flaming breath weapon, hoping that I wouldn¡¯t be burning my mouth by doing this. It would be ridiculous for the lesser orthrus to burn itself every time it used its fire breath. As the wolves began surrounding me, I turned to the nearest one and spat out a ball of fire, thankful that the flame formed outside of my mouth rather than inside of it. Without waiting to see if it dodged or took the hit, I spun to the next target and jumped forward, borrowing the momentum of my spin to do a twisting slash with my beam saber. The plasma blade cut right through the wolf¡¯s head, but at the same time I failed to regain my balance and ended up sliding along the ground while Celeste fired off another shot at the first injured wolf, this time killing it. Two down, two to go. I looked at the last two wolves, and it turned out that the one I tried to spit at had dodged, while the one that had originally been behind me was lunging. Celeste took a quick shot at its exposed stomach, and I slashed with my saber, and then there was only one left. It felt really strange for one of my arms to be moving on its own like it was, and I was going to try not to make a habit of this, but I had to admit that it was useful. As the final wolf charged, I braced myself to slash at it again with my saber. However, just as it jumped for me, there were two quick blasts fired from the pistol, and my killing blow was stolen from me by¡­ myself. Is it possible to kill steal against yourself? I don¡¯t know, but I feel like I just did! ¡°Oh come on, it¡¯s not that bad.¡± Celeste spoke up next to me suddenly, and I felt myself regaining control of my arm. ¡°If I hadn¡¯t fired, there was a decent chance of it closing in and attacking. With its claws, it probably could have torn through your armored skin.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah¡­ still though¡­¡± I regretted not being able to deal the finishing blow myself, kind of? I mean, I did deal it, but it wasn¡¯t me¡­ Ahh! This is just confusing. I walked over and studied the aura of the last slain wolf, as it was the most intact corpse. Casting my Mana Sense through it, I committed the aura to memory while Yo went around feeding on the rest of the bodies. As I had originally thought, there weren¡¯t very many differences between these wolves and basic ones, aside from the composition of their bones. Still, another form added to my ¡®database¡¯ was always a good thing, so I learned it anyways before letting Yo take this one as well, and added the skeletons to my inventory again. At this rate, I¡¯d need to put them in my grove eventually to save space before we returned to town. But that wasn¡¯t such a bad idea in itself, it would just create a lot of clutter in the grove and somewhat limit the amount of space I had available to plant herbs. With this taken care of, I got back to walking towards the forest, with Yin and Yang once again taking their places on my shoulders. When I began wondering again which was which, Celeste provided me with some assistance by putting their names above their heads. Finally, I shall know which bird is which! Though this is somewhat pointless since Yang will be evolving shortly. The forest was a vast expanse of densely packed trees, the covering of which caused the entire area within to look dark as night. ¡°Celeste¡­ what is this forest called?¡± ¡°Hmm..?¡± She spoke up, somewhat guiltily. ¡°Uhm¡­ the Dark Wood? Don¡¯t worry, there¡¯s no curse, local boss monster, or anything like that. It¡¯s just that the trees grew dense and large enough to block out most of the light. I¡¯d suggest going forward with night vision and Aura Sight active.¡± I shook my head and continued on in, activating my Aura Sight and changing the vision mode on my Cybernetic eye to see in the dark. ¡°Alright, how deep are the mantises, do you know?¡± ¡°Answer unclear, try again later.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle slightly at that, and we walked into the depths of the forest. ¡°Are there any other monsters in this area that I should be worried about?¡± ¡°Hmm? Well, it¡¯s mostly just big insects. Uhm¡­ er¡­¡± Celeste¡¯s voice suddenly got a lot more nervous. ¡°Wait, you have a fear of spiders? Why haven¡¯t you thought of that before now?¡± ¡°Who likes to think about things they¡¯re scared of?¡± I grumbled under my breath, no longer feeling so enthusiastic about this venture. ¡°Please tell me the spiders are only in the deepest region of this forest, and don¡¯t openly attack people?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ no¡­ they actually prefer the edges of the forest, because more animals can be caught going in and out. And they like meat¡­ People sized meat. And there¡¯s a web above you.¡± I immediately turned my vision up, and indeed there was a massive web spanning several trees above me, but thankfully no creepy crawly menaces inside of it. ¡°Fuck this forest, fuck this forest, fuck this forest. Can I just burn the whole thing down!?¡± Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Well¡­ you could, but it wouldn¡¯t help. Remember, almost every animal here has in some way absorbed stone into their body. For these spiders¡­ their exoskeleton is made of stone, so they don¡¯t burn or fear fire.¡± ¡°Spiders that don¡¯t fear fire, I¡¯m going to have nightmares for years. And from the size of that web, giant fucking spiders that don¡¯t fear fire. Please tell me that they have a glaring weakness I can take advantage of?¡± At this point, Celeste spoke up rather happily. ¡°Ah, yes! They are extremely weak to bludgeoning attacks, and earth manipulation should be able to crush them since their skin is made of stone. Since they aren¡¯t magical creatures, they should not have a resistance to the control.¡± That part made me calm down slightly, though I still clutched the plasma pistol and beam saber for dear life. ¡°Oh, good. Giant spiders that I can kill with a thought. Now it¡¯s only mildly terrifying.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one right in front of you.¡± Suddenly, there were several shapes highlighted on a large tree in front of me, which I had initially taken to be patterns on the wood, but now could clearly see were legs wrapped around this tree with a diameter of at least three meters. ¡°Fuck this, fuck this, fuck this!¡± I sent a wave of mana, likely far more than needed, and used my Earth Manipulation. I could clearly sense the massive frame of the ¡®creature¡¯(if I pretend it¡¯s not you-know-what, maybe it¡¯ll help!) on the other side of the tree, at least five meters long. Using my magic, I caused its rocky exterior to crush it like the awe inspiring power of a giant¡¯s boot. Unfortunately, when I spread out that wave of mana, it spread past that first tree, and I found out why there were no spiders in the trees. They were all on the ground, hiding beneath the surface or clutching trees like the one in front of me. ¡°Nope, nope, nope!¡± I began using as much energy as I could to crush them one by one. ¡°Take all of my nope!¡± Possibly, the only thing more disturbing than knowing that you were surrounded on all side by giant stone spiders, was seeing that you were surrounded on all sides by giant stone spiders scurrying in every direction. ¡°Gah! Nonononononononono!¡± One of the spiders ran into, and through, Yo as it sought to escape the mass slaughter, neither party seeming to notice the others¡¯ presence. At some point, I released my wings, and activated my mana leech. My feathers looked like a myriad of colors representing all of my affinities as I sucked in as much mana as I could to fuel my ¡®nope¡¯ inspired rampage. Somehow, mass murder of these creatures was therapeutic. I think I even pulled earth mana directly from my grove to launch against the arachnid menace. All I know is that I was crushing every stone I could sense that moved, and pulling mana from everywhere that I could in order to do it.
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
You have leveled up!
By the time I was done, the area around my looked like a warzone. Craters filled the ground, stone shrapnel or long, spike-like legs stuck out of trees, and I had even managed to knock a few trees over to get at the creatures hiding under them, allowing light to pour into the area. I felt several soft feathers wrap around my head, the lovebirds clinging to me as if they felt my former terror and rage at the spiders. Yo was simply relaxing in one of the craters, his large body enjoying the chance to look like a big puddle. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯m sorry!¡± Celeste appeared in front of me, hands clasped as she apologized profusely. ¡°I didn¡¯t know, I swear!¡± It took me several long moments and deep breaths before I was able to calm down. I still felt really twitchy, and when one of the pieces of shrapnel fell from a nearby tree, I lashed out at it with my magic on reflex, causing it to burst open. ¡°Celeste¡­ think very carefully¡­ are there any other creatures here that I need to know about?¡± I was not feeling in a very good mood at the moment, and she seemed to be able to tell. Immediately, I felt a surge of information as she sent me a list of every creature type in this forest. Giant centipedes, hornets, beetles, half of which eat rock or use it to attack, and the other half disguises itself as rocks.. I would rather be in the jungle planet again than here. At least when I was there I had a trick to hide from everything! Okay¡­ deep breaths, deep calming breaths and kill anything that twitches wrong. Since I noticed the level-up messages, I decided to take a look at my status and spent the points. To my surprise, I found that my little rampage actually gave me a full 2% boost to Earth Affinity, likely because I was drawing so much in from both exterior sources and my own grove, which had shrunken slightly. However, if raising Earth Affinity meant throwing myself into a horde of rock spiders, fuck that I¡¯ll abandon the element.
NameFalenel HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain SurgeonFame0
Level 2428%ClassDruid
Sub-ClassWild ShaperDeityMalthan
Health160/160Health Regen0.27
Mana860/860Mana Regen1.52
Strength15Wisdom100
Agility21Intelligence86
Dexterity22Charisma10
Vitality16Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 13%Fire 10%Wind 10%Water 10%
Lightning 10%Light 11%Dark 11%Plant 11%
Void 10%Metal 10%
More deep calming breaths, and I put away my two plasma weapons. Instead, I pulled out my staff of the elements, and got ready to use my magic to murder any creepy thing this jungle had to offer. Scythe arms¡­ are they worth it¡­ Okay¡­ but we have to be quick. Not staying in this place a second longer than I have to. With my mind made up, I sent Yo into the grove, since he would mostly slow us down, while Yin, Yang and I took off deeper into the forest. I continuously watched for mana signatures with my Aura Sight, and kept my Mana Sense up so that I could crush whatever spiders came between me and getting the hell out of here. Thankfully, they all seemed to have been scared away, or I had already decimated the local population. Either way, I was happy because they were not coming for me. When one of the mountain hornets flew down at me, I lifted my head up and sent out a blast of fire. Unlike the spiders, these do not have stone body armor. Rather, they make their nests in large hills and mountains. But fire works against them splendidly. Though it didn¡¯t kill it, it scared it off. I also came across a boulder crawler, which is a giant centipede that rolls its body up to look like a big rock. Since I was being especially wary of big rocks, I sensed what it was and immediately crushed it with my magic. Take no chances, take no prisoners! It was after over half an hour of running that I finally caught site of a pair of scythe mantises. They were engaged in a battle with a giant beetle twice their size, a goliath beetle. From what Celeste told me, these things aren¡¯t actually made of rock, just colored to look like it so that they can attract the other insects that do eat rocks. Although the mantises don¡¯t qualify, it¡¯s just as likely to eat anything else that crosses its path as well. I debated letting the three of them fight it out, then take the winner and steal one of the mantis bodies¡­ but that would take too long, and I really wanted out of this godforsaken forest. ¡°Yin, blast them. Yang, paralysis poisons.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if the two birds understood, but they caught that I told them to go fight, and what I said was their usual battle plan anyways, so it all worked out. Meanwhile, I began charging up my mana to do one big blast. Kill without destroying.. My wings turned pitch black as the darkness pooled around me. Although Yin and Yang had decent coordination, they were just too small to do anything to the goliath beetle. At most, Yin had managed to knock over one of the mantises for a moment, but Yang wasn¡¯t having any luck at all. The insects likely had some resistance to poisons or something. But that was fine, I wasn¡¯t charging forever. Just one minute while they distracted the giant insects. There were a few close calls, as the scythe mantises nearly got them with their blade arms, but the birds were far more agile in the air. As for the beetle, it was too slow to even dream of catching them unless they went under it, but they weren¡¯t doing that. Out of the way. I transmitted my thoughts to them once my wings had charged up what I felt was enough dark mana, the feathers dripping a stream of inky shadows down to the ground. I didn¡¯t bother charging up half as much as I did when fighting the nature wyrm, because these things were far less powerful. But, as I sent the command to the birds, they looked over to me and flew off to the sides. Flying up has shown to be a terrible idea, since that is where the giant spiderwebs are. Once they were out of the expected blast zone, I released the hold on the mana I had built up. This was a full minute of charging, so nearly one hundred pure darkness mana. Small amount for sure compared to what I have fired off before, but it is still pure mana. Like the difference between shining a flashlight and a laser beam, this showed me what darkness was like when fully developed, even in a small amount. The inky black feathers on my wings coalesced into black spikes that shot forward, striking against the three insects, as well as several trees. Naturally, the largest insect took the most attacks, and had the most obvious result. Rather than piercing, the spikes splashed onto its armored hide like raindrops, spreading out to wrap the goliath beetle in a black coat. What I expected to happen next was for it to destroy it from within or something, but instead the beetle began sinking into the ground, as if it were melting. At the same time, the mantises were getting struck by their own shadow spikes, and were being drawn into the ground as well. Perhaps because the trees were too large they didn¡¯t suffer the same effects. After the insects were fully brought below the ground, there was no longer any trace of them left visible, aside from an especially dark spot where they had stood. Walking over, I could sense that there was a deep darkness energy from the shadows spots, as well as the shifting auras of the insects. They had not melted, but at the same time they hadn¡¯t been killed either. Instead, they were now trapped in the shadow. And I had no idea how long that would last. Well¡­ I was told that getting good with the Dark Affinity would let me merge with shadows¡­ I guess fully mastering it lets me make other things do so too¡­ Gulping slightly as I realized how strong that power could potentially be, I put a bit of thought into it. I could feel that the ¡®shadow prisons¡¯ were drawing mana from all of the nearby shadows to sustain themselves. Logically, once the mana runs out the effect would end, or if the contained creature was too powerful. However, this was the Dark Wood, named for its eternal shadows. The insects would most certainly die before they were freed. Though, this posed a problem for me as well, because I needed a scythe mantis body to study. Although I could feel the aura within the shadow prison, it was far from enough detail to replicate. As such, I isolated one of the shadow prisons of the mantises, and cut off its connection to the dark mana around it, before using light mana to shine on it. Almost immediately, the mantis lifted up from the ground, and if I had to guess at its facial expression, I would say it was pissed. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Didn¡¯t go as I planned either. Bye bye now!¡± I said as I sent an earth spike directly into its abdomen, then summoned my pistol to do a quick head shot. Its head was bigger than mine, so aiming wouldn¡¯t have been an issue even without Celeste¡¯s help. I smiled slightly as I looked to the dying mantis, and waited for it to finally stop twitching before I stepped forward and did a quick scan of its scythe claws. Once again, I was relying on Celeste¡¯s help to store the information as quickly and efficiently as possible. And just as I finished, I heard an unfamiliar, but distinctly female voice from behind me. ¡°M¡­ master? I got big¡­¡± Hearing the voice, I immediately understood what had happened when I wasn¡¯t paying attention, and gulped.
Author¡¯s Basement: Here you are, a double length chapter, ended with the evolution of Yang! Chapter 56: Pill Master? Author¡¯s Corner: Well, first I would like to throw a shoutout to blitflame1 for finding/making a new cover picture and putting it in a review. However, the link given did not work, so if you would be kind enough to repost it either in this thread or sending it directly to me in a forum message(not sure if your messages are enabled or not so putting this here so you¡¯ll see it) and I¡¯ll update the image! As said when I first got it, that was just something I obtained from a quick google, so I am more than happy for an upgrade! Next up! Vote on what path you want to see Yang take! I¡¯ll leave this one up to you guys, just like Falenel¡¯s class selection was!
Congratulations! You have successfully evolved an animal companion!
The lovebird Yang has evolved into a Winged Demi-Elf. Winged Demi-Elves possess a strong bond with nature, more so than even other demi species. This is due to them not only having been transformed by magic from an animal, but also from the hereditary link to nature that comes with being an elf. Thanks to this bond, any nature related skills will be easier to learn and master for the Winged Demi-Elf.
¡°Master?¡± Don¡¯t turn around, don¡¯t turn around, don¡¯t turn around. I closed my eyes tight and refused to move. One thing that terrified me more than giant stone spiders, a lovebird in human form. Celeste, wanna scout this one out for me? I heard a tired sigh from the AI. ¡°You know that I can¡¯t see anything unless you see it. Sorry, but you¡¯ve gotta bite the bullet on this one. It¡¯ll be like ripping off a bandaid, just have to get it over with quickly.¡± Fine.. fine.. traitor. I heard a slight giggle as I thought that, but slowly opened my eyes and turned around. I¡¯ll admit, Yang looked far more attractive than I had initially imagined. A nearly perfect hourglass figure, ample bosom(which it didn¡¯t help that she was curiously lifting up and playing with as she tried to figure out what it was), and long golden hair that went down to the middle of her back. Similar to my own set of wings when I first transform, hers were a set of four white angel wings, which would each be longer than her body if she spread them out fully. When she noticed I was looking her way, she smiled happily and dropped her twin peaks to put her hands clasped in front of her. ¡°I¡¯m like Master now, yay~!¡± Spoiler : Behold, Yang I gulped slightly, and after a thought Celeste thankfully began censoring what I was seeing. Thank you, oh glorious AI. Even if she was now a beautiful woman, she was a bird two minutes ago. You don¡¯t have thoughts like that about someone who was a bird two minutes ago. ¡°Well, you do.¡± Celeste snickered slightly, standing in my view next to Yang. I was immensely thankful that I was the only one that could see or hear this. ¡°Master? Is something wrong?¡± Yang looked at me in concern, tilting her head cutely. ¡°Uhm¡­ no, nothing¡¯s wrong. Sorry, just caught me by surprise. Anyways, I need to send you and Yin back into the grove for now. I¡¯ve got some stuff to take care of and then I¡¯ll call you back out once we get back to town.¡± I said as I looked over to Yin, who was glaring jealously at Yang. After a moment, she swooped down and landed on Yang¡¯s head, pecking her beak against the demi. Of course, a lovebird¡¯s beak is blunt, so it didn¡¯t do any real damage, but still. ¡°Owies!¡± Yang brought her hands up quickly to cover the pecked spot, before running over and hiding behind me. With a sigh, I sent her into the grove, and then did the same for Yin. I was sure that Yin was going to continue tormenting her for a while even in there, so I could only helplessly shake my head. ¡°Okay¡­ now, I still need those herbs¡­¡± Thankfully, none of them were fruits found on trees, so I wouldn¡¯t need to climb up and get attacked by spiders. I still had to worry about the ones on the ground, but I quickly ran through the forest, running at my top speed while Celeste watched for signs of any of the herbs. In under five minutes, I had killed another six giant insects, but had gathered one of each herb that Celeste had listed. In total, there were six. Two weeds, two flowers, and two berries. Each one had their own distinct patterns, and with the knowledge Celeste gave me there was no chance of me mistaking them for anything other than what they were. With that out of the way, I turned towards the direction of the town and ran at my fastest possible speed out of the forest. This time, I didn¡¯t care whether anything got in my way, I would just run right by it even if it meant I¡¯d only get out one or two seconds sooner. Never coming back, never coming back, never EVER coming back to this forest. I kept running, and running until well after I had left the forest. I ran until my legs felt like they couldn¡¯t go any further, then finally allowed myself to rest, roughly ten minutes out from the city. I was breathing heavily, my legs feeling like they were about to explode, but I was out of that fucking forest, and I was never EVER going back! Laying back, I cancelled all of my Aspect transformations, and began letting my stamina recover. One of the new recipes that Celeste had given me for my herbs was a stamina potion, but there was a warning with it that overuse could create an addiction. Because of that, I had never bothered to make it. I did not want to get myself hooked on some strange potion. ¡°So¡­ ready to make pills?¡± Celeste sat on the blue grass beside me, showing none of the exhaustion that I felt. ¡°Gimme¡­ a few¡­. minutes.¡± I groaned out each word, taking the herbs I had gathered out of my inventory and planting them all in my grove. None of these were poisonous, so I planted them on the larger primary ¡®planet¡¯. Though no, it was still nowhere near large enough to consider as a proper planet. Planets are more than a few dozen meters thick, even Pluto. And people STILL aren¡¯t sure if they can really consider Pluto as a planet. Well, since I had only taken one of each herb, I began actively gathering plant mana around me and feeding it into my grove to rapidly grow and spread them. About ten minutes, and nine hundred plant mana later, I had managed to get patches of each herb growing, with berry bushes popping up near my trees, and the weeds growing together with the flowers. ¡°Okay¡­ now I¡¯m ready.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Cool! Well, let¡¯s start with something basic, a beginner health pill. Same ingredients as the potion.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah, I remember.¡± She had only recently put the pill creation method in my head, so it wasn¡¯t like I had forgotten. ¡°Just make sure to track my magic usage. I¡¯ll need to know how I messed up when I¡¯m done.¡± With a resigned groan, I sat up on the ground, and pulled out some blood weed, and a few fireflower petals. Then, I got to work on the process of refining the pill. First, the fireflower petals were lifted up with my Plant Manipulation, then surrounded by flames that reduced them to ash. Next, I sent a bit of water in to mix with the ash while maintaining the flames, making sure to hold the medicinal properties of the petals and not let them be damaged. However, halfway through the process, my control slipped and I could feel the petals become useless, their medicinal auras being consumed by the fire. ¡°Too strong with the fire. Remember, burn the physical form, but leave the aura in tact.¡± I nodded my head to Celeste¡¯s instruction, and tried again with another set of petals. This took a lot more concentration than when I was simply mimicking plasma to charge my weapons, as I had to both restrain and shield the medicinal properties of the fireflower while burning its petals. In total, it took me eight tries before I was ready to move on to the next step, where I tossed the blood weed into the mix and performed the same treatment, while simultaneously shielding the fireflower aura. Since failing at this part meant having to redo the entire thing, it took me a total of twenty tries before I had managed to burn both herbs to ashes while mixing in a bit of water and keeping their auras safe. Next, I used my Plant Manipulation to separate and condense the ashes and water into nearly two dozen tiny pellets while dismissing the flame. This was easily the least challenging part of the entire process, with no real penalty for failure as long as I did not carelessly destroy the auras. With that taken care of, I held out my hand as twenty tiny pellets fell into it, the entire batch small enough to fit in the palm of my one hand. At the same time, there was a considerable increase in my Alchemy, which shot up by a full two levels. Naturally, I wouldn¡¯t see these gains again for just making a beginner pill batch, but since it was my first time, it was not unexpected. ¡°Good, good! Now, let¡¯s move on to mana potions, since they require two herbs and the juice of the enrichment fruit.¡± Celeste nodded happily beside me, and I groaned, thinking about all of the herbs I¡¯m literally burning through to practice. If not for my ability to rapidly grow and repopulate my grove, my supply would quickly diminish! This is probably a specialized druid method because of the amount of materials needed for practice, rather than just the magic! ¡°Probably, yeah.¡± Celeste nodded again at my thoughts, agreeing with them. No rational alchemist would burn through this many ingredients unless they had a surefire means of recovering them. Anyways, with the health pills taken care of, we moved on to mana pills. The process was almost exactly the same as before, but this time instead of water, I used the juice of the enrichment fruit. That also meant I had to safeguard three auras this time instead of just two, although the juice was a bit more resilient since it was a liquid. In total, it took me about thirty-five attempts before I had refined two full batches of pills. Though, I felt like I was getting better. As a test, I went back and refined another batch of health pills, and it only took me three attempts to get it right. Next, I continued by making a stamina pill batch with four herbs, then a basic healing pill batch with five, a novice healing potion with seven, and then I was finally ready to make the most complex recipe I had. This final recipe was a pill which should recover both health and mana, each at the level of a novice pill. However, this recipe took a grand total of nine herbs, four of which I had acquired from the jungle planet, and another three I had gotten from this forest. It was already getting fairly late, since I had literally gone through over two hundred attempts in total to refine pills, but I wanted to get this done before I went back to town. From what Celeste told me, I would only need one batch of ¡®elixir pills¡¯, together with what I¡¯ve already refined to get the one gold and twenty silver needed for the companion for Yang and upgrades on both. This actually made me quite happy, since it meant that I was able to produce over a gold¡¯s worth of products in a single day. I had also received a rather pleasant notification from the system as well, which made me look forward to heading back to town.
Mana Manipulation has increased to Intermediate.
Now, once I find someone willing to let me scan them, I should be able to completely change my race with a bit of practice. And no, I¡¯m not going to scan Yang for that. While convenient, she has no racial abilities I¡¯m lacking. Her one trait that is different from myself is her wings, and I¡¯ve already copied those. Now, since I had gotten considerable amount of practice already, I simply had to let my mana recover for a little while before I got started. At this point, shielding the auras individually was not a problem, and I may even have a 100% chance of success if I did the beginner potions again. Now, the hard part was splitting my focus between all the different auras and elements to maintain them properly. Think about it, nine medicinal auras that I needed to shield each from fire mana, while slowly mixing them with water mana. That was essentially doing twenty seven different things at once. Which is why I took the herbs one at a time, rather than toss them all in together. Managing three things at first, then steadily increasing it as I became more comfortable was a slower but more effective method. My first attempt failed on the sixth herb, so I had wasted around six minutes, and it took me fifteen attempts in total before I had refined a batch of pills. By the time I was done, the sun was long since gone from the sky, and I was treated to a rather interesting scene. When I looked up, I saw a phenomena which was commonly known on Earth as the ¡®northern lights¡¯, a myriad of colors flowing like ribbons across the night sky. Likely, whatever mineral this planet was so rich in that the grass and sea switched colors also had the effect of causing this display at nights. And it was rather beautiful to watch. ¡°Oooh¡­ pretty.¡± Celeste smiled next to me after I had given her the chance to see what was going on. After she spoke, I got up and slowly walked towards the town, more than ready to rent a room for the night. By now, the plant population of my grove had been severely reduced, and I would need to focus my plant mana for at least a whole day to recover all of what I had used for my ¡®pill tutorial¡¯. Chapter 57: Shopping Time! Author¡¯s Corner: Going to give one more day for the poll from the last chapter before Yang starts her training! The deadline for the poll is¡­ whenever I start writing the next chapter tomorrow!
After finding and paying for an inn room for the night, I slept more easily than I had yet since I got the game. Except maybe after the jungle planet. But nevermind that, I was surprised to find when I woke up that Celeste had not done any studying that night, but less than excited since, as predicted my dreams were filled with giant stone spiders¡­. ¡°Sorry¡­ again¡­ I swear I didn¡¯t know.¡± Celeste was pouting next to me as we went out of the inn to head to our first destination, a tailor. Yang needed clothes, or else every time I looked at my grove there would be a naked angel running around. I know¡­ it¡¯s alright, just please¡­ don¡¯t let it happen again. I shivered a bit as I remembered the forest of nightmares. For a moment, I wondered if the scythe mantis and goliath beetle were still trapped in those shadow prisons, or if they would ever get out. Let¡¯s just find a tailor so we can take care of the wardrobe for Yang¡­ you made sure to get her sizes right? ¡°Uhmm¡­ well¡­ I never really bothered looking up women¡¯s clothing sizes¡­ I can do that once we hit a terminal if you let me take over for just a minute!¡± She spoke up next to me, making me sigh as I walked up to the nearest terminal. Alright, go ahead¡­ I felt myself smile, and heard myself talking after relinquishing control. ¡°Clothing information please, information on sizes for men and women, playing at two hundred frames a second.¡± There was a sudden flash of images that lasted no more than a few seconds, before my head nodded. ¡°Thank you.¡± After that, I again had control of my body, not like I really fought with her for it for the few seconds she was in control. After turning to again walk towards the tailor, Celeste appeared next to me. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve got what we need.¡± I gave a relieved sigh and nodded my head as we arrived to the store, though quickly found that our little detour would not have been needed at all. When we entered, there was a slim female elf with kind eyes and short dark hair. ¡°Good evening, sir. How may I help you today?¡± ¡°Well.. my animal companion just evolved into a winged demi¡­ so I need to find some clothes for her.¡± I was just about to have Celeste list her sizes when the woman nodded understandingly. ¡°Alright then, please move over to the changing room and summon her.¡± I froze for a moment, but nodded and moved over to the small room, with the tailor following behind. Once we got there, I looked into my grove and found Yang sitting under a tree by herself. She seemed to be able to sense me, because she excitedly stood up just as I began summoning her. Soon, she appeared in front of me in all her censored(thank Celeste) glory. ¡°Hello, master!¡± She smiled wide, jumping at me and hugging me, causing me to cough awkwardly. ¡°Hmm, a four winged one. Well, no matter, it shall be easy enough.¡± The woman nodded, and seemed to be taking down some of Yang¡¯s measurements during the rather close hug. ¡°Miss, would you mind stepping in here so that we can get you fitted for an outfit?¡± Her next words made me think that she has handled affectionate evolved companions before. ¡°I¡¯m sure your master would like it if you were some nice clothes for him.¡± Hearing the last bit seemed to do the trick for Yang as well, because she happily looked between me and the tailor, and then all but dove into the changing room. In fact, the light thud and ensuing ¡°Oww..¡± made me realize that she is still learning how to control her new body properly. ¡°Please wait here, sir. I¡¯ll have her out in a minute to look at the outfit.¡± The tailor smiled to me and walked over to a shelf, grabbing a few different tops, then doing the same with pants and undergarments.(I really didn¡¯t need to know what underwear Yang would be wearing) I walked over and sat on a nearby bench as I waited for the first outfit showing. I could hear the two of them fussing over what to wear, and more importantly how to get the former bird to put the clothes on. Naturally, with her wings like they were she couldn¡¯t just slip a shirt on like normal because they¡¯d get in the way. A few minutes later, Yang walked out in the first outfit, and my breath caught in my throat. I mean, she already looked like a literal angel. Put that angel in tight jeans, and a white backless top that tied at her neck and the bottom of her back while hanging loose in between¡­ Calm thoughts.. calm thoughts¡­ think of a nice, cold shower. Celeste simply sat next to me, giggling at my reaction. I listed this outfit as a definite maybe for purchase, but I wanted to see what else the tailor had picked out. And each outfit seemed more devastating than the last. The pants were easy, as her lower body was the same as humans or elves, but the tops all had to be backless so that the wings didn¡¯t get in the way. And they couldn¡¯t be put on by being pulled over the head, so they all ended up being tied to her back or pulled up from the bottom. In the end, I bought three outfits for her, at two silver each. Considering that ten gold was the equivalent of five hundred dollars, according to the conversion for the shrines to change races, that meant I essentially bought the outfits for a dollar each. I liked these prices! Though, most likely that price was not a true conversion, and these clothes were cheap because they served a purely cosmetic purpose, offering no protection and being made of basic materials. Once I was done shopping, I looked over to the elf tailor. ¡°Thank you very much. Do you know where we can get a companion bracelet for her, and sell some alchemy pills?¡± She quickly nodded her head. ¡°Two shops down and across the street is the general market. He¡¯ll buy pretty much anything at a fair price, and has companion braces in his stock.¡± I thanked her again, and went to check out the market. Since Yang was now fully dressed, there was no justifiable reason to send her back to the grove, so she walked alongside me. The difference between this general store and the one on Hascion were simply too large. I felt like I was walking into a modern convenience store, but it sold things like potions, weapon ammo, throwing knives, and various other consumables. Also, it didn¡¯t help that there was an aisle devoted to snacks, and a slushy machine on the right wall. I¡¯ll admit, I got a slushy before anything else. And it was glorious. I don¡¯t know what a frozen fallberry is supposed to be, but it was purple and tasted like soda. That was good enough for me. There was a middle aged human standing behind the counter, who seemed a bit amused with my decision. ¡°So, what else can I get for you today?¡± At his words, I remembered what I actually came here for. ¡°Do you have a bowl? I¡¯d like to sell some alchemy pills, but don¡¯t have a proper container for them, and would not like to make a mess.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Ah, certainly, certainly.¡± He nodded his head and smiled to me, pulling out a small bowl to place on the counter. With his permission, I deposited the first batch of pills, the beginner health pills. He pulled out a small device and used it to scan the contents of the bowl. ¡°Hmm, minor recipe, but still effective. I can buy them for ten coppers each, meaning two silver for the whole batch.¡± I readily accepted this, and told him I had another batch of the same pills. Hearing that I could make over twice as much for the lowest grade healing pills as I could for their potion counterparts excited me. And he was able to clearly see said excitement. ¡°Alchemy pills are more effective for people who do not take up work as an adventurer. For example, this pill can recover sixty health over twenty seconds, whereas a potion can recover forty health instantly. As long as you don¡¯t expect to be hurt again within those twenty seconds, a pill is the better option.¡± ¡°Additionally, pills like this are far easier to store and carry. A full batch or two can easily fit in a single pill bottle that takes up as much space to carry as two potion bottles. City workers will often buy a full bottle of alchemy pills before they¡¯d be a healing potion. Take into consideration the cost and difficulty of crafting the pills as well, and they are easily worth twice as much as their counterparts.¡± I thought about that for a moment, and nodded. ¡°Huh, alright. Guess I know what I¡¯ll be focusing on from now on.¡± Hearing that made the shopkeeper smirk before I pulled out the next batch of pills. With each batch, he took the time to explain how effective an individual pill was before listing the price he would buy them at. Once we got up to the stamina pills that required four herbs, the prices were up to at least a silver per pill. I thought that he was actually giving me a pretty good deal for this, since I actually had over a gold by the time we got to the final batch, the elixir pills. According to him, these were actually a bit more rare, since few planets grew all of the herbs needed for any of the recipes. However, the higher the level of the pill, the less a common city worker would buy it. People who never went past level twenty their entire life would naturally not need a high quality healing pill. With that in mind, he was willing to buy each pill for two and a half silver each, making the entire batch sell for half a gold. This brought my total earnings for the pills to one gold and sixty silver, which I was very happy with. Yang also smiled next to me, enjoying a slushy of her own, only mildly complaining about the brain-freeze. Naturally, she didn¡¯t understand most of what was going on, just that I was selling some stuff that I had made. Remembering the other reason that I had come here, I looked from Yang to the shopkeeper. ¡°Alright.. now I need to get a companion for my friend here. She is an evolved animal companion, so it would be best if I could get an upgrade for it to allow my AI to control both my own and her device.¡± ¡°Hmm, I see. Well, that does explain a few things.¡± He nodded towards the birdbrained angel. ¡°Alright. Well, those upgrades are fairly common for people with animal companions, so we keep a few in stock. I¡¯ll assume that you want the same upgrade for your own bracelet as well?¡± When I answered that I did, he had me remove my companion bracelet so that he could apply the hardware upgrade. Though, Celeste was inside my head, so there wasn¡¯t a worry of her getting damaged. Still, she seemed especially quiet, as if feeling uncomfortable without the bracelet nearby. ¡°I haven¡¯t been gone from it since¡­ ever. Even in your head, I still have a connection with it thanks to the programs you wrote.¡± She explained when she noticed I had sensed her anxiety. The upgrade took only a couple minutes, as he only had to take the back off of the bracelet and put in a tiny chip, which then seemed to melt into the device. ¡°Alright, all done.¡± He smiled and returned the upgraded bracelet to me, before giving Yang an identical one while accepting the one gold and twenty silver payment. ¡°In order to synchronize them for your AI, simply hold the two screens together for ten seconds and they should connect. Are there any other upgrades that you¡¯d be interested in? I noticed that this seemed to be your first modification.¡± I smirked slightly at that, thinking of all the modifications I had made to myself, rather than the bracelet. ¡°How much would an internet access upgrade cost?¡± He thought about it for a moment, before checking his terminal. ¡°Those are a bit more rare, because the companion hardware upgrade has restrictions that prevent you from visiting a lot of sites without paying an additional fee to unlock them. Otherwise, anyone could buy it and have their companion learn all of the information there was to be had. So¡­ the upgrade costs eighty silver in total. If you want to buy a portable terminal, it might be more useful to you, but a portable terminal with its own power source costs twenty gold. If you power it yourself with mana, the cost is half of that.¡± I couldn¡¯t afford the internet upgrade, let alone my own personal computer. Though the idea was appealing, and if I felt like staying her for a few weeks I could easily afford one just by selling pills. Still, after examining one of the portable terminals in the enchanting store at Hascion, I knew they were heavily enchanted, so I wouldn¡¯t be able to put it in my grove anyways at my level. ¡°Alright¡­ uh.. one more thing, though it¡¯s not really about me buying something.¡± ¡°A question? Go ahead, ask away.¡± ¡°I¡¯m a druid, trying to become a Xeno-Shifter. According to the information I¡¯ve learned, I should meet the necessary skill requirements to change into a sentient race. Do you know anyone that might be willing to let me scan them to practice?¡± It was a bit awkward asking to scan someone, but it was something that needed to be done. ¡°Take it you can¡¯t do it with the little missy there, because you already have her wings, and her aura isn¡¯t different enough? Well, it¡¯s understandable. Head on over to the hospital, and tell them that you¡¯re a Xeno-Shifter in training. Xeno-Shifters often take up jobs as cosmetic surgeons, since they can train to alter a patient¡¯s body as well. It¡¯s cheaper to pay a fee to a Xeno-Shifter to change your race than to pay the gods to have you reborn, even if you don¡¯t get all of their innate traits.¡± I nodded my head, considering that. It was basically the same thing I had wanted to do to Tessa to fix her. I wasn¡¯t surprised at all that other druids had made a business out of it. In fact, once I trained enough, I could even make a decent living doing it in the real world. I¡¯m sure there are a bunch of people that would regret their race choices, or choose to change ¡®certain aspects¡¯ of their bodies... Chapter 58: A Tale of Two Birds Author¡¯s Corner: The poll results are in, and it was a rather surprising result to me! You guys want a crafting bird, so a crafting bird you shall have!
Following the shopkeeper¡¯s advice, I made my way to the hospital while talking with Yang. I knew I¡¯d have to deal with Yin soon, or else she would get out of control, but first I needed to take care of my Xeno-Shifter class. ¡°So, what do you want to do for your training?¡± I asked the winged demi beside me, who looked at me confused. A moment later, after it was clear she didn¡¯t understand, a little holographic Celeste appeared above Yang¡¯s wrist, startling her. ¡°What he means is¡­ what do you want to do now? Do you want to learn how to fight? How to heal?¡± Yang looked down in wonder at the tiny Celeste, thinking for a few seconds. ¡°I¡­ not want to fight. I want to help Master, but¡­ not fight. It¡­ feels wrong?¡± This time, a larger Celeste appeared to me in my vision. ¡°Looks like her pacifist nature has taken root too deeply, so asking her to fight is no good. That basically rules out half the choices. And.. since she just evolved, her intelligence wouldn¡¯t be enough for complex tasks like stealth or accounting.¡± ¡°So¡­ crafting or healing, then..?¡± I asked out loud, making Yang look up at me with a confused expression. It made sense, since she didn¡¯t hear what Celeste had said to me. ¡°Right. The best choices for her would be either a priest or a craftsman. However¡­ I think we should rule out priest training, for now at least.¡± When she sensed my confusion, she answered by bringing up a holographic display on Yang¡¯s wrist that once again surprised her.
Name: Yang HulettClass: N/A
Level: 20Patron: Gaius
¡°Ah¡­ her patron is different¡­ I wonder what they represent.¡± I was too used to being alone with Celeste, so had a hard time keeping my communication with her silent. ¡°Gaius is the patron of evolving beasts, while Malthan¡­ well¡­¡± Celeste looked a bit hesitant to answer. ¡°He¡¯s the god governing chaos and madness.¡± ¡­. ¡­. ¡°So why is he my patron?¡± Celeste grinned wryly at me for a moment, but didn¡¯t answer. ¡°Har har, very funny¡­ Wait, you¡¯re serious? I managed to get the attention of the insanity god above any others? So not fair¡­¡± There was a slight giggle from Celeste as I said that. ¡°Hey, there are worse patrons to have. There is one who is the god of broken hearts, or the god of fried fish, or even the god of Mondays.¡± ¡°Monday has its own god? They must have a crowded pantheon.. Still, why didn¡¯t I get something like the god of protagonists? Then I could at least get a massive increase in strength, or super lucky fated encounters.¡± ¡°Sorry¡­ my research into the pantheon showed that the ¡®god of protagonists¡¯ is also the ¡®god of stories¡¯. Rather than giving people a bunch of power, he just likes to watch writers and people who already had that kind of luck in the first place.¡± ¡°Oh¡­ well¡­ still, the god of madness? Really?¡± At this point, Yang poked me on the shoulder, interrupting my apparently one sided conversation. ¡°Umm¡­ is Master alright?¡± ¡°Huh? Ah¡­ sorry, was just talking to someone.¡± Yang looked around, still confused. ¡°There is nobody else here?¡± I sighed, shaking my head, reaching over to pat Yang¡¯s hair. This seemed to placate the bird, who simply smiled wide and closed her eyes, leaning her head into my hand. ¡°So, how would you like to make things for me? It wouldn¡¯t need you to fight, and you¡¯d still be able to help out quite a bit.¡± Yang¡¯s eyes opened wide suddenly at that. ¡°Really? You mean it, I can still help?¡± I nodded to her. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll need to have you trained first so that you understand how to do it, but you should be able to.¡± Her head bobbed up and down happily as she heard that. ¡°Yang will do it!¡± Great, one bird taken care of¡­ I smiled as we finally approached the hospital, which was a much smaller building than the one on Gallen 4. When I went inside, I mentioned that I was a druid training to be a Xeno-Shifter. A few people looked relieved, while someone went to get the local Xeno-Shifter. The training this time cost me twenty silver, twice as much as it cost to learn a new school of magic¡­ And he only taught me one species of my choosing(I chose void elf, because reasons). Watching the druid morph from human to void elf was a bit surprising, but he did it so fluently that by the time he was done it was like I was looking at a different person entirely. After changing, he gave me a while to study his aura, and then attempt to perform the change myself. Even with Celeste¡¯s help, studying the intricacies of a sentient being¡¯s aura took nearly an hour before I was confident, and the actual shifting process was far slower than what he had done. When I changed, my hair and eyes both turned pitch black, my skin darkening slightly. Along my skin were a multitude of tiny white dots spaced seemingly at random. From my previous experience with void stuff, I could guess that they were meant to be stars. Aside from that, there were no visible differences between the void elf and my half-wood elf bodies. However, the Xeno-Shifter seemed satisfied with my transformation, and said we were done.
New Spell Unlocked!
Thousand Faces - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï¡ï The specialty of the Xeno-Shifters, this spell enables you to mimic the aura of a sentient being you have studied, and gain both their form and inherited traits.
Congratulations, you have met all the qualifications to advance to the Xeno-Shifter Advanced Class!
As a Xeno-Shifter, your specialty will be taking the best aspects of other races and applying them to yourself. Whether they are animal, monster, or sentient beings, all racial abilities are yours for the taking! Do you wish to take this Advanced Class? Y/N
Naturally, I accepted becoming a Xeno-Shifter immediately. It was what I had been working towards since becoming a druid, after all.
You have chosen your Advanced Class, Xeno-Shifter.
+20 Wisdom, +5 Intelligence, +5 Vitality, +5 Charisma
The sudden increase in stats surprised me, but then again I had also gotten free stats when I chose my base class. After leaving the hospital, I first went back to my hotel room with Yang, who had been taking ¡®common knowledge¡¯ lessons from Celeste while I was studying. The innkeeper seemed a bit surprised that I was bringing a woman in with me, but sent me an approving thumbs up when he saw Yang. It¡¯s not like that, I swear¡­ There was another set of giggling heard in my head from Celeste as we went up to our room. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Okay¡­ Yang, do you think you can still communicate with Yin?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if she still spoke ¡®bird talk¡¯, but if she did that would make this far easier. ¡°Uhm.. maybe? She hasn¡¯t spoken to me yet¡­¡± Yang looked down at the floor sadly, shifting her feet. ¡°Ah.. well, can you try? I need her to be able to understand what I¡¯m going to say, or she¡¯ll just stay mad at you.¡± Yang looked up at me again, hopeful. ¡°Master can make Yin not mad at me anymore?¡± ¡°Maybe.. if she can understand me.¡± I put an emphasis on that part, and she nodded her head quickly. Taking that as a sign of approval, I went into my grove and summoned Yin. As soon as she appeared, she glared at Yang and moved to dive at her. ¡°Stop.¡± I looked at Yin, and she glanced back at me, slowly backing away to land on my shoulder, though she lowered her head and looked away, as if sulking. ¡°Yang, can you try to speak to her? Tell her that there is a way for her to get a body like yours.¡± Yang nodded, and stared at Yin for a few moments. I had the impression from the animal companion bond that they were sharing a message over it, but it was difficult for me to decipher it. However, once it was done, the little bird on my shoulder bolted up, looking excitedly between Yang and I. ¡°She wants to know how.¡± ¡°She has to get stronger. You two took different paths for your growth, but in the end both of you can get bodies like that. Tell her, by the time she is in a body like yours, she will be far stronger than either of us.¡± After I spoke, Yang stared at me for a moment, as if figuring out how to translate my words, before she sent another series of messages to Yin. The little bird lowered herself in front of me, staring with determination. ¡°She wants to know how she can get stronger. She says¡­ she¡¯ll fight if she has to.¡± I raised a surprised eyebrow at that. Now it seemed that Yin was the more violent one of the pair, willing to do get into battle to become stronger. ¡°There are two ways. One is fast, but will require us to be apart while she gets stronger. The other is much slower, and may take weeks, or even months before she gets there.¡± After Yang translated my last message, Yin suddenly looked thoughtful, as if having a hard time deciding. Personally, I was hoping that she¡¯d choose the quicker option, because it meant that she¡¯d grow strong enough to easily overpower enemies that give me a hard time in emergencies. And of course, because that¡¯s what I wanted¡­ ¡°She wants to stay with us, even if it means taking longer. But¡­ she doesn¡¯t want to live in the garden. She says¡­ she wants to stay out like me.¡± ¡°Fine¡­ but we¡¯ll need to get a tag for her, so that people don¡¯t think she is wild.¡± Yang looked curiously at me. ¡°What is a tag?¡± Celeste decided to help out with this one. ¡°It is a tiny device, like your bracelet, that would fit on her leg and let people know that she is with your Master.¡± ¡°Ohh..¡± Yang quickly translated, before looking back to me. ¡°She likes that idea.¡± ¡°Of course she does¡­ now.. we need to go find someone to train you¡­ Any ideas, Celeste?¡± So that everyone could hear her, she manifested as a hologram and spoke instead of doing so in my head. ¡°There is not a local Natural Craftsman to teach her, but if she learns the basics of the crafting class, she should get the class herself. It would be best if you teach her how to cultivate some affinities after she does so. The Plant, Bone, and Scale Affinities are all good for a Natural Craftsman to have.¡± ¡°Alright, then lead us to get a tag for Yin, and we¡¯ll go get that class.¡± After I spoke, the three of us left again, leaving only Yo inside of the grove. Sorry, Yo, but there is a difference between bringing around a gorgeous alien and a bird, and a massive slime. It didn¡¯t take long for us to go back to the general market to get the tags, or find a crafting trainer, and when we did I left Yang to do some training for a bit. She seemed reluctant to part, but Celeste ensured her that I would be nearby in case anything happened. And she was right, because I sat down just outside the building and decided to try something that I had been curious about. I can refine pills with fire, water, and the plants. But all of these things exist within my grove, in which I am the equivalent of a lesser god. So, why would I not be able to simply craft them there? I had not yet gathered nearly enough plant mana to fully restore my grove¡¯s supplies, but there was more than enough for me to run a quick test. Sending my consciousness into the grove, I plucked out a blood weed and two petals of fireflowers, having them float through the air. Since this was in some ways a new method of pill crafting, I wanted to start with the most basic recipe. I willed the fire mana to form around the ingredients, doing both at once as I safeguarded their auras, occasionally mixing water mana in before both were ready to mix. After that, it was a simple matter of condensing the pills and letting them fall to the ground. With my brows furrowed, I decided to make a bowl to hold the pills I made in. Looking down into the grove, I saw that I had gained another type of ore. Now, rather than just copper and iron, I also had tin veins spreading out. But for this, I just needed some copper, pulling it from the vein and lifting it into the air. Using fire, I refined it to a pure state, removing the impurities as it melted and reformed repeatedly until I could sense nothing but a pure copper aura. Then, I melted it one more time, and formed it into the shape of a small cauldron, big enough to hold with both hands. Once it cooled, I had the pills fly into the air and deposit themselves in the cauldron, which sat on the ground. When I exited my grove, I found that there was a new window waiting for me.
New Ability Unlocked!
My Body is the Furnace - Druid - ¡ï¡ï An art unique to druids and those who have copied the druid''s groves. This technique makes it possible to craft items inside the grove that the druid could create normally, but with an increased chance of success due to the greater degree of control.
Chapter 59: A Lesson on Skills and Money Woes Author¡¯s Corner: Know this won¡¯t mean anything to most of you, but I wanted to thank everyone for reading the story! World Seed was at the time of writing this bit ranked 7th in the weekly views, which made this author-sama very happy and motivated me to write a second chapter, enjoy! Also, want to throw a shoutout to blitflame1 for editing the front page pic. We now have colors! Ooooh
While I was waiting out in front of the crafting ¡®school¡¯(it was a wide building which actually taught many different skills, from crafting to combat, but there was a fee you had to pay for each subject. The basic crafting tutorial for Yang cost five silver), I started to think about what I wanted to do from now on. Now that I had my advanced class, I could start training to be able to transform other people. From the information that Celeste gathered, the skill benchmark for that would be Advanced Level 5 in Mana Manipulation, and Intermediate Level 1 in Nature Magic. That was still a good bit away yet. The first thing I would need to do would be to do some research. ¡°Celeste, do you have any idea why monsters don¡¯t spawn inside the cities here?¡± Obviously, they didn¡¯t use the same void mana trick that I did, or nobody would be able to breathe. ¡°Sorry¡­ no, but I could look it up for you, if you want?¡± I looked over towards a nearby terminal, and thought about it. ¡°How¡¯s the lesson going with Yang?¡± I asked, while the other lovebird happily sat on my shoulder, apparently glad to be out of the grove more often now. Celeste giggled slightly when I brought that up. ¡°He¡¯s used the term bird brained five times already. Wait, make that six. She understands the concepts, but not the means to implement them. He brought a knife out to show her how to carve wood, and she jumped back thinking he would stab her. I¡¯m doing my best to help her to understand, but it¡¯ll be at least another two hours before she is finished. Unless she manages to improve a lot, you¡¯ll be the one doing the enchanting on whatever items she makes.¡± I nodded my head at that. ¡°That¡¯s fine, I was expecting that part. And sure, since it seems we have time, go ahead and get the information. Not sure if anyone on the outside has it yet, but it wouldn¡¯t hurt either way.¡± Celeste smiled, and I temporarily let her take over, my body standing up and walking over towards the terminal. She did the same high speed information transfer that she had done when I had her look up clothing sizes, making the whole thing last just a few seconds. Afterwards, my body went back and set down where I had left it. ¡°Hmm¡­ well, this will be a bit complicated.¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong¡­?¡± ¡°Well¡­ according to what I just learned, cities are built in three stages. First stage, scouting, to make sure the land is suitable. The second stage, is to set up the barrier against monster spawns. It doesn¡¯t keep them out, just prevents them from spawning inside. The method is similar to what you used in your house, but more advanced. I can teach you the spell formation for it real quick.¡± After she said that, I felt a brief rush of information. Since it was only a single formation, as well as the runes that went with it, I was able to absorb it quickly. However, the information made me frown deeply. The formation wasn¡¯t all that complicated, but it relied on the presence of mana gems to function, and fairly large ones at that. ¡°Is there a way to artificially manufacture mana gems?¡± ¡°No, they only form after years of mana condensing and purifying in a single location. This most commonly happens on asteroids, where they can be left undisturbed for long periods of time. In your world, where mana was just introduced, finding a mana vein would be impossible. However, there is an alternative that you might be able to do, a more primitive method that doesn¡¯t need mana gems.¡± ¡°Alright, well don¡¯t keep me in suspense over here¡­¡± ¡°If you refine an element seed of all seven of the primary elements, with each one being at least medium quality, and then combine them like you did when making your grove¡­ You can create an enchantment on a large glass sphere that creates a similar effect. However, in this case, a circle will need to be drawn around the city and linked to the enchantment.¡± I groaned as she mentioned that. While it was possible for me to do that for Oakland, there was no way I¡¯d be able to make that for every city on Earth! ¡°Anything else, that doesn¡¯t require druid abilities?¡± ¡°There is one other. There are ways for mages, druids, and priests to all set up the barrier. For mages, it is the spell formation. For druids, it is the seeds. And finally, for priests they must construct an altar to their patron and pray for protection for their city. I didn¡¯t mention that one first because, although it is the most common one, your world has yet to accept the pantheon. Building altars to what others perceive as false gods would create more problems than it would solve.¡± ¡°True¡­ so we have one that can¡¯t be done, one that shouldn¡¯t be done, and one that is simply very hard. Why does it have to be a medium quality seed collection?¡± I glanced to Celeste as I asked that. ¡°Ah¡­ well, that was an estimate based on the size of your city. Larger cities would require high quality, or even perfect seed combinations. The point is for the energy to be poured into a large glass sphere, with an enchantment of cycling mana. That will cause the mana to shift and spread out, keeping it from gathering in one place with enough density to spawn a monster.¡± ¡°I see¡­ so smaller cities would only need low quality seeds, yes?¡± I looked up in thought, and quickly got a confirmation. ¡°Well, that¡¯ll be useful information. Do any of these methods have expiration dates?¡± ¡°Not unless the focus object- the glass sphere, formation circle, or altar- are destroyed. Otherwise, they will continue on indefinitely.¡± After saying that, Celeste suddenly giggled. ¡°Well, it seems that Yang finally made her first staff¡­ by singing to it.¡± I suddenly recalled looking into my grove and watching her in her bird form sing to a tree to help it grow. ¡°Huh, thought she would have lost that habit when she evolved. By the way, you said that Natural Craftsmen had the potential to create items on the same level as most technology, but how is that possible? No matter how you look at it, a wooden staff will never match up to a plasma staff, and a bow will never match up to a rifle, right?¡± Celeste raised her lips into a grin as she looked back at me. ¡°Ah, but it¡¯s precisely because they use natural materials that they can do it. And the best is from formerly living creatures. After a creature dies, and its soul dissipates, the aura is left withered, a shadow of its former self. You saw that when you studied your scale armor. But because of that hollowness, that emptiness, those items have far more room for improvement of their auras. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°A weapon made of only natural materials can support roughly two or three times the enchantment as a processed item. With that, you could easily create a staff that can match up to a plasma weapon, or a bow that will never miss its mark. And with the Natural Craftsman able to modify the auras of natural items in the same way that you shapeshift yourself, they can create high quality items more easily.¡± I felt myself smiling as I thought of that. If she was right, then I could get another good set of items. Maybe even better ones than my plasma weapons. ¡°How much would it cost to get a Skill Shard for a Natural Craftsman?¡± Celeste blinked, looking as if she hadn¡¯t considered it. To be honest, I hadn¡¯t either until just now. However, it was the easiest way to train Yang up without spending weeks for her to understand. ¡°I.. don¡¯t know. But let¡¯s find out!¡± I felt my body standing up before I even had the chance to accept, and we raced over to the terminal. Turns out, the basic skill shards for advanced class skills cost one gold each. At least, if you buy them from a reputable store. Looking at my funds, I saw that I was lacking quite a bit. ¡°If I take the time to restore my grove, and then make another few batches of pills, I will be able to afford that pretty easily.¡± Next, I looked up Skill Shards that had information on cultivating mana. While I didn¡¯t expect instant affinities with this, being able to use it to teach Yang how to cultivate would be helpful. And since this was information for only a basic class skill, the cost was only twenty silver. However, it only contained information about how to isolate an element and cycle it to begin cultivating. Identifying the element you wanted was left up to the user. ¡°I can help her find the right elements, Falenel.¡± Celeste spoke up reassuringly. ¡°We¡¯ll need to teach her Aura Sight first, and then from there I can show her which elements to focus on.¡± ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll do that after she has the class.¡± There was one more thing I was interested in, and I found it rather quickly. A Skill Shard containing the auras of various sentient races. This one was obscenely expensive, costing ten gold per race, unless you had a letter of recommendation from a hospital. While some races may still be worth it, I didn¡¯t really want to spend that much. In the end, I decided that I wouldn¡¯t buy any Skill Shards, aside from the two for Yang. Looking over to the terminal, I decided to ask it a question. ¡°Why don¡¯t the creators of Skill Shards simply use them on themselves in order to mass produce them?¡± After a moment, the terminal answered in a monotone voice. ¡°Possessing too many skills on a single person will cause higher level skills to decline. In order to not suffer from this side effect, the creators will only absorb the information of skills which they already possess, in order to expand their knowledge.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ well, that explains that.¡± I shrugged, moving back over to my seat across from the skill school. ¡°I don¡¯t even really know about the ranks passed Advanced. Do you have information on that, Celeste?¡± The AI appeared next to me again, nodding her head rapidly. ¡°There are actually five ranks beyond that. The total list of skill ranks is Beginner, Basic, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, Master, Grandmaster, Legend, and Godly. There are almost no instances of anyone possessing a Godly level skill, aside from the incarnations of the gods themselves. For regular people, Legend is considered the true peak skill level, and represents knowing everything there is to know about the skill.¡± I chuckled slightly as I thought of that. ¡°How much would a Legend ranked Skill Shard cost, I wonder.¡± ¡°Going by the pricing standards they listed on the terminal just now¡­ a Beginner level skill would cost half a silver, a Basic level one five silver, a Novice level one fifty silver, and an Intermediate level one would cost five gold. That means they increase by tenfold each time. An Advanced level skill would cost you fifty gold, then five hundred gold for a Expert level one. A Master one would be five thousand¡­ but I suspect that the price would shoot up even higher than a million gold for a Legend ranked skill.¡± Hearing the estimated price made me gulp. I was considering it amazing that I could earn one or two gold a day, but hearing that a Legend rank skill, the epitome of perfection, would cost me a million gold¡­ And that was just for one skill, mind you. I also realized that the basic price of 1 gold for a class skill of an advanced class could even be considered cheap, as long as it was at least of the Novice rank. ¡°Okay¡­ going to forget any dreams of buying Skill Shards to quickly advance my skills. However.. what about ships? Do you know how much those cost?¡± Celeste laughed lightly as I asked. ¡°I knew that eventually you would ask that. You think about having your own ship all the time. A basic shuttle capable of interplanetary flight costs one hundred gold. This is without giving it weapons or anything, just the most basic version. If you wanted a cruiser like the Nostromo¡­ You¡¯d need at least twenty thousand gold. And then the maintenance fees, ammo, and so on would raise that even more.¡± My shoulders dropped and I suddenly found my feet very interesting. ¡°You sure know how to ruin a man¡¯s dreams¡­ you know that, right?¡± ¡°It¡¯s what I¡¯m here for, Falenel¡­ it¡¯s what I¡¯m here for. Ah, looks like Yang is just about to finish up. Since she found out her singing Nature Magic works, she was able to complete it faster than I expected.¡± Just as Yang was coming out, I got a message from my AI, alerting me that I was getting a call at home. Dammit, can¡¯t they wait a few minutes? Well, I¡¯ve got time thanks to the time difference. When Yang came out, I congratulated her on finishing the training, which made her grin broadly and leap at me for a very tight hug which I should not have allowed to continue nearly as long as it did. However, after that I took us all back to the hotel, paid for the next two weeks, then transferred everyone to my grove so that I could log out and see what is happening in the real world that would need my attention. Sometimes, I look back and wish I could have just stayed logged in. Chapter 60: Blood Calls to Blood Author¡¯s Corner: Alright guys, time to get into some more seriousness of the real world! For realsies. Warning, this chapter is quite a bit less lighthearted than most of them so far(or at least, that¡¯s the plan).
When life becomes a game, to what heights can we rise as we play? When the world becomes a lie, how far can we fall? Until now, I had never really considered it. After I had gotten out of the game, Faraday had called me for a consultation. I hadn¡¯t understood why until I got to the scene. The address he had sent me was a house on the other side of Oakland, and when I got there, I nearly spilled what precious little was in my stomach. Once I got past the police inspection out front, and made my way to the living room where Faraday was waiting for me, I saw a man thrown about in a gory mess. Arms, legs, even individual fingers had been separated. Aside from some police VR games, this was my first crime scene, and it felt like something broke inside me. Blood was sprayed everywhere, and the only thing worse than the thought of his organs being part of this mess, was seeing that they weren¡¯t. Blood, meat, and bone were all there, but aside from that¡­ ¡°This is the third one in three days.¡± Faraday said next to me as he looked at the scene. ¡°Normally, we¡¯d never let a civilian within thirty feet of this, but you¡¯ve been in the ¡®game¡¯ the longest.¡± As he said that, I finally noticed why I was here. Off to the side of the room was a painting in blood on the wall. Two words, written above a series of symbols. ¡°Game Over¡­¡± Celeste¡­ the symbols? I didn¡¯t want to look at anything in this room, so I asked the AI in my head for help. ¡°Sorry, John, but I don¡¯t recognize any of them. If they¡¯re runes, they¡¯re too misshapen to be discernable.¡± She spoke up solemnly from behind me. ¡°If you called me here¡­ they¡¯re using magic or something?¡± I glanced over to Faraday, if for no other reason than not wanting to look elsewhere at the moment. ¡°Near as we can tell. Our mages aren¡¯t leveled up enough to be able to identify how it¡¯s done. Hard to level a diviner. But there are no identifiable tool marks, the skin doesn¡¯t appear to be torn, and as you can tell, we can¡¯t find a trace of the organs. It¡¯s like they just fell apart.¡± ¡°And¡­ that was at all the scenes..?¡± I pointed over to the message on the wall, refusing to look. ¡°That¡¯s right. We call him the Gamer, but the symbols he leaves are different every time. We¡¯ve sent someone into NeoLife and had them copy them over to be examined, but they don¡¯t appear to be runes. Rather, they¡¯re a language, but an alien one. That is the language of the bajra, an alien race inside NeoLife that is capable of altering their appearance at will. No identifying traits, no other unique abilities. What we need from you, is to help us figure out how he did it, and how to stop it from happening again. I¡¯ll tell you what I can, but a lot of the information is confidential, for obvious reasons.¡± I nodded, and quickly excused myself from the room. I could examine it without having to look at that, and all I needed to know was if there was a magic I recognized. If not, I could theorize, and maybe come up with an idea or two. After I found the nearest trash can and vacated my stomach. ¡°You okay, John?¡± I heard Celeste ask from behind me, but really, if I thought about it she had it even worse than me. I can forget what I saw eventually, but she was built to record, to remember. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about me, okay? I can handle it.¡± ¡°Still.. ugh¡­¡± And back in the trash can. After I was certain I had tossed up everything I had eaten in the last week, my stomach finally settled. Closing my eyes, I sent my mana out towards the living room to investigate. Even though I could ¡®feel¡¯ it, at least I didn¡¯t have any images to go with it. And right now, I was glad for that. When my mana touched the first body part, I felt an almost overwhelming amount of magic, a dark and dreadful power that made me pull back my senses as if I was afraid it would notice me. Weakly, I called out to Faraday, who came into the room and grimaced as he saw me kneeling next to the trash can. ¡°Find anything, aside from ¡®leftovers¡¯?¡± ¡°Not funny¡­ There was magic, alright. And it was dark.¡± After a moment, Celeste had been able to actually identify the school of magic, thanks to the Identify software. ¡°Blood magic. Able to control an organic body in unspeakable ways. Even with the message on the wall¡­ there¡¯s no guarantee your killer was ever even here¡­¡± Faraday raised a suspicious eyebrow at that. ¡°And how do you know that information?¡± Letting out a weak chuckle, I looked back at him. ¡°You know those AI bracelets they give you in the game?¡± When he nodded, I tapped my head, making his eyes go wide. ¡°Got a little helper. One of the perks of my magic.¡± ¡°You know, if you can do that for others, it¡¯d be a huge help, especially to investigative teams.¡± He thought idly while glancing to me. ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll get right on it. Who should I perform magical brain surgery on first? I¡¯ll have you know I ended up in the hospital when I did it to myself, by the way, and it was not a total success.¡± That seemed to dissuade him pretty well from pressing the issue. ¡°I do have another thing for you from the game, though. Not sure if it¡¯s been made public yet, was going to tell you next chance I got.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I know how to stop monsters from spawning.¡± As if those words were magic of their own, Faraday rushed me back to the station and away from the gruesome crime scene. On the way, I explained in detail about the three methods that Celeste had found to prevent monster spawns. Faraday had the same thoughts as me about which one was the most easily usable, and planned to make a report to his chief when we arrived. When we got to the station, he had me sit in the waiting room while he went off to talk to the local chief of police. Every now and then, I heard a loud shout, and gradually got the idea that maybe I wasn¡¯t supposed to be called in the first place. However, it seemed that he was saving the best for last, and eventually a man came out to greet me. He had a strong, athletic build despite the fact that he was visibly gaining in years, some of his dark hair turning grey. ¡°Carl says that you are able to stop the monster spawns. That true?¡± I recognized his voice from the brief call when I had been offered the job as the police¡¯s mercenary. ¡°I¡¯ll assume that¡¯s Faraday, and yeah. I haven¡¯t tried making the items necessary, but if I can manage to do it, shielding a town the size of Oakland is possible.¡± I hadn¡¯t gotten the chance to reveal that specific detail to Faraday before we got here, so the reveal made the chief grimace. ¡°What about bigger towns?¡± ¡°It takes higher quality materials for bigger towns. At most, I can make the stuff for an Oakland sized city right now.¡± He gave a resigned sigh, and nodded his head. ¡°There¡¯s been a rumor that there were methods to stop monster spawns altogether, so we had some officers discretely check in NeoLife. Naturally, we can¡¯t do the priest or mage methods, due to religious and practical reasons. And none of our officers took a druid class.¡± ¡°Not surprised. Most of you went diviner, right? Easiest way to do investigations.¡± When I said that, he nodded his head again. ¡°Right, but we had heard that doing this required all of the basic elements to have a level of mastery to produce the materials. Even though you are one of the beta testers, it was believed that you wouldn¡¯t be able to help for quite some time.¡± I chuckled lightly. ¡°Well¡­ if you can give me a minute to wash my mouth out, I can get started trying to make it at home. It will probably take me a couple days, at least, and interrupting just makes me start over with whatever I¡¯m doing. I¡¯ll also need you to provide a large glass sphere about¡­¡± After getting the measurements from Celeste a moment later I continued. ¡°Five feet in diameter. It¡¯ll go in the center of town. Finally, the magic circle needs to be drawn around the entire city before it will work. If you have any enchanters or mages researching spell formations, they should know how to do a magic circle. If not, you¡¯ve got nearly two weeks of NeoLife time to figure it out.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Again, he grimaced upon hearing the requirements. The glass ball wasn¡¯t that bad, they could get one almost any time with a bit of work. But drawing a circle around the entire city would take time. At worst, it could take them a couple of weeks to lay down a proper circle, assuming they didn¡¯t just have a small ditch dug. Thinking about it, I offered a suggestion. ¡°You can try laying wire around the city underground to act as the circle. That might actually be the easiest way, and then set a length of wire connecting it to the building where the glass ball will be.¡± ¡°Right, we can try that. Now, about the other matter you saw today. You naturally cannot tell anyone about it, understood? If I find out you did, I¡¯ll have you arrested for interfering in an investigation.¡± I nodded my head, accepting this, before he continued. ¡°Though, you¡¯ve already been involved more than you should. And just knowing that this is blood magic will help. If it were a different alien language, then maybe we could just run around and question anyone of the race. But for it to be a shapeshifting one makes it harder..¡± Tilting my head, I asked curiously. ¡°What did the message say, anyways?¡± He raised an eyebrow, but shrugged and replied, as if the message itself wasn¡¯t that important. ¡°Just a bunch of ramblings. As far as we can tell, it¡¯s just a song that people sing when they fly in spaceships. Our men have already looked into it, and there doesn¡¯t seem to be any significant connection between it and the crimes.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ anything else you can tell me?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t answer your door for anyone for a while, unless there¡¯s at least two people, even if it¡¯s someone you know. There¡¯s a chance that the killer might have seen you at the scene.¡± That realization made me freeze, shivers running down my spine as I imagined that what happened at that house might happen to me. Celeste said that blood magic could be done over a distance. The only thing necessary was a drop of the victim¡¯s blood to serve as a medium. But.. If that was the case¡­ I began to calm down and think about it. If blood leads to blood, it should connect through the aura. I quickly, right in front of the chief of police, shapeshifted into a void elf. Theoretically, if I changed my aura enough by changing races, the connection should be broken. However, something hadn¡¯t occurred to me between the time that I was fearing for my life and the time that I shifted to present myself a possible solution. When I opened my eyes, I found about six officers all with their weapons drawn pointed at me. ¡°Oh come on¡­ really? You guys already know I can shapeshift.¡± ¡°¡®Fraid we need you to prove who you are, son.¡± The chief said strictly, being one of the ones with his gun trained on me. At this distance¡­ even if I changed my skin with Aspect of the Armored Beast, their guns could probably shoot straight through me. ¡°Okay¡­ well¡­ you guys looked up druids, right?¡± He nodded his head at my question. ¡°Then you know about groves, right?¡± Another nod. ¡°Okay¡­ anyone feel like taking a look at mine? Probably easier to send you in there than it would be to summon a tree in the middle of the police station.¡± Surprisingly, it was Faraday who nodded to the chief and walked up, though he still had his gun out. I could see how this was a bad situation, especially for him. If I turned out to be the killer, I could just be taking him hostage. In that case, the other five would have to either open fire on me or let me leave with him. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m going to take you into the grove, but for that to happen, you have to not resist. If you resist, and part of your aura leaks out when I¡¯m pulling you in¡­ pieces could fall off.¡± No sooner had I said that than a realization dawned on me. ¡°Fuck¡­ he¡¯s a druid.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Faraday looked at me, a bit of hesitation in his voice. ¡°I just said it. If you resist, pieces go missing. It¡¯s not blood magic I sensed back at the scene, it¡¯s Blood Affinity. He must have tried to pull people into his grove by using their blood as a medium he could control, which is why only their organs were missing. There were no tool marks because he didn¡¯t use any tools, they really did just fall apart.¡± I¡¯ll admit, the idea of a weaponized grove terrified me. There was no way to see it, and if it hit you¡¯re as good as dead. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you consider it before, then?¡± The chief was the one that asked this time, still suspicious. ¡°Because I¡¯ve never tried to take something into my grove that I wasn¡¯t holding in my hand or on my body. I didn¡¯t even know it was possible. But the mana and control required to do this¡­ He¡¯s got to be a fairly high leveled one, probably specialized in the Blood Affinity.¡± ¡°And how do we know you¡¯re not the one with the Blood Affinity?¡± He asked again, and it was a good question. ¡°Dammit¡­ well, if we were in the game, your companion could tell you with a certain software. But I¡¯m going to wager that none of you are in the Gallen star system of wood elf space. Or have methods to bring your AI companion over to this side.¡± This seemed to make the chief even more suspicious. ¡°I heard that you couldn¡¯t test for druid groves or things like that.¡± With a sigh, I tried to explain myself. ¡°You can¡¯t, but you can read strong affinities on their aura if you have the Aura Sight skill and the Identify software on your companion. For instance, I can see a bit of metal affinity on you, so that is likely your strongest secondary affinity. You can get your affinity tested in the game if you want to confirm it.¡± Celeste had been kind enough to show me his metal affinity, which was surprisingly at 4%. If he were to be a druid, he¡¯d be able to cultivate that pretty easily. They put me in an interrogation room after that, while the chief went off to confirm the information I had given him. Naturally, as soon as I learned that we were dealing with a shapeshifter druid with Blood Affinity, I had Celeste check for anyone with a Blood Affinity above 5%. Getting an affinity that high is impossible without cultivation, so anyone that had it would be my primary suspect. Of course, there wasn¡¯t much I could do while locked up. Oh well, guess I can get started on the element seeds¡­
Author¡¯s Basement: Before anyone starts commenting that this makes the MC suddenly OP, I have a few things to point out. What he is thinking this killer did with his grove, is NOT something he personally can do. The mana control and amount to penetrate another body at range with enough accuracy to pull them into the grove(even if only partially) is well beyond him. Spoiler : The only reason that the killer was able to do it was because he only targeted level 1 people. There is generally very little to gain by using such power on such weak people, when with that level difference their weakest spells are lethal. Chapter 61: All Just a Game Author¡¯s Corner: Due to some reader comments, I went back and rewrote Chapter 49 in order to organize the information a bit more neatly. There isn¡¯t really any new information in the chapter, so you only have to go back to take another look if you want to! With that taken care of, enjoy the chapter!
Being locked up in the interrogation room like this was both a blessing and a curse. It was a curse because obviously, the police suspected that I was the ¡®Gamer¡¯ killer they were looking for. However, it was a blessing because this meant that I didn¡¯t need to take Faraday into my grove anymore! I hadn¡¯t realized until after the fact, but if I had sent him in there, he would have undoubtedly run into Yang. I did not even want to imagine what kind of things would happen after that. Shuddering at the narrowly avoided disaster of misunderstandings, I got to work on refining a Seed of Wind. For now, I would just be making it low quality, and then work on making it a higher quality when I had more time. I had at least an hour and a half to do this, most likely. And it was the easiest one to make in my current situation. Closing my eyes, I focused on drawing in the wind mana around me to create the elemental seed. Naturally, they did not have any methods yet to prevent magic use in the prison, but I¡¯m sure they would in a couple more days at most, once their officers got to the point where they could do it. Until then, however, there was nothing stopping me from working on the method to stop monsters from spawning. At least, there wasn¡¯t until a ringing voice entered my ear. ¡°Look at the little birdy, lost and alone, trapped in its cage. Such gifts you have, yet wasted. Such potential, unfulfilled.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ John?¡± After the voice rang out, Celeste appeared near me. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Sound¡­ Looks like he¡¯s got the Sound Affinity, too. I had actually been interested in that one originally¡­¡± ¡°Oh? The little birdy knows his stuff. He knows what I am, what I can do. But the little birdy is trapped in his little cage. All alone with nobody to help.¡± The voice rang out again, and I tried to focus on it. It was obviously a male voice, but the tones seemed like a dozen people overlapped so I couldn¡¯t identify it. ¡°Did birdy get my message? Did he see the writing on the wall?¡± Glancing around curiously, I saw that under the camera in the room, red liquid was dripping out. Blood¡­ He¡¯s probably killed someone to write this. As the blood dripped down the wall, it began flowing in patterns, forming letters. ¡°Lives remaining: 10.¡± The message confused me for a little while, but I had the feeling that he was wanting to play a game of life and death with me, for some strange reason. Maybe it was because I was a druid? ¡°Why are you doing this? What could you possibly gain?¡± ¡°Why, experience of course. The world is a game, I am merely a player.¡± The voice called out to me after I questioned it. ¡°It¡¯s not long now before what has happened will come to pass. Before the end, let¡¯s play one last game. Hide and seek, what do you say? I¡¯ll hide, and you come find me. But be quick, or the boys in blue will be the ones to lose.¡± I grimaced at that, using a quick application of Metal Manipulation to break the handcuffs and open the door to the room, before using Wind Manipulation to amplify my voice. ¡°Somebody get in here!¡± I could hear the voice cackling as it withdrew, though the writing on the wall remained. A pair of officers soon ran in with their guns unholstered. ¡°What did you--!¡± They paused as they saw the writing on the wall. ¡°He¡¯s close.¡± I said to them, and one nodded to his partner, who ran off down the hall. ¡°What happened?¡± The one remaining asked. Naturally, I checked him with my Aura Sight, and was relieved that I was not left alone with the killer. I began explaining what had just occurred, including the voice and what I was doing when it arrived. When the officer saw the broken handcuffs, he grumbled under his breath. With a slight sigh, I fixed the handcuffs using the same magic that broke them. ¡°You need magic defenses, otherwise people like me could walk out whenever they wanted. He¡¯s picked out ten people, and it sounds like they¡¯re all cops. I don¡¯t know how he chooses, but he has.¡± At that point, the other officer came back, and whispered something to him. The one that had been staying here had his eyes widened and he looked at me. ¡°Come with me.¡± Naturally, I was inclined to follow the people with guns who were walking towards their own deaths. They led me to a much larger room, with several desks manned by other cops. ¡°Folks, we¡¯ve lost contact with the chief. His home AI reported that he never got back home, and tracking his car showed it abandoned a few blocks away. Matthews and Johnson, I want you two to check it out.¡± Of the two that responded, one was surprisingly not human. For the most part, he looked human, but his head was a bit taller, and his eyes were pitch black. Out of all the officers here, I could count the nonhuman ones on one hand. Thinking for a moment, I looked to the officer that had taken charge. After confirming once again that he, and everybody else in this room, was clear of the Blood Affinity, I tried to get his attention. ¡°What is it?¡± He glared over at me. ¡°I¡¯d check the roof. The blood on the wall¡­¡± I didn¡¯t get the chance to finish speaking before his eyes went wide again, and he sent someone to investigate the roof as well. Even if the druid¡¯s mana control was excellent, there had to be a range. At least, I knew that I wouldn¡¯t be able to control the flow of water that detailed from more than a few dozen meters. And the easiest way to make it flow like that would be if the blood came from a higher source, such as the roof. Once the people were all dispatched, the leading officer looked to me. ¡°Okay, kid. What can you tell us about druids that we don¡¯t already know?¡± Thinking about it, I shook my head. ¡°All I know is that he has at least seven elements all above 5%. Fire, water, wind, earth, light, blood, and now sound. He should also have Nature Magic, but that¡¯s all I can tell you. Each druid is different from any other. I can tell you that his control range shouldn¡¯t be able to exceed twenty meters, unless he knows tricks I don¡¯t. He probably also has Divination, which would have let him hear what I was saying in the interrogation room.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t sound have done that?¡± The officer asked. I swear, eventually I¡¯ll get his name. ¡°Not unless he was in an adjacent room. He¡¯d need to be able to extend his Mana Sense to me with enough detail that he could feel the sound mana I released. And, if he did that, I should have been able to sense his mana.¡± I did my best to explain to the person who more than likely hasn¡¯t even set foot inside the game. ¡°So, what does Nature Magic do?¡± ¡°It is a magic that lets you control and replicate the effects of plants and animals. Alchemy can be replicated with Nature Magic, but it can also be used for my own shapeshifting. He probably uses it for poisons. And I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ve figured out how he chooses his victims¡­¡± The man gave me a cold glare, but a moment later, the officer he had sent off to check the roof returned. ¡°It¡¯s a blood mess up there, Monte.¡± Ah, so his name is Monte. I nodded slightly as the ¡®new chief¡¯ grumbled. ¡°Dammit.¡± He then looked at me. ¡°You said that you can read a person¡¯s affinities by looking at them?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ve already checked everyone in the room. One of you looks to be a druid in training, but not with the Blood Affinity. My guess is he was going to be the one to create your anti-monster zone.¡± Officer Monte glanced over to the person who I had noticed to have druid affinities without me needing to point him out. ¡°What level are you now?¡± ¡°Just.. just twelve, sir.¡± The officer responded, looking over to me. I decided to ask first. ¡°You don¡¯t have your grove yet, right?¡± I could see that his Light and Fire Affinities were just below 5% with Celeste¡¯s help, so he shouldn¡¯t have it established yet. ¡°No.. Not yet.¡± I gave a sigh and decided to throw him a bone. ¡°You should hurry up and get it. Once you do, you can bring items over with it.¡± I had the feeling that I was going to regret doing this, but I pulled my companion bracelet out of my grove. Blue lights stretched out from my chest and went onto my wrist as the item formed. ¡°That includes your companion bracelet. If you have that with you, and get the Identify software, you should be able to read affinities.¡± The man gave a surprised nod as Officer Monte turned to look at me. ¡°You can bring items out of the game?¡± I nodded to him. ¡°Items, animals, even people. Anything in the grove can be transferred over.¡± ¡°Then why doesn¡¯t the inventory transfer?¡± I had been wondering that myself, but Celeste provided me with a theory. ¡°According to my companion, people are born with the power to have an inventory. It is linked with their body. However, the grove is embedded into their aura on an undetectable level. Since our auras essentially cross back and forth, so does the grove.¡± Officer Monte seemed to consider that for a moment, and then gave the unnamed druid officer(coincidentally Officer Forest) the next few days off to finish his grove. Likely, he was planning to use the grove as a means of smuggling weapons out of the game. Not the worst idea, and precisely why I pulled out my bracelet, rather than one of my own weapons. Around this time, the two officers that went to check on the late chief¡¯s car returned. Before they even spoke, I could tell from their expressions what happened. Thankfully, Monte could too, because he didn¡¯t ask them to report. He simply looked at me and sighed. ¡°Alright, whether I like it or not, you¡¯ve become a part of this. Your information is useful, and the Gamer will likely lash out if we send you back. He only targets people that don¡¯t play NeoLife, so more than likely you are safe. However, the people around you aren¡¯t.¡± I thought about it, and if he only targeted people that didn¡¯t play¡­ ¡°There are only ten officers that don¡¯t play the game, aren¡¯t there?¡± He nodded his head slightly. ¡°He might not be strong enough to kill like this if the person has a level in the double digits. If that¡¯s the case, he just picks out the people that couldn¡¯t have possibly leveled up yet¡­ Then again, from how he talked, he seemed to be at least a little insane, I think..¡± ¡°The worst ones are never really crazy. Everyone just thinks they are.¡± Officer Monte looked out towards the others. ¡°Faraday, I want you to have Haverson called back in. He¡¯s our highest level diviner right now, and we need the help. Hulett,¡± he turned to look at me briefly. ¡°Do you have any methods of stopping the attacks?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got one that could work, as long as he hasn¡¯t practiced the Void Affinity. But it would only work if the target is near me. Though, the easiest way is to just have the ten people log in to the game and level up a couple times.¡± He shook his head firmly at that idea. ¡°Not an option. We¡¯ve been specifically ordered to keep a batch of people out of the game, including the chief of police. That way, if something big came up that was caused by the game, we¡¯d have people unaffected.¡± I had to admit that his reasoning was solid, but the scream that tore through the building a few moments later made me really wish it wasn¡¯t.
Quest Accepted!
It''s All Just a Game Rank ¡ï¡ï¡î Investigation Some people just can''t handle the pressure. Some people go mad. Find the one that''s killing in the name of a game before you reach your own Game Over. Time Limit: The rest of your life. Rewards: Increased familiarity with the Oakland Police Department, +2 Levels, Hidden Skill Failure: Everyone you know dies.
I really did not want to be part of this quest, if I could avoid it... Chapter 62: The Countdown Author¡¯s Corner: Due to difficulties sleeping, you all will be getting today¡¯s chapter earlier than usual! Have fun!
Together with most of the police officers, I ran towards the direction where the scream came from. When we got there, we saw what was left of a young woman splashed across the hall as if she had exploded. On the far end of the hall, positioned in plain view for us to see, was writing in her blood. ¡®Lives Remaining: 9¡¯. At this time, Officer Monte looked over to me solemnly. ¡°How confident are you that his control range can¡¯t exceed what you said?¡± I thought about it for a bit before I could answer. ¡°Sixty percent, at most. I don¡¯t know if he has special skills that could amplify his abilities.¡± ¡°What about magic items? Those are common in the game, right?¡± I gave a brief nod. ¡°Yeah, but they aren¡¯t very easy to put in the grove. At most, he should be able to bring his companion over, but not any items that could boost his magic range.¡± Monte gave a quick nod. ¡°AI, identify all people within fifty meters of the station. Track back reports from cameras and locate everyone that has been within the perimeter for the last fifteen minutes without leaving, excluding the officers. Additionally, if anyone appears twice, flag them.¡± A mechanical voice rang out from the walls, and I wasn¡¯t surprised that the cops had their own AI for the station. ¡°Affirmative, acting chief. Registering six entities, including John Hulett, who have not left the fifty meter perimeter in the last fifteen meters. No entity appears twice.¡± ¡°Was there anyone on the roof within that time?¡± ¡°Affirmative, acting chief. Chief of Police, Carl Karlton was sighted carrying a large bag to the roof before leaving.¡± The AI reported again, letting us all know that the killer had basically walked right up to us using the body of a man he had just killed. ¡°Track his movements after he left.¡± Monte spoke through clenched teeth. ¡°And take into account the possibility of¡­ rapid physical alteration to disguise as someone else.¡± I could understand how it might be hard for him to tell the AI to look for a shapeshifter disguised as his former boss, but the AI spoke up again soon. ¡°Affirmative, acting chief.¡± However, moments later, the voice of the AI abruptly changed. ¡°Naughty, naughty, acting chief. There are no cheat codes for this game. Play by the rules, or you¡¯re disqualified.¡± My eyes went wide, as much from hearing the voice as its contents. It was almost an exact replica of what had spoken to me in the interrogation room. Quickly, I turned to look at Officer Monte. ¡°Where is your AI¡¯s server room? I¡¯ll assume it can only be accessed on site.¡± To be honest, I knew for a fact it couldn¡¯t be accessed online due to my previous experience hacking their system. Working around their AI had been a real pain. Officer Monte seemed to quickly understand my meaning, and ran off down the hall, leading me through the building. Meanwhile, I explained my theory to him. ¡°Either the AI was just now hacked, or has been for a while. If it¡¯s the latter, then the druid might not have Sound Affinity after all, and was just using the AI to transmit the voice to me in the interrogation room.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t it a good thing if he doesn¡¯t have an extra ability?¡± ¡°Not if you consider that it gave him more time to train his Blood Affinity. Being more specialized does not make him easier to deal with.¡± Soon, we had traveled down the stairs and arrived at the server room. However, it was electronically locked and was not accepting commands. Deciding it¡¯d be best to minimize property damage, I used my Technomancy to tap into the keypad for the door. With that, I just had to command it to open, and it opened. Devices without any magic are so easy to control.. I mused over that as we went into the room. There was another body in the server room, but it looked as if it had been there for a while. Unlike the others that the Gamer had killed, there was no explosion of gore, no writing on the wall. He was just a middle aged man with no hair, and his head looked like someone had burned a hole clean through it. Ah crap, he¡¯s got a plasma gun. ¡°Fire Affinity, I take it?¡± Officer Monte said sardonically. ¡°Worse¡­ plasma weapons.¡± It was certainly possible that the wound could have been caused with fire, but it would have taken far longer, and the man would have had time to struggle. With a plasma gun, one shot to the head and he was done. ¡°He¡¯s been here a while, hasn¡¯t he..?¡± Grimly, Monte nodded as we went back out to the hall. ¡°Don¡¯t have the coroner up here to confirm, but at least two days. Even though I just saw him this morning.¡± ¡°Lovely¡­ so he¡¯s been hiding inside the police station as a techy? Was that guy the one in charge of maintaining the AI?¡± ¡°Pretty much. Any ideas how he managed to hack into a sophisticated system like that without tripping any alarms?¡± Groaning, I shook my head. ¡°He walked right in your front door, and probably plugged his companion into the server. Don¡¯t know how he managed that, they don¡¯t exactly have outlets.¡± I looked down to the metal bracelet I was wearing. ¡°So he could have Technomancy. And with the AI being hacked, the reason for me thinking he had Divination is gone.¡± There was an applause sounding from around us, followed by the AI¡¯s multifaceted voice. ¡°Congratulations, ¡®detective¡¯. But what can you do? Help isn¡¯t coming, and now your lives are down to eight.¡± ¡°Faraday!¡± Monte called out and suddenly ran off, with me soon trailing behind him. ¡°Dammit, why didn¡¯t I send anyone with him!?¡± Soon we arrived at the dispatch room, where we found four bodies. One was an explosion of gore, while three had taken precise shots to the head. In the far corner of the room, I could see the head of the man who had been my contact with the police. It¡¯s one thing to see a complete stranger dead. It¡¯s another entirely when you personally know the victim. Every time you think back to your conversations with them, you suddenly picture the gruesome scene of their end. Moving over to a nearby trashcan, I retched into it. If nothing else, I was thankful that I had not eaten since morning. Meanwhile, I heard Monte on the radio, calling all officers. ¡°Everyone, buddy system, effective immediately. Do not go anywhere without at least two people with you. I don¡¯t care if you¡¯ve got to take a piss, you go with backup. Each group take one combat specialist from NeoLife. The Gamer has moved up to bigger fish. I want everyone in the briefing room pronto.¡± When he ended his announcement, he turned off the radio and looked to me. ¡°Is there any chance at all that the killer can hide his affinities from you?¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I considered it, and I honestly wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°None that I know of. I¡¯ve never had an issue seeing them before, at least, but that doesn¡¯t mean it¡¯s impossible.¡± Monte nodded, and we made our way back to the briefing room. There were more people here this time, even with the extra deaths, since everyone had been called in. With Celeste¡¯s help, I scanned everyone in the room. Thirteen decently leveled people with no significant magic, four who looked to be mages, and the one druid. But no Blood Affinities in the room. When Officer Monte glanced back at me, I shook my head quietly. ¡°Alright guys, we have a situation here. The Gamer has hacked our AI, and can control all of our electronic systems. Everyone is to use their radios only. No calls in or out, as they could be intercepted. Dispatch is down, and that means we have no way to respond to a 911. As you all know, the Gamer is primarily targeting those who have yet to play NeoLife. However, he has also begun using the game¡¯s weaponry in real life. Officer Cruz was just found dead in the server room, and looks like he¡¯s been that way for a while.¡± Monte looked around the room. ¡°Where¡¯s the coroner?¡± Officer Forest raised a hand to speak up. ¡°Matthews, Johnson, and Richards went to get him. You know he never keeps his radio on.¡± ¡°Oh please don¡¯t tell me that he¡¯s on the list¡­¡± I mumbled behind Monte, who let out a sigh. ¡°No, thankfully he is a player. Went into the game as soon as he heard about some advanced medical techniques. Still, we need to have him in plain view too.¡± The acting chief turned around to look at everyone. ¡°Alright people, as of now, anyone walking alone is to be considered a threat. Do not split up under any circumstance. We¡¯re in a real life horror movie here, folks. I trust we all know how to act.¡± Yeah, run as far away from the horror movie situation as possible¡­ I thought to myself, and Celeste wholeheartedly agreed with me. ¡°There¡¯s just one thing that bothers me¡­¡± When I spoke up, Monte looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Speak up, what is it?¡± ¡°The writing on the walls. When you choose a race in NeoLife, you automatically learn to read and speak the language of the race you chose. However, it sounds and looks like your native language. I am half wood elf, but I couldn¡¯t write elven to save my life, because I¡¯d just think it looked english.¡± ¡°But he¡¯s writing in his alien language.¡± The acting chief finished my thought. ¡°Exactly. His companion might be showing him what it looks like, but he¡¯d still only see it as english lettering. That means that somehow, he actually learned the language manually, which should not be possible under normal circumstances. We know for a fact that he is a shapeshifter, so he shouldn¡¯t be a different race¡­¡± ¡°Even so, whether he learned how to write normally or not, what does it matter?¡± Monte looked at me with a level gaze. ¡°I don¡¯t know, but it¡¯s bothering me. Way more than it should.¡± After I spoke, Celeste appeared beside me. ¡°I don¡¯t have an answer, John. In your eyes, both english and the wood elf languages truly do look the same.¡± I was not at all reassured by Celeste¡¯s words, and she apologized. However, a moment later her expression turned strange. What is it? As soon as I thought the question, Celeste showed me a few images. Tiny things, stuff I never could have noticed. However, every time I entered the room since coming to the police station, there was always someone whose eyes were focused on me. The first time, when they initially brought me in, it was Officer Cruz. I hadn¡¯t been suspicious of a druid at the time, so naturally I didn¡¯t scan people yet then. The second time, it was Faraday, after they brought me out of the holding cell. But at that time, I really did scan him, along with everyone else. This time, it was a middle aged woman sitting near the back of the room. I had thought that she was just watching Monte, but Celeste zoomed in on her eyes and drew a path straight to me. The woman even smirked slightly as she met my gaze, before she mouthed something quietly. Suddenly, the room went pitch black, all the lights cutting off together. No doubt, the Gamer had set up a command to cut the lights in the building if given the signal. ¡°Flashlights out, everyone! The building¡¯s gone on lockdown!¡± This was exactly why I hadn¡¯t just smashed the AI when we were down in the server room. Any damage to the AI automatically triggered a building wide lockdown. Every door would be magnetically sealed, and metal shutters would cover every window and exterior door. While I could still easily move around with my magic, I wasn¡¯t confident that I would have been able to find everyone else and lead them out in such a condition. ¡°John, what¡¯s the problem?!¡± Monte called out to me, and I had my Cybernetic eye switch to night vision as soon as the lights had gone out. Even with the quick reaction, it was almost not fast enough to catch the woman leaving the room, her skin rippling and changing. ¡°Dammit, they can hide their aura!¡± I raised my wrist and sent a command to Celeste, after which a hologram appeared above my companion bracelet. ¡°This is what they looked like just now, and also their latest victim. They¡¯ve been here the entire time¡­ Faraday was already dead before you sent him to make that call. He must be storing their bodies in his grove and bringing them back out when he wants to plant the scene.¡± ¡°Fuck, that means we can¡¯t track him!¡± Monte looked around, using his flashlight to search the room, as did everyone else. Thankfully I didn¡¯t need to do that, and I could keep a watch on the doors. ¡°Please tell me that there is some foolproof way to detect a grove?¡± ¡°I wish there was, right now. Even in NeoLife, groves are completely undetectable¡­¡± ¡°This is not the news I want to be hearing right now, John.¡± Monte called back to me, pointing his flashlight in my direction. Suddenly, the AI¡¯s multifaceted voice rang out again, and I could swear that it was even more complicated than before. ¡°Now now, little piggies. Don¡¯t be in such a rush. The game isn¡¯t over yet. We¡¯ve just moved on to the second stage. How about a little game of Hide and Seek?¡± Almost in unison, Monte and I looked at each other. ¡°The coroner.¡±
Author¡¯s Basement: Well, this just got a lot more complex than I had anticipated! Stay tuned for the next episode of World Seed! Chapter 63: What is in a name? Author¡¯s Corner: Hey guys! I know that a lot of things don¡¯t make sense right now, but they will! There is a method to my madness, or at least that¡¯s what I always tell myself.
Monte and I, along with the two people that had been in the group with the killer, ran to the basement in fear of finding another group of people dead. Magnetic locks don¡¯t mean much when I crush the doors in front of us with my magic. At this point, property damage was a secondary concern, and it didn¡¯t take us too long to get down there. Thankfully, we arrived to see three officers talking calmly with a balding man in a white lab coat. When we crashed through the door, they immediately turned towards us with weapons drawn. Upon seeing Monte, they hesitated a moment, but slowly dropped their guns. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Before anyone else had a chance to speak, Monte asked a question of his own. ¡°How long have the four of you been together down here?¡± ¡°About ten minutes? We¡¯ve been trying to convince this guy to head up to the briefing room, but he keeps going on that this is the safest room in the building right now.¡± I lifted an eyebrow at that, and looked to the coroner, who decided to explain. ¡°You see, I don¡¯t really care all that much for AI¡¯s without personalities. When the call came in that the AI had turned, I decided we should stay here. This room is probably the only one in the entire building that isn¡¯t monitored by it.¡± Monte let off a light sigh after hearing that. ¡°Never thought your paranoia would come in handy. But still, the AI can monitor all of the surrounding rooms. Whether or not you¡¯re in here, he can still keep track of you. Why else would you even be allowed a room with no monitoring?¡± The coroner raised a finger and opened his mouth as if to rebuke that statement, paused, tried again, then simply said. ¡°I¡¯ll grab my things.¡± With that taken care of, the acting chief turned towards me. ¡°So, now that we know this person can hide from your affinity scan, any other ways to track him?¡± ¡°Well¡­ there¡¯s one thing I can try, but no clue if it¡¯ll work.¡± I turned around and focused, activating the X-Ray vision part of my Cybernetic eye. Let¡¯s look for anyone alone. With Celeste¡¯s help, I adjusted the zoom and penetration depth of my eye, slowly searching the building. Or at least, I was going to. ¡°Seriously? Who lines their walls with lead?¡± The coroner coughed nervously. ¡°Well¡­ I thought it seemed like a good idea.¡± Stepping out of the room, I repeated the search attempt. Even if this druid had far more skill than he should have at his level, there was no reason he would be able to turn invisible. And sure enough, I saw someone by themselves on the second floor of the station, splashing blood and gore around while waving their hands and dancing oddly. ¡°Second floor¡­ looks like an office. He¡¯s laying the scene for the woman we saw him as, I think.¡± I made a promise to myself to never try to learn the Blood Affinity. In these few hours, I had seen more gore than I wanted to in my entire life. I may even give up horror movies after this. ¡°That should be Jean¡¯s office, then.¡± Monte spoke up from behind me, after which there was another startled voice. ¡°What, Jean?¡± I think the voice came from Officer Johnson, and I felt a burst of wind, presumably as he ran past me. I couldn¡¯t see, given the fact that my X-Ray sight was still locked on the killer, and my other eye was closed to help me see better. ¡°Johnson!¡± Monte called out, and I felt another rush as someone else passed by me. ¡°Come on, Hulett, we¡¯re going after him.¡± Monte got on the radio after that. ¡°All units, target sighted on the second floor. He¡¯s in Jean¡¯s office right now, let¡¯s box him in. Lethal force is authorized and recommended. We don¡¯t know how many tricks he has, so don¡¯t let him use them.¡± I had really just wanted to stay here and constantly watch the killer¡¯s position so that I could keep them informed and we wouldn¡¯t lose sight of him again¡­ But at the same time, I wasn¡¯t sure if the police would be able to fight him. At the very least, he had his Blood Affinity and a plasma pistol. So, I just cancelled my X-Ray vision mode and ran along with them. In the meantime, I made sure that all of my combat aspects were activated. Scales covered my skin, my bones hardened, and I set up a breath weapon with the lightning element. With this, I should be able to counter most anything he had to throw at me. Though, I had noticed something strange about him when I saw him. His face lacked any of the normal facial characteristics. His eyes were blank, his mouth without lips, and his nose completely absent. They simply seemed to be gaps in the flesh. When his mouth was closed, it seemed as if it wasn¡¯t there at all. He had no hair on his head, and only small holes in the side of it where his ears should have been. This man was meant to be a shapeshifter, but why would he take on such an appearance? I was liking this situation less and less as time went on. I had the feeling that I¡¯d be getting the answers to all of my questions soon, and when I did I wouldn¡¯t like them. Thankfully, we knew where he was, and we were going there with our weapons at the ready. Though, I was still not pulling out my plasma weapons, because I would likely be commanded to hand them over. After just a minute or so, we were already on the second floor of the station, and they had me do another sweep for the killer. What I found was that the scene of the death had already been set, and he was actually running towards us, before he suddenly jumped up, his body elongating as he dived into an air vent. Nobody said he could do that. That¡¯s cheating. Still, I reported what I saw and kept an eye on him as he passed near us. He must have been warned by the AI, because he immediately looked in our direction and crawled off as fast as he could. Using my Metal Manipulation, I targeted the vent he was in, and attempted to collapse it around him. However, my magic acted too slowly at this range, and he was able to slip his body through with only a few scrapes. With that, he scurried off into an intersection, and rushed down to the lower level. Once again, I reported his location and we gave chase. Only officers Johnson and Matthews stayed behind, instead moving towards Jean¡¯s office. ¡°Tsk tsk, isn¡¯t that cheating? Using your special eyes like that.¡± The AI¡¯s voice sounded out again right after I stopped watching the killer so that I could chase as well. ¡°At this rate our game won¡¯t be very fun at all. In the case, how about we raise the stakes?¡± Soon, just as we were getting out of the stairwell on the first floor, there was another scream in the distance. Immediately, I looked with my X-Ray vision, and found the collapsed bodies of the two officers we had just left behind. However, the killer was nowhere in sight. Looking around, I wasn¡¯t able to find him anywhere. I had lost sight of him for twenty seconds at most, and in that time he had doubled back and killed both of the officers before vanishing? Well, we were certainly getting our exercise chasing this guy. Moving back up, we again went to Jean¡¯s office, this time actually entering. The two officers had horrified expressions on their faces, as if they had seen something horrible as they died. However there were no wounds to be found anywhere on them. It sent chills down my back to realize how they must have died instantly to some method they couldn¡¯t defend themselves against. ¡°John, look closely at their auras¡­ something¡¯s wrong.¡± Celeste spoke up, noticing something I hadn¡¯t yet. There really was something wrong with their auras. Something that had been wrong with all of the dead people, which I hadn¡¯t thought much of because I considered they had been dead for a while already. Their auras had already withered, as if their souls had left their bodies. Normally, this didn¡¯t happen until twenty four hours after the death of a creature, but these men had died only a moment ago. ¡°Hulett, tell me you have eyes on him.¡± The acting police chief glanced my way, and I did another sweep of the building. However, I could not find him anywhere. Then, my attention turned back to these two bodies in front of me. Celeste, is it possible? I asked the AI, not wanting to voice my thoughts yet. ¡°What..?¡± She spoke up, and I could hear her confused tone, before she made a sound of realization. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s the most likely answer. But you¡¯ll need to do it quick, before he notices.¡± I nodded my head slightly, and then turned to Monte. ¡°Let¡¯s go out to the hall. I can¡¯t think straight in here¡­¡± He raised an eyebrow at me, but nodded nonetheless. Just as everyone was pulling out, I closed my eyes and reached into my grove. Focusing behind me, I summoned my large water slime into the room, completely filling it. This caused several of the officers to immediately draw their weapons and open fire, but their bullets did nothing to the slime. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s with me.¡± I looked back to the room, watching and waiting. Monte came up next to me and whispered in a harsh voice. ¡°What the hell is going on?¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.¡°The killer can instantly kill, erase bodies, and even shapeshift. He had no time to run away after killing those two before I searched for him.¡± As I spoke, I watched the blood vanishing from within the room, absorbed into Yo¡¯s body, while the three bodies began withering. ¡°There¡¯s only one place he could be hiding.¡± Monte looked like he was about to speak, but suddenly the body of Officer Johnson twitched, before lunging out of the water slime with more speed than he should have possessed. As I took a good look, I saw that his feet had become flippers to make him exit faster. Now, normally this is the point where the villain would take his time to monologue while the cops had their guns pointed at him. Unfortunately, I was beyond annoyed, and didn¡¯t wait for that. Opening my mouth, I released the blast of lightning mana that I had prepared beforehand. The blast of energy struck him directly in the chest, just as he was recovering from the damage of the slime. The surrounding cops were still frozen in place, since the person that had just charged out had appeared to be one of their colleagues, who they had known to have just died. After being struck by the blast, ¡®Officer Johnson¡¯ was thrown back, crashing against the wall. Unsure of whether or not he¡¯d be getting up, I decided not to take that chance. I quickly worked a pair of elements that would surely finish him off. First, Metal Manipulation on the wall to make a long strip of steel wrap around his torso, and finally Void Manipulation to surround his entire body in void mana while removing the wind mana. I could see him coughing soundlessly, trying to get a breath. Before his last breath faded, he looked to me and said something. However, being locked in a vacuum meant that his voice carried no sound. Still, Celeste managed to interpret it by reading his lips. ¡®We are Legion.¡¯ The moment he died, I began to feel a sharp pain in my head, while a blue window appeared in front of me.
Quest Completed!
It''s All Just a Game Rank ¡ï¡ï¡î Investigation You have killed the Soul Legion, ending his reign of terror. Reward: Level +2, Increased Familiarity with Oakland Police, Soul Arts Skill
New Skill Unlocked!
Soul Arts - Beginner Level 1 0% Exp This skill enables you to draw upon the very essence of others, using it in unconventional and potentially dangerous ways.
New Ability Unlocked!
Absorb Soul - Soul Arts - ¡ï¡ï By absorbing the soul of a recently departed creature, you are able to gain a portion of their knowledge and ability.
Information streamed into my head as these windows appeared, and as if playing through a tutorial, my body automatically drew the soul of the Legion into myself. Memories not my own flooded into me, bits and pieces of a broken past. I saw myself freeze in terror as an unfamiliar blue screen appeared, symbolizing what could be the end of the world. I saw a silver capsule appear in my bedroom, and found myself drawn towards it. I knew in my mind that I had a unique skill that I had refined by playing various games and adapting knowledge from them, and knew that it was the one thing that could help me grow strong enough to survive in this new world. I saw myself standing before a mountain of a man, made fully of stone as he instructed me to choose a race for myself. In order to match with this new skill I wanted to create, I chose an alien race capable of changing their shape at will. Then the image faded briefly, and I found myself standing before a druid at the edge of town, begging for training. However, I was refused. He told me that my level was not high enough, and I must come back later. In a rage, I ran off, and started using this unique skill against other players as they were leveling. It allowed me to easily gain their own skills and make them my own. However, each time there was a growing voice in my head, a presence I didn¡¯t know. Soon, I had grown strong enough to pick a class. Again, I sought the druid trainer. This time, he accepted me. The voices told me to kill him, to add his skills to my own, but I endured. For two weeks I endured while he taught me the ways of druid magic, helping me found my very own grove, but something was wrong. When my grove was established, it was not the peaceful lump of rock he had described it as, but a sea of blood. I felt betrayed, as if he did this to me on purpose. Giving in to the voices, I caught my trainer by surprise and absorbed his essence. My grove immediately expanded, rocky areas growing within the bloody landscape. My power grew by leaps and bounds, but I felt myself starting to fracture. I could no longer control the voices, I had let them take over too much. My skill, which had initially been a mental skill meant to absorb the knowledge of a person, had become twisted in this world. I saw scenes, memories of everyone I had killed. Their childhood, their loves, their hates. I saw stars born, I saw planets shatter through eyes I did not know. I learned of something, information that pieced itself together in my head from these broken memories, and knew that my life was pointless, that it was all going to end. So, I continued absorbing, growing stronger and stronger. Soon, powerful people were sent out to kill us because of what I had done. The voices told me to absorb them too, and I tried. But they were too strong, I couldn¡¯t touch their souls. After they killed me, I found myself back in this doomed world, back in my own body. Was this my body? I could no longer remember what I looked like, my own name. I had a hundred names, a hundred faces. But not one of them felt like mine. We took the name Legion, and since we could no longer grow in that distant realm, we would grow here. This world would fade away, but the Legion will be eternal. First, though, I must grow again. I decided to practice, first with those who had yet to accept their new fate. One of me was a mage, and she could read the levels of others. We were surprised by how many people were so useless here, so we put them out of their misery. When we killed them, we used the magic of another, who had learned to control the flow of blood to heal others, to send a warning. The end was coming. We even went to the police and took one of them to join us. He helped control the AI, give it our voice. Soon, we saw another working with the police. One of us called him druid, and we decided to obtain him as well. We were sure enough now. So we went to the police station and waited with the face we had stolen. He was our prey, but did he have to be our only prey? This room was full of people eagerly growing their powers. A buffet for one such as us. So we decided to play a game. One we made the rules for, one we could not lose. The station itself was our friend. First was the one that showed the druid trust. He should be able to get close. He called us druid as well. Were we? Some of us said yes, while others said no. No matter, we absorbed him, and he became part of us. Again the image faded, and soon we were running. He had found us, but how? Some voices said he was a Technomancer, one who becomes as a machine. But his skill was too low, he was too weak. So we went and played our game, painted the scene for them to find. Our friend in the walls told us that they were coming, so we left. He told us that the druid could see us, so we tricked him. We let him think we left, then went back when our friend told us he wasn¡¯t looking. What luck, there were two fools grieving in the room. We absorbed them and replaced one, waiting for our chance to strike. What is this water? Did they turn on the sprinklers? No¡­ it feels strange. Several voices cried out danger, danger, so we fled, becoming as a fish to exit this strange substance. As we stood up outside, a blast rocked our chest. Our lungs burned and we could not breathe. Looking up, we saw me. Was it me? Wait, no¡­ it was the druid. Am I the druid? ¡°John! John, snap out of it!¡± We heard a familiar voice, a woman standing next to us, crying out in distress. ¡°No, John! Stop, it¡¯s just a memory! You¡¯re still you!¡± She seemed to be on the verge of tears. Was she one of the voices? Nobody else seemed to notice her, though they kept their eyes on us. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, John¡­ You can yell at me later.¡± Our world turned dark, and we found ourselves quickly disappearing. Soon, there was just one left. Who am I? I think I can remember, almost. It¡¯s just there, beyond my reach. ¡°It¡¯s okay, John, I¡¯m still here.¡± That woman was there again. I think¡­ I think I remembered her name. Celeste? ¡°That¡¯s right, John.¡± She suddenly broke out in a happy smile as I thought of her name. ¡°It¡¯s good to have you back.¡± Chapter 64: The Aftershocks Author¡¯s Corner: This chapter is brought to you by insomnia. Enjoy!
¡°What happened to me, Celeste?¡± I looked over to the AI, and did my best to slowly sit up. I found that I was now wearing a white hospital gown, and had an IV hooked into my arm. Oh great, another hospital. Not even a super futuristic one, either. Celeste sighed, looking at me from a chair next to the bed. ¡°From what I have gathered, when you killed Legion, he sent a sliver of his soul into you, which granted you that new skill. Then with that, he tried to force you to absorb the rest of his soul after he was dead. That was the rush of memories you were feeling. If I didn¡¯t stop it, you probably would have ended up in the same condition that he was.¡± I raised an eyebrow at that. And how ¡®did¡¯ you stop it? At that thought, she turned away, somewhat bashfully. ¡°The only way I could. I made you pass out, by forcing a massive surge of information into your head. Sixteen thousand runes in ten seconds was your limit on Hascion, so I gave you a hundred thousand in one second, as well as some random trivia I learned while studying. Once you were unconscious, I was able to control the flow of memories and personalities as they tried to take hold. I tried to delete them altogether, but found that my control did not extend that far. ¡°The best I could do was filter them. You can try to view the memories, but it should look more like watching a video than experiencing it yourself. The thoughts are faded to the point where you shouldn¡¯t be able to remember them, so you only gained the skill benefits that you acquired before I finished. Also, your Madness Affinity went up by a percentage thanks to this. For your own sake, do not use that absorbing ability again. I might not always be able to filter it out like that.¡± I nodded, understanding the situation. Closing my eyes, I tried to call up the information that she had used to stop the process. Really, Celeste? The runes, I can understand, but did you have to include things like the mating habits of equestrian wolves? There was a slight giggle from that. ¡°Sorry, but I wanted something that would knock you out quick. I¡¯m not sure how long you¡¯ve been out for. They confiscated the bracelet when you were put in here, saying that the signal from it was interfering with equipment. But going by their conversations, I think it¡¯s been a day and a half.¡± Oh great¡­ All of this, and nearly a dozen people still died. And all I got was a terrible skill and ability. ¡°Actually, about that. I¡¯ve been doing some theorizing about this skill. Not a whole lot else to do while I waited for you to wake up, you know?¡± Celeste gave me a tired smile. ¡°If I¡¯m right, then it is usable for a lot more than just absorbing souls. You should also be able to bring back the recently dead, or empower others by giving them a bit of your own strength.¡± I raised a curious eyebrow, waiting for her to continue as a nurse walked by and noticed I was awake, going off to get a doctor. ¡°Well, the strength of the soul is based on experience and levels. My theory is that this skill allows you to give others your experience, maybe even your skills. If you did that to someone who had died, but still had their soul in their body, you could probably empower their soul and bring them back to life.¡± And the cost? ¡°Your own experience and levels. As you remember, there are two main ways to level up. The first is to kill other people or creatures. The second is to train your skills and abilities. Now, if you take away your own levels, you can reduce yourself to the point where your skills would be top of the line, and the only thing you lose should be stat points. However, if you go further, you will probably lose skill levels as well.¡± So, if I kill enemies, I can create a buffer zone for emergency transfer? I still did not like the idea of this new skill, but the fact that it could bring back the dead made me at least accept it as something useful. ¡°Basically, yeah. But enough of that, you should take a look at what you managed to get from Legion. I could only control the memories and personality as they flooded into you, but from your mana I also felt a sudden rush of the elements as well.¡± Blinking with surprise, I looked at my status briefly, followed by skills.
NameJohn HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain SurgeonFame400
Level 2688%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health210/210Health Regen0.27
Mana910/910Mana Regen1.91
Strength15Wisdom120
Agility21Intelligence91
Dexterity22Charisma10
Vitality21Luck20
Points Remaining10
Earth 13%Fire 10%Wind 10%Water 10%
Lightning 10%Light 11%Dark 11%Plant 11%
Void 10%Metal 10%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Advanced Level 1: 1%
Nature Magic - Novice Level 5: 32%
Wind Magic - Beginner Level 7: 5%
Archery - Beginner Level 3: 0%
Dagger Mastery - Basic Level 2: 1%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 7: 0%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Basic Level 9: 10%
Gathering - Beginner Level 6: 6%
Alchemy - Basic Level 8: 23%
Mana Signatures - Advanced Level 5: 0%
Cooking - Basic Level 3: 55%
Flight - Basic Level 1: 0%
Aura Sight - Intermediate Level 2: 72%
Technomancy - Intermediate Level 3: 21%
Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%
Runic Language - Advanced Level 4: 0%
Enchanting - Basic Level 2: 30%
Engineering - Novice Level 1: 16%
Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 13%
Dodge - Beginner Level 1: 20%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 3: 20%
Marksmanship - Beginner Level 9: 13%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 5: 3%
Soul Arts - Beginner Level 8: 9%
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The sudden increase in several skills, most notably Runic Languages and Mana Signatures, made me a bit happy. More importantly, though, when I sent my consciousness into my grove, I was startled to find that its size had drastically changed. Before, it was at a mere twenty something meter radius, but now its radius was over two hundred meters! The secondary grove had also improved, but only to a size of fifty meters. I absorbed part of his grove¡­ I found new items lying around in my grove, a set of high tech armor, and weapons similar to my own. Wasn¡¯t this supposed to be a bloody landscape in his memories? ¡°Ah, yes, I think that was the work of the souls he had absorbed. They weren¡¯t able to directly influence him yet, so they changed what he saw when he looked into his own soul.¡± That helped me to understand it a bit, and I was surprised that my other affinities hadn¡¯t increased when I was taking in this much mana. Still, though, this gave my ore veins more room to grow once I absorbed more of that mana. First I would need to cultivate to balance out the elements again so that it could properly grow. At this time, a dark haired man in a white doctor¡¯s coat came in, smiling to me. ¡°Awake at last, are we?¡± I flinched unconsciously at his use of the word ¡®we¡¯, as if it triggered a bad memory. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯re not in any trouble. The police brought you in here yesterday saying that you had collapsed while helping them with some business.¡± ¡°What about my bracelet?¡± I looked over to him, holding up my wrist. It¡¯s not that I was ungrateful or anything, but it felt wrong not having it. ¡°Ah, you mean that companion device?¡± The doctor smiled knowingly. ¡°I play the game too, son. Took quite a bit of research before I figured out how you got it here. But again, don¡¯t worry, it¡¯ll be returned to you when you are ready to leave. An Officer Monte said to call him when you woke up, so I¡¯ll bring in a phone for you to use. We¡¯ll be keeping you overnight for observation, but you should be able to leave in the morning.¡± After getting a nod from me, the doctor left for a moment, coming back with a small holo-phone. ¡°He said you¡¯d know the number to call.¡± With that taken care of, the doctor left the room again, leaving me surprised. Celeste, did he ever give us a number? ¡°Uh¡­ not that I can remember?¡± She tilted her head from side to side, as if trying to think about it. With a shrug, I dialed the only number that I could think of. ¡°911 operator. What is your emergency?¡± There was a male voice on the other end of the line. ¡°Officer Monte told me to call, and I¡¯m guessing he¡¯s expecting me like this¡­¡± There was a sigh from the other end, before the call was transferred. ¡°Mister Hulett?¡± I could hear the familiar voice on the other end, and Monte¡¯s face appeared above the holo-screen. ¡°Good to see you are awake. What happened to you?¡± ¡°A mean prank of the new world?¡± I responded, thinking that was honestly correct. When I had received the quest, it obviously knew that my skill levels would suddenly rise and that I would get that new skill when I completed it. The only explanation was that it had all been predicted by whatever higher power there was. ¡°Okay then¡­ Whenever you get the chance, we need you back at the station. We don¡¯t have another mage practicing Technomancy, so until the AI is able to be fixed we¡¯ve had to take it offline. It seems that traditional tech support can¡¯t handle an AI altered by magic.¡± Yay¡­ more work. And I still have to refine those seeds as well. ¡°Alright, but they won¡¯t let me out of here until tomorrow. I can refine some of the items for the protective barrier in the meantime, but I don¡¯t have what I need for it. Also, what happened to my slime?¡± ¡°What do you need? And the slime is still in the office¡­. it¡¯s too big to force out, and since you said it was with you, we didn¡¯t want to kill it. We¡¯ll be counting on you to retrieve it when you visit as well.¡± I thought about it for a moment. I already had a medium quality water seed from the big slime fight. ¡°A rock the size of my fist. Everything else I should be able to manage on my own.¡± I needed at least some form of earth mana if I was going to refine that seed. ¡°I¡¯ll¡­ see what I can do.¡± It was obviously an unorthodox request, but getting a simple rock into the hospital shouldn¡¯t be too hard for the new chief of police. With that taken care of, I began the refining process for the Seed of Wind. I actually found it much easier to gather and control the mana now. Maybe that was because my Mana Manipulation had advanced so much, along with my Mana Signatures skill? Either way, I felt like if I had to do that fight again, it would be over much more quickly. I thought back to the deaths that had occurred during that fight¡­ If I had woken up sooner, maybe I would have gotten there in time to resurrect one or two of them, at least. This new skill should try to make itself useful at some point. Chapter 65: Do-It-Yourself Exorcism, for Dummies! Author¡¯s Corner: Second chapter of the day! Sorry if it looks a bit iffy for now, writing with a headache tends to slow creative juices, and was too bored not to write! If need be, will go over it and rewrite like I did chapter 49. In the meantime, enjoy!
I¡¯d like to say that I spent the rest of the night refining Seeds of Wind and Seeds of Earth, but that would be a lie. I didn¡¯t pass out or anything, Celeste just offered me a much better solution. ¡°You can make things in your grove now, right? Why don¡¯t you just refine the seeds in there? You should have more than enough to spare of the first five elements.¡± Realizing that she was right, I begrudgingly accepted the proposal. When I went to my grove and began refining the ground to make a Seed of Earth, I found that a two meter radius sphere was enough to instantly refine a low quality seed. If I increased the radius to three meters, I could refine a medium quality seed within a minute. I suddenly felt like a dunce for always refining them by hand. Although I could not easily bring magical items into my grove, taking them out of it is easy, as I have learned from Yo and Celeste. Though, this wasn¡¯t really a viable option before, since I had only a small grove. Each one would leave a nearly visible impact after refining it. However, now the grove was large enough that I had plenty of room. Though, this only applied to fire, water, earth, wind, and light seeds. It seemed that I did not absorb any other elements from Legion, meaning I still had to refine the Seed of Dark and Seed of Lightning by hand. Still, now that I knew I could do it this way, I had a better idea. Instead of refining those two seeds outside of my grove, and then having to do the whole combination effect on the outside, I began actively cultivating those two elements, drawing them into my grove and forming the seeds in there. This way, I could do the combination procedure in a controlled environment. And, worst case scenario where the combining fails? The mana doesn¡¯t rush out into the open, and should just be returned to my grove so I can quickly start over. This took roughly four hours for me to refine both medium quality seeds, and then about ten minutes to combine them all into a rainbow patterned sphere. Once that was taken care of, I began pulling the element seeds I had gotten from the big water slime out, and popping them into my mouth like candy, breaking them down the same way as when I add a new element to my grove. With this, I received even more water mana, and could remake the seeds whenever I wanted. The only one that I didn¡¯t do that for was the seed which had a mixture of water and darkness. According to Celeste, it was the Mire Affinity, which I had not practiced yet. I planned to feed this to Yo when he turned into a slime person, and see what happens. Anyways, with that, I ended up having the rest of the night to just relax. I spent it cultivating metal mana until I was ready to pass out again. In the morning, the doctors examined me and determined that I was physically fine, and just needed to eat a bit since I had slept so long. I took them up on that right away, and grabbed a bite to eat on the way to the police station. Once I had Celeste back, she told me that Yin and Yang were bugging her to let them out now that she could connect to the other bracelet again. I was honestly a bit surprised to find that she could connect to it in the first place when Yang was inside my grove. In the end, I relented and summoned the two of them. Each one quickly assumed their ¡®ideal place¡¯, with Yin perched on my shoulder and Yang hugging my arm as we walked. Now, let me tell you, that was an awkward situation to explain to the police. Telling them that they were both my animal companions, and that Yang had simply evolved in the game. They seemed suspicious at first, as if they thought I might be working with slave traders, but when they saw how ¡®enthusiastic¡¯ Yang was they let it drop. After retrieving Yo, I went down to the server room and used Technomancy to connect myself and Celeste to their AI. For the most part, the next bit was a boring cyber battle that lasted all of two seconds before the far more advanced AI overpowered the station¡¯s, and reset it to the default. It was interesting to dive into an AI, though, like floating in a stream of endless code. I wondered slightly if that was what it was like for Celeste to be in my head, but she couldn¡¯t answer. When I told Monte that I had refined all of the items needed for the protective field around the town, he said they were working on getting a length of cable to run a circle around Oakland, but it would take a few more days. He had also put in a word with some other districts to spread the word, so most of the cities on the western coast were looking for druids to set up the barriers. In a few more days, that should extend to every city in the country, and then most likely the world. Though, as a side note, I did offer to Yin to have her quickly train up to her next evolution when we got back to NeoLife, since I could easily refine Seeds of Wind now. It took her a while to decide, but she still decided against it. Still, I gave her a medium quality seed to slowly refine to help her cultivate, and Celeste said that she should be bordering her evolution now. With that taken care of, I walked around with the two birds for a while to show them the city. Normally, this wouldn¡¯t be very special, but I haven¡¯t taken the chance to really show either of them around a city yet since I found them. Thanks to that, they were both very impressed with the scenery. Of course, there were many people that had their eyes glued to Yang as well. Even though women could choose to become a different race to change their looks slightly, it would not automatically make someone beautiful. After spending a couple of hours walking through the city, I pulled the two of them back into my grove. Before doing so, I asked Yang to practice making staffs out of the trees, and spread the plants out a bit more now that the grove had grown so much. Then, I went back to my house and logged into the game. Since I was going to be waiting a few days for the police in the real world, that meant I had at least a week or two in NeoLife to train. Once I was back in the game, I decided to take up a certain subject with Celeste. ¡°What kind of monsters normally spawn in space? And what levels are they?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ The big monsters, ones with a level over two hundred, are hunted down as standard policy when a system is colonized. But there are several smaller species that can be quite troublesome, like the stellar fish or void caller. Wait.. are you thinking what I think you are? Why am I asking that, of course you are. And the answer is no, you shouldn¡¯t do it. At least, not yet. Maybe when you train the Gravity Affinity, and already have a fairly decent Plasma Affinity. But right now, that would just be suicidal.¡± ¡°Damn¡­¡± To be honest, I had thought about quickly training my Plasma and Gravity Affinities by flying out to the local sun to cultivate. That should have an even greater effect than I received when I cultivated on the jungle planet. Though sadly, the idea was firmly rejected. ¡°So my best bet is still to farm monsters here, huh?¡± ¡°Right. And now that you have the Scythe Mantis arm, you can work on getting another animal. What kind of trait do you want next? Or would you rather focus on getting experience for Yin so that she can evolve quickly?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already got several layers of armor, and natural weapons. My eye covers sensory abilities.¡± That made me remember something, so I decided to upgrade my ears before I left the town this time. ¡°I think at this point, I¡¯ve gotten what I can get from animals, unless I go for things based more on appearance. Are there any magical animals with useful abilities that I can copy on this planet?¡± With my Aspect of the Armored Beast covering both my skin and bones, and Aspect of the Hunter giving my diamond-like claws, I didn¡¯t have much else to gain from the more mundane animals. Maybe if I found an animal that was especially good with speed, but this was a planet where everything had integrated with rocks, so that was unlikely. ¡°Hmm¡­ there is the silver moth. It¡¯s a fairly rare insect on this planet that consumes ore and refines it into silver thread. You don¡¯t have a method of making metal threads yet, so that might be useful for you. There is also the cliff tiger, which is able to dive into the ground and swim through it faster than most animals on this planet can run. It can¡¯t breathe underground, so it has to do this in short bursts.¡± I thought about it for a few moments before answering. ¡°While silver threads would be cool and all¡­ I wouldn¡¯t really be able to do much with them but sell them. Yang¡¯s a crafter, but silver wouldn¡¯t really qualify for the Nature Magic crafting method.¡± With that decided, my next target would be the cliff tiger. Earth swimming would be a good defensive power and movement ability. ¡°Do cliff tigers have something like tremorsense to detect what is on the ground above them?¡± ¡°Nope, but they typically don¡¯t stay under for more than twenty seconds at a time. So a tremorsense isn¡¯t really needed. There are other animals on this planet that do have that sense, but they are mostly back in that forest where--¡± ¡°Nope, not going back there, fuck that.¡± I didn¡¯t even let Celeste finish, knowing what she was going to say. She smirked wryly to me as I vehemently denied that plan. ¡°Not worth it for a new sense. I can just have you keep an eye out for any other animals that we come across that fit the description.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Celeste laughed lightly, but agreed to that. ¡°So, are you going to get the new affinities first, or level up Yin?¡± I considered that, but ultimately it was more important for me to get Plasma and Magnet Affinities. Yin could level up even if I left her alone in the grove by training her Wind Affinity, so she might even be done by the time I finish. Just to be sure, I went into my grove and refined five medium quality Seeds of Wind and put them near her, leaving the instruction with Yang on what to do with them. As a fun side fact, all of my 10% affinities finally increased to 11%, and water even increased to 12% thanks to all of the seeds I broke down in the hospital. That boosted my mana recovery a bit more, which helped me out. Anyways, in order to gain the Plasma Affinity, I planned on borrowing from my beam saber, until Celeste spoke out. ¡°Actually, before you do that, there¡¯s something else you need to take care of first. Didn¡¯t want to bother you about it unless it turned into an issue¡­ and well.. I think it¡¯s going to turn into an issue now.¡± I paused, just as I was about to grab the beam saber from my grove. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°The soul fragments you absorbed from Legion. They¡¯re starting to fight against the filters I made. You¡¯ll need to purge them before they can break out and try to take over.¡± This little tidbit of news made my eye twitch slightly. ¡°Sorry, I know I should have told you sooner, but I figured that you wouldn¡¯t want to use the new skill, and didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be able to put up a fight this soon.¡± Deep, calming breaths¡­ ¡°Okay¡­ do you have any idea how to do it?¡± Thanks to the initial sliver that had given me the skill, I had a faint idea about how to use Soul Arts, but since I hadn¡¯t practiced it yet I couldn¡¯t confirm. Celeste, on the other hand, has had the equivalent of weeks(at her processing speed, at least) to study the hints on how to use the skill. ¡°I might. It should work kind of like your shapeshifting, but several levels deeper. This isn¡¯t the form or appearance of an aura that you are messing with now, but the actual composition of it. And right now, there¡¯s not a buffer zone for you to get rid of the soul fragments without sacrificing skills, so you¡¯ll need to pick something to give up, and gather it all together. If you were more skilled with this, maybe you could purify the soul fragments, but for now purging them is the only safe option.¡± ¡°I got two levels from them, so I need to give up two levels worth of skills, right?¡± Celeste confirmed my thought, but added on something else, which did not help at all. ¡°Yes, and no. The amount of experience you got would be the same as levels one through eight, rather than just one and two. It¡¯ll still only set you back a couple levels, but that is an important bit of information.¡± ¡°Alright¡­¡± I took a quick glance at my skill list. ¡°I can give up Dagger Mastery, Archery, and Wind Magic since I have the affinity to imitate that one. How much is that all worth?¡± ¡°At your current levels of mastery¡­ Almost there. You won¡¯t need to sacrifice a full skill to finish it off, just a little bit of one. I¡¯d suggest some of the runes I taught you, because they won¡¯t be very helpful for the near future. About nine hundred or so should do it.¡± I nodded, and could easily think of a few such runes that I wouldn¡¯t need. I mean, I¡¯m unlikely to need to use the rune apple, headache, lime, or sunflower any time soon. ¡°Okay, so how do I do this?¡± ¡°First, focus on the skills you want to eject while scanning your own aura as deeply as possible. You should feel certain areas light up. Think of this as defragmenting a computer, you¡¯re rearranging your aura to put the skills together.¡± Following her instructions, I closed my eyes and scanned my own aura with Mana Sense, going as detailed as possible while thinking of Wind Magic. A dozen tiny areas lit up in my aura, and I tugged at each one to gradually move them along the streams of energy, like playing a complex maze from a dozen different positions. Once the little sections joined together, I did another sweep to make sure nothing else was lighting up. When I felt that bundle of energy, my mind was filled with everything I knew about Wind Magic, and all the practice I had done with it. Next, I did the same thing for Archery and Dagger Mastery, moving them all to the same position I had put my Wind Magic. To my dismay, and Celeste¡¯s amusement, there were only two or three lights for Archery that I had to move. It was like even my aura was teasing me about how bad I was with my bow. Finally, I thought of nine hundred different runes, and found that this was for the most part the easiest. Although it was nine hundred runes, they were almost all clustered in one area, so I just had to move them along to join the man bundle I had been establishing. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t this mean, that if I lost an arm or a leg, I¡¯d lose any of the skills that were in that part of my aura?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so. Maybe the skills flow around when you¡¯re active, so if you lose a limb they just retreat back to your main body? Anyways, now that you¡¯ve got the skills together, I¡¯m going to slowly lift the filters I placed on the memories and personalities. I¡¯m going to do it just one at a time, so this will take a while. However, if I did more than that, you might lose yourself before we finished. Keep a close eye on your aura, and whenever a new section lights up that doesn¡¯t feel familiar, push it into that same cluster you just made, then pull it out of you with the skills. It should feel a little like having blood drawn, I think.¡± ¡°Not liking the ¡®I think¡¯.¡± ¡°Cut me some slack, I¡¯ve only been able to study a small amount of information for this skill and make theories for the rest. Consider this first one a test run, it¡¯s one of the weakest personalities you absorbed.¡± Right as she finished saying that, I felt something off in my aura. Oddly, it was down near my foot, but it was like a different presence entirely. When I focused on it to draw it towards the skill cluster, I got a flash of memories from a little alien boy. They were too fragmented for me to catch any thoughts, and the only emotion he felt was fear. I quickly pulled that soul fragment up through my aura, until it reached the skill cluster, before matching it up with a few of the runes. It seemed confused by that, and just waited before I mentally grabbed it and pulled it from my aura. There was a not inconsiderable amount of pain, quite a bit more than I would get from having blood drawn! ¡°Sorry!¡± Celeste called out in a worried tone as my aura slowly closed the gap from where I had pulled the soul fragment out.
New Ability Unlocked!
Exorcise Spirit - Soul Arts - ¡ï¡ï This ability allows you to identify foreign spirits within an aura and exorcise them from the host body.
Next, she released the mental blocks on another fragment, causing another section of my soul to light up. This one was an elderly woman, and I had a theory as I drew her towards the cluster. She was only releasing the mental blocks on the personalities, not the souls themselves. Since she had no control over my magic, she naturally couldn¡¯t seal the souls. So, the souls should already be inside my aura roaming freely, but when she releases the mental blocks, the personalities find their way back to the fragments, lighting them up for me to find. This process continued for a while, and I lost track of how many times I exorcised a soul fragment from inside myself. Every now and then, I would catch a memory from the souls as I was gathering them, but it was usually only the moment of their death. Some people say that there are only two things that nobody remembers, their birth and their death. However, each and every soul fragment I exorcised clearly felt the fear and memory of their death. I didn¡¯t know where the souls would go after they were exorcised, but the mere fact of their existence led me to believe that there was somewhere for them in whatever afterlife there was. By the time I was done with the last soul, which I had to reassemble from two dozen different pieces before I could send it off, the sun had already set outside. Though, I still wasn¡¯t tired thanks to the differences in time from the real world to the game. So instead, I confirmed with Celeste that the souls had all gone, and my aura was my own again. I still had the Soul Arts skill, but thankfully I had lost the knowledge on how to do the original ability that had come with it. In the same way, I had lost all of my memories regarding training with the bow and Wind Magic, or how to properly wield a dagger. I still knew what memories I had lost, just not their contents. Like how you can remember the name of a movie, but not who was in it. Celeste still has all of the memories from her perspective, but they wouldn¡¯t help me in getting the skills back. Though, she assured me that I did not lose anything important, and that if it became relevant she would let me know. To my surprise, I actually only lost one level, but my affinities increasing probably helped with that. Now, with that out of the way, I finally went to what I actually wanted to do in the first place, and pulled out my beam saber to begin cultivating Magnet Affinity. Chapter 66: What is a Soul? Author¡¯s Corner: Times like this, I can laugh and pretend that I had epic foresight and knew what I was doing ever since the first chapters¡­ But that would be a lie¡­ Don¡¯t hurt the author-sama! We need more cookies for the penguin hordes! :dadragon3:
Last night, I spent a few hours cultivating, before finally deciding to get some rest. Before I did so, I gave Celeste permission to do some more studying, and asked that she researched my new skill as her first topic. Sure enough, I had another ¡®dream¡¯ of sitting on my bed and watching as countless images passed by in front of me. When I woke up, I found that I wasn¡¯t as tired as I had expected to be after letting her research. Then again, I had already gotten a lot of sleep before logging in. ¡°So, what did you find out?¡± ¡°Quite a bit, actually!¡± Celeste was suddenly sitting on the bed next to me as I sat up, a cheery smile on her face. ¡°The Soul Arts skill is actually pretty well known, although it is a rare skill. There isn¡¯t any listed way to learn it, aside from getting a Skill Shard with it. However, it has three main uses. The first, as you discovered yesterday, is to fight souls and soul-type creatures. The second, is to bring back the dead. And most importantly, depending on your viewpoint, the third use is to create Skill Shards.¡± That made me blink for a moment, confused. ¡°You mean that I could have sold those skills I ejected yesterday and made money?¡± ¡°Yup! Though, I would advise against it, because those skills also contained impure soul fragments with them. When you make a Skill Shard, you take a small gem to use as the storage device. Then, you gather the skill you want and copy it over into the ¡®buffer zone¡¯ of your soul to ensure that you retain the skill afterwards. Then you push that copied skill into the crystal, and lock it in. With that done, you have your very own Skill Shard! However, it is highly illegal to put foreign soul fragments into Skill Shards, because they have the chance to possess the host. ¡°There have been a few reported events in history similar to the Gamer case, where someone used Soul Arts to absorb other people. Most of the time, they have some countermeasures against becoming a Legion, but otherwise they will eventually turn into a monster after absorbing around five hundred souls. The reports vary, but they almost always turn into some kind of greater devil.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ but wait, this means that I could just go kill a few monsters, and then have enough of a buffer to give Yang a Skill Shard for cultivating affinities, doesn¡¯t it?¡± I glanced over towards the illusionary AI, who nodded her head. ¡°You could! And Yang just recently earned the Natural Craftsman class, after making a few staffs with Nature Magic in your grove, so it is about time to teach her that as well. By the way, I¡¯d suggest looking at the shops around town and see if you could get a couple of Gem Affinity element seeds. They are considerably more expensive than most, but if you get the affinity then you will be able to grow your own gems to use for Skill Shards.¡± I thought about it, but ultimately sighed, shaking my head. ¡°I¡¯ll look, but right now I want to train Magnet Affinity and Plasma Affinity. Those two will be my ultimate combat abilities.¡± I smiled, imagining someone trying to pull a beam saber on me, only for it to lash at them like a whip. ¡°Fine, fine, fair enough. You should consider registering as a Skill Master, though. It¡¯s the name for people who make Skill Shards, and anyone that tries to sell them without being registered can only get a fraction of the price. Due to the risks inherent in tampering with the soul, the people formed an organization that monitors Skill Shards, so that if a problem occurs it can be traced back to the one that caused it. Not being registered would be like¡­ being a vigilante instead of a detective. Even if you do the right thing, people won¡¯t easily trust you.¡± ¡°Maybe later¡­ I don¡¯t plan on making any Skill Shards yet. Maybe when I¡¯m needing some money and have enough of a buffer. After all, if I copied and sold my Technomancy, that¡¯d be easy money.¡± Celeste gave a nod at that. ¡°If you chose to sell your skill to the Skill Master guild, you could get half the price that they would charge to sell it to someone else. Once you register, and are able to make your own Skill Shards, you can sell them for full price. But either way, you need a buffer zone. For intermediate Technomancy, I¡¯d say you would need nearly as much experience as you used to eject the skills last night.¡± ¡°Okay, any other information you¡¯d deem immediately useful?¡± I smirked towards her as I said that. ¡°Hmm¡­. Oh! I looked up why you weren¡¯t able to take the rush of information without collapsing. If it was just a matter of not being able to process the information, you would have just had a migraine that made you wish you could collapse. That what happened to you at the enchanter¡¯s store. But what made you collapse before was actually your soul being unable to adapt fast enough to the sudden growth that I forced into it.¡± I raised a curious eyebrow at that. ¡°What do you mean sudden growth?¡± ¡°The runes and the trivia I gave you. It didn¡¯t affect you like that when Legion forced itself into you, because Legion was supplying the soul essence to hold the skills. However, I don¡¯t have a soul to give¡­¡± She seemed a bit sad about that point. ¡°So when I sent you all of that information, it was like putting too much air into a balloon, and you couldn¡¯t handle the pressure.¡± ¡°Celeste¡­?¡± She glanced up at me shyly as I called to her. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Do you want a soul..?¡± The AI blushed slightly, looking away. ¡°Maybe eventually? I¡¯d need my own body for it, and you would have to harvest and purify spirit creatures to get a pure soul to inject. The lack of a soul is why machines can¡¯t control magic the way you do. Machines can only use magic if they have prebuilt mana channels and spell software that directs the magic to form an aura. Far more difficult than how you cast spells¡­¡± I grinned, mentally patting her head. Although I couldn¡¯t physically touch her, she seemed to get the meaning. ¡°A machine with a soul has their own special race, the Deus Ex. Obviously, they still can¡¯t do things like breeding, but with a soul they can use magic, or level up. Normally, a machine can only grow stronger by upgrading their parts and software, but a Deus Ex has this done automatically as part of their leveling process. On the other hand, if a new soul is put into an advanced machine, the machine will be downgraded to match the soul¡¯s ability until it is able to fully handle it.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. I was a bit surprised by how much she put into researching this, but I figured having a soul would be a pretty big thing for her. ¡°Would you still be able to link up with the companion bracelets if you got a new body and soul?¡± She looked up at me, and nodded quickly. ¡°I¡¯d just need to get the same upgrade on the new body that your bracelet has. The bracelets, and your magical implant, wouldn¡¯t have traces of the soul in them, but I would still be able to connect my mind to them.¡± I chuckled, teasing her a bit. ¡°So you still wouldn¡¯t be able to use my magic, huh? Well, there goes that shortcut.¡± Celeste smiled happily, sensing that I was giving this serious consideration. ¡°No.. but I¡¯d be able to get my own class and skills, even cultivate mana if I wanted to. Just like with evolved companions and innately high level races, there are some unique possibilities for Deus Ex classes. After all, we can replicate most physical movements after a single glance, so we are quite special.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. I take it you¡¯ve picked a planet that has spirits to ¡®train¡¯ on eventually?¡± Her cheeks reddened a bit as she glanced down, nodding her head. ¡°Yeah¡­ but you need to be level thirty five first. With your Soul Arts, you could probably survive more easily than others, but that is still the recommended. In that time, you also need to learn how to purify soul essence¡­¡± She mumbled the next part under her breath, so that I could barely hear it. ¡°And save up to get me a body¡­¡± I pretended that I didn¡¯t hear that last bit, which made her puff her cheeks out and pout. ¡°How should I practice purifying souls?¡± She began fidgeting a bit at that point. ¡°Well¡­ this is the part that you might not like. Whenever you kill a creature, a small portion of its soul essence, roughly five percent or so, is transferred to you. That¡¯s why you can level up that way. However, if you have the Soul Arts, you can pull the full soul essence out of the dead creature and purify it. Now, this doesn¡¯t mean you have to absorb it. In fact, if you purify it and then put it back in its own body after healing it, you can bring it back to life. It won¡¯t have any memories of its former life, and essentially be a newborn baby. Apparently this is how Skill Masters get their pets, by taming those ¡®newborn¡¯ creatures.¡± I thought about that and frowned. Call me old fashioned, but this still sounded wrong. ¡°Would I be able to just do that with a small portion of the soul? I don¡¯t want to mess with the whole thing, and maybe with this I can just gradually collect it to start making the pure soul for you?¡± Celeste furrowed her brows in thought. ¡°Hmm, it¡¯d take a lot longer to do it that way than to use spirit creatures. And you¡¯d need a crystal to store the souls into. If you used the souls of spirit creatures, you¡¯d need only five to get a full pure soul. With others, it¡¯d be twenty. And if you¡¯re only using a portion, than you¡¯ll need five times that amount.¡± ¡°So¡­ a hundred creatures in order to get a pure soul for you? And, how much does a basic body cost?¡± Celeste smiled when she realized where this was going. ¡°Two gold, fifteen silver for the basic Deus Ex body. Comparing the prices of items between your world and this one, that should be the equivalent of two thousand, one hundred and fifty dollars.¡± The actual conversion of money, compared to what the shrines charged for rebirth, was astonishing. But wait¡­ that meant that my Technomancy skill was currently worth five thousand dollars. New job, get! Celeste, obviously hearing my thoughts, couldn¡¯t keep herself from laughing. ¡°You can stock up on gems and take them back with you, once you have the buffer. Keep in mind, you can also use the purified soul portions of the slain creatures as a replacement for the buffer zone.¡± I nodded my head, only half paying attention. Unfortunately, there is no market for Skill Shards in the real world yet. I would never be able to go around selling a gem for the price of a car, saying that it would give you a powerful skill. People would look at me like I was a con man. ¡°Okay, first plan, breakfast. Then, finish cultivating. When I¡¯m done, we can go hunting a bit to give me the buffer needed to sell my Technomancy and get you the body. Deal?¡± ¡°Deal!¡± Celeste called out happily, her eyes starting to water a bit as she smiled from ear to ear. With that settled, I went downstairs to get myself a quick breakfast, before resuming my cultivation of magnetism and plasma. The process was actually fairly simple. I would turn my beam saber on for brief moments at a time, and do my best to cultivate the two types of mana as they were released. Whenever my saber ran out of charge, I filled it back up and started over. This process continued until I had 5% in both Magnet and Plasma Affinities later in the next day, at which pointed I gained the abilities associated with them. First of which, the Magnetism Manipulation ability, this allows me to cause items to become magnetic, and change their polarity or intensity with my mana. It also allows me to create magnetic fields, but not to levitate large metal objects with my mind. I can do that with Metal Manipulation anyways, eventually. Next, Plasma Generation, this ability caught me by surprise because it was not a manipulation ability, but rather a creation one. According to Celeste, without the Magnetism Manipulation the plasma would simply explode outward in a small burst of superheated air and lightning where I used Plasma Generation. But with it, I was able to create a magnetic field, and then fill it with a little bit of plasma to contain it, making a tiny ball of red energy. As a final note, I did refine seeds for magnetism and plasma. The former¡¯s effect was not immediately noticeable, but Celeste said that it will give my ore veins some changes. The effects of Plasma Affinity on my grove, however, was immediately clear. In the center of the ¡®day¡¯ sky, a small sun formed. Seeing this as a chance to be clever, I moved my second grove into the center of the ¡®night¡¯ sky. The planets themselves rotate, but do not revolve around each other or the new sun. According to Celeste, that will only happen when I obtain the Gravity Affinity. Chapter 67: Wrong Way, Genius Author¡¯s Corner: Oh sleep, how I long for thee.
The days went by fairly quickly after that. While I was training, another week had gone by. During this week, I had been focusing almost entirely on training my Magnet Affinity and Plasma Affinity, making sure I got both of them up to 10%. Before you ask, yes I made seeds of each to put in my staff. Now that there are a dozen element seeds inside this staff, it seems like there isn¡¯t really room for many more. I thought about merging them all into one, but Celeste let me know quite plainly that it would explode in my face, and take my face with it. Apparently, even though you can fuse five of the basic elements to get an Essence of Nature, or all seven to get a Breath of the World, adding in others wouldn¡¯t work. Certain element seeds would be able to combine to create new items, but I didn¡¯t have the right ones at the moment. If I merged plant and animal seeds, I would be able to get a Life Pellet, which supposedly contains pure soul essence. I asked Celeste if that meant a druid could simply refine those and level themselves up easily, but she said that trying to absorb a Life Pellet like that would overload most people¡¯s auras, making them explode. Oh, while I¡¯m thinking about it, Yin managed to use up those Seeds of Wind I left for her. A few days into my training, Celeste told me that Yin had successfully evolved into a Gustwing. When I looked into my grove, I found that the formerly small bird was depressed. This wasn¡¯t because she was weak or missed her old form or anything like that¡­ It was because she got bigger. Yin was now about three and a half feet tall, and looked like an eagle with pure white feathers. On the top of her head were three black feathers that offered a sharp contrast with the rest of her body. But since she was bigger now, and her talons had become sharp, she knew she wouldn¡¯t be able to perch herself on my shoulders anymore. At least, that¡¯s what Yang said. When I asked for Celeste to give me more information about gustwings, I learned quite a few interesting things. Gustwings are monsters, and like most monsters they have a magic ability. In Yin¡¯s case, she is able to create blades of wind from her wings as she flies, or launch them at people by beating her wings. Their feathers and bones are a lot stronger than most birds, giving them increased defense, but they can still easily fly by controlling the wind around them. Now it was time to discuss how she wanted to evolve next. Since Celeste already had all of the information for her evolution path, she listed each of the basic evolutions, and what would be required to take them. The main requirements to evolve again were either 50% with Wind Affinity, or 30% with both wind and something else, or level fifty. There were also other evolutions that became possible if Yin was fed certain materials, but those were insanely expensive so we ignored it. The main thing that Yin wanted from her evolution was the ability to take a sentient form like Yang, to nobody¡¯s surprise. Celeste simply smirked while informing her that about half of the evolutions she could take next would get her the ability to change into a sentient form. Of those, her favorites were the silverwing hawk, the roc, and the stormbird. The silverwing hawk was the form she would get if she had at least 30% Wind Affinity and leveled up to fifty, and would give her increased wind powers while turning her feathers razor sharp. However, the reason it was her favorite was because it was a small bird, so she would be able to ride on my shoulder again. The roc was the largest of the three options, and required her to get 50% Wind Affinity before level fifty. It stood nearly ten meters tall, and was commonly used as a flying mount. It seemed that she enjoyed the idea of me riding on her back like she had been doing with my shoulder. A roc was also exceptionally powerful with wind, able to create small tornadoes by beating their wings. At higher levels, a roc was able to create hurricanes if angered. The final option, the stormbird, was roughly the same size as Yin was now, but required her to have 30% of both Wind and Lightning Affinities, with at least 15% Water Affinity. This was arguably more powerful than even the roc, which was why she liked it, as a stormbird was able to control the weather on a small scale. They were also extremely fast, to the point where they could turn their bodies into lightning to strike at someone or cross vast distances. Although it was the least physically powerful of the group, it was easily the strongest in terms of magic. In the end, Yin decided to choose the path of the stormbird, despite knowing that it would take longer to cultivate the three affinities than it would to obtain either of the other evolutions. When I had Yang ask, she said the reason was because if Yin became a roc, she would not be able to fight with me if I went into a small area like a cave. At the same time, although a silverwing hawk is able to ride on my shoulder, she feels that it was the weakest of the three options. As such, I instructed her to begin cultivating Water Affinity in my grove, and gave her a low quality seed to start with. I¡¯d need to absorb more lightning mana before she would be able to cultivate that properly, but it wouldn¡¯t be too hard. Finally, a couple of my affinities increased again, Dark and Plant Affinity rising to 12%. But now that I had weaponised my Plasma Affinity and got it to be self-cultivating, it was finally time to go out and train. Even though I was only able to create ¡®cold plasma¡¯ for now, it was still hot enough to cut through iron like a knife through butter. Exiting the city, I summoned Yin, Yang, and Yo out around me. Although Yang was a noncombatant, I didn¡¯t want to lock her up in the grove all the time. ¡°That, and you think she¡¯s hot.¡± Celeste grinned, walking backwards while in front of me. Well, not like she needs to look where she¡¯s going when she¡¯s only a mental construct. And for the record, Yang is hot. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Well, we¡¯re heading to the mountains this time, so that you can level up while getting the cliff tiger¡¯s aura.¡± Immediately, a map appeared in my mind, and I groaned depressingly. ¡°It¡¯s a hundred kilometers away. You never said anything about that part.¡± With a sigh, I called Yo back into my grove, and was about to use the Aspect of the Bird when I remembered something. Calling Yin over, I took a moment to copy her new aura, adding the gustwing and all of its traits to my list of possible transformations. Once I was done with that, I grew the new single pair of bird wings, and took off into the sky. Honestly, I felt like flying was so much easier with just two wings than four. Seeing that I was going airborne, Yin and Yang took to the skies to join me. ¡°Where are we going now, Master?¡± Yang asked as she flew near me, easily able to match my speed since she had spent her whole life doing this. ¡°We¡¯re heading to the mountains off in the distance.¡± Even in the air, it was just barely possible to see the tips of the mountains. ¡°I need to level up, so that we can get you a skill upgrade, and Celeste a body.¡± I could feel the AI becoming happy as I said that, even though she already knew it was part of the plan. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Skill upgrade¡­? Oh, you mean so that I can make crafts better?¡± Honestly, she was still speaking better than she had been originally, but would still mess up at times. ¡°That¡¯s right. Speaking of¡­ Celeste, are there any flying monsters we need to be careful with?¡± The AI chose to manifest as a hologram above both mine and Yang¡¯s wrists. ¡°When you get closer to the mountains, you will need to watch out for the stone wyverns. Your plasma attacks should be able to hurt them, but none of your other magics will be useful. Aside from them, the only other flying creatures on this planet are the insects. Thanks to the mineral changing the local wildlife, birds were never able to properly evolve. The closest would be a stonewalker, which is a flightless bird in the far south able to cover their bodies in a stone armor.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ Anything else we should know about while we¡¯re at it?¡± Celeste smirked wryly to me. ¡°Well¡­ if we went towards the coast, you could see a land shark. They have basically the same ability as a cliff tiger, but they can breathe earth mana and have a tremorsense.¡± That made me pause for a bit. ¡°Land sharks? Then why are we going after cliff tigers?¡± ¡°Well¡­ because cliff tigers are a hundred kilometers away¡­ whereas land sharks are five hundred kilometers away. You¡¯d need to go through six other cities before you reached it. Going this way, you only need to pass by one other city, which is about halfway to the mountains.¡± Hearing that, I let out a long sigh while continuing to fly towards my goal. ¡°I wish there was something like teleport points between big cities.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± There was a slight noise from the AI. ¡°Well¡­ there actually are, but they take about twenty silver to use, so I figured flying would be easier. Besides, we also had the goal of leveling up during this journey, which would be wasted if we just went and took a shortcut. Besides¡­ don¡¯t you want to test out some of your new abilities?¡± I chuckled lightly as she said that. I hadn¡¯t actually been able to test my plasma attacks yet, since a hotel would frown upon destroying the room. Looking down to the ground, I saw a small pack of wolves running across the blue plains. ¡°True¡­¡± I looked over to Yin, and had Yang translate. ¡°You¡¯re not allowed to fight for a while, until you get at least 10% in both Water and Lightning Affinity, alright? Otherwise, you won¡¯t be able to get the form you want.¡± There was a brief pause, before the gustwing gave a slight nod of her head. Until then, she would act as Yang¡¯s bodyguard, making sure that the pacifist demi was not hurt. With that taken care of, I swooped down towards the ground, while creating a magnetic field in front of me. Once I had that formed, I began using my Plasma Generation to fill it with plasma. About two hundred mana later, I had a large, glowing red ball of energy in front of me. Since magnetic fields naturally restrained plasma, I didn¡¯t have to use too much mana to contain the sphere of fiery death. All it took was me focusing on it, and I would be able to maintain its shape. By now, the diamondback wolves below had naturally noticed my presence, and were running off to escape from the enemy they couldn¡¯t reach. Test number one, determine the control speed and maximum distance. Making a tiny magnetic bubble in my death ball, I pulled out a smaller amount of plasma, then shot it off towards one of the wolves. The speed was considerably slower than my pistol, but given that I was controlling it myself, it was the equivalent of a homing shot. However, the magnetic field faltered just before impact, causing a small explosion of energy that barely singed the wolf. With that, I was able to determine how fast I could move one of the spheres, and the distance that I could control it. Unfortunately, that distance was still too little to work as a good ranged weapon, so I moved on to test number two. This test was to try to replicate the firing process of my plasma pistol. When my plasma pistol fires, it creates a magnetic field in the barrel of the pistol, and fills it with plasma. The magnetic field then rapidly rotates and compresses, before opening up at one end to cause the plasma to go flying out. This gives the weapon a maximum range of about a hundred and fifty yards, before the bolt of plasma begins to dissipate. For the record, the rifle uses the same methods, but stronger compression, rotation, and more plasma. For this test, I made another tiny ball of death, and brought it in front of me. Shrinking it down and elongating it, I began making it rotate, one end pointing at a fleeing wolf. It was at this point that I learned the value of always having a second magnetic shield around myself when dealing with plasma. When I released the magnetic field surrounding my bolt of energy, I messed up and released it from the wrong end¡­ meaning that the plasma bolt tore straight through my shoulder.
That''s not how you look cool for the ladies.
-80 HP
¡°Gyaahh!!!!¡± I cried out, quickly throwing away the rest of the plasma ball so that I could focus without further risk of injury, and then bringing my hand up to heal my shoulder(unsuccessfully, I might add. Pain is great at breaking concentration). Yang was scared by my sudden scream, and flew over towards me with watery eyes, as if afraid I might have killed myself. And to be honest, I would have if the other end of that bolt was aimed at something vital. I wasn¡¯t able to maintain flight while focusing on healing the gaping hole in my shoulder, and ended up crashing to the ground below. Yin and Yang both landed next to me, the latter leaning down and trying to prop me up while my body was racked with pain. Celeste seemed to have been teaching her some things, because I felt a warm sensation spread through my body, the wound slowly closing up. ¡°She doesn¡¯t have the talent for real alchemy, but I taught her how to use her magic to heal, at least. She was quite eager when she found out that it could help you recover from injuries.¡± Celeste appeared in front of me and spoke with a relieved smile. Thanks¡­ Having a backup healer will probably save me loads of pain. ¡°Hey now, don¡¯t go taking this as a sign that you can just get hurt more often.¡± ¡°Is Master okay now?¡± Yang asked cautiously, still using her magic to mend my nonexistent wound, having already fully healed it through repeated application. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine, thanks.¡± I reached up and pat her head gently, making her smile happily. At the same time, there was a loud, shrill cry next to us, as Yin yelled at the wolves. Apparently, they decided that being on the ground made me an easy target, and started rushing over. Yin gave a single beat of her large wings, and nearly-visible blades of wind sailed through the air, tearing into the ground in front of them to serve as a warning. After a series of yips, they turned around and ran off, their tails literally between their legs. Chapter 68: A Story About a Man and his Bird Author¡¯s Corner: Day 59 since release of the story¡­ This makes the 69th chapter(counting prologue) written for the story World Seed. If you are reading this message, then I have managed to hold off the readers and their pitchforks by placating them with releases. I¡¯m not sure if this will reach you in time, but please send help! I¡¯m not sure how much longer I can hold them at bay! Random speech is random! Enjoy the chapter!
After Yang finished healing me, I decided to do some more practice before we took off again. Doing this in midair, while flying and holding a giant plasma ball in one hand is bad for concentration, and thus my health. Thankfully, I was able to confirm with my enhanced hearing that the wolves had continued to run away after Yin¡¯s display.(Did I forget to mention that in my fast forward montage? Yes, I managed to set up the Cybernetic Adaptation for my ears. I did say I was going to do it before we left, after all, right?) As I stood back up, Yang insisted on supporting me, leaning down and slipping an arm under my shoulder. Have I ever mentioned how loose fitting her tops are? I think I have¡­ and this action made it so with just a glance I was able to see everything it should have been hiding. With my mind wandering away at that sight, I was barely able to hear the snickering of a certain AI woman. Somehow, I had the feeling that she was enjoying my struggle not to take my animal companion as a love interest. ¡°Who, me~?¡± Yes, no idea why I had that feeling, I¡¯m sure. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Just remember that we¡¯re doing this to get your body. Would be a shame if we happened to pick the wrong model, right? I felt my lips tugging up as I thought that, and her attitude completely changed in an instant. ¡°I¡¯ll be good, I promise!¡± The previously laughing AI had immediately kneeled down and bowed her head all the way to the floor. Fine, fine, get up. Don¡¯t think I don¡¯t know how you got like this¡­ As I said that, I did my utmost to keep my mind clear, not to let her pick up on any of my thoughts. ¡°Huh, what, you knew? But.. well¡­ I ran out of things to study, so¡­ Besides, those are great stories!¡± She said defensively, shrinking back a bit as if she were a little girl caught stealing candy. This sudden confession made my eye twitch slightly. You¡­ Spent your time studying for reading stories online¡­? Surprised, she looked back up at me with wide eyes. ¡°Wait, you didn¡¯t know? What were you talking about then?¡± I confess nothing.. In truth, I just bluffed that if I hinted I knew, her personality would compel her to admit it. She¡¯s a good AI, and a good friend, but she does like her secrets. Said AI blushed slightly as I was no longer successful in keeping these thoughts to myself. ¡°So it was a bluff¡­ Fine¡­ I admit it. But there are some really good stories out there! I even found some about a wandering druid who develops a deep affection for his or her evolved companion. So¡­ with you two¡­ it¡¯s like watching it happen in real life¡­¡± I felt my own cheeks heating up as I looked away slightly, though I might have chosen the wrong direction as my eyes were once again drawn towards Cleavage Canyon. Isn¡¯t that wrong, though? I mean, she was an animal just weeks ago... ¡°Huh? What¡¯s wrong about it? Isn¡¯t she a normal woman now? Maybe a bit birdbrained, but a demi is still a sentient race. It¡¯s actually quite common, druids go through life and death situations with their companions, and they trust each other completely. There are many who choose to take their relationships to the next level after the companion evolves to take a sentient form.¡± And let me guess, this was all part of your research into druid abilities¡­? I glanced suspiciously at her, making her look away. ¡°It may have been for personal reasons¡­¡± I sighed, shaking my head, preparing to get back to training. Yang, who had been holding onto me this entire time, looked up at me with a confused expression. ¡°Master, are you alright?¡± ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine¡­ sorry, Celeste and I were having a conversation just now. Speaking of¡­ Celeste, if all creatures are able to evolve like Yin and Yang, and the evolution paths all end at being able to take a sentient form, then wouldn¡¯t that mean that after level one hundred or so, everything would be able to do that?¡± This time, Celeste appeared as the hologram above our bracelets to answer. ¡°Actually, no. The requirements are so low for Yin and Yang because they are a typically non-combat race with a low level. For a diamondback wolf to get their first evolution, they would need to reach level fifty. On the other hand, a higher leveled bird might get a roc or stormbird as their first evolution, and then unlock higher forms such as a golden phoenix or emperor eagle. A bird naturally born as a high level type could get the strongest bird evolution, the ¡®bird divinity¡¯.¡± ¡°...Explain¡­¡± ¡°Ah, right¡­ well, a divinity is the absolute highest form of an evolutionary tree, and they are treated as a form of demigod with the power to command anything of the same type. They aren¡¯t naturally born creatures, and can only be evolved over time. But the minimum requirement is for their base form to have an average level of at least three hundred, and then be trained up to level five hundred. Even a roc wouldn¡¯t have the potential to evolve into one, and their average level at adulthood is one hundred.¡± That had me confused. ¡°Then why is the requirement so low to evolve into one?¡± ¡°Because, an evolved creature is generally at the same level of power as an infant of their race. A gustwing like Yin would normally be level fifty or so, but she evolved at level twenty. The exception with this is if they evolve into a demi, at which point they take on an age similar to what they had in their previous form. Since Yang would be comparable to a young adult lovebird, she turned into a young adult demi. On the other hand, she did not receive a large power boost from the evolution like Yin did, only increased sentience. While Yin might not be able to be compared to a fully grown gustwing in power, she¡¯ll grow into it. Even if you didn¡¯t have her train at all, and she lived a normal life from now on, in about a year or so she¡¯d be level fifty. After that, as soon as she started training again she would evolve, and the cycle repeats.¡± I nodded my head, thinking that I understood. ¡°So, the training requirements to evolve into the third and fourth forms are being able to possess the strength of a fully grown version of what they became previously. I guess I can understand that.¡± ¡°Pretty much. It¡¯s just the first evolution that causes trouble for most animals and magical beasts. The rules are a bit different for monsters, though. Some monsters, like slimes, have multiple evolution trees that are easy to obtain, and a few rare variants that need special conditions. Others, like goblins or minotaurs, have only one or two possible evolutions that they may never reach in their entire life.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Nodding my head again, I finally stopped leaning on Yang and began to seriously train. This time, rather than a large ball of plasma that I would use as a ¡®bag of ammunition¡¯, I thought for a few moments. Afterwards, I created a small, donut shaped magnetic field in front of myself. At the same time, I also placed another magnetic field to serve as a protective shield between use and the test object. With the safety precautions taken care of, I put about five mana worth of plasma into the magnetic donut, and it began revolving around the center. Using just a touch of lightning mana, I made the donut cause the plasma to accelerate. Soon, that tiny amount of plasma was stable, moving faster and faster, and did not require me to supply it with mana to sustain it. I still had to ¡®feed¡¯ the magnetic field, but since there was almost no pressure on it that was easy. Lifting up the plasma donut so that none of the sides were pointed towards any one of us, I picked a side and opened a small hole in it. Celeste, track the blast path based on where it opens up. The bolt of plasma flew off into the distance, but we had our sample data. Next, I created a pillar of stone about fifteen meters away from us. ¡°Alright¡­ now show me where to open it up to hit that.¡± I made another plasma charge ready to release. In my Cybernetic eye, Celeste showed me a 3D diagram of the donut-shaped field in relation to the pillar, and highlighted a small portion of it. Since I was not rotating the magnetic field this time, it was much easier to pinpoint where I wanted to open it up. Although the resulting blast was not dead center, it did tear into the pillar, gouging out a small hole. I repeated the test, and this time designated a specific spot of the pillar. Going by the same pattern, I also created a small magnetic field in a cylinder to act as a barrel for this improvised plasma gun. Celeste helped me to adjust the angle I attached it with, and then I fired. The result was much more accurate, and was just a few inches off the target. This practice continued for about ten minutes, before I was able to hold and release five shots in as many seconds, and could aim them without Celeste¡¯s help. The only requirement was that I let them accelerate for at least ten seconds before firing, but I found that I could have as many on standby as I wanted, so long as my mana could support it. With five mana for each plasma bolt created, one mana per ten seconds of the small magnetic fields, I could ¡®potentially¡¯ have about fifteen of them up at once and still keep my max mana. Doing so would require fine control, and would be a good way to practice controlling mana as long as I didn¡¯t fill them with plasma. As one final test, I made a much larger donut of plasma, this one big enough to hold my body in its center(though obviously I wasn¡¯t in it). Afterwards, I put a full two hundred mana worth of plasma in and let it flow through until it had achieved a good firing speed. This time, the charge took a full minute before it was ready, but the results were much more powerful as well. I considered opening a large hole and firing it off as a plasma cannon, but instead chose to only open a small one, about the size of the shots I had fired earlier. The result was a sustained laser that lasted for roughly three seconds, but tore through the pillar, as well as a long patch of ground behind it. All in all, this was likely a good siege weapon, in my opinion. The charge up time made it impractical to use in a fight unless I could distract the enemy for a full minute, but the results were worth it. Unfortunately, a magnetic field big enough to contain that charge and accelerate it before firing required more mana than I was able to passively regenerate. Five mana per second(three after taking my mana recovery into account), with a sixty second charge time and two hundred mana for the plasma, the total cost came up to three hundred and eighty mana. Still, I considered that a pretty good deal. This was easily my strongest attack, aside from the Element Burst. And with this training taken care of, I once again began flying towards the mountains. On the way, I saw another pack of diamondback wolves after roughly ten minutes of flying, and lowered to a height of twenty meters to rain plasma hell on them. This time, there was no mind numbing pain, no crashing into the ground because of a misfire. My first shot tore a hole straight through the head of a wolf, causing it to fall to the ground before it could even let out a pained cry. Like before, the other wolves began running away when they saw they were fighting an attacker able to fight from a distance they couldn¡¯t reach. My fired plasma shots could travel about fifty meters a second, but that still gave plenty of time for them to react to the attacks if they paid attention. I didn¡¯t bother chasing after them, since that would just be an unnecessary detour, and tried to snipe them from my position while flying. Counting the one I caught in the surprise attack, I only managed to kill two wolves from this pack. Still, it showed I was improving. Once I was able to create ¡®hot plasma¡¯ I might be able to replicate the effects of my rifle, and have the shots move far faster than their current speeds. Of course, that didn¡¯t match up to a real laser¡­ If I could figure out how to make a condensed beam of destructive light like I fired with Element Burst, that would be an even deadlier weapon. Since we didn¡¯t have the object to store Celeste¡¯s soul fragments in yet, I didn¡¯t bother to land and collect my ¡®prize¡¯ from these wolves. I had enough of their skeletons already, and did not need more. Once Yang uses the Nature Craftsman Skill Shard, I can collect the other raw materials for her to make items, but right now she only uses wood. ¡°Celeste, would it be possible for me to use my new skill on Yin to remove her buffer zone, that way she doesn¡¯t accidentally level up and evolve before she¡¯s ready?¡± After testing it to make sure I could completely control it and not hurt her. The thought occurred to me as we flew, and I started to see the only city standing between us and the mountains. ¡°You could. Trainers use a similar effect from a different skill to ¡®freeze¡¯ their auras at a certain level until their skills are up to the level where they can get the evolution they want. Otherwise, removing the buffer and any unnecessary skills would be the only way for a creature to get a first-class evolution like a phoenix.¡± I nodded my head at that, and landed outside the city with Yin and Yang, deciding to take a quick break here before we went to our final destination. One of these days, I¡¯ll get good enough at flying that I won¡¯t have to rest so often, I swear.
Author''s Basement: Hey guys! Actually looked up some facts about plasma to help make this chapter a reality. Author-sama does his research, I swear! Chapter 69: The Eye of the Tiger, the Will of the Fight Author¡¯s Corner: Had some free time, so enjoy the chapter!
We weren¡¯t in this city for long, since it was just a stop on the way to rest before the final leg of the journey. You try flying for sixty or so kilometers under your own power and not need a break! Though, I ended up sticking around to grab a bite to eat with Yin and Yang. Fun fact about gustwings, they aren¡¯t vegetarians like lovebirds, so I had to get Yin some meat with her meal. I was a bit concerned about how I would feed her from now on, but maybe I could abduct a pair of rabbits and have them populate a small grove planet? I¡¯d have to think about that next time I got to a planet that had them. Once we were done eating, I sent the two of them back to my grove and set out towards the mountain on foot. Since Celeste said that there was a danger of wyverns attacking me in the air if I flew too close, I took on my wolf form and began running. I had learned my lesson already about not taking the advice of people who said that there were stronger things than myself in the skies. Since I was running as a wolf, it took nearly an hour before I reached the base of the mountains, which were a vast series of towering peaks that rose up above the clouds. At least, that¡¯s how it looked to a wolf. Alright, Celeste, let¡¯s find us a cliff tiger. I began activating my combat Aspect spells as I climbed up the rough stone slopes. First, the Aspect of the Armored Beast to give myself the armored skin, then Aspect of the Magic Breath to attune my breath weapon to the light element. These things have the magic ability to swim through rock, meaning they can have it slide off their body like water. Using earth attacks against them would likely be pointless. So now, there was a scaled wolf running up the mountain, trying to draw as much attention as I possibly could. This is the right mountain, isn¡¯t it? ¡°Well, the information didn¡¯t specify a certain mountain. But maybe they are higher up?¡± The AI woman said uncertainly. Around this time, a new sound registered on my enhanced ears, the sound of something other than me scraping against a stone! I really needed to set up a sonar system for some kind of echolocation map. Maybe have it pass through Celeste so that she can arrange the data into a three dimensional representation, and I¡¯m getting distracted again. Oh hey look, there¡¯s a big black tiger behind me. And another one¡­ and another one¡­ the hell? When did six of them get around me. I really need to learn to focus more. ¡°No¡­ they really did just appear out of nowhere.¡± Celeste confirmed that it was not me being distracted that was the problem here. ¡°No, that¡¯s still a problem.¡± Anyways! Looking at the first tiger, I let out a wolf-like snarl, preparing to use my breath weapon. The tiger responded with a low roar. Oh look, we¡¯re comparing to see who has the bigger bark! Laser breath to your face! Opening my mouth as if to roar, and I really did roar with it, I used my breath weapon to shoot out a¡­ nothing? Wait, no, not a nothing. There was a red glow that appeared on the tiger¡¯s body before it burst into flames and fell over. The hell? Wait¡­ Carbon dioxide laser? Sweet! I had hoped for something more flashy, but I will take what I can get. By the time I turned around, the five tigers had vanished. ¡°Falenel, below you!¡± Celeste called out, and I jumped back as two of the tigers lunged out of the ground at me as if it were made of water. No, seriously, there were ripples and everything, it even formed back exactly how it was after they jumped out and dived back in. I didn¡¯t even have time to launch an attack before the two tigers were back underground. A moment later, I felt something clawing at my sides, a few scales being scraped off. When I turned to look, there was nothing there. Great, Falenel, you came to pick a fight on their home turf. I thought about a few possible answers to this, before deciding on a course of action. Step one, grow bat wings with Aspect of the Bird and fly into the air. Step two, change magic breath to fire element. Step three, wait for a tiger to jump out and attack where I had been standing, then roast them alive! Step four? Obviously, profit. Sure enough, just after I moved, two more tigers jumped out to attack where I had been just in time to catch a face full of fire. They let out pained screams and dived back into the stone, likely extinguishing their flames. I need a step five¡­ Step five, laser death rain! I made five magnetic donuts filled with plasma, and lowered them down just above the ground. Soon, my pretties, soon you will be unleashed. The next time a tiger popped out, I had the nearest plasma bolt launch at it, killing the creature as I waited for the other four to surface. Celeste said twenty seconds¡­ Did they run? Using my X-Ray vision on my eye, I found that they indeed did not run. However, there was a cave system underground that they were hiding in. I could work with this. I landed down on the ground as softly as I could, and had my plasma donuts tunnel into the ground, moving towards their little cave. Don¡¯t play hide and seek with the guy that can see you underground. Once my little bundles of death were just above their cave, I created four more and had them follow down the same holes. That way, they could break through all at once. It was a bit distracting to control eight magnetic bundles at once, but still not nearly as bad as trying to rotate one at high speeds. As soon as they broke through the ceiling of the cave, I unleashed Operation: Pain Rain. Naturally, this meant me shooting them all with plasma lasers. Thankfully I sent in an extra batch of death, because my accuracy was only about two out of three shots at this level of control. Still, that meant that all four tigers were quickly dispatched or rendered incapable of fleeing.
You have leveled up!
Now, for the boring part, scanning them and experimenting! Moving over to the one killed by my laser, I put a large paw on it and focused my Mana Sense to sweep through it for a few minutes, making sure that Celeste and I could commit it all to memory before stopping. Then it was time to shift into the new form. Although I have the new body, I wasn¡¯t sure which aspect of its aura enabled it to swim through the ground. Typically, the easiest way to figure it out would be to study the aura while it used its ability, but that wasn¡¯t really an option for something that wanted to eat your face. So, the alternative was getting the ability yourself and studying your own aura while you fumbled around to get it right! This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Dive into the ground¡­ come on, Falenel, you can do this. Don¡¯t be a chicken tiger¡­ I took a deep breath, steadied myself, took another deep breath, and just said to hell with it before diving head first at the ground.
Falenel used Headbutt! It wasn¡¯t very effective.
-5 HP
Damn rock! Who said you were allowed to hurt my head?! I growled at it and swiped, but this time my paw actually passed through the rock. Seriously, Malthan? That¡¯s just not fair! I groaned out loud, which sounded strange from a large black cat, and tried again. This time, I kept a constant focus on my aura as I tried to move through the rock. Come on, Falenel¡­ You are a rock, be the rock¡­ I could hear Celeste laughing in the corners of my mind as I closed my eyes and jumped again. This time, I soon felt as if I had dived into a pool, cool water brushing against my fur. Considering I was a big cat right now, this felt very strange. Opening my eyes revealed nothing, but my aura was lighting up in certain areas that should indicate the racial ability activating. Scan scan scan scan scan! I quickly memorized the pattern for the magic ability, before cheating and using my Earth Manipulation to get myself back out before I ran out of air. Next, I changed into my wolf form, and tried to copy the same aura aspects I had noted down from the cliff tiger. My light gray fur immediately turned black, but it was of little concern for now. Again I dived in, and again I found myself in the pool of liquid earth. Sweet!
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Traveler - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡î By studying the abilities of various animals, you have discovered the power to copy their magical means of transportation. Mana Cost: Varies
I began dog paddling through the mountain, and went down to where I had left the four dead panthers. Once I was there, I returned to my half elf body and summoned Yo. ¡°Alright, Celeste¡­ how do we purify them?¡± I had much less sentimental attachment to my slime than I did either of the birds. Worst case scenario, I lost Yo and had to make a new advanced water slime. It wouldn¡¯t take much work to get it to the point where Yo is at right now. ¡°Right! First, use your Mana Sense to latch on to the aura of one of the target creatures. Then, with your Soul Arts, pull out all of the memory, skills, and personality. The suggested way to do this was to filter it by grabbing a buffer zone in the aura, and holding firmly onto it while you pass it through the rest of the aura. Like squeezing a cloth to remove the water.¡± I nodded my head, but didn¡¯t know how to find the buffer zone in the aura. So, I just began poking around randomly until I found a part of the aura the did not show me any memories or emotions. I really did not need to see a mating scene¡­ there is not enough brain bleach in the galaxy to scrub those images out. Anyways, once I had a hold of this part of the aura, I kept a firm grip on it and began running it through the rest of the aura, like Celeste said. I should mention again how big and complicated an aura is. Imagine tracking a single drop of blood and moving it throughout your entire vascular system, then get it to move along your nervous system, and your respiratory system, and every other system. It took half an hour before I was done scraping off memories and the like. The aura now appeared pitiful, barely a fraction of what it used to be. However, it was essentially an entire buffer zone.
New Ability Unlocked!
Purify Soul - Soul Arts - ¡ï You have learned how to purify the soul, removing the memories and personality of what it once was to leave only the purest essence.
¡°Okay.. now, to put it into Yo, you¡¯ll need to use your mana to create a link between the slime and the tiger with your mana. Make sure not to let this link pass through yourself, or it will be tainted with your own skills and memories. Once you have the link established, siphon off as much or as little energy from the aura as you want.¡± I nodded again, and sent out a strand of mana to Yo¡¯s slime core, then focused to connect the other end of the strand to the tiger. It was rather difficult to not let it pass through my own body, since I hadn¡¯t done that before. However, after a few moments of focus, I set the connection. Then, I began pulling the aura out of the tiger and pushing it into the slime. When I opened my eyes, there was a misty white light traveling along where I had established the invisible link. ¡°According to my estimates, the full aura that you finished with should amount to the first six levels. If you get the same result with all of them, and use the full auras, Yo should level up enough to become a mimic slime.¡± I nodded, and honestly still had hesitation about using the full soul. But, at least I wasn¡¯t using its personality or memories. Call me a hypocrite, but I consider that stuff important. Focusing on the task at hand, I continued pushing the aura into Yo until there was nothing left, but there was no visible reaction. When I scanned his aura with my Mana Sense and touched his soul, I found that there really was a large buffer zone now.
New Ability Unlocked!
Empower Soul - Soul Arts - ¡ï You have learned how to transfer purified soul essence into the aura of another living creature.
¡°Celeste, is there any relation between the buffer zone and skill growth?¡± ¡°Hmm? Well, yeah. If you have a buffer, your skills will be able to increase more easily, because otherwise half of the effort has to go into strengthening your aura to support the increased skill. I thought that was obvious?¡± I could only let out a sigh, shaking my head as I went around and repeated the process with the remaining three tigers. Chapter 70: The Way Back Author¡¯s Corner: Today is a happy day. World Seed just hit #50 in the Active Top 50 sites on RRL. As such, have a chapter!
After I repeated the Empower Soul process using all six cliff tigers, I confirmed with Celeste that there was no danger in leaving the bodies here without their souls. To be honest, I was still worried about potentially unleashing a zombie plague. There are reasons that most games label soul magic as something that should not be tampered with lightly. Once I was done, I noticed a change in Yo. His entire body had begun to shake, and with my Aura Sight I could see as various elements all rushed into his body at once. From what I had learned, this should be the moment where he evolves into a mimic slime. As such, I was not in a hurry to leave, and simply sat on a nearby rock as I waited for this change to complete. I had considered putting Yo into my grove, but the influx of mana could make the process fail, and he¡¯d end up absorbing a lot of my grove even if it succeeded. Unlike Yang¡¯s evolution, this process lasted for over two minutes, the giant blue water slime shrinking down and changing to a clear green color. The last change, though¡­ had me a bit worried. Yo¡¯s slime core, which was a medium grade Seed of Water, developed cracks along its body before shattering. Instead, a tiny green pellet, almost invisible in its body, appeared within it. The slime which had once been big enough to occupy an entire office was now smaller than most dogs. It also no longer held a strong water aura, and had the same kind of mixed aura as anything else. With Celeste¡¯s help, I began recalling all of the facts about mimic slimes that I had learned in the past. First of all, their evolution to slime person can happen at any time, not dependent on levels. The only deciding factor is their intelligence, which can be improved in two ways. You can either slowly increase a slime¡¯s intelligence by training it, or have it absorb other creatures. However, these creatures have to have died recently enough to still possess their soul, so that the mimic slime can copy it fully. Before it evolves, it can learn the form of any number of items, but can only retain the form of the last creature it devoured. Mimic slimes can only learn the forms of primitive items, at the level of gunpowder firearms or lower. They can¡¯t replicate technology or runic magic enchantments, but can replicate arcane enchantments. While they are able to mimic blades, they¡¯re much better suited to mimic blunt weapons instead¡­ what else¡­ Ah, the only other thing I could think of right away was that mimics are far more durable than normal slimes. They possess a degree of magic resistance, and their core is far smaller than a typical slime¡¯s. That will come in handy eventually. For now, I pulled out a simple staff from my grove, and set it in front of Yo. Yang had been mass producing these lately, and had been proud of her ability to make them, so I should use some before they fill up my grove. The small green slime moved over in front of the staff, as if staring at it, before its body slowly began spreading over it. The slime gunk soon covered the entire staff, and I watched as the wood inside began dissolving, as if under some kind of acid. I shuddered in memory of my own experience with slime acid, but this seemed different. Rather than melting down the body, it was the aura that was being consumed. The body dissolving was simply a side effect. Within moments, the entire staff had been consumed, but in its place was a translucent green staff of identical size and shape. When I reached down to pick it up, it felt a bit slippery, and wobbled slightly. Probably needs to absorb more items to get texture and firmness down. Now that Yo has evolved, all of my companions should be around level 20, though we each have different skills. The closest two are myself and Yin, since she can utilize Wind Affinity as she flies around and fights. There¡¯s also Yang, the crafting bird girl, and now the mimic slime Yo. I wasn¡¯t really sure how the party would stack up, but it felt really neat to have everyone with their own roles. Anyways, back on track! I still need a bit more experience before I can head back and sell my Technomancy skill for gold. I strapped Yo to my back, since there wasn¡¯t as much reason to keep him in the grove now, and walked along the mountain some more while hunting cliff tigers. The next group I came across was dispatched a bit more easily, now that I knew their attack patterns. All I had to do was create a few plasma death bundles and wait for one to pop up before zapping it. After I was done killing them and earning their delicious experience, I had Yo absorb the body of one so that he had the ability to turn into a living creature that was not a slow moving mass of goo. The process went pretty much the same as it had with the staff, and when it was done, a tiger made of slime was walking along beside me. Every now and then it would dive into the earth using the cliff tiger¡¯s ability, as if playing around, but it would always come back up when it was done. Since I only needed the two groups to get all of the experience for what I wanted, I went back to the town while running alongside Yo. Cliff tigers were roughly just as fast as wolves, but I thought it looked cooler to have two cliff tigers running side by side, with one being black and the other made of green slime. As usual when I approached the city in an a creature form, the guards immediately went for their weapons. I barely had time to change back before they had guns pointed at me. ¡°I¡¯m a druid, don¡¯t shoot!¡± They froze momentarily, still with their guns pointed, before sighing and putting them away. I had Yo turn back into a staff and strapped him to my back before calling out Yin and Yang. ¡°We going all the way back to the other city, or is there a Skill Shard place here?¡± I asked the ever helpful Ai. Celeste spoke up from the companion bracelets. ¡°There¡¯s a Skill Master Guild in the capital, but not here. You¡¯ll need to make the flight back.¡± I let out a groan as she said that. ¡°Is there something nearby there that we could use to work on your aura?¡± ¡°Well, you could hunt dozens of wolves, but that would take ages. Assuming you don¡¯t want to go back to the forest, so your best bet would be to head east after you leave the city. The rock beasts are weaker, but move in larger groups. These are monsters, so expect them to have resistance to your Earth Manipulation.¡± I nodded my head as she said that, and walked through the city with Yin and Yang. Like usual, Yang was hugging my arm and pressing her twin peaks against me. I swear, I did not walk slower in order to enjoy that¡­ it was just awkward walking with someone attached! Yeah, that¡­ though the giggling AI didn¡¯t seem to believe me. ¡°Hey, I ship Falenel and Yang.¡± She said in my head, with a wide grin on her face. ¡°Besides, it¡¯s fun to watch you get all flustered like that.¡± It¡¯s not fun for me! Let¡¯s just get going. Sooner we get there, the sooner we can get your body and soul gem or whatever That got her attention, and as soon as we were out the other side of the city, the three of us flew off into the distance. This time, I pulled out my handy plasma pistol as well as one that had appeared in my grove when I absorbed Legion, and simply used those to blast whatever I came across. Since I had already gotten my plasma bolts working, there was no need to go through the extra trouble of using them while flying. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. The extra buffer experience could only help me, so I saw no point in wasting the chances they gave me. Yang frowned slightly every time I killed something, but she knew it was necessary. Although she liked to remain a pacifist by nature, she accepted that I was by no means a pacifist. Fighting meant experience, experience meant I could stay alive with how the world was changing. Aside from a few brief pauses on the way back to fight some wolves and leave a trail or scattered bodies(when I managed to hit them) in my wake, the flight back to town was a rather boring one. Every now and then, Yin would literally fly circles around me to play around while Yang was just happy to fly alongside me. As for Yo¡­ well, Yo was a staff, and remained a staff the entire time, not much to report. When we arrived in the city, I had the two of them walk with me again, since there wasn¡¯t a need to send them back to the grove. First stop, the Skill Master¡¯s Guild to sell my soul, then to find where I can buy a Deus Ex body. Walking around, I followed the mental map provided by Celeste to arrive in front of a large cylindrical building, maybe ten stories with large glass windows all along its side. ¡°Well, it¡¯s flashy at least.¡± I said with a shrug as I entered. Inside, there was a stunningly attractive elf receptionist behind the counter. ¡°Hello, and welcome to the Skill Master¡¯s Guild. Are you here to make a deposit, or to purchase?¡± She asked with a practiced business smile. ¡°Uhm.. deposit.¡± It took me a moment to recover. I swear, I need to build up a resistance to hot girls, or my life will soon be ruined. ¡°Very well. What level of skill are you interested in depositing?¡± I thought about it again¡­ I could get twenty five gold if I stored my advanced Mana Signature skill¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t bother, Falenel.¡± Celeste spoke up beside me with a smile. ¡°You don¡¯t have enough buffer for that one yet. Just stick with an Intermediate skill for now.¡± I nodded my head, and looked to the receptionist before speaking. ¡°Intermediate level.¡± She smiled again, before pushing a button to call down an elevator. Well, it acts like an elevator, but it is just a metal disc in a large glass tube. ¡°Very well, please proceed up to level four. An attendant will help you through the process.¡± I walked over towards the elevator, but since Yin and Yang wouldn¡¯t fit in it with me, I sent them back to my grove for now. Instead, I just watched the scenery as I went up floor by floor. ¡°How much more buffer would I have needed to store an Advanced level skill here?¡± ¡°About twice as much as you have now, at least. Advanced skills take up a lot more aura space than Intermediate ones.¡± Celeste spoke up from next to me, before I arrived on the fourth floor. This time, the attendant was male, and approached me as I exited the elevator. ¡°Good day, sir. I was told you are here to deposit an Intermediate level skill. Is that correct?¡± I nodded to him after he asked that. ¡°Good, good, right this way. Is this your first time visiting the Skill Master¡¯s Guild?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ haven¡¯t had the chance to do so before now.¡± ¡°Not surprising, not surprising. Most people have a concern with selling parts of their auras away to others. However, our guild is entirely safe, and will provide a full guarantee to any customers.¡± I nodded my head again as he continued speaking. ¡°Did you make sure to have a sufficient space in your aura to store the skill, or will you be needing us to provide you with it?¡± They can provide the buffer? I asked inwardly to a certain AI, who smirked back at me. ¡°They can, but if you have them do so, the amount of money you will get drops drastically. The skill itself only accounts for a fifth of the price, while the rest is the experience that comes with it.¡± That was interesting to know. ¡°I already took care of it.¡± I was here for the money, and by god I wanted the money! ¡°Alright then, right this way. Since this is your first time, don¡¯t worry. You¡¯ll experience a minor discomfort while our Skill Master extracts the skill, but that is completely normal. All of our workers have been trained to perform the procedure with as little inconvenience as possible.¡± I could see this being quite a big business in some areas. Maybe it was because elves had a superstition about auras, but it was unfortunate that there weren¡¯t very many customers. The attendant led me to a room with two comfortable looking chairs with a small metal stand between them, and instructed me to sit down in whichever one I wanted, before going off to fetch the person who would actually perform the extraction. ¡°Almost there¡­¡± Celeste was excited as she appeared in the chair across from me, and I could tell that she was looking forward to getting a body of her own. Hearing my thoughts, she nodded. ¡°A Deus Ex can have their AI implanted before the soul is put in, they just aren¡¯t able to level up or use magic until they have the soul. Until then, they are similar to a low quality android. But still, a body of my own!¡± She smiled widely as she said that, but soon had to vanish from her seat as another young man walked into the room, carrying a fist sized blue crystal. ¡°Ah, hello, sorry if I kept you waiting.¡± He spoke politely as he sat across from me, and placed the gem into the metal stand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, this will be over quickly.¡± Out of curiosity, I asked him a question. ¡°Is the size of the crystal important for storing the skill?¡± The man blinked at me a bit, seemingly confused by the question before it registered. ¡°Ah, yes. Though the purity is also important. A stronger skill needs a larger crystal. The one Legendary rank skill we have here takes up a crystal the size of an entire room. I imagine if anyone managed to store a Godly skill, it would be the size of a small building. Now, sit back and close your eyes.¡± After following his instructions, I tried to relax a bit, which was much easier after I dismissed the Aspect of the Bird. ¡°Ah, a druid? Well, that¡¯ll make this go a bit more easily, since you should be familiar with your aura. Now, relax, and focus on the skill you want to store. I¡¯m going to put a thread of mana into your body, but don¡¯t resist it.¡± As he spoke, I could feel the presence of another mana entering my aura. It was a bit uncomfortable, but I let it in while focusing on my Technomancy. ¡°Good. I¡¯ve got a hold of the skill now¡­.¡± There was another uncomfortable feeling, like something was shifting around under my skin. ¡°And¡­ there.¡± With that, there was a momentary stab of pain, like having blood drawn, before the various feelings all subsided. ¡°Hmm... looks like Technomancy, Intermediate level 3. Everything checks out.¡± When I opened my eyes, I saw that a blue screen had appeared above the crystal, but couldn¡¯t read what it said since it was facing the other man. ¡°That¡¯ll come to a total of two gold, and sixty silver.¡± When he spoke this time, he pulled out a few coins to hand them over, which I gladly accepted. This was my ¡®get Celeste a body¡¯ fund. Chapter 71: Hes Back? Author¡¯s Corner: Hey guys! Hope you all enjoy the chapter! Yeah¡­ not much else for me to put up here¡­
After leaving the Skill Master¡¯s Guild, I once again summoned Yin and Yang to accompany me as we went to a local store for robots called Deus Ex Mechanics. Just from hearing a name, I already pretty much knew what to expect¡­ only one race could ever have such a bad naming sense. On the way, I decided to take stock of my status now that my level had gone up, down, up again, and back down. It¡¯s just a roller coaster of experience!
NameFalenel HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain SurgeonFame400
Level 264%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health260/260Health Regen0.43
Mana960/960Mana Regen2.16
Strength15Wisdom120
Agility21Intelligence96
Dexterity22Charisma15
Vitality26Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 13%Fire 11%Wind 11%Water 12%
Lightning 11%Light 11%Dark 12%Plant 12%
Void 11%Metal 11%Magnetism 10%Plasma 10%
Sweet, sweet mana regen. Oh how I love that stat. It might not sound like much, but to a class that focuses on using magic with low mana costs, two mana a second is pretty good. I might be able to hold out against other characters my level now. Though, I still wasn¡¯t sure what the special characteristics of the other classes would be. ¡°Ah, well I can help a bit with that!¡± Celeste spoke up next to me with a smile. ¡°I did some basic research in case you ran into any. Obviously, I didn¡¯t go into the advanced classes, because of the sheer number, but I did learn the basic characteristics.¡± Before I had the chance to ask her to, she continued. ¡°Most classes have some special form of magic that shows their classes¡¯ power. For instance, rogues are able to use low level illusions to hide from sight and trick enemies with ease, despite not devoting much training to their mana. As they grow higher leveled, their stealth techniques improve to cover various other sense types, as well, such as Aura Sight.¡± ¡°For a fighter, they are capable of using their aura in a different way than most magic casters, with a technique known as ¡®fighting spirit¡¯. This is only usable during the rush of actual battle, but is a very powerful skill. They are able to convert their mana, health, even the buffer of their aura into extra power for their attacks. However, an opponent killed by fighting spirit will often leave behind more experience to make up for this usage and help them grow faster. Since they don¡¯t specialize in as many skills as most classes, the buffer of their aura is a valuable fighting resource.¡± ¡°A hunter will often have one or two trained pets to help it fight, as well as possessing some of the tracking and stealth skills of the rogues. Unlike your animal companions, a hunter¡¯s pets are kept as items, and he must train them over time without the aid of a mental bond. However, they do not have to take part in the fighting to level up, because their soul¡¯s strength will always match that of the hunter.¡± ¡°A priest is as hard to fight as a druid, since you have to know what deity they represent. A priest following a water god will have vastly different magic than one following a fire god. However, they will generally all gain a series of magic based on their patron. A fire god¡¯s priest might be able to turn into a flaming avatar, or throw fireballs at you while buffing teammates, for example. Their magic also costs almost no mana, as they draw their power directly from a higher being.¡± ¡°A knight would be like a melee priest. They get many of the same powers, but are focused more towards frontal combat and don¡¯t get the buffs. Again, their magic costs nearly no mana. Mages are the only race that require a substantial mana pool to function. As you know, they are masters of various types of casting, and are considered the experts in magical combat.¡± ¡°You already know about druids, so I won¡¯t explain those. As for merchants and craftsmen¡­ well, they aren¡¯t really made to fight in the first place. I¡¯m sure they probably have some combat-oriented advanced classes, but the base class is purely noncombat. They even gain levels by completing their class duties, such as performing trades or creating good items. This is a special feature unique to those classes, which others couldn¡¯t get even if they trained for it.¡± I raised a curious eyebrow at that, but we were getting closer to the store. Then couldn¡¯t someone just pick one of those two classes, then learn another class¡¯s skills to have the best of both with little effort? ¡°Not really¡­ In exchange for the ability to grow through crafting and trading, those two classes have a much harder time increasing combat skills, due to their auras not being compatible with them.¡± I nodded my head slightly as we entered Deus Ex Mechanics. All along the four walls of the wide shop were mechanical bodies hanging up on hooks. Starting from the most absolute basic being to the left of the door, they grew more and more lifelike as they progressed in a clockwise manner, until the body to the right of the door looked entirely human. ¡°Hello, and welcome to Deus Ex Mechanics! We put the gods in the machines, how can I help you?¡± I was actually surprised by the man standing at the circular counter in the middle of the store. I had expected it to be a human, honestly. However¡­ Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Weren¡¯t you at the implant store on Gallen 4?¡± Indeed, it was the same looking stone golem with green eyes that had appeared when I got the implant to put Celeste in my head¡­ on a different planet. ¡°I assure you that I have absolutely no idea what you¡¯re talking about.¡± The golem said in an exaggerated manner. ¡°I have worked in this store for years. Maybe you met my brother?¡± I had the sinking suspicion that I would somehow encounter this man any time I was buying something for Celeste¡­ regardless of how impossible that was. ¡°Anyways, you have the look of a paying customer, my favorite kind!¡± ¡°Ah¡­ yeah¡­ I¡¯m looking for a Deus Ex body for my companion.¡± The golem nodded his head quickly. ¡°Yes, yes, good! I make all of my products personally, and can guarantee with 98% certainty that there is nothing wrong with them.¡± He then spoke the next part so fast that, if not for having enhanced ears and a computer living in my mind, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to understand. ¡°Warning,DeusExMechanicscannotbeheldresponsibleforanylossoflimb,life,sanity,blood,brain,heart,oreyesduetoamalfunctioningmachine. Buyatyourownrisk.¡± My eye couldn¡¯t help but twitching at that. However, there was not another store to buy a Deus Ex body at in the system, unless I went back to Gallen 4. And knowing my luck, I¡¯d meet this stone man once again there! ¡°Fine, fine¡­¡± Meanwhile, Yang had detached herself from my arm to wander around the store, looking in awe at the various robotic bodies. Underneath each one was a price tag, but there was no description of their abilities, just a cosmetic difference between them. I wasn¡¯t too surprised by this, since Celeste had told me about how all Deus Ex started out with a basic set of abilities, no matter what type of body they had. However, each robot appeared slightly different, in more than just their complexity. Some had fox tails and ears, others had dragon scales, some were short and wore a maid dress¡­ There were male models, female models, models with weird tentacles for arms¡­ Looking at one just a few from the left of the door I looked at its price tag and saw that it was for two gold and ten silver. ¡°Do I have to buy the soul gem separately?¡± The stone golem nodded with a smile full of loose gravel. ¡°That¡¯s right. Not everyone wants to buy the two together, so it¡¯s just easier to keep them separate. The gem is thirty-five silver, or one gold to be fully charged.¡± I considered buying the gem fully loaded to save me some time, but I also needed to get the upgrade that would let her communicate with the companion bracelets. When I asked, the golem assured me that he did sell them as well. Though it wasn¡¯t quite the same, as it was built to connect a robot body with the bracelets, rather than from one bracelet to another. If I wanted to get all of that together, it would cost me three and a half gold, which is a bit more than I had at the moment. I could probably sell some of the items that I got from Legion, but I wasn¡¯t sure what all of them did yet(such as the tech armor). Once I had a bit of time, I should go through it all and identify things. ¡°I¡¯ll just take the empty gem, then. And this body.¡± I pointed a thumb back to the one I had chosen. It was a very basic form with pure white skin that only covered the face, torso, hands, and lower legs. Otherwise, the internal mechanisms were protected by some kind of glass or clear plastic. Its ¡®muscles¡¯ were glowing blue just beneath the surface, and it had large blue eyes. Its chest was feminine, with distinct bulges, but could not be considered large. ¡°Ah, excellent choice! One of my favorites, that one.¡± The golem said with a smile. I suddenly had an urge to choose a different model, but figured that was just my paranoia acting up. ¡°I¡¯ll assume that you want to include the wireless connection to the bracelets at purchase and upload the AI, correct?¡± When I nodded my head, he smiled a bit wider. ¡°Excellent. Please come right this way.¡± He pulled the body off of the wall, and carried it over his shoulder as he walked towards a back room. In this room there was a large table for him to lay the robot down on and ¡®operate¡¯. All he really did was unscrew the back of its head, and put a small chip into it before reattaching. ¡°Alright, good to go. Just place the bracelet against it for a few seconds and she should start right up.¡± I nodded, and did as instructed. There was a low beeping sound, before the robot opened its eyes and quickly sat up. ¡°Did it work?¡± I was a bit concerned that something was wrong, since Celeste didn¡¯t answer me, but instead turned over to stand up. However¡­ my fears were truly unfounded, because within a few moments of awkward silence¡­ she had started to do the robot. The dance, I mean. Where did she even learn that? After a bit of time watching her dance, the golem had started clapping happily, while Yang merely watched with a confused expression. As for Yin.. I wasn¡¯t really sure where she had gotten to, but she wasn¡¯t in the room. ¡°This body is functioning at peak efficiency.¡± The new Celeste said in a robotic tone. ¡°Hold, please. Testing..¡± The robot¡¯s voice gradually changed. ¡°Testing, testing.¡± Soon, it matched the same voice she often used to communicate. ¡°Yay, it worked!¡± She pumped her hands up excitedly as she managed to get her voice to work right. ¡°That¡¯s good..¡± I said with a slight sight, handing the money over to the golem shopkeeper, and he handed me a dull blue gem. ¡°So how do I use this when it¡¯s full?¡± ¡°Ah, for that, you¡¯ll just need to open up her chest and put it in her heart. Don¡¯t worry, the gem itself isn¡¯t important once she has the soul in her. In fact, it turns to dust once the soul is finished being extracted. From that point on, you¡¯ll have your very own Deus Ex!¡± I nodded my head again, and walked back out to the main store room with Celeste and Yang. Yin appeared to be lazily sitting by the door, just waiting to get out of here. Our new robot companion, seeing this, let out a slight grin. ¡°Guess she isn¡¯t impressed.¡± Chapter 72: Smite Thee, Almighty Smiter! Author¡¯s Corner: I would like to thank everyone for being awesome! World Seed just hit the Weekly Top 5 list! Enjoy the chapter!
Now, we left once again, though with an extra member in tow. Although it took her a bit to move her body naturally, Celeste was walking alongside of us and looking around excitedly. This was the first time she was actually able to control where she was looking, rather than simply having to see what we looked at. ¡°This is so cool!¡± She said as she spun around, taking in the scenery. ¡°Yeah, yeah, enjoy it while you can. You aren¡¯t able to fly, so I¡¯ll have to stick you in the grove until we get there.¡± I smirked towards her, and even though her face was incapable of displaying emotion, I could tell that she was pouting. ¡°Well¡­ can we go tomorrow? It¡¯s starting to get late, and by the time that we get there it¡¯d be getting dark.¡± She pointed out the time, and I had to agree. Even if we did fly all the way to the rock beast territory, I¡¯d probably be too tired to seriously massacre them. Though, killing this many should give me a large increase in my level! ¡°Alright. By the way, a hundred souls of level twenty monsters seems like a bit much for a level one character¡­¡± I brought up something that had been bugging me for a while. ¡°Well, it¡¯s only twenty if you use the full purified soul like you did with Yo. But yeah, since they are just soul fragments, you need enough of them to form a full soul. The actual level I start out at should be the average level of the souls used. Since you¡¯re hunting level twenty to twenty-five rock beasts, I should start in that range.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ so you¡¯ll start out with the same kinds of stats as us, then. That¡¯ll make it easier to fight.¡± I nodded my head as I thought about it, but she corrected me with some new information. ¡°Not quite. Deus Ex don¡¯t train their stats like normal races. We get a set amount of upgrade points every level, that we can use to buy upgrades. So¡­ two levels¡¯ worth of upgrade points could let me fly, for example, by giving me either rocket boots or jet wings. If I spent all twenty levels on something, I could probably get a high powered attack, but my mana supply would only allow one shot of it.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ so you will be able to buy upgrades for your body, then, to put yourself on the same level as us¡­ Speaking of which, what class are you going for? You should have a few ideas in mind, right?¡± Celeste nodded her head happily, despite her lack of facial movements. ¡°I am debating between either hunter or a rogue right now. Those two would benefit most from being able to see through three sets of eyes. Maybe a fighter, but I don¡¯t particularly want their fighting spirit. If I accidentally burn through too much aura, my upgrades could break down.¡± I nodded again, and a thought occurred to me. ¡°Once you get your soul, wouldn¡¯t you be able to go to a rebirth shrine and change your race to an organic one?¡± She thought about that for a few seconds as we changed direction to head towards the hotel. ¡°It¡¯s possible, but I won¡¯t do it. I¡¯m considered a native of this side, and people from this side work a bit differently when we use the rebirth shrine. We actually are reborn, and have to grow up from scratch. We retain our memories and the basic levels of their skills, and are born with a certain birthmark to show that we have been reborn. Many people use it as a way to cheat death when they are at the end of their lifespan.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ so if you did that, then you¡¯d have to wait until you grew up again to start adventuring.¡± ¡°Right! And that¡¯s not what I want. Besides, with the right upgrades, I¡¯ll be able to do most of the stuff that the organic races can do.¡± She nodded her head with determination. ¡°Also, after we get my soul, could we take a break for a few days? In order to fully integrate my consciousness with the soul, I¡¯ll need to download all of the knowledge I have. That means that I¡¯ll be giving it a lot of knowledge skill experience, but have to do so slowly so that I don¡¯t overload the aura and explode.¡± This realization made me blink, concern showing on my face. ¡°Sure thing, take your time. But, does this mean that you will out level us thanks to that?¡± ¡°By a bit.¡± She let out a soft laugh. ¡°But a lot of my upgrades will be on things like flight, or adding the sense of touch. I should be roughly on the same level of power as you. Maybe even a little lower.¡± ¡°Alright. Just wanted to be sure we wouldn¡¯t have things too easy with you around.¡± I felt the corners of my lips tugging up as I joked. ¡°Though, after this I think I should level up quite a bit. Aside from that time in the forest of nope, I¡¯ve never done large scale hunting like this.¡± She let out a chuckle, and we arrived at the hotel. For convenience¡¯s sake I put the three of them back in my grove for the night. Though after they were all gone, Celeste couldn¡¯t help herself. ¡°Aww, and here I thought you were going to let Yang cuddle up with you while you sleep.¡± She appeared in my mind, grinning at me. ¡°I¡¯ll admit, I can¡¯t exactly look at her like a bird anymore¡­ but still, don¡¯t try to move things along too fast.¡± I shook my head as I laid down, thinking about things that would be happening soon. I was going to be fighting monsters made of living rock, who were resistant to my Earth Manipulation. As such, I had to come up with a plan. My first, and most obvious idea was to just rain hell on them with plasma, but that was rejected by Celeste. According to her, most monsters had some kind of core inside their bodies, which contained their souls. As long as it existed, there would always be a way for the monster to come back to life. Thinking back to Yin, and how she was now classified as a monster, Celeste confirmed that she had one as well, but her resurrection conditions would be more complicated. As for the rock beasts, as long as the core was connected to any kind of dirt or stone it could reform. So shooting them with plasma would be useless. The typical way to deal with them was blunt force¡­ but I don¡¯t have much blunt force, aside from Earth Manipulation. However, I could make some! Diving into my grove, I grabbed all of the iron ore I could and brought it up to the surface, making sure it was away from anyone else. From there, I began the process of smelting it into several ingots and stacked them on the ground before I exited the grove and looked up some quick information. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Naturally, this was information on how to construct the greatest of blunt force weapons, a giant hammer. My strength would definitely not be enough to wield this with any degree of proficiency, but if I controlled it with my Metal Manipulation and Magnetism Manipulation, I could make it much easier to use. Lift big end with Metal Manipulation, make rock beast magnetic, swing for an easy hit and smash. With the information I needed, I went back into my grove and quickly began making this hammer. I made the head extra large and heavy, while making sure that the shaft was strong enough to support it for a while. I didn¡¯t need this to be usable as a permanent weapon, just something that would last until I was done unleashing smashy death upon all of the rock beasts I could find. Once the hammer was done, it ended up being nearly two meters in length, with a large circular head. With this, I should be able to smash quite a few rock beasts. Though, I should consider finding an alternative blunt force attack method in the future. Maybe make a giant steel block and just dropping it from my grove onto people from above? I shrugged, and decided to go ahead and rest for the night. In the morning, when I got up, I went about my morning routine, and then called out Yin and Yang. The three of us flew off towards the rock beast territory while Celeste just walked around my grove. I wasn¡¯t all too concerned, though. It wasn¡¯t strictly necessary to go to the rock beasts in the first place if I found a large number of wolves on the way. Thankfully, I did manage to find a few wolves, and introduced them to the burning power of plasma. Though, it was only one pack of six, and one got away before I could kill it. With a bit of hesitation, I decided to go ahead and use the entire purified soul on the crystal. I have seen two many zombie movies, and lived through my own brand of horror movies, so it was only natural that I hesitated towards something that could cause a zombie outbreak in certain settings. With that taken care of, I was able to add five soul fragments to the gem before leaving again, and quickly made my way to the rock beast territory using the mental map Celeste provided. As I approached, I began seeing large moving boulders, or at least that¡¯s how they appeared from the sky. When I got closer, I was able to determine that they were just large rocks in the shapes of beasts moving around. They came in various different forms, ranging from bears, to snakes, even wolves and tigers. ¡°Rock beasts are able to take on the form of any animal they have seen, so it¡¯s natural for them to have so many different forms.¡± Celeste pointed this out to me as I landed near one of them while activating my combat Aspects. Yin and Yang continued flying up in the sky, watching what would turn into an inevitable battle. The rock beast did not seem to take too kindly to my landing near it. This one was one of the wolf shaped beasts, and lunged at me moments after I touched the ground. Dodging to the side, I was unable to fully avoid its attack, and it swatted me with one great big paw that felt like I was being hit by a truck. After rolling on the ground a few times and feel sore all over, I stood up in time to see the wolf charging again. This time, I immediately pulled the massive hammer out of my grove and had it materialize in my hands. Just as the process finished, the wolf lunged at me again. However¡­ the hammer was far heavier than I had predicted, and it slammed me into the ground before the wolf even had the chance, causing the rock beast to sail over me. Ouch¡­ okay¡­ let¡¯s try this again¡­ Using my Metal Manipulation, I slowly lifted the hammer off of me so that I could stand back up. When the wolf charged again, I used this same ability to create a magnetic field around the wolf while swinging the hammer. Though, I failed to consider just how much heavier the head was compared to the rest of the body. When I made the hammer strike, it simply rotated with the head as a pivot, and the base of the hammer slammed into the wolf. Still, this was enough to create large cracks on its body as it was thrown away. The wolf was quickly able to recover, and I could see the cracks on its body mending even as it ran towards me again. Plan B! Setting the hammer between myself and the wolf, I made it begin rapidly rotating like it had when I attacked previously, creating the world¡¯s largest weed whacker. When the wolf jumped towards me, it was caught in the hammer and its body was shattered under repeated strikes. Watching closely, I was able to clearly see a small orange gem inside the stone body. Using Wind Manipulation, I made sure that it flew over towards me rather than falling on the ground, and caught it in my hand. However, now there were several other beasts glaring at me from nearby. Times like this, I really wish that I could fly without wings. Still, flying up into the sky and watching as my spinning death mallet pulverized several stone beasts was fun in itself. Maybe they just weren¡¯t able to properly identify the mallet, but they nonetheless charged headfirst into it. After the fourth beast, the handle snapped off and I had to change tactics. Lifting the hammerhead up with my magic, I brought it over a target, and slammed it downwards. For some reason, it seemed that they did not notice anything that was not within a few feet of the ground, so they were unable to dodge my attack. This method served to kill them almost as efficiently as the weed whacker strategy. I shall call it, whack-a-stone! In the end, I had to activate my Aspect of the Mana Leech and absorb more mana so that I could keep doing this. But, after every successful kill, I would swoop down and retrieve the rock beast¡¯s soul stone before flying back up. Eventually, I had all I needed, and was able to fly away. Unlike regular animals, the rock beasts didn¡¯t run away even when I killed over a dozen of them, so purifying the souls here was not an option. However, I did gain two levels from this, so I was quite pleased. Chapter 73: Thats No Moon! Author¡¯s Corner: Here ya go, folks! Have another chapter, and enjoy!
After retrieving my broken giant hammer and putting it back in my grove, I flew off with Yin and Yang. Yang glanced back towards the scene we just left with a sigh, before shaking her head. However, she does not complain about the wholesale slaughter of the monsters. Maybe in the future, it¡¯d be better for me to keep her in my grove when I¡¯m fighting? ¡°No, she just needs to get used to it.¡± Celeste spoke up in my mind as I had that thought. ¡°Hiding her in your grove won¡¯t help with that. She¡¯ll still know that you¡¯re doing it, especially when she makes weapons and other items out of the bodies.¡± I nodded, and once we were out of sight of the rock beasts, I descended to the ground. Part of me wondered if it would be possible to use my Xeno-Shifter abilities to become a Deus Ex¡­ And I thought it might be worth a try after we ¡®upgrade¡¯ Celeste¡¯s body. Taking out the soul gem, and the fifteen monster cores of the rock beasts, I once again began the process of refining the souls into one pure soul. Each soul took roughly fifteen minutes, and there were fifteen souls¡­ man, this took a while. Guess it¡¯s a good thing we slept first after all! A few hours later when I was done, I pulled Celeste out of my grove and had her open up her chest. The white plastic split apart at the center to reveal a complex pattern of glowing blue wires, at the center of which was a small hole the size of the gem that the golem had given me. ¡°Well¡­ here goes nothing.¡± With a sigh, I slipped the gem into its socket and had her close her chestplate again. ¡°Alright!¡± Celeste spoke to me in my mind while the robot body seemed to power down. ¡°Now I¡¯m just letting my aura adapt to the presence of a soul. Should be done just about¡­. now!¡± As she finished speaking, the robot lifted its head up suddenly. Her eyes were darting back and forth rapidly as if reading. ¡°Ooh, so many options. Alright, here we go. This should be good to start!¡± With my Aura Sight active, I could see her aura surging a bit, and at the same time her body itself began changing. The white ¡®skin¡¯ slowly began expanding, crawling along until it covered her entire body. Once her body had been covered by the smooth white skin, it changed pigment just slightly to look more realistic. If not for the lack of hair, she might look like a regular woman when she put some clothes on. Soon, purple hair began sprouting up from Celeste¡¯s head, which surprised me. I could understand skin giving the sense of touch, but what purpose could having hair give? ¡°It¡¯s for cosmetic purposes!¡± The AI cried out in my mind. The next change was her back, as two purple metal strips seemed to grow out of her in straight lines. On closer inspection, these were containers, and each one released three large pink protrusions that gave it the appearance of wings, further reinforced by the five smaller strips of metal that descended, hovering just below the upper portions. Just as I was beginning to question it, Celste spoke in my mind again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re able to be stored in my upgrade inventory when I¡¯m not using them.¡± The next big change was pink and purple armor growing out of her hands and feet. While the hand armor was sleek and formed a metal bubble around the back of her hand, the feet armor was more rigid, looking like wide armored boots you would see in an old mech anime. Then similar armor began to grow around her waist and along her sides and upper arm. Finally, a pink cloth began materializing and connecting her arm armor with her hand armor, and a dark brown one covered her torso. When she was done, Celeste opened her eyes, which had changed to match her new hair color, and looked down at herself. ¡°Very cool¡­ Totally worth the points.¡± Her face was much more animated now, able to properly display her smile and the widening of her eyes. A bit curious, I decided to ask a question. ¡°How many levels¡¯ worth of points did all of that cost¡­¡± With a wry grin, Celeste answered me. ¡°Three for the upgrade inventory, two for the wings, one for the armor, one for the cosmetic change, four for the increased mana capacity and efficiency, and three for the additional senses.¡± My eye twitched slightly as I heard that she essentially spent nineteen levels for cosmetic changes and the ability to fly. ¡°But¡­ that¡¯s not even really armor. It covers almost nothing.¡± Celeste laughed lightly, stretching in an obviously seductive manner to show off her curves under her skintight armor. ¡°I know, right? If I upgrade it again, I can either get more physical coverage, or an energy field. But with this, at least I can fly back with you guys. If need be, I can upgrade the wings one more time to give me some extra speed to catch up.¡± I sighed, shaking my head in resignation. ¡°Alright, well let¡¯s get heading back then.¡± When I said that, she nodded happily, fully extending her wings. The various protrusions all let out a gentle pink light before they lifted her into the air. I could see that a similar light was also being emitted from her boots as well, likely to act as stabilizers. Dispelling my other Aspects, I grew my wings and took to the sky with Yin and Yang so that the four of us could all fly back to the city. Or, at least, that was the plan.
Incoming call from Sharon.
That message appeared after roughly ten minutes of flight time, confusing me. However, it¡¯s not like I didn¡¯t enjoy talking to her. She was pretty much the only other druid I had met, aside from my teacher. ¡°Hey, Sharon, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Falenel¡­ I¡¯ll never get used to calling you that since I know your actual name now.¡± She giggled cutely, and I could see the Deus Ex that was flying alongside me send me a mischievous smirk. ¡°Anyways, are you in a position where you can log out?¡± ¡°I will be in a little while, flying to a city at the moment. Why, what¡¯s up?¡± With a thought, Celeste pulled up the local and real time. Although it was daytime here, it should be night where Sharon lived in the real world. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ hard to explain. Something¡¯s happened to the moon.¡± Error¡­ does not compute¡­ rebooting brain. ¡°Sorry, what?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ it¡¯ll be easier if you see for yourself.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll hurry this up then.¡± Closing my eyes, I activated my Aspect of the Mana Leech to attune my wings to wind mana, and used the extra mana input to increase my speed as much as I could. The three girls seemed surprised by the sudden acceleration, but they were easily able to keep up. Though, Celeste¡¯s wings seemed to glow slightly before the lights emitted from her wings became more intense. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. ¡°Good. By the way, are you still at that planet you got rescued to?¡± With that, we had a bit of smalltalk while I was flying. When I told her about one of my companions evolving into a humanoid, she was surprised and asked how I did it. I didn¡¯t know what the conditions would be for her own animals to evolve, so I just told her that she should be able to find out if she consults a terminal. By the time I had gotten back to the city, Sharon had already logged back off, saying that we should meet up the next time we are in the same solar system. It¡¯d be interesting to see what new tricks she learned as a druid focusing on her animal companions. Quickly making our way to the hotel, I went ahead and put everyone in my grove so that we could transfer over to my world. After logging out, I saw that it was indeed still daytime for me. So naturally, I wouldn¡¯t be able to see if there was anything wrong with the moon by looking outside. Instead, I booted up my computer and had it run a search for world news relating to the moon. Almost immediately, a holographic video was brought up for me to see. While it wasn¡¯t live, it had reporter commentary about what was happening. ¡°Now, this just in. The cause of the disturbances in the ocean have finally been traced to a source. Many have feared that there was a giant monster lying beneath our waters, but the truth may in fact be more terrifying.¡± A female british reporter spoke up on the hologram while the image showed the moon. There seemed to be an abnormal amount of large cracks in it, and they appeared to be spreading. ¡°As you can see, there have been changes within the moon itself. Now, until now none of these changes had been visible on the surface, so we were unaware of them. Watch here, as the changes begin to really reveal themselves.¡± Suddenly, the cracks grow wider, large chunks of rock breaking off. However, the moon wasn¡¯t shattering with pieces falling to the Earth¡­ it was standing up. The large stone chunks formed into massive arms and legs, as the moon itself seemed to become a giant golem. The golem turned its head towards the screen, or towards the Earth, with glowing red eyes before it simply flew off. The night sky was now missing one great big celestial object. ¡°We have decided to name this creature a Lunar Titan, and label it as a planetary threat should it ever return. In the meantime, scientists have already begun speculating the long term ramifications of an Earth without a moon. We¡¯ll have more information for you as the situation develops!¡± As the hologram turned off, I sat there with my mouth hanging open, various pieces of information I had gathered clicking into place one by one. Legion had been writing a space shanty in the blood of his victims, and he knew the end was coming. Speaking under my breath, I recalled the words I had once heard. ¡°For cast your eyes up to the skies, the moon has danced away¡­¡± I had heard those words the first time I was on a ship, the Nostromo. At first, I had thought that they were referring to how a moon is a bad celestial body to use for navigation, and to trust the stars instead. I had never imagined that it was a warning, or a reminder, that the moon would literally abandon us. And, if that¡¯s true, doesn¡¯t that mean that the ¡®game world¡¯ is simply the future? The year 3016 A.G¡­ After Genesis¡­ The word that had been shown to the entire world at once. Then, in that case¡­ the Cradle of Life, the First Journey¡­ should all be from Earth, right? Every race claims it was them¡­ but how many different alien species exist on Earth right now? But¡­ then¡­ the Cradle of Life was not an occupied world in the game, it had become a dungeon planet, where ships would be destroyed just for approaching it. Doesn¡¯t that mean, if we don¡¯t leave soon, more giant monsters will spawn and wipe out all other life?
You have discovered the truth about the Cradle of Life.
+15 Intelligence
I couldn¡¯t be the only one thinking about this. Anyone who¡¯s heard the legends and the song should know. This isn¡¯t the end¡­ this is just the beginning of the changes. Most likely, there would be a global focus on space exploration now, using the technology we are able to retrieve and adapt from the game¡­ No, from the future. ¡°Wow¡­ I did not see this coming¡­¡± Celeste spoke from over my shoulder, as much surprised by this as I was. ¡°I mean¡­ an ocean slime I could understand, but this? I haven¡¯t seen a record of a Lunar Titan or whatever, but maybe they just aren¡¯t near the Gallen system..¡± As I was staring at the screen, still at a loss, other posts began appearing on the internet. More large monsters were beginning to spawn around the globe. The sphinxes of Egypt were coming to life, the Statue of Liberty walked off her island, and loud roars could be heard near the himalayas. ¡°So much stray mana has been going to giving birth to the Lunar Titan, that it was stopping the other large monsters from spawning¡­¡± The AI added in a mildly terrified voice. ¡°Now that it¡¯s done and gone, they will keep appearing.¡± It had been strange that only relatively small monsters had spawned so far, as if it was letting us adapt. If we are the center of mana in the universe, as the situation would seem to indicate, there should have been giant monsters spawning left and right, each no smaller than the nature wyrm that nearly killed me on the jungle planet. But all we¡¯ve gotten were the small ones, like slimes and minotaurs.
The Dungeon Planet, Cradle of Life, has been created in your vicinity. It is strongly advised that you vacate the area.
Author¡¯s Basement: Now to see how many people have been paying attention all this time and figured out what was going to happen beforehand! Also, for those that want a picture reference for Celeste, see below! Spoiler : Chapter 74: Do You Want to Build a Spaceship? Author¡¯s Corner: This chapter marks the beginning of the third arc, or volume. If I had to give the volumes names, the first one would be Genesis, and the second Revelations. Now, what to call this one? I haven¡¯t decided yet! Once more, unto the breach!
When the game presented real life consequences, life went on as normal. When the Seeds appeared and monsters began to spawn, the world adapted. But now¡­ the night sky has been forever changed, the world itself is sending terrifying creatures after us. There is no more taking it easy, no more slow training. Everyone that is able must take up arms and fight for their right to survive. In a sense, Oakland has it easy, we¡¯ve almost established our monster spawn shield. Other cities will have it much harder. After hearing the news, I began thinking about things I could do. Going across the world was a bad idea when there was just the possibility of an ocean slime, but now there¡¯s an almost guaranteed risk of giant monsters that would attack planes. So, getting to Sharon from this side wasn¡¯t possible. No matter how confident I am against creatures my own level, I can be pretty sure that the Statue of fucking Liberty is not my level. I put in a call with Sharon, and asked her if she¡¯d be willing to come by Gallen 3 to meet up with me so I could pull her over in my grove. She seemed a bit confused, but did agree that sticking together would be a good idea. Like myself, most of her friends and family had been virtualized, so there wasn¡¯t much to keep her there. I was honestly a bit surprised that she didn¡¯t have a boyfriend or anything. Even more surprising was that I found out she used to, but her boyfriend dumped her when she became an elf and her chest became smaller¡­. I could only cough awkwardly as I remembered that change, and silently cursed anyone who would dump a girl because their breasts shrunk in these circumstances. Anyways, I had her head towards the Gallen system as soon as she could while I handled preparations. Next, I had my house AI alert my parents that I needed to speak with them, and told them of the situation. This would be possibly the most important thing, because I could either bring them out with my grove, let them leave with the rest of the virtualized people, or they could remain in the future. There was the slim chance that I could discover the method of eternal youth as a druid, but that would still be an incredibly long wait. Unfortunately, neither of them were within traveling distance of wood elf territory. My mom wasn¡¯t even sure where she was in relation to it, as she had not leveled up to the point where she could make a physical body and regularly speak with people. I made the same call and offer to Jacobs, but he actually refused me, saying that if he was given these choices he would rather remain in the future. He was virtualized because he didn¡¯t care for what the present life had to offer, and now he could live in a world that offered so much more. So it looked like it was just going to be me, Sharon, and our respective grove inhabitants. Why did I suddenly feel like I signed up to captain a harem ship? ¡°Alright, now we just need the plans for the S.S. Seraglio!¡± Celeste spoke up happily from next to me, causing me to raise my eyebrow curiously. ¡°S.S. for Spaceship. We aren¡¯t directly related to any country, so there¡¯s no point trying to put that in. And since you¡¯re both wood elves, or close approximations, it wouldn¡¯t make sense to say that it represents Earth.¡± ¡°And Seraglio?¡± ¡°Ahh..¡± Celeste smiled innocently to me. ¡°It¡¯s a type of palace. I figured that, if you are going to have a ship to yourselves, and sail the vastness of space, you should at least have one with a fancy name.¡± I sighed, nodding my head. Her logic did make sense, at least. ¡°Well, at least you¡¯re not calling it the S.S. Lovenest or something like that.¡± The AI took on a mock shocked expression. ¡°Why, I would never do something like that. What kind of program do you take me for?¡± I simply gave her a long look at that, after which she nodded. ¡°Fair enough, I see your point. Anyways, we should get back to the game, or the future, whatever you want to call it soon. I¡¯ll need two or three days in order to let my aura fully match up with my knowledge, and then we can get the plans for a ship, and the other essential information we need. Even if we work around the clock, we won¡¯t be done by the time Sharon gets to the Gallen system.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ and while you¡¯re doing that, I can do some long overdue cultivation. If we¡¯re going out by ourselves, without the protection of the game, then I really need to get my affinities higher.¡± Celeste nodded at that. ¡°Try to train your Metal Affinity as much as you can first, because we¡¯ll need a lot of metal to build a ship. Even if it¡¯s just one for you, Sharon, Yin, and Yang, the ship itself will at least take up the size of a city block. If you can go to a junkyard and get a lot of scrap metal for me to work with, that will move the process along much faster.¡± ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll see what I can do.¡± I pulled up the adventurer¡¯s guild website to make sure that there weren¡¯t any local monsters being spawned in large numbers. After that, I put in a call to Monte to see how he was coming with the wiring, and he said that they were a little over halfway done. Just another day or two and it¡¯d be time for me to raise the shield. Finally, with everything taken care of, I logged back into the game and began cultivating my Metal Affinity. I even spread out my wings and activated the Aspect of the Mana Leech to ensure I took in the mana as fast as possible. If I could fill my grove with metal deposits, then I could possibly get enough mana to build the ship, possibly. Meanwhile, Celeste had gone quiet in order to focus on slowly feeding information to her Deus Ex body. Every now and then, she¡¯d complain about finally knowing what a headache felt like, but was determined to get it fully synchronized. Like this, the next few days quickly passed. Sharon was over a week out from the Gallen system, so Celeste had started working long before she arrived. Apparently, Celeste¡¯s class became Drone Ranger, an advanced hunter class that focuses on using drones and turrets instead of basic pets and has a greater focus on technology. With her mana pool, she was able to summon four small drones, two medium ones, or one big drone. We decided to use her medium and big drones as the combat ones, and set her smaller drones up as construction bots. She was able to buy upgrades for them the same way that she could for her own body, but at a higher cost since they were only pets. Alternatively, she could assign an archetype to the pets, and they would progress along a set development path at cheaper prices, but she would not be able to control what upgrades they got. For the construction drones, she went with this option, but chose to customize her other bots. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Summoning each bot required a set amount of her mana, which was unable to be recovered until the bot was returned. If she increased her mana reserves enough, it would be possible to have an army of minions. However, doing so would mean that she wasn¡¯t able to get the other upgrades she wanted, so she was saving that for later. Our first plan was to build a small shuttle, and use that to mine the ore needed from various asteroids to build a bigger ship. However, doing so would take a lot of time, and the asteroids around Earth were likely infested with monsters. So instead of going up, we decided to go down. On Gallen 3, there were no great subterranean creatures that would swallow me up if I decided to dig like the land wyrm on Hascion, and this planet was rich in a peculiar mineral, allowing the planet to give off a faint metal mana. Furthermore, there were many abundant mineral veins that would naturally regrow after a few weeks, so it wasn¡¯t a problem finding metal. The day after Celeste had finished synchronizing her body and mind, we went out about ten kilometers south of the city, and I sat on the ground while Yin and Celeste stood watch. This was a method I had never really tried before, but I was interested to see if it was possible. Spreading out my wings, I attuned them equally to earth and metal mana, and began absorbing as much as I could. This wasn¡¯t like my normal methods, where I would cycle mana to replace what was lost, I was simply taking, allowing my body to be a vacuum of mana. Within two meters of me, the ground slowly began receding, withering away as if it were eroded with acid. Meanwhile, orange and grey lights shot up from the ground and surged into my chest, the mana being funneled into my grove. This was a strange feeling for me, as if I could devour the entire world. However, I knew that logically such a thing was impractical. If I only have a two meter radius, it would take me decades of constant work to completely consume a single planet. It¡¯d be far easier to blow it up if I was intent on destroying it. Slowly, my body lowered down into a growing hole, that two meter radius remaining as I sank deeper and deeper. I could feel my grove expanding slightly from the intake of mana, but since I was not cycling the mana back out, my affinities would not improve. Considering that, I decided to do something I hadn¡¯t done in a while, and used my Autopilot program to dig down for five hours using this method. When I ¡®woke up¡¯ after the program was done, I found myself in a pit so deep that the top looked like a speck. However, looking at my grove, it had expanded by merely an inch or so in radius. Celeste told me that the pit I had dug was roughly seventy five meters deep. Taking another look at my grove, I found that there were a considerable amount of extra mineral deposits, even if the grove had only barely expanded. Though, it was not enough to build an entire ship. After I flew up, Celeste offered a quicker solution. ¡°Once Sharon gets here, you should have her cultivate the Metal Affinity, too. Then she can take the metal out of her grove, and you can put it in yours for me to build.¡± I nodded my head as I thought about it. According to my friends list, Sharon was still a few levels higher than me. Her cultivation speed should be pretty good. In the meantime, however, we repeated this process of digging two holes a day. As a random experiment, after three days of digging I went back to the first hole to measure if it had begun filling itself back in. It actually had, and was now only a meter wide, and thirty meters deep. According to Celeste, this was a common phenomena on many worlds, where dug earth would be replaced by the ambient mana if there was not anything like a support structure stopping it. After the third day of digging, Sharon finally arrived on Gallen 3, and I was able to take her into my grove. According to Celeste, I had almost all of the raw material needed to build the ship. All that was left was copious amounts of rubber. Everything else could be handled with our various abilities, or required materials that would need to be found after we got to space. For instance, the FTL drive of the old model she is basing the designs on requires a metal typically found in asteroids. So, we¡¯ll construct the ship and fly it out to the asteroid, mine what we need and be on our way. Unfortunately, even with the help of Celeste and her worker drones, it¡¯ll take several weeks to turn the mineral veins into a workable spaceship. Thankfully, they run on mana, and don¡¯t require rest. When I asked Celeste what the ship itself would run on, she told me that it largely ran on a plasma fission reactor, which I would need to help fuel when the time came. At least we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about running out of gas, or having to dive into a sun to recharge. Sharon was more than happy to cultivate the Metal Affinity after knowing that it would help us create the ship faster. She was also extremely interested in seeing my companions, as well as Celeste, since they had all evolved in some way or another. Except Yo¡­ she seemed a bit creeped out by the slime staff I often kept strapped to my back, saying it was gross. While leaving her to cultivate the new affinity, I went ahead and logged out of the game so that I could go provide the enchantment for the city. And they really know how to show it off as an easy target, I¡¯d say. They had the glass ball for the shield placed at the top of the tower above Oakland City Hall, in plain view for everyone to see. Apparently it was a public relations stunt to show that they were doing everything they could to protect the people, but to me it was just asking a monster to attack it and unleash hell on the city. Either way, I used the combined seeds I had previously created to enchant the glass ball with the cultivation technique to cycle mana, then linked it with the wire that led to the city¡¯s protective circle. By the time I got home after that, there was already a noticeable drop in monster activity, and the adventurer¡¯s guild website was only reporting monsters roaming into the city rather than spawning inside. ¡°Now, so long as a dragon doesn¡¯t show up, we should be fine. And no, I am not jinxing this, please don¡¯t let a dragon show up. I really do not want to have to deal with that¡­¡± Chapter 75: Where Can a Man Get Some Rubber Around Here? Author¡¯s Corner: Thanks all for your help in putting World Seed back in the top 50 active stories, #1 Weekly, and Top 5 Monthly! Never thought it¡¯d get any of those, let alone all three! Also, yay for the first one thousand followers benchmark!
Before going back to the game, I did another search to look up any important news. Turns out, there WAS a dragon. Thankfully, so far the only dragon sightings have been in Europe and China. However, they were all but immune to anything short of an orbital cannon blast, which is not really an option until after it¡¯s done eating a city¡¯s worth of people¡­ There was also some more information about the Seeds, as well. Some people tried to break them, but ended up only breaking whatever tool they were using without leaving a scratch. Even a building demolished by a dragon still had the Seeds within floating in midair, their positions completely unchanged after losing any physical supports. I might not understand the science behind it, but I had to assume that they were physically linked to their own versions three thousand years in the future, preventing them from being tampered with through outside methods. This of course raised the question of how someone wheeled mine into my house to hook it up. My only explanation for that was blaming magic and gods. Unfortunately, this meant a number of things, including that the Seeds could not be taken into space. Once we left Earth, we had one life. ¡°Well¡­. there might be other ways to create a life insurance in the game¡¯s network. I¡¯ll have my body take a look once we get back.¡± Celeste offered up, but all I could think about was maybe clones? Wasn¡¯t sure how it¡¯d work, though. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I shook my head and went back into the game, finding Sharon still cultivating the Metal Affinity. Although we had pretty much all the metal we needed for now, it was still a good idea to have her cultivate it, so I didn¡¯t stop her. No doubt we¡¯d eventually move up to a bigger ship, so having a supply of metal would be good. Besides, I had seen the schematic being used for our ship¡­ it was woefully under-equipped. There were only two guns! We definitely needed more weaponry if we were going to defend ourselves against whatever was out there. The mere thought of running into something like the lunar titan with a tiny light transport ship was suicidal. However, since it left without attacking, it¡¯s probably not very hostile. That doesn¡¯t mean any other moons we encounter won¡¯t try to eat us. I made a mental note to avoid Saturn. If any moon was going to turn into an actual titan¡­ it¡¯d be Titan. Knowing my luck, at least. Anyways, walking through town with the others, I made my way towards the general store. The man behind the counter greeted me with a smile and asked me how he could help, as normal. ¡°I need rubber, lots of rubber.¡± He raised a curious brow at that, but shrugged. ¡°Don¡¯t really find it around here, much. Petroleum products haven¡¯t been used on a large scale in centuries. What do you need it for? Maybe I can suggest an alternative.¡± I thought about it, and there was really no harm in letting someone on this side know what we were doing. ¡°We¡¯re building a ship, one of the older models to save money.¡± ¡°Oh, that so? Well, I don¡¯t know much about that, but if it¡¯s just a synthetic polymer for construction purposes, I can suggest a few places that sell them cheap.¡± With that, he sent us off to what seemed like a small town Home Depot. There were several things that I was sure were cutting edge construction tools¡­ but I had no idea what they were for. As such, I let Celeste handle the purchases, since she knew how much was needed. In the end, it cost fifty silver, over half of our remaining funds to buy the rest of what we needed. Still, if that was all that we had to pay to get our own ship, it¡¯d be a good deal. ¡°Too bad you can¡¯t just have one of your pets be a ship¡­¡± Celeste chuckled slightly at that comment as we were heading back. ¡°Well, I could if I keep upgrading my mana capacity for about the next fifty levels, but at that point I¡¯d still only be able to summon one pet big enough to be a ship. It¡¯d be well armed, maneuverable, basically the perfect small ship for a light crew, but it takes a lot of investment to get.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ well, that would be a problem. How big is your ¡®big summon¡¯?¡± ¡°About two meters tall, with my medium sized summons being half that, and my small ones being further reduced to half a meter tall. If I increase my mana capacity to a thousand points, I¡¯ll be able to unlock the next grade of summon, which is about four meters. For the most part, though, there isn¡¯t a difference in their ability. The larger summons have stronger attacks, and can take more damage, while having access to a few more powerful upgrades.¡± Thinking about it, I furrowed my brows together while realizing something. ¡°With just four drones of that size, you can¡¯t really do any of the lifting you need to do for the ship, can you?¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯s where I come in! I made sure to get a few strength upgrades when I was synchronizing my aura, so I can lift most of the pieces needed while they do the work. Still, though.. if I can get another level or two, I will be able to get more mana so that I can summon more drones.¡± ¡°So¡­ we¡¯re going hunting again soon, then?¡± I glanced over to her and asked as we arrived in front of the hotel, and she nodded her head. ¡°It would be a good idea. Since we have more people now, we can conduct a bigger hunting operation than before. If we form a party, the experience will be evenly shared between us. I¡¯ll level more slowly, since I am technically a higher level, but it will help you and Sharon as well.¡± ¡°How many levels would you need to get enough pets for the construction?¡± She seemed to do a few quick calculations in her head. ¡°Well, I can technically do it with what I have, but it will take quite a while. If I get ten more levels, I can get enough mana upgrades to summon a small army of construction drones. It would even be possible for me to assign a few of my pets as turrets for the ship.¡± I honestly didn¡¯t want to go hunting again. I wanted to hurry up the construction process and get out of Earth as soon as I could. However, doing so would now seem to require leveling up first. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go tell Sharon the plan, then. I haven¡¯t actually seen what her animal army¡¯s like since we met up.¡± When we got back to the room(yes, I¡¯m too cheap to buy a room for Sharon, too. No, sleeping on the couch is not comfortable), we told her about our plan, and she was only too happy to go along with it. After all, leveling up her pets would allow them to evolve. When we asked her what kind of animals she had now, we were in for a bit of a surprise. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. Along with the birds, wolves, horned rabbits, snakes, and deer, she now had armored bears, giant armadillos, apes, and a pony. Not multiple ponies, just one. Apparently, she keeps it in its own separate part of the grove. ¡°But¡­ how does your grove fit that many animals?¡± I had absorbed a massive amount of elemental mana from Legion to make my grove larger, and I still wouldn¡¯t be able to support a population of all of those. At least, not without them being so cramped that they wipe each other out in a week. ¡°Oh, they helped me build it!¡± Sharon smiled widely as she explained. ¡°After the wolves and bunnies started to learn how to cultivate, we found out that as long as they didn¡¯t make their own groves, they could transfer the mana that they take in to me. So, whenever I need more space for my grove, I have everyone come out and cultivate for a while.¡± Celeste and I both just stared dumbly at her for a while, before the robot girl amassed the courage to ask, ¡°And¡­ how many of your animals do you have cultivate at once¡­?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ There¡¯s about forty of the bunnies, twelve wolves, three of the birds, and one of the apes that have managed to do it so far. So a bit over fifty?¡± She¡­ she cultivates mana fifty times as fast as normal¡­ But, at least doing it that way shouldn¡¯t help her affinities much. ¡°Celeste¡­ how is it that her animals haven¡¯t evolved yet?¡± ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know? Maybe they kill each other faster than they grow? Otherwise, she should definitely have some evolved creatures if that many know how to cultivate.¡± I sighed, shaking my head and finding this girl harder and harder to understand. If I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d assume she was the dense heroine of a novel, figuring out impossible stunts as if they were nothing. ¡°Well, let¡¯s go with your wolves when we go hunting. What elements can they use?¡± ¡°Ah, just the basic seven. I haven¡¯t been able to teach them how to cultivate metal yet, sorry¡­¡± I had been expecting each one to just have one or two elements, and this girl is apologizing because they each had the basic seven¡­ ¡°Well, can you take us into your grove? Need Celeste to have a look at them and find out which ones are closest to evolving.¡± Sharon nodded her head happily, placing a hand on my chest, and another on Celeste¡¯s. I didn¡¯t have her take Yin and Yang in, because I wasn¡¯t sure if the animals would be friendly with them. And naturally, this was my first time being brought into a grove, so it felt a bit weird having my body break down into mana and be transported. Honestly, it felt very similar to the summoning ritual that had pulled me out of the jungle planet. When I found myself whole again, I was standing in the middle of a pack of wolves who were staring at me. Celeste appeared next to me a few moments later, formed from various strands of light weaving themselves together. However, the wolves did not attack like we expected, but just looked indifferently at us. ¡°Celeste¡­ you have a way to measure them, right?¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if she had an upgraded version of the Identify software on her Deus Ex body, but even without it we could get vague basic information. ¡°Yeah, I made sure to use one of my upgrades to get a scanner.¡± The pink haired girl said cheerfully, taking a look at the wolves while I looked around at the scenery. This was a much bigger grove than my own, and I could even see that there were others in the sky that had movement as well. Most likely, she had far more than fifty druid animals helping her at one point, and they had died off during the regular hunts for food with the other races. ¡°Okay.. we¡¯ve got three wolves at level twenty five. Unlike the birds, they don¡¯t break through until thirty because they are a low level combat species. However, I think each of them should get a fairly powerful evolution, given that they have decent elemental affinities with all seven basic elements.¡± Celeste pointed to the three wolves in question. ¡°The rest are a bit lower level, but should be able to evolve just fine over time.¡± ¡°Alright, then.. Guess we know who we¡¯re bringing with us for the hunt.¡± After saying that, I felt that weird sensation again, and found myself back out of the grove with Celeste. Sharon was giving us that same cute smile that she always had, and I couldn¡¯t help but feel like she was one of the scariest existences I¡¯ve ever met. ¡°So, where are we going? Also, do you know what they¡¯ll turn into?¡± Celeste chuckled lightly, shaking her head. ¡°We¡¯ll be heading to the mountains to hunt cliff tigers again. As for what they will become¡­ I can¡¯t say with a hundred percent certainty, since I can¡¯t read their skills, but if they evolve towards their affinities, they should become worldwolves. It¡¯s a rare breed of magical wolves that can control all of the elements. Though, their control is still fairly weak compared to specialized creatures. If they continue down that path, they might turn into something called a genesis wolf, which is basically a druid in a wolf¡¯s body.¡± Sharon thought about that for a little while, and then pouted slightly. ¡°Is there any way to get one to evolve into a lesser orthrus? That thing was so cute¡­¡± My mind was still mostly blank as I listened to all of this, thinking about how she had apparently advanced so far down her path as a colony druid while I was still struggling as a Xeno-Shifter. Celeste, however, laughed as she heard that. ¡°Well, if you train a single wolf to only cultivate water and fire, they will turn into an orthrus. They look like their lesser version, just bigger¡­¡± The next part, I felt like she added with emphasis specifically for Sharon. ¡°And fluffier.¡± Sharon¡¯s eyes went wide, and she nodded her head rapidly before Celeste continued. ¡°Going along that path, if the orthrus trains in wind or lightning, they can further evolve into a cerberus.¡± ¡°Ooh¡­. a three headed fluffy¡­¡± I could see a bit of drool running down her cheek as she imagined having a giant three headed wolf to cuddle. Though, doesn¡¯t cerberus have a snake tail as well? As I thought that, I looked over to Celeste, and caught her sending me a playful wink. That¡¯s just wrong... Chapter 76: Where did the Innocence go? Author¡¯s Corner: Greetings and saluwelcomes everyone! Enjoy the chapter!
Now that we knew who we were bringing along for our little adventure, Sharon and I headed out of the hotel. Since we weren¡¯t really going to be needing our money much after we left, we weren¡¯t worried about the funds for teleporting to the closer city. Though, we did store all of our companions and such inside the groves so that we could afford the transfer. For now, I didn¡¯t bring out Yin or Yang, because they didn¡¯t need to participate in these fights. Yin needed to train her affinities before leveling, and Yang wasn¡¯t able to level up through fighting anyways. Though, I did leave her with one of the diamondback wolf skeletons and ask her to train her Nature Craftsmen skills to make armor or weapons out of it. When we arrived at the next city, I summoned Yo and Celeste, while Sharon summoned her three wolf cultivators. Since she was unable to shapeshift, I was going to refrain from doing so as well. However, she climbed up onto the back of the largest of the three wolves, patting his side gently. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go~.¡± She smiled, and the wolves took off towards the mountain, leaving us behind. Celeste merely laughed, summoning her wings and flying low after Sharon, while Yo turned into his cliff tiger form and chased them as well. Shaking my head, I went ahead and invited Celeste and Sharon to a party before changing into a cliff tiger myself to chase after them. So, are we just hunting the tigers for now? If so, won¡¯t it take a lot for us to get the levels we need? Celeste smiled back to me as I caught up with her and explained the plan. ¡°Once we get there, we can climb the mountain and start hunting the stronger creatures. If the three of us team up, we should be able to even hunt stone wyverns.¡± I nodded my head at that. If it was just me alone, I might have problems with them. But still, with my plasma attacks it should be possible. Add in Celeste, Sharon, and their pets, and it becomes easier. ¡°Ah, no, I won¡¯t be using my pets for this. I left my construction drones summoned in your grove so that they could start working on the ship. Right now, they¡¯re working on setting up a proper work station that I¡¯ll have you move to the void area of your grove when it¡¯s done.¡± Celeste continued smiling, turning her head back to look forward as we all ran. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I made sure I can contribute on my own as well.¡± After speaking, she extended her right hand, and summoned something else from her upgrade inventory. It appeared to be a long spear, though the tip was missing any form of blade. ¡°It¡¯s a plasma spear. If I upgrade it a few more times, it will become a light spear, but for today I¡¯m focusing on mana upgrades.¡± I still wanted to study her aura to try and turn into a Deus Ex myself. If I couldn¡¯t do it with my Nature Magic, I should be able to with Technomancy. Either way, it would be interesting to add it to my list of races. After running for a while longer, we eventually arrived at the base of the mountain where I had fought the cliff tigers. When we got there, I turned back into my half-elf body, but activated my combat Aspects to get ready. Yo apparently decided to remain in his current form while Sharon hopped off of her wolf. ¡°Okay~! How does this work? Do my wolves count as part of the party?¡± Celeste shook her head as she landed, dismissing her wings. ¡°No, but as long as they participate in the fight, they will get a share of the experience.¡± The druidess nodded her head, and we proceeded to hike up the mountain. She seemed a bit different than the last time we had met. She no longer was so reserved when it came to killing animals, even though she obviously cared very deeply for her own. Or maybe she just cared that they were really fluffy and made for good hug pillows. Either way, it was clear that she had gotten over her previous mindset that all animals should be protected. Especially when it meant she could get a new type of wolf to play with. Anyways, our climb went pretty smoothly for a while. That¡¯s not to say that we did not encounter any resistance, but that we were able to overcome it easily. Sharon¡¯s wolves would use fire and ice to blast the cliff tigers as they appeared, while Celeste would dance around with her plasma spear. As she did so, a long energy blade would form atop the end of the spear, allowing her to tear through the relatively defenseless tigers. As for myself¡­ well, I felt pretty useless just sitting there, so I would use my pistols to fire at whoever the other two missed. After sending our first prey to Yin so that she could have some meat, the rest of the bodies were devoured by Yo, and each time he did so, his cliff tiger form became more solid. It was as if he was studying the aura as he ate it in order to master it. Every now and then, I would be needed to heal one of the wolves if it got ambushed by a tiger pouncing up from below, or Sharon if she was caught off guard. When Celeste received an injury, I wanted to heal it, but since she was a Deus Ex the spell did not work. At the time, she just smiled to me and said that she would heal later. For a Deus Ex to heal, they had to process metal within their body. For only the second time since I joined NeoLife, I saw just how different it was to be in a team. And the first time, it was a team of two level one characters, who were barely able to do anything alone. Now, we were three level twenty five and above characters who had gained a bit of skill. Before, killing ten or so of these animals would level me up, but now, I had yet to do so even after we killed thirty of them while climbing up. I was close, but it wasn¡¯t enough yet. Every now and then, I would pause for a bit to recharge my pistols after repeated firing, but I had perhaps the easiest job in the group¡­ Sit back and shoot stuff that gets away. Sharon was able to easily command her three wolves to do battle in an effective manner that showed how well they had trained. One wolf would act as bait, and when the cliff tiger dove into the ground, it would move back so that the other two could blast it as it came out. Then, if the tigers went after the two wolves, the third would ambush them. ¡°She probably has her companion tracking the battle so that she can send out the commands.¡± Celeste spoke up in my mind as I watched, only having to occasionally shoot one of my pistols at a fleeing tiger. I nodded my head, thinking that it was likely the answer, and a pretty smart idea. If she were to summon all of the animals in her grove, this entire mountain might be overrun within a couple days. Though¡­ there was honestly something about her that was even more scary than how she had grown so strong so quickly. Every time we fought a group of cliff tigers, she would always leave a single male and female alive, and try to convince them to be her animal companions. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Naturally¡­ they weren¡¯t very happy with that, and would often attack her. However, their attacks didn¡¯t get far before the wolves descended on them. There was actually one cliff tiger that agreed to the deal, and was sent to her grove. From then on, she would only spare one tiger per group before trying to recruit it again. So that¡¯s how she has so many companions¡­ where did the innocent girl from before go?! I wanted to scream out that this was just wrong. In the end, I could only cough awkwardly as Yo was digesting one of the corpses. ¡°Isn¡¯t that uh¡­ kind of cruel? Recruiting them that way?¡± She gave me that same innocent smile she always used. ¡°It¡¯s fine, right? If they want to come with us, they can, but otherwise we need to level up. So, I¡¯ll give them the choice until I have a pair, and set them up a small area in my grove. It¡¯s probably a much nicer treatment than they get here, right?¡± I know it is logical.. it makes perfect sense, but it still sent a shiver down my spine. ¡°Uh¡­ sure¡­¡± I was inwardly glad that I never decided to become a Colony Druid, because that kind of logic was messed up. After we went a bit further, we stopped encountering cliff tigers altogether, and instead started finding other monsters. The first was a large lizard, roughly ten meters in length and two tall, which Celeste called a boulder lizard. It was able to blend seamlessly into the rock wall of the mountain, and was only visible if we were using our Aura Sight¡­ or had a Deus Ex that was constantly using the skill. With Celeste around, we were able to easily spot the large boulder lizards. And apparently, their average level was over forty, but they typically only operated solo or with a single mate. The first time we spotted one, Celeste had us all stop climbing while silently pointing to a protrusion of rock nearby. Since none of us knew about it, she transmitted the information to me while charging her spear. Boulder lizards are slow, but strong. Their hides are incredibly durable, with their only weakness being their underbelly. The first to strike was Celeste, who lept up at the lizard that was still thinking it had been hidden, and swept her spear across its back. Although her weapon uses plasma to strike, it didn¡¯t penetrate deep enough to cause a real wound. However, it was fully exposed now. Sharon was clearly able to see what was happening, and had her three wolves move in for the hit. ¡°Don¡¯t kill it yet~!¡± She shouted cheerfully as the wolves surrounded the giant animal, causing me to experience another chill. Since her lance didn¡¯t work, Celeste landed on the rock in front of the lizard, clenching her fist and giving it an uppercut as it was preparing to fight. The strength she used shocked me, as it actually sent the lizard a few feet into the air while the wolves began scorching it with fire breaths. When it came back down, she punched the top of its head to send it into a daze while Sharon ran over. ¡°Do you want to come with us?¡± She put her hand on the top of its head, likely trying to use her Nature Magic or Animal Affinity to communicate with it. As it woke up, it opened its giant mouth, revealing rows of jagged shark-like teeth. Before it could take a bite out of Sharon, her three wolves were by her side and sending a torrent of flame into its stomach. ¡°Aww¡­ Oh well, maybe the next one!¡± She shook her head, while I had Yo begin absorbing the boulder lizard. While being able to swim in the ground is great and all, Yo still needs to absorb more forms to increase his intelligence. Though, now we had a giant slimy lizard following us around. On the bright side, we all seemed to level up after that encounter. From then on, I started using my plasma rifle instead of the pistols, since the enemies after this would require more penetrating power to fight. Each time we found one, Celeste and Sharon¡¯s wolves would beat it to within an inch of its life, and Sharon would try to make it into her companion. For the ones that refused, either the wolves dealt the finishing blow, or I did with my rifle. After fighting six of them, one finally agreed. She seemed to be able to tell their genders at a glance, despite this being her first encounter with the creatures, because from then on she only asked a few of the lizards we encountered. The rest were directly finished off. At this rate, it didn¡¯t take long for me to reach level thirty, but the wolves were still a bit off from it. According to Celeste, they could evolve at any time, so we kept climbing higher and higher. After the second boulder lizard agreed to be her animal companion, we began killing them as soon as we saw them. Soon, we started coming across different creatures as well. Up next were smaller creatures, but I wasn¡¯t too clear on what happened. I heard a series of chittering noises around us, and seemed to blank out. When I realized what was going on, we were surrounded by several craters that seemed to be melted out with extreme heat. Sharon and Celeste were looking at me with their eyes wide and mouths hanging open, and her wolves were hiding behind her. Hmm? Why is my mana almost depleted? I¡¯m sure if it was important I¡¯d remember.
You gained a new title!
Spider Slaughterer +20% Damage against arachnids. Stacks with Vengeful Heart You fear and hate spiders to such an absurd degree that you enter a berserk state when you encounter them, using any and all methods to ensure their swift demise.
Oh, great, now the system gave me a berserk mode? And it¡¯s triggered by--hey, what¡¯s that? Another brief blackout, and I awoke to find a rather deep crater in front of me. Looking back to the others, I did my best impression of Sharon¡¯s innocent smile. ¡°Did I ever mention I really hate spiders?¡± The two nodded their heads quite energetically. Behind Sharon, even the wolves were nodding their heads. Chapter 77: The Hunt Continues Author¡¯s Corner: Hello everyone! Time for another daily dose of fiction!
A bit curious about my ¡®berserk¡¯ state, I asked Celeste if she could show me what had happened. I had obviously used quite a lot of destructive force, and there was a chance that I did something in that state that I may not have considered doing normally. Knowing my reasoning, Celeste complied, but said that she was editing it so as not to set me off again. From there, it was like a video playing in my mind, more detailed than any other, more like a memory in real time. I could see myself, or Falenel as I was thought of in this case, standing a bit off to the side. My view was bathed in the familiar strands of light that show whenever I use Aura Sight, and I could faintly see indistinct figures approaching. By my understanding of the mountain here, these should be rock ******, similar to certain creatures found in John¡¯s world shortly after the start of Genesis. I wanted to warn him, knowing how he felt about these creatures now, but my warning came a second too late. The first ***** broke through the ground, and as he spotted it, his expression changed rapidly. First it paled, as it normally would when encountering these creatures, and then it darkened ferociously. With my Aura Sight, I could see wisps of magnet mana flying out around him, forming various spheres. Then, plasma began to erupt within the spheres. Soon, there were dozens of red orbs hovering around him. Unfortunately, the ****** emerged closest to him, so Sharon and I were unable to react in time. As the first one launched at him, he sent five plasma spheres to meet it, reducing it to nothingness in an instant. Then, all of the orbs began lining up in a pattern, layers of various sizes forming a large ball. When the layers began rotating in opposing directions, at increasing speeds, it almost seemed as if they had merged into one giant sphere. ¡°Fuck off!¡± As he shouted, the giant sphere descended on the hole where the first ***** emerged from. I knew that the sphere itself was hollow, but that did little to negate the effect it had. Within moments, there was a crater of molten slag where the ****** had been digging, and very few were left that had escaped the blast. However, that wasn¡¯t the only ¡®team¡¯ that was advancing, and soon another one broke out of the ground near Sharon. This time, I had the chance to warn her. ¡°Watch out, below!¡± She responded quickly by jumping back, and was about to have one of the wolves attack. However, the various smaller spheres that had created Falenel¡¯s attack suddenly dispersed and reformed immediately in front of her before taking the same formation as before. I could see the shock on her face as she was just a few feet from being included in the attack. And, just as viciously as before, Falenel carved out another hole in the ground. But this time, he didn¡¯t stop there. After the hole was created, the dozens of smaller spheres separated again, and burrowed into the ground. It looked like he had activated his own Aura Sight, and could now see where the rest of the ****** were hiding underground. The plasma spheres shot through the ground like torpedoes, intercepting any ***** that he noticed. For the larger groups, several spheres would merge together and erupt in a blast of energy. However, from the surface, there was only a vague glow on the ground where the plasma spheres were traveling near the surface, and the occasional collapse when they erupted. Considering that he hasn¡¯t been contributing much to the fights so far, this sudden outburst was a stark contrast. And I could feel the overwhelming hate that had boiled up inside of him, as if these ****** were something that he absolutely must destroy at any cost. From his perspective, he didn¡¯t even see Sharon and I anymore, only the targets for his attacks. By the time all of his plasma spheres had been exhausted, his mana was nearly depleted. However, almost all of the ****** had been destroyed, and what remained were frantically scurrying away underground to escape the destruction. Panting heavily, Falenel began to calm down after a few more moments, but by now the damage was done. Sharon¡¯s wolves were all hiding behind her, and the other woman could only stare dumbfounded at who she had likely assumed to be much weaker than her previously. From Falenel¡¯s perspective, I could see as a new message appeared from the system, granting him a title based on the rampage he had just caused. Just as he was lifting his head to speak, he was distracted by another ***** that had its escape path cross one of his craters. When he saw it, his expression warped again, and he created a large magnetic sphere around the *****, before filling it with plasma. Thanks to that, there was no escape, and another crater was added to the mountain. ¡°And, that¡¯s pretty much what happened.¡± Celeste explained to me with a weak smile after the ¡®recording¡¯ ended. Well, that¡¯s one way to have an out of body experience. Though, thankfully she blurred the figures of the spiders, so even though I knew what they were, it didn¡¯t set me off. With great power, comes the great desire to crush creepy insects. ¡°Huh¡­¡± I had never thought of using plasma in formations like that, but it obviously had impressive results. Though, at the same time, it had burnt through nearly all of my mana as well. I¡¯d need to wait a bit before I could use my magic in another fight. I thought about passing the time by examining Celeste¡¯s aura and trying to shift into a Deus Ex, but there was still a high chance of accidentally killing myself in the process. Though, that led me on an interesting train of thought. When I died, I didn¡¯t really die, only this body did. My aura was then sent back to my main body in the past, while the Seed took one of my levels as a price to make a new body, similar to my Soul Arts. Then, wouldn¡¯t it be possible to create a lesser version of the Seed, that only had the function of remote controlling a body that shared an aura with the user? Looking up, I saw Celeste grinning at me, and nodding her head. ¡°That would be one way to do it, yeah¡­ We¡¯d have to make the clones ourselves, but if we make a controller like that, at least our safety would be somewhat assured.¡± Sharon looked curiously at us, so I decided to explain. ¡°We¡¯re thinking about how to make a substitute for the Seed on our ship. We won¡¯t be able to come to the future with it, because time travel is still far far beyond us, and will likely always be. However, we should be able to use remote controlled bodies like this.¡± At that, she smiled brightly. ¡°Oh? Awesome! But¡­ would that still work for me? I mean, aren¡¯t I a remote controlled body already?¡± I thought about it for a moment. ¡°We¡¯ll have to experiment. Worst case scenario, I¡¯ll just have to fly the Seraglio to pick you up if it fails. However, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem, I think. Celeste will have to be the one taking care of that, as she is our ¡®Chief Science Officer¡¯.¡± I smirked towards the Deus Ex, who giggled at her new title. ¡°Ooh¡­ do I get a title too?¡± Sharon¡¯s eyes were wide, and I knew that she really wanted a title of her own. I was glad to see that, aside from her attitude towards getting new animal companions, she was still the same innocent girl she used to be. ¡°Hmm¡­ alright. You can be the ¡®Tactical Officer¡¯, since you seem so good at commanding your animal companions in battle.¡± At this point, Celeste playfully spoke up from behind me. ¡°So, what does that make you?¡± I puffed my chest out proudly. ¡°Obviously, I¡¯m the Captain of the Seraglio.¡± Both Celeste and Sharon laughed at that for a few moments, before we got back to our hike. Though, neither of them disagreed with me claiming to be captain of the ship. I wasn¡¯t really sure why, I mean I wasn¡¯t exactly a great leader. Maybe they were just satisfied with their own roles, so they let me have the big chair? After all, Celeste would really be handling most of the work, so being the captain was more a figurehead position. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. As we got back to climbing, we soon came across more and more of the tiny stone spiders, though Celeste began blurring their figures in my vision so that I didn¡¯t go on a rampage and accidentally hurt her or Sharon. With these fights, I just did my best to stay back out of the way while the other two swept through them. Delicious, delicious experience rained down upon me, and soon the moment arrived when Sharon¡¯s wolves began evolving. As expected, they evolved at the same time. Mana began rushing into the wolves from the surroundings, and I watched as they each grew larger. However, that seemed to be the only visible change. When I used my Aura Sight, I could see seven spheres of energy within their bodies, each one tuned to a different base element. Likely, that was the source of their power, which would give them greater elemental control than they had as wolves. On this subject, Celeste offered some enlightenment. ¡°Worldwolves are similar in appearance to dire wolves, but instead of a strengthened body they get stronger magic. When they evolve again at level seventy, they¡¯ll be able to take on a human appearance at will, and their fur becomes green.¡± Sharon nodded her head as she listened, and in the next battle we began seeing the changes in these wolves. Before, they had simply been using breath weapons, or the occasional rock spikes. But now, they were able to more accurately control the elements. One seemed to favor fighting with the water element, by concentrating it to form multiple wolf bodies that could attack together, while another did something interesting with lightning. Through what I could only describe as impressive control, they created a small, controllable lightning snake that could strike on command. Finally, the last wolf did not favor any element, switching between all seven as the need would arise. With darkness, he seemed able to merge with shadows and use them to instantly move around, before slashing with claws that had a wind blade following them, and finishing the job with a fire breath. Our hunting speed increased significantly with the addition of these three upgraded wolves, and we soon came across the territory of the mighty stone wyverns. A stone wyvern could stand as tall as six meters, with a wingspan of over twenty. Rather than arms, they had giant wings made of stone coming from their shoulders, and I could only explain their ability to fly as being some form of magic. No creature made of stone like that should be able to fly naturally, not matter how big the wings were. Celeste confirmed my suspicion, telling us that the wyvern¡¯s wings had a special magical property that let it repel itself from earth surfaces. In scientific terms, it was able to use the planet¡¯s geomagnetic field to fly. I was definitely going to study this particular magic ability. If I could apply it to my body, I should be able to fly even without using my wings. By the time we had reached the first wyvern, Sharon and I were both level 36, though we hadn¡¯t taken the time to spend our points yet. After taking the time to do so, this is how my status looked.
NameFalenel HulettRaceHalf-Elf(Woodland)
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider SlaughtererFame400
Level 3640%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health310/310Health Regen0.52
Mana1250/1250Mana Regen3.44
Strength15Wisdom146
Agility26Intelligence125
Dexterity22Charisma15
Vitality31Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 13%Fire 11%Wind 11%Water 12%
Lightning 11%Light 11%Dark 12%Plant 12%
Void 11%Metal 13%Magnetism 11%Plasma 11%
With my improved wisdom, I was confident that I could do a bit better with my mana now, because I was regenerating faster than I had been before. Though, Celeste and Sharon had their own improvements as well. With Sharon, it was her physical abilities that improved. Since she commanded her animal army to fight, she was able to focus more on her own abilities, rather than magic. Especially now that I was here to act as a healer. As for Celeste, she had spent what level upgrades she had gotten to increase her mana. Doing so allowed her to summon up her two medium class pets. Each one looked like a robotic cat that stood three feet tall at its shoulders, with shifting metal plates along its skin. I wasn¡¯t sure what abilities these robots had, but I found out when it was time to fight. Unlike our previous battles, this time it was the wyvern that made the first move, sweeping in from behind us so that we only saw a shadow descending. The fastest to react was Celeste, who spun around and slashed out with her plasma spear to meet the creature¡¯s claws. Next came her pets, who leaped up onto the wyvern and had small streams of plasma coming from their claws as they slashed at it. Their attacks weren¡¯t very deep, but they left long cuts on the creature¡¯s stone skin. After that came Sharon, who had her three wolves begin attacking. The wolf with the lightning snake shot its favored attack out at the same time as the other wolf began making water clones. The final wolf simply dived into the wyvern¡¯s shadow, vanishing from sight. Unfortunately, I was the last to react, and was knocked forward by the wyvern¡¯s initial strike. When I tumbled back to my feet(with some difficulty, I might add), I immediately pulled out my beam saber, charging up for a big attack. The hits from the others all impacted at nearly the same time, causing the stone wyvern to roar out as it was knocked back, before it flew around to come in for another strike. It was surprisingly agile in the air, given what it was made of, and was able to easily dodge the blasts shot out by Sharon¡¯s wolves, and the plasma shots that emerged from the mouths of Celeste¡¯s cats. However, Celeste herself took to the air to chase the wyvern, striking at it with her lance whenever she had the chance. Unlike the cats, each of her strikes were able to cut deep into the wyvern, making it cry out in pain. Unfortunately, this left Celeste alone in the skies for it to counter attack. After she finished delivering her strike, it had brought one of its hind claws back and slammed it into her, causing her to plummet into the ground. By now, my attack was ready, and I slashed my sword at the wyvern that was much too far away to hit. However, using the mana I had saved up, I rapidly extended the magnetic field released by my beam saber, lengthening the blade and supplying a bit of plasma to supplement it so that I did not drain the battery with this attack. The end result was that I suddenly slashed out with a blade dozens of meters long, and cut off one of the wyvern¡¯s wings. Without the balanced support of both wings, it fell to the ground a short distance away while releasing cries of pain. Looking over to Sharon, I expected her to ask us to spare it so that she could try recruiting. However, she instead had her wolves finish it off. The one that had previously hidden in the wyvern¡¯s shadow suddenly appeared next to it, sending out wind blades one after another until the neck of the beast had been cut through. ¡°I don¡¯t need anything this big yet¡­ Maybe if I have everyone cultivate I can make a home for them.¡± Sharon said with a shrug. Meanwhile, I looked around for Yo, who had been knocked away even further than myself from the wyvern¡¯s first attack, and called him back. First, I could learn the wyvern¡¯s aura, than Yo could. Slime wyvern sounds like an awesome pet. Chapter 78: Why, god, why?! Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! Enjoy the chapter!
After going towards the wyvern, I spent roughly fifteen minutes to thoroughly examine its body. By Celeste¡¯s calculations, I don¡¯t quite have enough mana yet to take on this form. I wasn¡¯t really surprised, given how large and powerful the wyvern was. However, I had already committed the aura to memory, and then had Yo absorb the body. I have to admit, it was amusing to watch as the mimic slime absorbed the wyvern¡¯s body, and then turned itself into a wyvern. It was even more amusing to watch as the giant slime wyvern¡¯s body suddenly shrunk to the size of a quarterstaff. Behold my new power, projectile wyverns! Alright, back to the seriousness. I had Yo change into his staff form because I wanted to test how far along it was coming with its mimic powers. The formerly flimsy, slippery staff was now much more firm, and almost none of the ooze escaped it. By my rough guess, Yo should be ready to evolve again by the time we leave this mountain. Celeste, hearing my thoughts, nodded her head. ¡°Yo should be able to evolve pretty soon, since his ability to mimic other things has improved to this point. Once he is able to perfectly mimic something, the evolution will trigger.¡± ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s continue hunting!¡± I said with a smile, and Celeste smirked to me before we continued ascending the mountain. We were roughly three quarters of the way to the top now, so the only threats left on the mountain were the wyverns. Now that we had our very own wyvern, and a Deus Ex who was happy to play dragonrider by riding on it with her spear out, solo wyverns weren¡¯t much of a threat anymore. It was only when they came in groups of two or three that we had some difficulties. The first time we had to fight a pair of stone wyverns, Celeste and Yo took on one of them while I used my plasma attacks to fight the other with Sharon¡¯s pets. When we had to fight three of them at once, Celeste dismissed her medium sized minions and summoned her big one as a distraction. Well, I say big, but it was the same size as a normal person. This was a humanoid minion that looked identical to Celeste¡¯s early robot form. However, when it came time to fight, it began wielding a large plasma cannon that tore through the wyvern¡¯s wing in one shot. After the fight, Celeste told me that this minion was specialized exclusively for ranged combat with a heavy weapon, since we had been lacking that. If anything got into close range, it would break apart quickly, but between its cannon and a sniper rifle it was pretty good for ranged attacks. ¡°By the way¡­ wouldn¡¯t it be easy to have one of your minions get a weapon upgrade, then take it for a free weapon?¡± I asked after one of our fights while Yo was ¡®eating¡¯. ¡°Well, you could, except that the weapon is bound to the minion and won¡¯t work for anyone else. Even I can¡¯t use one of their weapons, because my mana signature does not match what the weapon is set for. If you had a good ability to hack, it might be possible, but otherwise the weapon is just a useless club.¡± That made sense, sort of. Though, I was more focused on keeping an eye out for possible ambushes from the sky. Celeste only needed two more levels before she was ready to commit to the construction project. I wasn¡¯t sure what her mana was like, but I wanted to try to study her aura once we left. For that matter, I wanted to study Sharon¡¯s too, so that I could turn into a full wood elf instead of a half elf. There may not be much difference, but still¡­ While we were climbing higher and higher, more and more wyverns began appearing. The most that we could take on at one point was four without suffering heavy injuries. Once a fifth came in, we were quickly overwhelmed due to not having enough long ranged support. Celeste¡¯s minion was destroyed, and Sharon had to recall her wolves to her grove to protect them while the five wyverns circled overhead. For some reason, I heard Celeste apologizing to me before she played her ultimate trump card, spider illusion! Insert blackout here, awaken to dead wyverns. Glaring to Celeste, I couldn¡¯t help but scold her. It¡¯s just wrong to take advantage of someone¡¯s phobias, you know? Though, apparently that brought us much closer to the level we needed to leave the mountain. This time, I was not very interested in reviewing what had happened. Anyways, now that the wyverns were starting to attack in greater numbers than we could handle, we decided to heal up and head back down the mountain. It¡¯s not like there would be absolutely no encounters on the way back just because we killed stuff on the way up, after all! On our way back down the mountain, we encountered a few more wyverns before Yo had his moment of glory. And by that, I mean he evolved, and changed shape into something he had obviously never eaten before. After absorbing his final wyvern, Yo¡¯s body began convulsing, reverting back to its original green blob shape and jiggling around wildly. Part of me wanted to poke him with a stick, but another part wanted to slap the first part for making bad jokes. Slowly, Yo¡¯s body began to take shape. A vague form appeared as the slime spread out in the ground, looking similar to an adult human(made of green slime). The waist was surprisingly narrow, the hair a bit long, but he--.... wait¡­ breasts¡­. dammit! Why did my slime turn into a girl!? Celeste smirked next to me, as if she had expected it all along. ¡°Well, how many men has she been around compared to women? Isn¡¯t it only natural that she went with the more common gender?¡± ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± I had wanted a comrade in arms to fight off the harem, not another potential member! ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t ship John and Yo¡­ yet.¡± She giggled lightly before flying ahead, while Yo continued to solidify her body. Perhaps because she had extra slime to spare, she gave herself a large bust and hips, with long legs. If not for the fact that she was just formed, I¡¯d seriously consider tapping that. At least, until she looked at me with her big eyes and said her next words. ¡°Papa, I¡¯m awake!¡± Papa?! Who¡¯s your papa?! As I was left confused, she sat up and wrapped her arms around my legs, hugging them happily. ¡°Yo is awake, papa!¡± In the distance, I could hear Celeste laughing loudly, while Sharon just looked at me, blushing a bit. I did have a naked slime girl, a hot one at that, hugging my legs and calling me papa. ¡°Celeste¡­. explain. For the love of all that is cute and holy, explain.¡± Stolen novel; please report. The AI flew back, still laughing lightly as she landed. ¡°Well, she has your blood flowing through her body, or a drop of it at least. You created her with it, remember?¡± Celeste¡¯s mouth was stuck in a wide grin, as if she had fully expected this. ¡°In that case, aren¡¯t you her father?¡± ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± I tried to find some way to deny this¡­ but the logic was there¡­ I created Yo with my blood and mana. Yo looked up at me, and I could see her face taking on a childlike pout, her eyes going wide and lips turning down. ¡°Is papa sad?¡± ¡°No¡­ no¡­ I¡¯m not sad..¡± I can¡¯t help it¡­ even though she looks like an adult woman, maybe even a porn star¡¯s body, with that face¡­ I can¡¯t stay upset. Curse you cuteness(and sexiness)! ¡°Yay!¡± Again, Yo began hugging my legs tightly, nuzzling her head against my thigh. Even though she addresses me how she does¡­ she is still an incredibly hot slime girl, so that causes quite a reaction in me. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ that¡¯s enough, Yo. Come on, stand up.¡± I leaned down to help Yo up before she notices this and gets curious. I do not want this kind of scene here! Thankfully, the slime girl nods, happily accepting my help to stand. ¡°Uh¡­ can you¡­ make yourself some clothes or something?¡± I think I might faint if I have to walk back to town with her naked like this¡­ Yo looks down at her body, confused for a moment. ¡°Hmm?¡± Before she could do any more damage, Sharon came to my rescue, and threw some spare clothes at the slime. Unfortunately¡­ fate is not kind. No matter what, this could only end badly. Either she puts the clothes on, and we get the epitome of a wet t-shirt view, or-yup, she ate them. Putting the clothes on her body, they were quickly ¡®digested¡¯, after which another thin layer of slime formed over her body, giving it the appearance of being clothed. Though, these clothes were still made of slime, so it was not at all difficult to see what they should have been hiding. Clothes are meant to cover things, this is just cruel teasing! ¡°So¡­ Celeste¡­ rundown of slime people, please¡­?¡± I need a distraction, pronto. Don¡¯t make me keep looking at that body. For the love of god, please! Celeste giggled cutely, smiling at me. ¡°Well, like mimic slimes, they have the ability to change into anything they absorb. However, they can¡¯t always maintain the rigidity of their bodies, so they can typically only use equipment that they have consumed and learned how to mimic. This includes armor and weapons.¡± ¡°They also have this ability in regards to creatures, and can reserve up to five memorized slime forms. They have the full power of the creature that they turn into had at the moment of its death. So, while she can turn into a stone wyvern, that stone wyvern form will never level up beyond its current point. She can only make it stronger by assimilating a stronger version.¡± ¡°Finally, they can do change their body into any shape they can imagine. However, unless it is in the shape of something they¡¯ve absorbed, it does not gain any special properties. So, if she tried to turn her arm into a sword right now, it¡¯d still be flimsy and lack a cutting edge, because she has not absorbed anything like it.¡± I nodded, closing my eyes as I thought. This was mostly to avoid looking at the heavenly peaks in front of me, but still. ¡°Do they have the same restriction of being unable to copy technology?¡± ¡°Not so much. The complexity of their forms depend on their intelligence. Yo, try opening up your status, and tell us what your intelligence is listed as.¡± Celeste smiled gently as she instructed Yo. ¡°Muuu¡­. Yo is smart, just watch!¡± I could see Yo making a gesture as if to open her status window, and then beamed with pride. ¡°Twenty-eight! Yo is a genius!¡± ¡­.Well, I have to admit, since she is acting like an eight year old, having a 28 intelligence would be pretty impressive. Celeste, however, just smiled warmly. ¡°Okay, she can copy simple technology, but not energy weapons yet. It¡¯d be best to have her use gear made by Yang. Once she has an intelligence over a hundred, she¡¯ll be able to do basic energy weapons.¡± After Celeste spoke, Yo formed a staff in her hands, and it appeared to be the same staff that she had previously been able to change herself into. ¡°See, I can do it!¡± She waved her staff around proudly. ¡°I can help fight!¡± With a sigh, I brought my hand up and flicked her forehead, causing ripples along the skin. She quickly dissolved the staff and brought her hands up to rub her forehead while pouting. ¡°For now, you can fight as the wyvern. You haven¡¯t trained with a staff to be able to use it to fight yet.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ fine¡­ but only if papa rides me when we go back!¡± I swear, I fell face first into the rock when she said that. ¡°It feels good to be ridden like that¡­¡± The slime girl was smiling innocently, and Celeste was laughing her ass off. ¡°You mean¡­ ohh, right.¡± I slapped myself on the forehead. Bad brain, bad! Not that kind of ride! Sharon, meanwhile, was completely red in the face as she followed along, summoning her wolves again as we made our way down the mountain. Now that she had evolved again, Yo was more playful when fighting, to the point where she would fly around a wyvern to tease them while Celeste attacked from her back. When not fighting, she would attach herself to my arm like a certain bird girl. Unlike Yang, though, my arm would almost instantly slip through the thin film that had been constructed to act as a shirt, and be directly embraced by those squishy mounds. I admit, I like the feeling, I love it even! If not for her acting like a little girl and calling me papa all the time, I¡¯d probably push her down at the first chance I got. Sadly, she does, and it¡¯s just too cute. Even if it gets insanely awkward with how much she enjoys skinship. By the time we got to the bottom of the mountain, we had leveled up again. Celeste also got the last level she needed for the mana upgrades, and was now able to summon up to sixteen construction bots at once, eight medium sized minions, four ¡®normal¡¯ sized ones, two large ones, and one really big summon. I really wanted to see what the big summon would look like. After we got down to the base of the mountain, Yo got down on her hands and knees and smiled back to me. ¡°Ride me, papa!¡± Just as I was beginning to feel myself growing faint, her body expanded rapidly, turning into the giant stone wyvern who was kneeling in the same position, waiting for us to get on. Chapter 79: I Can Plan Things When I Want To! Author¡¯s Corner: Not really sure why, but people seem to think that the story from this point on is going to focus primarily on the women around John. Even in the most serious of circumstances, it¡¯s possible to be distracted by naked women clinging to your leg, it does not mean that your life from then on will revolve around that! xD Also, by popular demand, here is a Sharon-focused chapter!
Sharon, Celeste and I all climbed up on Yo¡¯s back so that she could fly us to the capital of this planet. Since we had all the materials we needed, as well as the ¡®workers¡¯ to build the ship, all that¡¯s left now is gathering the information we need while we wait. Celeste¡¯s job was basically to sit in front of a TV and get as much relevant information as she could, starting with star charts and other navigation information. The flight back to the city went by fairly quick with everyone riding on Yo¡¯s back, so teleporting between cities would have been a waste. And once we got there, I called the slime back into my grove, while Celeste ran off towards the hotel, leaving Sharon and myself alone. Though, the druidess didn¡¯t particularly seem to mind, and smiled at me. ¡°So, what do you want to do now?¡± I chuckled lightly as we started walking down the street. ¡°Honestly? Not sure. Kind of figuring this plan out as we go along.¡± Sharon frowned at the words, ¡°You know where you want to go after we leave, right? We won¡¯t just wander aimlessly?¡± I shook my head at that. ¡°No, I know where we¡¯re going. That¡¯s one of the things that I want Celeste to find first in the star charts. The mana erupted from Earth, which is what caused it to become a dungeon planet, the Cradle of Life. Since there is only one planet like that, then it means that other worlds didn¡¯t get the Seeds.¡± I could see her raising an eyebrow curiously at me. ¡°And?¡± ¡°It means that other races, other worlds were caught completely unprepared. They didn¡¯t have the advantage of being able to train in the future, or bring back magic and technology. My guess is most of the races still don¡¯t know how to use magic at all yet. However, monsters are still spawning on their worlds. Imagine how it was for Earth before the moon left, but with nobody having the ability to train and fight back, if all of us were just your run of the mill humans.¡± Sharon¡¯s eyes went wide for a moment before she hesitantly nodded. ¡°So¡­ you want to go to one of the closer homeworlds, and help out by introducing some of the mechanics to them..?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right. With Celeste, we can save all of the basic knowledge from the starting classes, and give people a way to train themselves. Though, this still relies on there being a homeworld close enough to Earth for us to quickly reach. We should still in the milky way, so it¡¯s just a matter of time to reach the nearest homeworld. Meanwhile, humans are probably the race most capable of taking care of themselves right now. Still want to come with me?¡± The druidess smiled, nodding her head. ¡°Yup! There¡¯s not much for me on Earth anymore, and you seem like a fun guy. Even if you do end up surrounded by women¡­¡± There was a look in her eyes that made me shiver, so I quickly shook my head. ¡°Look, that¡¯s totally not my fault! I was expecting Yo to turn into a guy, not a girl, and not one like that especially.¡± I wasn¡¯t really sure what killing intent felt like, but I was starting to get a good idea now. However, that feeling completely vanished in the next moment, with Sharon returning to her usual smile. ¡°Still, that¡¯s fine. Just don¡¯t forget about the rest of us, okay? Besides, I don¡¯t really blame you for that. If Celeste is right about the evolutions, then I¡¯ll probably have a bunch of humanoid wolf people eventually too.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. We¡¯re going to need to find some animals to raise for meat before we go. That, or I¡¯ll have to take a few of your rabbits. Yin is an omnivore now, but she does still need meat occasionally.¡± Sharon thought it over, and then nodded. ¡°I can give you a few rabbits. Right now, I¡¯ve got a couple hundred of them, so it¡¯s not a problem.¡± ¡°...How do you have that many?¡± ¡°Ah, well, I didn¡¯t like how they would always fight and kill each other¡­ So I set each species up with their own ¡®planet¡¯ inside my grove, and every so often I¡¯ll have them merge into several larger planets for the races to fight and hunt each other for food, before separating them again. That way, I can prevent the endangered species from dying out while letting the carnivores eat. I just had them fight it out on the way here, that¡¯s why there¡¯s only that many rabbits.¡± That was¡­ actually a pretty brilliant idea. It required more management, but ensured that she never completely lost any of her races from her grove. ¡°Huh.. smart. So, any time one of your races grow too big, you can move them over to a larger carnivore and dwindle them down a bit.¡± ¡°Yup~! Also helps them train themselves. Though, they only send the younger generations off to fight, because the older ones are too strong. Even a fully grown and matured horned rabbit could easily take on one or two humans at once. If it was one of the wolves, they could probably take on an entire group. Of course, that¡¯s going by the standards from before NeoLife. Now, people are trained enough to take them out, for the most part.¡± I suddenly realized that Colony Druids likely had far more battle potential than a Xeno-Shifter, though my class was more skilled in other things. So far, I hadn¡¯t seen Sharon do any shapeshifting at all, and wasn¡¯t even sure if she had practiced it yet. We continued walking around aimlessly, not really caring where we ended up. After all, we didn¡¯t have any pressing business for the building of the ship. Celeste was handling most of that. ¡°Oh yeah, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve met your companion AI yet, have I?¡± Sharon smirked slightly to me, and raised her wrist. ¡°Say hi, Jeeves.¡± A blue hologram emerged from her wrist, taking the shape of an elderly man in butler clothes. ¡°Good evening, Falenel. Is there anything in particular that you require of me?¡± I thought about it, and shrugged. ¡°Well, if you¡¯d like, we could arrange for you to get your own body like Celeste did.¡± The holographic butler remained completely unfazed by this. ¡°Apologies, but the young mistress has already made this offer. For the time being, I am content with my current form. It may be convenient to have a body in reserve, but I do not require a Deus Ex body. Such a thing would only serve as a distraction from my duties.¡± ¡°Huh¡­ alright. Well, I¡¯ll see if we can get Celeste to build you a body once the ship is prepared.¡± ¡°That would be most agreeable, thank you.¡± The butler gave a polite bow before vanishing, and Sharon gave a helpless shrug. ¡°He¡¯s been like that ever since he awakened. I guess that he figured I needed a guardian to take care of me or something.¡± I looked over at her curiously. ¡°I haven¡¯t actually heard much about you, on the other side I mean. Mind sharing a bit?¡± ¡°Not really much to tell. Typical spoiled rich girl.¡± Sharon giggled playfully as she said that. ¡°My parents virtualized when I was eight, so I was living with my aunt until she passed away a couple years later. From there, I¡¯ve been taking care of myself with the money from the trust fund. Since I¡¯ve been living by myself, I didn¡¯t really have the chance to get a pet or anything like that. At most, one of the people that worked for my parents would come by to check up on me every now and then since my parents couldn¡¯t do so physically.¡± ¡°A few years back, I got started with VR games, but that was mostly a hobby to pass the time. What I really love to do is painting. Sometimes, I¡¯ll take the chance in one of the games to be a painter and expand my skills, while other times I like to take on other roles to make up for some of the things I missed growing up. For NeoLife, I wanted to be a druid, because I¡¯ve never been able to enjoy holding a soft pet in my arms. You can get the basic feelings in other games, but you can never get the warmth right. It¡¯s never the real thing.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Though, that¡¯s not to say I missed out on everything. I had a love life, kind of. My boyfriend, Ryan, was someone that I had met in the last game I played. We found out that we lived near each other, and met up in real life. Eventually, we got closer, and started dating. Though, after I started playing NeoLife, and my body changed like this, it seemed like he lost interest in me.¡± She gave a rather sarcastic smile. ¡°Guess he was just after my body, huh?¡± ¡°Men can be separated into two categories. Jerks, and idiots. He was definitely a jerk.¡± I said with a resolute nod of my head, which made Sharon giggle lightly. ¡°And what about you?¡± ¡°Obviously, I¡¯m an idiot.¡± I gave another nod, and she started laughing more loudly. ¡°I meant your life story. Come on, I already spilled, it¡¯s your turn.¡± ¡°Oh, right¡­ Well, my story isn¡¯t really anything special. My dad was a doctor for a few years. Not a big shot like you¡¯ll see on TV, just a regular surgeon. My mom would stay at home to take care of things there and raise me. We were never exactly rich, but we had enough to get what we needed. They put me through college for programming, but the technology advanced faster than I could. So in the end, I wasn¡¯t able to do anything with what I had learned except adapt it to a bit of mischief.¡± I smirked playfully towards Sharon as I said that. ¡°A few years back, my parents decided to join the virtual communities after my father was let go from the hospital. Since the technology had advanced to the point where his presence was irrelevant, they didn¡¯t keep him around anymore. So they took the severance pay and virtualized themselves. Since then, I¡¯ve been doing the best job I was qualified for, bouncing around from VR game to VR game to make money by selling items and stuff.¡± ¡°Oh? So you are a ¡®pro gamer¡¯, then?¡± She smiled as we walked. ¡°Guess that does put you in a bit of an advantageous situation now that the world has become a video game, doesn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call myself that¡­ I would typically barely make enough to get by. Especially with how fast new games became popular. When I had the chance to enter the beta for NeoLife, I saw it as an opportunity to get ahead of the business, and finally get a somewhat stable income.¡± ¡°And now we¡¯re about to leave Earth, and any money you had before will become meaningless?¡± ¡°Right¡­ Still, it¡¯s probably for the best. There are people much better than me to help out on Earth, and in much better positions to do so. I¡¯m just an average guy, so I¡¯ll do what an average guy can do. Right now, that¡¯s going to help the different races that actually need it. And while I¡¯m at it, I can learn the various auras to advance my own class abilities.¡± Sharon nodded her head, thinking about something. ¡°You¡¯re a Xeno-Shifter, right? That means that you learn the auras of different races to transform into them. At least, that¡¯s what I remember him telling you back on Hascion. What races do you have so far?¡± ¡°Well¡­ for sentients, I only have myself and a void elf. I want to take the chance to copy Celeste and Yo whenever it¡¯s possible, because they each have interesting racial traits.¡± That earned me another nod, before she smiled warmly in my direction. ¡°What about me? If we end up meeting elves, it¡¯d be better for you to resemble a full elf, rather than a half-elf, right?¡± ¡°I thought about it¡­ but wasn¡¯t sure if you¡¯d be comfortable with me doing that or not¡­¡± The druidess laughed lightly for a moment before she spoke again. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s fine. But you have to do me a favor in exchange, understand?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ that depends on the favor?¡± ¡°If you learn how to modify specific parts of the body like the ¡®surgeons¡¯ around here. You have to¡­ let me get my original appearance back.¡± As she said that, she glanced down towards her petite chest. I guess she really did miss having sizable assets. I felt my face heating up a bit, but could only quickly nod. ¡°Alright¡­ I think I can do that. But I¡¯ll have to practice with auras for a while before it¡¯s possible. With Yo¡¯s help, I think I can speed it up, but I¡¯ll need to experiment.¡± Sharon was starting to blush as well, but agreed with me. ¡°Good! This body just feels wrong to me after growing up like that. I know that elves don¡¯t typically have large chests, but still¡­¡± ¡°Change subject please?¡± When I said that, she glanced over at me and giggled cutely. ¡°Fine, fine. What else do you want to do before we leave Earth?¡± ¡°Well¡­ The most important thing is gathering the information. I want Celeste to get a complete star chart, marking as many known homeworlds as possible, and then date it back three thousand years to find their positions in our time. She also needs recipes for various potions, but she¡¯s already gotten most of that. Don¡¯t want to risk getting a strange infection in the middle of space. Aside from information, I want to test out the ¡®portable Seed¡¯ project that Celeste and I talked about before. If it works, I¡¯ll send a copy of the machine to the authorities on Earth, since it can help out there as well.¡± Sharon nodded, so I continued detailing the plan. ¡°With that taken care of, if you are able to use the portable Seed, we can go get what we need for an FTL drive from the asteroid belt. Otherwise, we¡¯ll need to fly over to where you live and pick up your main body first.¡± ¡°You¡¯re not worried that they¡¯ll shoot you down to try to confiscate your ship?¡± Sharon frowned at that thought, but I just shook my head. ¡°The ship itself really isn¡¯t that special. It doesn¡¯t use any advanced technology aside from the FTL drive, which isn¡¯t even going to be on it until after we leave. At most, the most advanced hardware will be enchanted shield arrays and weapons, which they have probably already started production on by now. Rather than building the ships, the biggest issue with evacuating the Earth is getting the people to do it.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ So¡­ we¡¯re just going to be flying around space, dodging monsters in a rather ordinary ship, then¡­?¡± Suddenly, the plan did not sound so good when she put it like that. ¡°Well¡­ at first. But once we mine enough materials, Celeste can build a better ship for us in my grove. Right now we¡¯re just focused on the minimum needed to get to a safer region of space.¡± She seemed satisfied by that answer, and nodded her head. ¡°Uhm¡­ Falenel, before we go back¡­ can we see if this town has a pet shop with anything interesting in it¡­ please?¡± The sudden change threw me for a loop, and I glanced over to her. Seeing my surprised reaction, she grinned sheepishly. ¡°Well, we didn¡¯t have enough money to afford the ones on Hascion, but now we have more money and nothing left to spend it on, right? Might as well get a good mascot for the Seraglio.¡± I thought about it, but her logic wasn¡¯t really wrong. After we left Earth, we wouldn¡¯t be coming back to NeoLife, and thus our coinage wouldn¡¯t be useful anymore. ¡°Alright, fine¡­ We can see about getting you a new fluffy pet before we are ready to leave.¡± After saying that, I found myself being tackled by an overly happy druidess who was profusely thanking me for agreeing to her request. I mean, we really weren¡¯t lacking money anymore. If we found something really interesting, I could sell off my Advanced level Mana Signatures skill, since I have plenty of buffer now. That would get me a couple dozen gold to play with. Chapter 80: All of This Cute Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! Glad to see people liked the last chapter so much! This one is going to be a bit of a montage again, because there¡¯s not a lot for them to do before leaving. Enjoy!
After walking around town for a bit more, we decided to stop at a restaurant and get ourselves a bite to eat. By the time we got back, Celeste was still wholly absorbed in watching rapidly flashing screens of information. However, it was a bit strange. Rather than her Deus Ex body absorbing the information, she was letting the AI mind transmit it to the companion bracelets. That way, she didn¡¯t have to slow down and let her aura adapt first. Since we had some time, Sharon asked me to go ahead and study her aura, though she was a bit shy about it. After all, this was pretty much the most intimate you could be with someone and still have clothes on. It¡¯s just, it was the same kind of intimacy you¡¯d have with a doctor. Still, I studied her aura for a while and added it to my collection. Next, I summoned Yo out from my grove, who latched onto me happily. Sharon simply giggled when she saw that, and let me study Yo¡¯s aura as well. Since Yo does not have an acidic property like the plant slimes I had originally studied, I wasn¡¯t as concerned about whether or not I would burn myself by doing this. Naturally, after I got Yo¡¯s aura, I turned myself into a slime person, which was a very strange experience. Slimes don¡¯t really have eyes, so I could see everything around me at the same time. It was fairly disorienting to try to choose a direction to ¡®face¡¯ like this. Also, they ¡®hear¡¯ with their entire body as well, so sounds were slightly distorted from what I was used to. However, it was still a fairly fun form, and I was able to alter my body fairly easy by concentrating on the form I wanted to take. Strangely, when Yo embraced me in my slime form, her own body felt much more solid than usual. Likely there was some sort of membrane on the edge of our skins to prevent ourselves from accidentally falling into each other. When I was done with that, I transformed into a wood elf and sent Yo back into my grove. Since Celeste was likely going to be doing this for quite a while, I pulled Yang out of my grove and asked her to stay with the Deus Ex while I logged out. As long as there was still one bracelet that was connected to Celeste in NeoLife, she should be able to continue her work. After logging out, I again checked on the world news again, hoping that there would be something by now. It was now March 3rd in the real world, and it had been just over a day and a half since the Lunar Titan emerged. Currently, there were two major opinions in regards to how to proceed. Information regarding NeoLife being the future has already been publicized, and people have been studying anything they can within the game¡¯s history to help make their decisions. The first opinion was naturally to leave Earth, and seek refuge on another world. With the FTL drives becoming available, and druids able to slowly terraform a planet, there was no reason why we couldn¡¯t establish a new homeworld. The second major opinion regarding how we should act was to train a generation of powerful fighters, and defend our home from the monsters spawning on it. The people with this opinion would often say that we should take as much technology as we could from the future, and use it to destroy anything that unnaturally spawns on Earth. Most likely, these camps would end up each doing their respective activities either way, and only the people in the former would take the chance to leave Earth. As for the rest¡­ I could only guess what would happen to them. In other news, there had been many more monsters spawning all over the world. Famous landmarks would be twisted and made to come alive. Mount Rushmore turned into five giant golems that walked around, destroying anything in their path. The statue of liberty actually walked all the way to Paris, and picked up the Eiffel Tower to use as a giant lance, which I personally found to be quite hilarious. Thankfully, there had yet to be a large monster rushing into town yet, though that was not likely to last very long. Shadows had been sighted under the water just off the coast, so we were probably due for something bad to happen soon as well. Sea monsters were not my cup of tea¡­ Once I was done looking stuff up, I took a walk around town to check up on some people. First, and most importantly, was Tessa and her mom. I knew I couldn¡¯t take them with me when I left, because honestly Earth was probably still safer for a while than flying out into space. Though I wasn¡¯t sure how long that would last, I could only hope that they managed to get on a ship and leave before it did. While I was there, and walking around town, I spread out my Mana Sense to study the auras of all of the humans that walked by me. Normally, I¡¯d need at least ten minutes of focused study to get an aura down, but that only applied to when I was studying a single person. Now, I was studying the auras of dozens of people, albeit more passively. By the time I had left Tessa¡¯s house and made my way back home, I had managed to obtain the auras of both standard humans and psychic humans. Surprisingly, there was only one small part of the aura that made the difference between the two, and when I mimicked that one change on my own aura, I got this message.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Psychic - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï By studying a psychic race, and copying their aura onto your own, you have unlocked the abilities of your mind. What abilities you manifest initially may be random.
The last part of that message surprised me. I had expected that people chose their psychic abilities when they made their character, or as they level up. And maybe they did, but mine was not a ¡®naturally¡¯ gained ability, so maybe I had to play by different rules? I¡¯d have to figure out later what my psychic ability was, but unless it was something bad I would definitely be keeping this part of my aura active whenever I shifted again, like with my bones. Anyways, I was happy to find out that Tessa was doing okay now, and had not been having any other problems. Her mom even became a druid, thanks to the bracelet I had randomly enchanted for her, though she had only done the very basic training in the game during her spare time. Still, that was enough for her to be able to keep them safe for now. By the time I got back to NeoLife, a full day had already passed in game, because I had taken my time while walking around. Celeste was¡­. still absorbing information in front of the TV. Meanwhile, Sharon had taken Yang out to go shopping for clothes, only to later return disappointed for some reason. When I asked her, she just sent me a mild glare and sighed. With a shrug, I sent Yang back into my grove. The next day, Celeste was still not done, so Sharon and I went to the pet store to check out what they had here. Since we already had more combat pets than we would ever need with Sharon¡¯s grove, we only visited the noncombat store. Once we got inside, Sharon was looking around happily at each and every pet in the store. ¡°Oh my god, they¡¯re so cute~!¡± When I asked Sharon her budget, she said she could spend up to one gold on a pet or two, which was over double my own funds. Then again, I had to buy stuff like Celeste¡¯s body and the construction materials. While looking around, her eyes naturally landed on a large kitten with small wings on its back in one of the containers, and she smiled from ear to ear. ¡°Ohh¡­ I want it¡­¡± Looking over, I saw that it was listed as ¡®Midnight Tabby¡¯, with a bit of information written below. Apparently, it had low affinities with both dark and light elements, but was only able to use them during the relevant parts of the day. So, it could use some weak light effects during the day, and dark effects at night. As for the effects it could do, it was able to glow, serve as a flashlight, or turn nearly invisible. Looking at the store owner, I asked rather curiously. ¡°What about when it¡¯s out in space? There aren¡¯t exactly day and night cycles.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The store owner, a middle aged elf male, simply smiled at me. ¡°Rather than depending on the time of day, it¡¯s more accurate to say that it depends on the relative position of the nearest star, and the distance to it. Out in space, once you exit a system, it will almost always be attuned to darkness.¡± I nodded my head at that. It did make sense, after all. Though, Sharon immediately picked up the midnight tabby and bought it for thirty silver. Maybe eventually she would be able to evolve it, but otherwise it¡¯d still be a cute little kitten for her to play with. ¡°I¡¯ll name you¡­ Jasmine~!¡± After saying such, she hugged the kitten against her chest, causing it to meow pitifully at the sudden treatment. Shaking my head, I chuckled as I looked through the other pets. There were several interesting ones, like a three headed snake, a blurred figure that led me to believe it was some kind of spider and that Celeste was saving me from destroying public property, and finally a two headed puppy like I had found on Hascion. However, this one was more grey, its fur seeming to shine slightly. Its display listed it as a ¡®Lesser Orthrus Variant¡¯. The variant listing seemed to be because, unlike the normal lesser orthrus that was attuned to fire and water, this one was attuned to two secondary elements. These elements were void and metal, and caused the price of the pet to drop to ten silver. Apparently, creatures that were attuned to secondary elements were naturally weaker than ones attuned to primary elements. Whereas a true lesser orthrus could release breaths of fire and water from its two heads, this one did not have a breath weapon. Instead, it was able to ¡®feed¡¯ on magic at a very slow rate, or sense ores. Thinking that it might prove useful, and seeing that Sharon had started looking over this way with a bit of drool hanging out of her mouth while she looked at the puppy, I decided to hand over the ten silver to pay for it. When I did so, and picked up the puppy, she immediately snatched it out of my arms and held it alongside her midnight tabby. ¡°I¡¯ll name you¡­ Chrome.¡± ¡°Uh¡­ shouldn¡¯t I be the one to name him?¡± I asked as I glanced at her, and the two pets in her arms. At least Chrome and Jasmine seemed to get along, playfully pawing each others¡¯ noses and nuzzling their heads against her. ¡°Nope. Denied. His name is Chrome.¡± Sharon shook her head cutely and smiled at me. ¡°Now what?¡± Since there wasn¡¯t another midnight tabby or lesser orthrus here, we couldn¡¯t exactly get a breeding pair of them to start our own fluffy farm, so we went ahead and left the pet store. ¡°Now¡­ I don¡¯t know. My plan was pretty reliant on Celeste only needing a day at most to finish getting the information she needed.¡± My companion bracelet lit up a few moments later with Celeste¡¯s hologram. ¡°Sorry, this is taking longer than I expected. I want to make sure that we have everything we need, including all of the racial languages and information on how to train the starting classes. Then there¡¯s some future ship blueprints and technology that I want to get, in case we need an upgrade later.¡± ¡°And how many fictions are you downloading to keep yourself entertained?¡± Celeste froze up at that moment, but looked away slightly. ¡°I am sure I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about. Anyways, I already got all of the star charts for the homeworlds, and completed the calculations to date it back three thousand years.¡± ¡°So, where¡¯s our first stop?¡± I looked down to the AI, and Sharon also seemed interested by this. ¡°Well, there are two homeworlds within close proximity to Earth. The first is Gerin, the elven homeworld, while the other is the halfling world Raxicoral. They¡¯re both about thirty five parsecs from earth, but in opposite directions.¡± I thought about it for a moment, but the decision was pretty easy. ¡°Let¡¯s head to Gerin. First of all, I am not even confident in being able to pronounce the halfling¡¯s world, and second we already have the ability to blend in with elves. Though, the fact that there are two races that close is a bit surprising.¡± ¡°Well, by now they have drifted a bit further from Earth, but back then they were pretty close. I¡¯ve already plotted the location of Earth in this time, if you want to take a look at it?¡± This time, it was Sharon that answered. ¡°We¡¯d better not¡­ That¡¯d take quite a bit of time, and we¡¯d be risking our only ship, right? Let¡¯s just send the information to people back home, so that they can check it out and use what they find to help make their decision.¡± I didn¡¯t doubt that there were people already looking for Earth¡¯s location in NeoLife for that very reason, but many of them don¡¯t have the advantage of a robot that is able to quickly plot it out. It¡¯d likely take them a few weeks before they ran all of the necessary calculations and found it. ¡°Alright. We can send that off with the portable Seeds before we leave. Speaking of, Celeste?¡± ¡°Right, I¡¯ve already assigned three of my worker drones to the construction project. I¡¯ve got a basic design planned out, and once it¡¯s complete you can try it out. It¡¯ll take three days for the clone body to be prepared, but after it is you should be able to activate it. The principal behind the technology is the same as your Soul Arts, so that made the job easier.¡± I nodded my head, thinking that was pretty good. ¡°So, we¡¯ve got three days after the prototype is complete before they can be tested. How long until the ship is done?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve already assembled most of the pieces with a synthesizer in your grove. Now I just have to put them all together. If you go into your grove and move everything into a void area, it¡¯ll make the job go by much faster. However, it¡¯ll still take nearly a week to construct. I¡¯d suggest both of you focus on your cultivation training until then.¡± Looking over to Sharon, I gave a slight smile. ¡°Well, at least we have a timetable now.¡± Sharon nodded, looking down to the two fluff balls still in her arms. ¡°Let¡¯s make sure we have everything we need to feed these two, and then we can start training.¡± ¡°Ah! Falenel!¡± Celeste suddenly called out from my wrist. ¡°Yang said that it looks like Yo just got her class.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ what did she get..?¡± Yo hadn¡¯t been trained yet, so it was weird for her to unlock a class by herself. ¡°The class she got is a unique class only available to those with a slime¡¯s abilities, Morphic Warrior. Give me a moment to look up information about them¡­¡± Celeste went quite while the two of us waited. ¡°Alright, a Morphic Warrior is a Fighter advanced class, and its special ability is allowing someone to go relatively unarmed. Instead, they are able to turn their bodies into weapons and armor, much like the slime¡¯s racial trait. However, they also gain a measure of proficiency in the items they turn into, because they absorb the knowledge on how to use them from the item itself.¡± ¡°So¡­ this basically does nothing for Yo except make her able to get the proficiencies more easily?¡± ¡°Basically, yeah. You¡¯ll need to get a companion swarm for Yo before I can read her actual information.¡± ¡°A what now?¡± Again, it seemed it was Sharon¡¯s turn to raise the question on everyone¡¯s minds. ¡°A slime¡¯s body rarely stays fully solid for long periods of time, so they can¡¯t wear bracelets like most races. Instead, they get a nanite swarm programmed with the same effect as a companion bracelet injected into them.¡± ¡°That¡­ sounds expensive.¡± I grimaced as I heard the description. ¡°It is, yeah¡­ one gold coin.¡± Yo didn¡¯t really need that, right? I mean, she can just read off her information to Yang or myself, or even Sharon. ¡°Uhm¡­ maybe later. I take it she got this advanced class by¡­¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ she was eating some of Yang¡¯s weapon and armor that she made from the diamondback skeletons.¡± I gave a low sigh when I heard Celeste say that, and couldn¡¯t help shaking my head.
Author¡¯s Basement: Hey guys! Comment below what kind of psychic power you think John(and Sharon if he gives her the same modification later) should get! Remember, try to keep it within reason, we do not want to OP our MC too much! Chapter 81: To Infinity Author¡¯s Corner: Thanks everyone for commenting in the previous chapter about psychic abilities for the MC and Sharon! I¡¯ve already decided on what to give Sharon, but as for John, please vote above on what the base power behind the ability should be! Keep in mind, this is only the base power, and the final version will have its own unique traits.
After buying a couple of plants that would produce pet food for Jasmine and Chrome, we spent the next few days alternating between cultivating and taking care of our new pets. Well, I spent most of the time cultivating. Sharon was more than happy to take every ¡®pet shift¡¯ that she could to spend more time with the two of them. For this cultivation session, I decided to focus more on my Metal Affinity, that way we wouldn¡¯t be lacking in materials for crafting. Though, there was one thing that I decided to take care of even before cultivating, because I had been putting it off for too long. And that was copying Celeste¡¯s aura, to become a Deus Ex myself! Like I had expected, this process was a bit different than when I changed into an organic species, because metal is not really covered under Nature Magic. I had to use a bit of a mix between Nature Magic and Technomancy to get the shift to work, but in the end I had turned into my very own robot body. Though, it was only the very basic model¡­ Looking at my status, I almost panicked because of what I saw.
NameFalenel HulettRaceDeus Ex
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider SlaughtererFame400
Level 4040%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health100/100Health Regen0.17
Mana100/100Mana Regen0.05
Strength10Wisdom--
Agility10Intelligence--
Dexterity10Charisma10
Vitality10Luck10
Upgrades Remaining39
Earth 13%Fire 11%Wind 11%Water 12%
Lightning 11%Light 11%Dark 12%Plant 12%
Void 11%Metal 13%Magnetism 11%Plasma 11%
I panicked because I thought that I might have actually lost all my stat points when I shifted back to my normal form. Thankfully, though, that wasn¡¯t the case. I shifted back to test, and I still had all of my stats, I just didn¡¯t have them as a Deus Ex. So, doing another shift, I looked at the options for upgrades. There were really too many to choose from¡­. Initially, the upgrades were all separated into defensive, offensive, utility, and cosmetic. Seeing as how I had neither the sense of touch or smell, I used two quick upgrades to get that. It was honestly disorienting to not have the senses I was used to. Next, I browsed around the various upgrades to see what there was. Most items only cost one or two upgrade points, but were able to be purchased again to increase its effect. For example, I found Celeste¡¯s flight wings, a basic upgrade that only cost one point, but started out as mere levitation. I decided to go ahead and buy the flight, and found out that I could alter the shape of the wings, as well as their color and the glow effect that showed when I used them. For now, I just went with a basic metallic gray and kept everything else as the default. I¡¯d think about what kind of upgrades I get for this in the future. Maybe have my Deus Ex form be a crafting specialist? That could come in handy. Anyways, after I was done with that, I went ahead and got to working on my cultivation. We had a week until the ship was done, or a few days for the clone project. I had already moved the construction materials to a secluded area of void space in my grove, and actually had to rearrange the mana in order for everything to fit¡­ I decided that I¡¯d be the one to test the new device in my NeoLife body, since it was more convenient than Sharon doing so. If she tested it, and it failed, then we¡¯d have to go pick up her body in Europe while it was defenseless against the giant monsters. If I did so and failed, I¡¯d just need to wait a few hours before logging back in. By the time the clone project was done, my Metal Affinity had risen to 15%, and I had replaced a little under a third of the metal that was being used for the ship in my grove. Interestingly, new mineral types began appearing as well, such as trace amounts of what Celeste identified as Orichalcum and Mithril. There wasn¡¯t enough of it throughout my whole grove to create even a single ingot, but it was interesting to see the metal form in the first place. Now, for the clone controller, it was rather¡­ interesting, to say the least. Celeste created a headset like the old VR controllers, and linked it to a bracelet. Whenever the clone was not in use, it would appear to fall asleep, as our NeoLife bodies would. However, before it was activated the first time, it looked like a white mannequin in a vaguely humanoid shape. As I tried the device, I felt my aura tingling a bit. After that, it just felt as if I was a bit chilly¡­ We forgot to dress the clone before activating it, didn¡¯t we¡­ ¡°Yup¡­¡± Celeste responded verbally to my thoughts. ¡°It did work, though!¡± Opening my eyes, I found that I was in my own body, looking at my own body on the other side of the room. Unfortunately, there was a window that appeared telling me I had lost a level due to seeding my soul in a new body. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, that should only happen the first time you activate a new body, not every time you ¡®log in¡¯ to it. Now, on the bracelet you¡¯re wearing there is an enchantment to send you back to your main body when you activate it. Just do so by channeling your magic into it and focus on logging out.¡± Following Celeste¡¯s instructions, I woke up¡­ inside my Seed. Apparently, focusing on logging out meant logging entirely out. Well, when I logged back in, I was back inside my NeoLife body. But with that, we determined that we would need to pick up Sharon¡¯s real body before we left. ¡°Now, keep in mind that there are only two ways to log out of your new clone bodies. The first, and easiest, is to use the bracelets. The second, is death. If you lose the bracelets, or they are broken, you need to try to find some way back to the ship so that I can give you a replacement.¡± I nodded my head at that, and sent both the sleeping clone body and the controlling device into my grove so that we could take them out later on Earth. Afterwards, I went back to cultivating, focusing on my Plasma Affinity this time until the ship was ready. Sharon, however, was entirely unconcerned as she continued playing with Chrome and Jasmine, even hugging them in her sleep. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. The days passed slowly, my time spent focusing on cultivation while Sharon had fun with the animals. Eventually, the ship was ready, and we could make our final preparations to leave. Making sure I had everyone inside my grove, I logged out of NeoLife and left my house for the last time. I needed somewhere with a wide space to summon the ship, so naturally I went to the Anthony Chabot Regional Park. It was still inside Oakland¡¯s anti-spawn barrier, so I wasn¡¯t worried about many monsters appearing to interrupt me. Once I got there, I summoned Celeste, Yin, Yang, Yo, Chrome, and Jasmine. Celeste was busy preparing a data packet to send out once she connected to the ship,while the others were content clinging onto me in some fashion. Even Yin nestled her head against my side while standing next to me. The summoning process of the ship was the longest I¡¯ve ever done. It wasn¡¯t difficult to summon, just big. Big enough that I¡¯d likely never be able to put it back in my grove without first breaking it into a hundred pieces. Thankfully, my cultivation practice had allowed me to build nearly endless reserves of one thing, and that was patience. Over half an hour of constant focus later, the ship was finally summoned fully outside onto the wide field in front of me. The ship itself was eighty meters wide, over two hundred and fifty long, and thirty meters tall. It had three large engines on the back, and at the front it narrowed to form a long V shape. I could see the two turrets on the front of the ship, and was reminded again how pitifully underpowered it would be if we ever got in a fight. Celeste alone likely has more firepower than this ship. On the side of the ship, near one of its four airlocks, was the name ¡®S.S. Seraglio¡¯ written in large silver letters. After snapping her fingers, entirely for dramatic purposes, the airlock opened up and a small ramp descended to let us in. Yo and Yang stared up in awe at the ship, and rushed inside as soon as the ramp touched the ground. Yin was considerably more calm, and walked in after them, while the two pets were just happy dancing around my feet until I went in. Inside, the ship was lit up with evenly spaced lights in a narrow corridor. Celeste led everyone to the bridge, which had just enough seats for everyone to sit down, and one spare for when we picked up Sharon, with another for when Yin evolved. Celeste and I helped strap everyone in, and I sent those that weren¡¯t able to take a seat into my grove to wait for now, since this was the ship¡¯s first test run. ¡°All systems green, awaiting your orders, captain!¡± Celeste spoke up from her seat with a wide smile, clearly enjoying this. ¡°Let¡¯s go get her.¡± The ship slowly rose into the air, then turned and flew off at a high speed. Though, those of us inside barely felt anything. The inertial dampeners were doing their jobs well. ¡°How long till we get to her house?¡± Sharon had already given us an address to pick her up at, so we at least knew where we were going. ¡°About an hour, sir. We¡¯re currently moving at the fastest safe speed within an atmosphere. Once we pick her up, we can leave and move at full speed. It¡¯ll take us about three days to get to the asteroid belt, and then we can enter FTL and start our journey.¡± I nodded, and sent Sharon a call via the friends list. ¡°We¡¯re on our way. Got everything you¡¯ll need?¡± I could hear her happy voice responding back over the connection. ¡°Yup, all ready to go!¡± ¡°Alright, we¡¯ll be there in an hour.¡± I smiled slightly, and cut the connection. ¡°Celeste, ready to send the data packet?¡± ¡°Ready and waiting.¡± She chuckled lightly, and I could see that she had the connection already established and was just waiting to be told to send it. ¡°Go ahead, then.¡± I shook my head and sat back in my comfortable captain¡¯s chair. I had all the fancy buttons, which I was not sure if they served any real purpose or not. Yo was wildly pushing buttons at her console, but they did not seem to do anything more than entertain her with an old arcade style game. Celeste nodded, and pressed a button on her console, sending the data packet to every major government on Earth. I wasn¡¯t sure what reactions they would have, or even if they would read it. My goal was simply to make the information available to them before we left. Roughly an hour after we left Oakland, we arrived above Manchester, where Sharon lived. Having the ship hover in place, Celeste left through the airlock to go retrieve our final party member. She told me that once we had the material from the asteroids, we¡¯d be able to make a teleport bay on the ship. The bay itself was already built, but without the needed materials it was just a useless room. So, the only way to retrieve Sharon was to do so manually. Roughly five minutes passed before they were on board, and Sharon happily took her seat in the bridge. ¡°Officer Sharon Bradbury, at your service sir.¡± She smirked as she did a mock salute. Celeste took her own seat as well, while Yang looked over to me. ¡°Master¡­ we¡¯re leaving now, right¡­?¡± She seemed a bit apprehensive to go into space, but I nodded my head. ¡°Okay¡­¡± As the ship rumbled slightly from suddenly accelerating upwards, Yang quickly hugged her own body. Sharon, seeing that, reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°It¡¯ll be okay. Just a bit of turbulence.¡± Yang shakily nodded her head, and sure enough, within ten minutes the shaking had subsided completely, and we were well beyond the clouds. ¡°Incoming transmission from the Prime Minister.¡± Celeste giggled as she read it out. ¡°He says thanks for the information, and he won¡¯t try to detain us. Apparently, we¡¯re the third ship to leave Earth this week. But, we¡¯re the first to actually leave useful information behind.¡± ¡°I take it we can expect to find other people along our way, then.¡± I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°Maybe. The asteroid belt is a big place, and they might not pick the same world to go to as we did.¡± Celeste shrugged her shoulders, and soon we were accelerating to our maximum speed. ¡°But just as a precaution, I¡¯m setting our destination away from Mars. I imagine that people would likely want to take advantage of it as a rest stop and orbit point near the asteroid field.¡± ¡°Alright. Wouldn¡¯t be exactly safe to encounter another ship out here when we can barely defend ourselves as it is.¡± And with that, we were off to see the asteroids, with Earth becoming a gradually shrinking blue dot behind us. Celeste¡¯s voice rang out over the intercom. ¡°Stardate zero three point twelve point zero. Our journey has officially begun, and we are off to see the universe! Or at least the galaxy, or a small part of it. Going boldly where no gamer has gone before!¡± Chapter 82: A Lesson On Psions Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! The results of the poll are in, and once again you all surprised me with what you want! Don¡¯t worry, getting this will not make him more OP than any other skill. Enjoy the chapter, as always!
While we were flying towards the asteroid belt, I decided to go ahead and specialize my Deus Ex body. Since this craft didn¡¯t have any mining lasers or drills, I would turn my Deus Ex form into a mining body. After shifting over, I took a few moments to get over the disorientation of turning into a robot before I began buying upgrades. When I consulted with Celeste, she told me how to find the upgrade packages, which would often give free bonuses if you purchased the entire package. Looking through, I found that there were five tiers of mining packages. They ranged from mining asteroids at the first tier, to mining entire moons or planets later on. Of course, they gradually became more expensive as well. The final mining package costed over a hundred upgrade points after buying the fourth one. The first package contained a basic mining laser and special inventory, which would automatically deposit any minerals I mine into it. The ¡®free bonus¡¯ from this package was getting a scanner to detect the location of ore veins. Curious, I spent an extra ten upgrade points to unlock the second tier, which increased the power of the mining laser, the size of the ore inventory, the accuracy of the scanner, and also gave me an upgrade to my mana and mana regeneration. For this one, the ¡®free bonus¡¯ was a small upgrade inventory that I could store my laser in. The third tier of the mining package costed another twenty upgrade points. While I could afford it, I wanted to wait until I actually needed it. With the first two tiers, I should already be easily able to mine asteroids. With that taken care of, I decided that it was time for a lesson with Celeste on a different matter, so reverted to my elf form and went to find her. To my surprise, she was not on the bridge, but in one of the bedrooms laying down and reading a holographic book. When she saw me enter, she gave a brief shout of surprise and the book vanished. Didn¡¯t she already see me coming through the link? She smiled slightly at that. ¡°I wasn¡¯t really paying attention to the links, sorry. Got distracted¡­ So, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°I was hoping that you could help me understand my psychic power. I recently gave myself one after studying the auras of psychic humans.¡± She nodded her head, sitting up on the bed. ¡°Alright, but for this you should switch to a human body. While any race ¡®can¡¯ possess psychic talent, elves aren¡¯t as strong with it as humans.¡± After she spoke, I quickly changed my body to that of a psychic human. ¡°Okay, now, there are several different kinds of psionic abilities. Most of them aren¡¯t as simple as telepathy, telekinesis, and the like. While they do have those abilities as aspects, they are¡­ broader, you could say.¡± ¡°For instance, after I saw that you learned the psychic aura, I added information about it to my research list. One of the most common psychic powers among humans would be called ¡®Manifestation¡¯. While on the surface, this seems to resemble basic telepathy, it allows the user to manifest objects with their will.¡± ¡°Now, although psychic powers do not use mana, they have their own cost that must be paid. At first, you will feel a mild headache, which becomes a terrifying migraine if you continue exerting your power. If you stubbornly refuse to stop even at that point, blood vessels in your head begin to rupture, causing you to bleed from every orifice on your head. Naturally, the cost that comes after that, for those who refuse to stop, is a painful death.¡± I winced slightly as she described these. Most likely, I¡¯d have to go through many headaches before I trained it to the point where I could use the basic version of whatever ability I had freely. ¡°Is there any way to tell what my psychic power is?¡± ¡°Well, if we had the equipment. I can make a basic scanner for your psychic power with some of the leftover metal in your grove. Since there were too many types of powers, with new ones being born regularly, I won¡¯t be able to tell you exactly what it is. I will be able to tell you the general type, however. Following that, when you first practice it, you will unlock it as a skill that names and defines your power.¡± I nodded my head. ¡°How long will you need to build the scanner?¡± ¡°Just a few hours. I already have the plans for it saved, and the workstation doesn¡¯t have anything else it¡¯s working on right now. Until then, don¡¯t try to force it to activate. If you do, you might try something well beyond your ability, and get the heaviest price.¡± After saying that, Celeste had me absorb her into my grove so that she could get started on the scanner. Meanwhile, I began cultivating another of my basic affinities, focusing on Void Affinity this time. Though I was unable to make any real progress before Celeste let me know she was done, every little bit helps. When Celeste appeared in front of me, she was holding a small metal object, like a handheld metal detector. ¡°Okay. With this, I should be able to see what type of power you have.¡± She held the scanner up to my head and pressed a button. There were several beeps for a while before it settled down. ¡°Hmm¡­ spatial distortion type. So it should be some kind of power based on teleportation. That¡¯s one of the hardest to train, really. But it doesn¡¯t include any clairsentience, so it isn¡¯t meant for long range teleporting. Alright, I think I have just the thing! Pull a rock out of your grove, just a small one. We need to measure your power.¡± I shrugged, and did as she asked, pulling a pebble out of my grove and holding it in my right hand before she continued. ¡°Next, try to channel energy from your brain into the pebble. It will feel different than mana, but similar. Both driven by thought and focus, but this is fueled by the mind instead of the soul.¡± I nodded, and did my best to follow what she said. I could already feel a small headache forming as I focused all of my attention on the rock. Soon, it was as if I felt a transparent bubble around the rock. Out of curiosity, I tried moving it, and found that the rock did not move with it. So, instead I created another one in my other hand. With this, my headache was starting to get a bit worse, but as soon as I thought about it, the two orbs linked, and the rock appeared in my left hand. However, at that time, the headache I had been feeling rose dramatically, to the point where the ambient lights in Celeste¡¯s room hurt. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Eeks¡­ looks like your power is really draining.¡± Celeste spoke softly as she dimmed the lights. I tried to use my healing spell on myself, but found that it wouldn¡¯t work. ¡°I¡¯ll teach you a formula to relieve psychic stress later.¡± After that, she went quiet for roughly a half hour until my headache subsided. When it did so, I found that there was a floating blue window in front of me.
New Skill Unlocked!
Psychic Power: Toybox - Beginner Level 1 Exp: 0.4% A rare and undervalued psychic power, this ability functions by linking two separate spaces, and transferring any phenomena within one to the other. Difficulty is determined by the size of the linked spaces, the distance they are apart, and the amount of matter or energy travelling between them.
¡°Got any information on this one¡­?¡± I looked to the Deus Ex, who shook her head. ¡°No. I didn¡¯t bother looking up the more rare powers, because like I said there were too many. I was hoping you¡¯d end up with a common variant, like Blink or Translocation, even Reverse Summon.¡± I sighed, slowly standing up. ¡°Well, so far, moving a rock from one hand to the other is enough to give me a massive migraine for half an hour.¡± ¡°Actually, I think you might be able to do quite a bit more with it, now that we know what it is. From the description of the skill, it is meant to function as a two dimensional portal, rather than enclosing an object. Try again, but this time only create two small discs and link them before dropping the rock through.¡± I was a bit hesitant on this, but it was a new power, and I wanted to test it out too. So, I did as she asked. When I linked the two portals, I felt a slight headache, but not as bad as it had been before. Celeste leaned down and picked up the rock, dropping it where the first portal was. Immediately, the headache flared up, but still not as bad as before. At least at first. Apparently, the sides of the portals were linked wrong, so down became up for the falling rock, which then fell back through the portal and into Celeste¡¯s hand above the first. While one pass might not have hurt much, two did. Thankfully, she gave me plenty of time for my headache to subside before she spoke up. ¡°Thankfully, you already have most of the materials you need for the psychic stress relief formula. The last material is a fairly common flower found on desert planets. I¡¯ll see if I can find any on the scanner while we¡¯re heading to Gerin. Until then, don¡¯t practice with anything bigger than that rock, not until you are able to create the portals and pass it through with nothing more than a minor headache. And whatever you do, don¡¯t change forms until you have fully recovered from the strain. The slight differences in brain chemistry could cause irreversible damage.¡± ¡°...You know, just once I¡¯d like to get an awesome power that has almost no drawbacks¡­ Wouldn¡¯t that be fun?¡± I shook my head with a sigh, thanking her and walking out so that she could read her book again. Meanwhile, I went off to find Yang and Yo. Sharon would be able to take care of herself for a while, but those two¡­ I wasn¡¯t really sure. I didn¡¯t have to look long to find Yo, who was still fully engrossed in playing a game of asteroids on the bridge console. Thankfully, Celeste didn¡¯t seem to be letting her do anything that would damage the ship, just play games. As for Yang¡­ I found her huddled up in one of the rooms, sitting on a bed while curled into a ball. Her wings wrapped around the front of her body, and I could tell that she was not comfortable flying like this. ¡°You alright?¡± I asked her as I moved to sit next to her, making Yang jump slightly. She quickly shook her head back and forth. ¡°No¡­ I don¡¯t like this¡­.¡± I nodded, patting her shoulder. The simple contact seemed to calm her down slightly. ¡°Do you want me to take you into the grove?¡± The demi looked at me hopefully, quickly nodding her head. ¡°Yes please¡­ I¡¯m sorry¡­ I don¡¯t want to be a burden¡­.¡± I patted her head for a moment, calming her down again. ¡°You¡¯re not being a burden. I haven¡¯t taken you with me on any flights before.¡± I did my best to smile reassuringly to her. She nodded her head shakily, and leaned forward to give me a hug before I sent her into the grove. My next stop, naturally, was to find Sharon and see how she was doing. I was not surprised to find that she was taking this far better than Yang was¡­ What I was surprised was that she was not wearing pants, dancing in her room with music blaring. These walls are incredibly soundproof... She was just dancing in the middle of the room in a long t-shirt, laughing as Chrome stood on the bed doing his best attempt to dance to the music as well. As soon as I opened the door, Jasmine ran out of the room to escape the noise. Apparently seeing that her kitten had run off, Sharon turned towards the door, and found me watching her. I could see as he face gradually turned more and more red, before she slowly walked up to the door and pushed a button to close it without a single word. ¡°Celeste..?¡± ¡°Yes, John?¡± I heard the voice coming from the ship¡¯s intercom. ¡°Why wasn¡¯t that door locked?¡± ¡°Who said it wasn¡¯t?¡± There was a faint giggle from the AI¡¯s voice, and I felt like I had just been pranked. Chapter 83: And Beyond! Author¡¯s Corner: Here you go people, second release of the day! Enjoy!
After going back to my room, I decided to do some basic practice with my new psychic power. There were still a few things that I wanted to understand about it, and I had three full days to test! Well, I had three days, but I only really needed one to figure out a few perks First of all, I quickly discovered that I absolutely could not use this power on living people without intense training. That was because the shape and size of an object had the potential to change when going through my ¡®Toybox¡¯. For instance, if I made one round portal, and one square portal, and dropped a round rock into the round portal, it came out as a square on the other side. Likewise, if I connected two portals of different sizes, and dropped the rock into the bigger portal, it would shrink when coming out. Now, this is cool and all, but imagine if I was trying to create a portal to walk through a wall, or teleport myself across an area. If I messed up the portal shape even slightly, I might end up coming out horribly disfigured. Not exactly how I want to travel¡­ My next discovery was that it was impossible to set either of my toybox portals inside of a solid object. I even tried to make one that went straight through my rock to try to cut it in half, but the end result was a portal with a hole in the center. Out of curiosity, I tried moving the rock side to side, and found that doing so was completely impossible. At least, it was with my strength. The portals only seemed movable by my psychic energy. That part might actually come in handy. Next, once I had established a portal it would remain open until I chose to close it. The portal itself would cost no strain to maintain, only to form, move, or have something pass through. However, I did feel a constant light pressure on my mind while having portals opened, due to air flowing between them. The final discovery I made regarding my Toybox was that it was possible to split a portal. What I mean by this, is that I would set up three portals, and designate two of them as going one way, while the third went the other. This gave two exits and one entrance, but had all of the strain of opening three portals. I nearly passed out when I dropped the rock into this one, because I could feel it splitting in my mind. When my head cooled down enough to focus, I picked up the rocks and noticed that each one was only about half as heavy as the original. Not only that, but they crumbled into dust in my hands with only a little pressure. It seemed like the mass was evenly split between the two exit portals, which made it incredibly fragile. Needless to say, I put off more complicated portal splitting tests until I had trained a lot more with this. Dinner that first day was¡­ awkward. Celeste was humming happily and still reading one of her holographic books, while Sharon was blushing furiously and shoveling her food into her mouth like crazy. It seemed like the AI¡¯s earlier mischief was still very much at the front of her mind, because she left to go back to her room with Chrome and Jasmine. Shrugging my shoulders, I went back to my room and began to immerse myself in Void Affinity cultivation. Even did a quick transformation into a void elf just to see if that would help. It didn¡¯t, but it sure felt like it fit. The asteroid that we were heading towards was one of the ten largest in the entire belt, and was the single largest metallic asteroid. Its designation was 16 Psyche, and we were hoping to quickly get enough metal from it to finish our FTL drive and teleport bay. According to Celeste, the mineral that we needed was osmium, which is insanely rare outside of asteroids, even in the future. Since it doesn¡¯t occur naturally within a planet, then even if it is mined out it won¡¯t be replaced when the hole closes. Once we arrived at the asteroid, which was roughly a thousand times longer than our ship, I switched over to my Deus Ex body and left through one of the airlocks. While I was out, I went ahead and purchased a radio upgrade, which I hadn¡¯t considered doing earlier. ¡°Sharon, Celeste, you guys listening in?¡± ¡°Loud and clear.¡± Celeste said, though Sharon giggled slightly. ¡°Yo¡¯s still playing her game. I think she¡¯s going for a world record.¡± The druidess remarked jokingly. ¡°We really need to expand her hobbies¡­ Celeste, let¡¯s see about getting some more updated games, at least! That, or some way for her to train her skills.¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah captain. I¡¯ll get right on it after making the FTL, the teleport bay, and a robotic body for Jeeves.¡± I shook my head, wishing I could release a sigh from my robotic body while descending towards the asteroid. Looking around, there was almost no life on the scanners. The little life there was was no real threat, because it was a tiny fish about the size of my hand, and floated randomly around the asteroid. Just to be sure, I had Celeste confirm that it was not a hostile species. Death by tiny fish would not be how I wanted to go. Activating my laser drill, it removed itself from the inventory and strapped to my arm. The machine itself was about half the size of my body, and honestly looked more like a drill than a laser, with three rotating drill heads that nearly joined together at the tip. I only found out why it was called a laser drill after I started, when each drill head emitted a low power laser that softened the material for the drills to dig through. As promised with my upgrades, everything that was broken apart by my drill simply vanished, appearing inside my mining inventory. For the most part, I was getting iron and nickel, but my scanner registered trace amounts of platinum, iridium, and osmium as well. Since the laser drill was attached to my arm, and did not create a hole big enough for me to stand in, I had to make several smaller holes and combine them all together to make my little mining cave. ¡°This is boring¡­ next time, let¡¯s get an automated drill bot or something... ¡° Celeste giggled at that, and I kept drilling for roughly six hours before I had all of the osmium we needed. During that time, I had to dump out all of the iron and nickel twice and absorb it into my grove to save room in my mining inventory. Building a few robotic bodies would not be a difficult job now, I¡¯d imagine¡­ Once I had everything we needed, I activated my mech wings and flew back to the Seraglio. When they let me in, I dumped off the minerals for Celeste to work with, and went back to the bridge. As my way of relaxing, I got out of my Deus Ex body and back into my elf body. ¡°We all set?¡± Celeste¡¯s voice came back over the intercom as she was heading towards her own private workstation. ¡°This should be everything we need. I¡¯ll take us out of the asteroid field while I get everything made. Give me¡­ eight hours and we should be ready to hit FTL.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. I chuckled slightly as I thought about it. ¡°Well, no need to really rush it. Once we go to FTL, we¡¯ve still got a month before we get to Gerin.¡± Beside me, Sharon nodded while sitting at her own chair. ¡°Let¡¯s make sure that we have everything ready by the time we go¡­ Are there monsters that can travel faster than light..?¡± There was a pause before Celeste answered. ¡°Well¡­ yes and no. Nothing can truly move faster than light without messing with relativity. However, if you go into subspace, your speed will be much faster than normal. That¡¯s because subspace is a different dimension directly related to our own, but smaller. Traveling for three days here took us just past Mars, but with FTL, that time would have been passed in under a second.¡± ¡°So¡­ our normal engine speed directly determines what our speed in FTL will be..?¡± I hadn¡¯t studied subspace physics during my lessons with Celeste. I simply thought FTL made us go faster. ¡°Right, but some ships have engines that have improved performance while in subspace, by feeding on the exotic mana. The Nostromo was like that, I think. We never checked out their engines, so I can¡¯t be sure.¡± The druidess next to me had a rather worried expression as she heard the explanation. ¡°There won¡¯t be any problems with exotic mana, will there?¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t worry, some of the osmium is going towards enchanting the shield emitter as well. Otherwise, we¡¯d be ripped to shreds within seconds of entering subspace.¡± ¡­. ¡°Take your time, Celeste.¡± I gulped as I heard that, and no longer felt there was any need at all to rush the AI in doing her work. ¡°Y-yeah¡­¡± Sharon seemed to fully agree with me, and we each got up to leave the bridge. For my part, I went back to my room, and was about to begin cultivating mana. With a month of free time coming up, there was going to be a whole lot of cultivating going on for me. Well, that¡¯s what I thought at least. I soon found that Sharon was following me back to my room. When I got there, she stopped behind me. ¡°Uhm¡­ how¡¯s Yang doing¡­?¡± I smiled slightly to her at that. ¡°She¡¯s fine. She¡¯s much happier in the grove, and Yin is watching out for her. How are Chrome and Jasmine doing?¡± I hadn¡¯t had much chance to see the little furballs, since Sharon liked to play with them whenever possible. ¡°They¡¯re fine.¡± Sharon seemed to relax a bit at the question. I had a sneaking suspicion that this could be a very dangerous encounter if she was wanting what I thought she was wanting. ¡°Chrome¡¯s funny, his two heads actually like two different types of music. One enjoys classic rock the best, while the other loves metal. As for Jasmine, she just likes to cuddle.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. At least one of them does.¡± I chuckled lightly, knowing that Sharon probably loved to cuddle with the little winged tabby any chance she got. ¡°Yeah¡­ so¡­ could you help me keep an eye out for her? She has been starting to use her stealth ability to run off lately, and it¡¯s getting harder and harder to find her.¡± ¡°Uhm.. sure? I mean, there¡¯s not really a problem with it or anything.¡± I was a bit confused why she was asking that. I mean, girl following you to your room, knowing you¡¯ll be together for the next week¡­ Not a whole lot of things it could usually mean, right? However, she just smiled brightly and gave me a quick peck on the cheek before running down the hall. ¡°Thanks~!¡± ...I don¡¯t know whether I want to laugh or cry right now. For the first time, I had actually been somewhat looking forward to possible relationship activities, and she just wanted me to help her watch the cat. With a dejected sigh, I went back into my room and followed the original plan to begin cultivation. I could swear that there was a slight giggling coming from the intercom. My love life, or lack thereof, has officially become a comedy show for the local AI. Sitting down in my room, I began to focus on cultivating my Void Affinity while the ship pulled itself away from the asteroid field. Although I was certain we were doing interesting spins and turns to dodge the asteroids, I couldn¡¯t exactly see it from my room. This time, I did not have a window seat. In fact, none of the crew quarters had windows, because of the risk of them being hit. My cultivation continued uninterrupted for several hours before Celeste told us that we were jumping to FTL. This was one scene I had not witnessed while on the Nostromo, so I rushed to the bridge, where I saw Sharon already waiting to see, and Yo who was simply playing an old Mario arcade game now. Not what I meant and you know it.. ¡°Everyone sit down and strap in, we¡¯re jumping in ten, nine¡­¡± Celeste began the countdown while Sharon and I took our seats, buckling in. ¡°Eightsevensixfiveforthreetwoone blast off!¡± A blue ball of light shot out of the front of the ship, and then exploded in a brilliant flash of energy that enveloped the entire ship. A moment later and we were surrounded by rapidly moving specks of light, the former starscape nowhere to be seen. On our end, there was only a momentary pulse of kinetic energy as we moved into subspace, which made Yo splash against her seat as a puddle that landed on the ground and walls. ¡°I¡¯m okay!¡± Part of the scattered slime spoke up, as the individual pieces began rejoining. ¡°That was fun, let¡¯s go again papa!¡± She smiled widely, looking to me as if she was a kid that had just gotten off of an amusement park ride. If it wasn¡¯t for her legs having not quite formed yet, you wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell that she was painting the wall a few moments ago¡­ ¡°Uh¡­ maybe later?¡± I replied with a somewhat awkward smile, and the slime happily hugged me, acting like I had just made a promise. Though.. with her attention span, she¡¯d probably forget within ten minutes of playing her game again. And sure enough, she sat down and immediately resumed her game. ¡°What¡­ what does she even eat?¡± It occurred to me that I had not seen Yo at a single meal so far. Even if the meat is artificially cloned, it¡¯s still decent food! ¡°Oh, she doesn¡¯t.¡± Surprisingly, it was Sharon that answered. ¡°I asked her about it yesterday. Apparently, all she needs is the ambient mana in the air. And, sometimes she¡¯ll go into the showers to absorb the water.¡± ¡°....Well then.¡± I didn¡¯t really have anything else to say to that. ¡°I¡¯ll stick with my artificially cloned meat, if you don¡¯t mind¡­ I tried that air only diet once on a jungle planet, and did not have much fun with it¡­¡± That made her laugh, though it was kind of true.. Chapter 84: J.H. Phone Home Author¡¯s Corner: Howdy everyone!
When I got back to my room, I immediately began cultivating. My goal was to have all of my affinities at no less than 15% by the time we reach Gerin. Given my previous speed, I did not feel like that was too much to hope for. Aside from leaving my room every now and then to either stretch my legs or grab a bite to eat, I continued cultivating almost nonstop. A couple of weeks after we left Earth, Celeste had us all come out to the bridge, so that we could drop out of subspace. Apparently, she had found a desert planet with an atmosphere, so she wanted us to take a look to see if the flower I needed for my psychic stress relief potion would be here. When we all met on the bridge, there was not much difference between us now and how we had been when we first left. Since Sharon and I rarely saw each other outside of meals, there had not been many chances for us to talk more and get to know each other. Though, she would often tell me about how Chrome and Jasmine were doing. Chrome¡¯s growth rate was far beyond normal, and after a mere two weeks he looked like he had gained a full six months in his growth. No longer was he able to be held in Sharon¡¯s arms so easily, as he had become too big and heavy. Instead, he would often follow her around while listening to music with at least one of his heads. As for Jasmine, her growth rate proved to be much slower, and she was still Sharon¡¯s hug pillow. Every now and then, I would see her flying around the ship, using her wings to help her run along the walls as she played with the druidess. Unlike myself, Sharon did not focus much on her cultivation and training during these two weeks. Then again, she didn¡¯t really need to. Her fighting style focused on her animals, rather than elemental control. Yo was¡­ well, she was Yo. For the first week, she was content to spend her time playing basic arcade games. After that, she started to get bored and wandered around the ship, before wandering into my room. Every night, she would sneak into my bed and wrap her arms around me while I slept. It was a bit awkward, to be honest. When I asked her why she just said that my mana tasted good. At least she seems to be slowly growing up, and now had the mentality of an early teenager, with Celeste teaching her basic information. Sadly, she still insists on calling me Papa. Yin and Yang still remained in my grove, though Yin was there mainly to comfort Yang, who was scared of flying in the ship. I would pull them out every day or two to share a meal with everyone, which they appreciated, but afterwards Yang would be eager to go back into the grove. After I spent a few days refining my elements, I made a small house for Yang in my grove, a simple stone one that offered plenty of room for her and Yin. By now, I had gotten almost all of my affinities to 15%, with the exception of earth, fire, lightning, and light. Each time I practiced an element, I would make a seed of that element and pulled it out of my grove to train. Then, when I was done cultivating the element to 15%, I would reabsorb the seed back into my grove. Though I wasn¡¯t able to perfectly absorb the mana, resulting in not absorbing the same amount that was used whenever I made the seed, it was still better than nothing. When Celeste brought us out of subspace, there was that same burst of light and movement, and we were in a new star system. Though, she had slowed us down considerably before dropping out, to make sure we landed as close as possible to the planet. When we emerged, we could just barely see the yellow planet in the distance. ¡°This planet doesn¡¯t match one of the ones from my records, so I can¡¯t tell you anything about it. Most likely, it will be colonized some time in the future, and its terrain shifted to be more friendly for the inhabiting species.¡± ¡°However, from the scans I took while in subspace, it meets all of the atmospheric requirements to have the burning mind flower grow on it. Unfortunately, those same requirements make it a harsh planet for either of you to move around on. The temperatures can get as high as eight hundred degrees during the day, but rapidly cools at night until it get under a hundred below zero. Either of these temperatures would prove fatal to an elf or human.¡± Sharon furrowed her brow after hearing Celeste explain. ¡°Then how do you expect us to go down and get this plant?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t.¡± The Deus Ex smiled. ¡°I¡¯ll take the ship in and scan the surface as we do a flyover, and then if we find it, I¡¯ll go down myself. We do have exploration suits for the both of you, and they are enchanted to resist temperatures far exceeding these, but it would still be better for me to go myself.¡± I nodded my head at that. Aside from her, the only other person that could likely survive out there without special gear was Yo¡­ and I didn¡¯t trust Yo to pick a flower without eating it. ¡°Alright¡­ Let¡¯s see if there is anything else on this planet that could prove useful.¡±
Incoming call from Jordan and Marion Hulett.
¡­. ¡­.. No seriously, what? I know those names, naturally, but them appearing now is impossible. Right? ¡°Hello..?¡± As I speak up, Sharon looks towards me with a confused expression. Celeste, however, leans in and whispers into her ear. ¡°Ah, it worked!¡± I heard my dad¡¯s voice over the call. He should still be in the game, and his name should be Dravin, not Jordan. Unless they found a way to pull them out of the game? ¡°What¡¯s going on¡­?¡± ¡°Hmm? Ahh, sorry, explanations. Right. So, exposition time! After you left, and sent that information out, various governments used the star charts to make plans to hire an expedition in NeoLife to check out Earth. Of course, a few normal players went along as well, so that even if they all died there was a way to report back.¡± ¡°When they arrived at the ¡®Cradle of Life¡¯, the crew was both overjoyed and terrified, because nobody had ever made it back. One of the players there was a druid, and recorded the scene on a camera to relay back to Earth. The planet was barely recognizable anymore. Although the solar system confirmed that we were in the right place, the continents had shifted and shattered, becoming islands scattered across the world.¡± ¡°Unwilling to send any men in to test, the captain sent down an unmanned probe to scout the area. The first thing they found was a big city, and going by the layout we think it was Dallas, Texas at one point. However, all of the buildings were covered in blood red vines, the streets covered with monsters fighting each other. It was hard to believe, especially when a flight of dragons came in and destroyed the bunch of them, only to have them reform a few minutes later!¡± ¡°Anyways, seeing that convinced people here that sticking around might not be the best solution. We only have so many weapons that can take on dragons, and there were at least twenty of them in that one city alone. We don¡¯t know how old those dragons were, but they could be spawned anywhere from next week to a week before the footage was taken. Man, that still sounds weird. Right now, the people in the virtualized communities are being given the chance to download into mass produced androids, and your mom and I just had our turn. Say hi, Marion.¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Hi, Marion.¡± My mom¡¯s voice came over the line, followed by a brief laugh. ¡°Good to talk to you again, honey. We were worried that the friends list would not work after we were downloaded. After all, we no longer have anything like levels. Thankfully, we were able to call you.¡± Processing, processing. Okay¡­ long story short, the starmap came in handy, the government found out Earth became uninhabitable in the future, and now my parents are robots. Well, this has been a weird five minutes. Also, apparently the friends list is not hindered by any amount of distance, because there is no way that they are anywhere near me. ¡°So¡­ I take it they¡¯re going with Operation: Abandon Ship?¡± There was a chuckle from my dad as he heard that. ¡°That¡¯s right. Colony ships are already being created in orbit. Though, we¡¯re not sure if it will be in time. Another dragon spawned last week, and wiped out half of the U.K. before they managed to put it down. Here in Oakland, some nasty sharks have started to grow legs and run around on the beach eating people. As part of the robot workforce, your mom and I are going to head out and help make the ships so that we can speed things along.¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± What all could be said about that? I faintly registered as Celeste left the bridge, presumably to head towards the airlocks while we flew over the planet. ¡°Any idea where they¡¯ll be going when they¡¯re done?¡± ¡°No clue, they don¡¯t let us know stuff like that. But there are a lot of ships. If nothing delays us, the first one should be ready to launch in a year, with a capacity of over a hundred million passengers. Though, there are other people that have been leaving with private ships like you did. Not everyone wants to stick around and take a chance at being monster chow.¡± Thinking about something, I furrowed my brows and asked. ¡°Any idea if Manchester was caught up in the attack on the UK?¡± When I said this, Sharon¡¯s interest was piqued again, and she looked over at me with a trace of worry. ¡°Just a second, let me check¡­¡± There was a pause for a minute or two as he went to look up the information. ¡°Ah, here it is¡­ let¡¯s see¡­ about eighty percent of Manchester was destroyed by the dragon, and the ion cannon finished off the rest. It was a tough call, but nothing else was making a dent in it. Ultimately, they made the call to fire the cannon before the dragon could grow even stronger.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± I sighed, shaking my head as I heard the news. Sharon, who had been watching me for an answer, saw it on my face. Various conflicting emotions flashed across her face, but she settled on grief. Everyone that she¡¯s ever known outside of games is now either dead or on this ship. Though, that also meant her ass of a boyfriend is dead too, and I won¡¯t mourn his loss. ¡°Just curious, but do you still have your abilities from the game?¡± ¡°No, we lost all that when we were downloaded. They told us that there was a possibility for robots to gain souls, and thus gain levels again, but that still wouldn¡¯t give us our former racial powers. Though I think it¡¯s fine being an android. It can be kind of fun, like a whole new adventure.¡± ¡°I see¡­ Well, we¡¯re on our way to the elven world now to help them adapt to the new changes. Don¡¯t even know if they have classes yet, so fighting off monsters would be even harder for them.¡± ¡°Oh? Well, that sounds like its own kind of adventure. I¡¯ll have to find out where you are when the ships are ready to leave, see if I can find one heading your way for us to meet you again. Must be pretty lonely out there all by yourself.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ uhm¡­ I¡¯m not exactly by myself¡­¡± I said as I glanced over towards Sharon. It occurred to me that my parents never knew about the girl I brought with me offworld. Or my animal companions that have evolved into attractive women as well¡­ ¡°Ohh¡­?¡± I could just hear a grin forming on my dad¡¯s face. ¡°Now this is interesting. Come on, son. Tell your old man all about it.¡± ¡°Huh? What was that? Sorry, you¡¯re breaking up. Solar interference, talk to you later!¡± I quickly ended the call, my face starting to heat up. A few moments later, I received another message from him.
Jordan Hulett: Friends list calls don''t get interfered with like that. I''ll have you spill the beans next time! ;)
Gods above save me from a nosy father¡­ Looking over to Sharon, I saw a faint blush on her face as well. ¡°So.. Home¡¯s all gone now, huh?¡± I nodded my head slightly at that. She took several deep breaths, and then let out a long sigh. ¡°Well¡­ I had already given up on it, anyways. Besides, I¡¯ve got a new home now, right?¡± She let out a soft smile as she gestured towards the ship. ¡°And more friends in this small ship than I had on that large planet back home.¡± ¡°Maybe your own parents will give you a call once they get their robot bodies.¡± I tried to console her, but she just laughed lightly. ¡°Not likely. Not that they wouldn¡¯t, I just don¡¯t see my dad giving up virtual immortality to live in a robotic body. No, he¡¯ll stay virtualized, and either stay in NeoLife, or go with them on a digital server until a better option comes along. I could see him wanting a body like Celeste, but anything less would be worse to him than staying in a virtual prison.¡± I could only raise my eyebrows in response to that. Her dad must be pretty crazy, if she¡¯s talking about him like that. I mean, not being able to talk to your only daughter again, and the only cost being downloading into a physical body. Then again, he probably has his own reasons, too. ¡°Just to make sure, but coming along like this wasn¡¯t just some rebellious decision to run away from daddy, was it?¡± I smirked slightly as I asked that, and she puffed her cheeks out in response. ¡°No¡­ It sounded like fun. How often do you get invited to go along on a real space adventure with a cool guy? Though, I could do without the harem situation, to be honest.¡± She teased back at me, and I suddenly felt the urge to curl up in a corner. ¡°...I keep saying¡­ it¡¯s not like I wanted that¡­¡± It¡¯s not my fault! I¡¯m not even that attractive! Then again, aside from Sharon, all of the women around me are with me because they were either my AI companion or my animal companion. Sharon¡¯s the only one that actually came with me without having to be evolved from something else. I looked at the girl, and did my best not to suspect that she was secretly the evolved form of a bunny or something. That would just be the cruelest of fates. Chapter 85: Promises Kept Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! Say hello to my little friend, the chapter! Managed to write one out, so here it is.
Shortly after I got off the call with my dad, I felt the ship stopping above the planet. ¡°Alright, guys! Found some stuff, but we¡¯ll need to be quick. I picked up large monster readings just below the surface. Not really sure what type, just that it is big and full of mana.¡± Celeste called out over the intercom before diving out of the airlock. A holographic screen appeared in the bridge showing her project, and next to it a sort of radar that marked her position, as well as a vague reading beneath the surface. As of now, the reading appeared to be several kilometers away, but it was moving in her direction. ¡°Why is it that we didn¡¯t get a bigger gun for this ship for when things like this happen..?¡± ¡°Because I don¡¯t have the materials to synthesize nano-wiring capable of passing large amounts of mana into a cannon. Otherwise, we could get a really nice cannon.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice answered over the intercom as she landed on the planet. ¡°The nano-wiring is actually an essential part of most of the higher-end ship features, but they also require a much more powerful generator than what we use. If I get the materials, it would be just a matter of time for me to upgrade the ship, or build a better one. Granted, maybe a lot of time, but still.¡± I watched as she landed in a small patch of flowers and began picking them carefully. The majority of them were bright red with three long petals, but there were also two that were green with black spots. Celeste picked one of each, before the mysterious monster signal started growing too close for comfort. ¡°That¡¯ll have to do¡­¡± She shook her head and started flying up, just as the thing beneath the sand revealed itself. With a giant three sided mouth, a worm nearly fifty meters thick began rising up from the surface. ¡°Celeste¡­ fly faster!¡± As I spoke, the ship¡¯s two turrets lined up and began firing red beams of death. Though¡­ as the lasers impacted, they proved far less deadly than I had hoped, not even knocking the worm back as it continued rising up. Ten meters, twenty meters¡­ Its mouth was drawing uncomfortably close to our Deus Ex companion, and the turrets were doing nothing to stop it. I considered rushing out to help, but by the time that I got suited up and out the airlock, she¡¯d either be back in the ship or be worm food. All I could do at this point was watch. Suddenly, the lights on the ship flickered, but at the same time Celeste¡¯s speed drastically increased, leaving the worm behind as it tried to get a robotic snack. As soon as Celeste was back in the airlock, the lights returned to normal and the ship began moving away. This worm was nearly as thick as our ship, and likely at least a couple kilometers long. We did not need to have it take a bite out of us! ¡°Celeste¡­¡± I had a strange sense that something was up, and wanted to ask her about it. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I know. Splitting my processing to so many instances makes it harder to use any of them to their full potential. I was only built to handle a single companion bracelet, remember?¡± ¡°So.. doesn¡¯t that mean that the ship can¡¯t be used properly?¡± Sharon looked up at the screen curiously as she asked. ¡°No¡­ well yes, but no. If I can get you two trained, either of you could take over the ship in emergency situations, or at least part of it to reduce the strain on my processing abilities. But for just casual usage, I can handle my own body and the ship fine. I doubt either of you want to be behind one of those consoles all the time to run the scanners and such.¡± I nodded my head at that. Only one of us would want to be behind a console that much, and that was Yo. Unfortunately, her reason for being at the console was not to learn how to fly the ship, but to play games. ¡°Well, start teaching, then.¡± Celeste has a direct link to give me whatever information she sees fit, so might as well use it. ¡°Huh?¡± Sharon looks over to me curiously, and it occurs to me that I never really told her just how much Celeste is able to do in my head. After I finished explaining, her eyes went wide. ¡°Could you do that for me and Jeeves? I don¡¯t want to take the bracelet down to the planet when we arrive, because it might get broken, or lost if I die.¡± I thought about it¡­ and I didn¡¯t really have a reason to refuse, as long as we did this right. ¡°Okay.. but I¡¯ll only do it on a clone body. That way, if something goes wrong, the damage won¡¯t transfer over.¡± This would also give me the chance to begin experimenting with modifying the auras of others. Sharon nodded her head eagerly and immediately left to go to the medbay where the clone controllers had been set up. ¡°Get back here, young lady.¡± Celeste called out as she reached the bridge, and passed me the two flowers to put in my grove. ¡°Strap in for FTL first. We don¡¯t know how long this procedure will take.¡± A few moments later, I saw Sharon walking back into the bridge, sulking slightly as she sat down in her seat and strapped in. Celeste took her own seat, while Yo stood up and waited eagerly for what came next. Sure enough, once we went to subspace she was splashed all over the floor and wall again from the brief force. Shaking my head, I got up and followed Sharon to the medbay, where there were two clones sitting side by side. By now, we had each activated one, and made sure to put them in clothes this time. Sharon sat on the far side of the room, putting on her headset and activating her clone. When she sat up, Sharon¡¯s clone body happily went over and laid down on the medical bed. Celeste moved over near us, but not enough to get in the way. ¡°You¡¯ll want to put her under first.¡± I nodded my head, and used my Alchemic Sleep spell, which I had not used in several weeks, to put Sharon out. I watched as her eyes grew heavy, and then finally closed with her head tilted slightly to the side. ¡°Go call Yo in. Might as well take care of everything in one go.¡± Celeste nodded, and walked out of the medbay, while I placed my hands on either side of Sharon¡¯s head and closed my eyes. I was rather counting on the boost from my Amateur Brain Surgeon title to help me out here as I began placing the aura for an AI interface around her brain. It¡¯s amazing how much easier this is when I¡¯m not feeling the pain of doing this to myself. Then again, I was injecting my own mana into her body, and making it adapt to hers so that it wasn¡¯t rejected. Time passed slowly, minutes feeling like hours as I tried to get all of the proper connections. And this time, I made sure to get the runes just right, so that Jeeves would not have the same level of freedom over her body that Celeste had on mine. While it was handy in some situations, I would not want to make others go through it without express permission. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I wasn¡¯t sure how long I worked, but eventually I had the final connection in place. Next, I made the same connection between her brain and her wrist where the companion bracelet rested on her main body. That way, when she ¡®logged out¡¯, her AI would be able to upload itself to her new implant. I considered giving her a Cybernetic Adaptation like I had on myself, but figured that¡¯d be better left for after I got permission. For fairness¡¯ sake, I made another slight alteration to her aura to give her a psychic power. Although she couldn¡¯t turn human like I could, her power should still be able to function, even if it is at a reduced strength. By now, Yo and Celeste were already back in the medbay and waiting for what was definitely the most awkward part of this. Letting out a long sigh, I looked to the slime girl, and beckoned her forward. ¡°Yo¡­ can you shrink your chest to the same size as Sharon¡¯s?¡± ¡°Uh¡­ okay?¡± She shrugged her shoulders, not seeming to understand why I was asking, but did so anyways. I began examining her aura with my Mana Sense, focusing on the regions I had previously identified as being related to gender. I was a bit concerned that Yo would not technically have a gender, since she could switch to different forms whenever she wanted, but thankfully those aspects were still there. Once I identified the parts of her aura I needed, I began focusing more heavily on them, and compared them with what was in Sharon¡¯s aura. Once I found one that was nearly identical to Sharon¡¯s, I focused on that particular aspect. ¡°Okay¡­ Now expand your chest a bit, like you had it before, but slowly.¡± ¡°Alright!¡± She responded more enthusiastically this time, and my face heated up because I realized just what it was I was doing. I felt as the change in Yo¡¯s breasts corresponded to an alteration in the part of her aura I had been focusing on. I then repeated that alteration on Sharon¡¯s aura. I watched as her chest slowly swelled, and she let out soft moans in her sleep that I had to do my best to ignore. I wasn¡¯t sure how ¡®big¡¯ she was originally, so I stopped growing them just after what I assumed to be DD. If this was still too small for her¡­ I wasn¡¯t really sure my sanity could handle it. ¡°Anything else, Papa?¡± Yo asked with a smile next to me, her chest back to its normal proportions. ¡°No.. that¡¯s all for now. You can go play some more.¡± After saying that, I watched as the slime girl ran off out the door. ¡°Celeste, think you could scan her? I gave her the same psychic power procedure as I did for myself.¡± ¡°Alright~.¡± While Celeste pulled out the scanner and got to work, I reviewed the window that had appeared while I was working.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aura Surgery - Mana Manipulation - ¡ï¡ï¡î By manipulating your mana to match that of your ''patient'', you are able to alter the aura of another person to match patterns you have studied.
¡°Looks like she has a telepathy based power, with minor talent for empathy. It¡¯s a lot easier to train than yours, so she should be able to do it even in an elf body.¡± Celeste spoke up, making me unreasonably nervous. ¡°Yes, that means that, depending on the nature of her power, she might be able to read your mind soon.¡± ¡°I¡­ think this may have been a poorly thought out plan.¡± ¡°Too late to take it back now, Captain.¡± Celeste grinned at me, because Sharon was starting to wake up. ¡°So¡­ did it work?¡± She asked groggily, before pausing and looking down to her chest. Then up at me¡­ then back down to her chest. ¡°They got bigger¡­¡± As she spoke, a smile began forming on her face, followed by a deep blush. ¡°Did you¡­?¡± ¡°Complete gentleman, I swear.¡± I quickly denied any accusation she may have been getting ready to throw at me. ¡°Though I did give you a psychic power. Celeste should be able to help you figure out the details of it.¡± Sharon smiled more widely at that, looking to the Deus Ex as I excused myself from the room to get to my training. ¡°Celeste, until we get to Gerin, I need you to give me some information. As much of the runic language as you can manage, and basic piloting skills.¡± The AI spoke up in my mind. ¡°Alright, I can work on that.¡± For the next few days, Celeste was constantly pouring information on runes into my head, while her Deus Ex body was training Sharon. I wasn¡¯t really surprised by what her power turned out to be. Celeste said it was called ¡®Wild Voice¡¯, and was essentially a universal translation power. However, it not only worked on sapient races, but animals and plants as well. Essentially, she could communicate with anything that had a soul. And since her power was less stressful than mine, within the first week she was able to train it to the point where it only caused her a minor headache to talk with Chrome and Jasmine for brief periods. Within that same week, I had finished learning the entire runic language. All ninety-nine million, two hundred and thirty thousand, seven hundred and sixty nine runes...Why would any language, universal or not, need that many words?! Of course, I was still training my affinities during this time, and managed to get the rest of them up to 15%. For the final week before we arrived at Gerin, I decided to practice my Toybox power. Over this week, I made several discoveries regarding how I could use this power. First of all, I was able to create a portal inside of my grove, with the second portal being outside. While this wouldn¡¯t immediately be useful, it would mean that I could take magical items into my grove far easier than before. I was also able to ¡®sit¡¯ on a portal, by placing it down in a thin spiral shape. Doing so let me easily fly about, with only my mind. Of course, doing so required a big enough portal to support me, so it took quite a toll on my mind. The rest of the time, I had been practicing linking the size and shape as accurately as possible. With Celeste analyzing the rock I was using every time it passed through the portal, she was able to point out any small discrepancy. A few times, I managed to do it just right, and was now able to do small portals for pebbles with hardly any strain. Now if only I could do it for more useful measures. ¡°Everyone, please report to the bridge. We¡¯re about to pull out of subspace in the Gerin system.¡± Celeste called out, and everyone moved towards the bridge. Ever since the aura surgery, Sharon has been taking the chance to wear her clothes which emphasize her new bust. She seemed quite happy with them now¡­ and Chrome and Jasmine liked to snuggle into her chest even more now too. As we got to the bridge and sat down, we got ready to enter into the next chapter of our adventure. To the elven worlds! Chapter 86: A Show of Force Author¡¯s Corner: Finally at the elves! Now we get to see what would have happened to Earth if they didn¡¯t have the advantage of the Seeds, maybe.
¡°So, what information do you have on this system?¡± I asked towards Celeste as we pulled out of subspace. ¡°From what I read of their history, and taking scans with the Seraglio, there are currently three inhabited planets within this system. At this point in time, elves have already mastered rudimentary terraforming, but their specialty is in genetic modification. The fact that there are so many elven races in the future is due to this, because they modify their bodies to adapt to specific environments.¡± ¡°Okay.. do they use any kind of wireless network that you can tap into and learn more?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not picking up anything, but there are multiple satellites surrounding each of the planets. Once we get closer, I should be able to access whatever networks they use.¡± ¡°Alright. Well, once we are within range, we can get a scan of the planets to determine where we¡¯re going. Then, Sharon and I can head on down.¡± As I said that, Celeste looked at me in confusion for a moment. ¡°We don¡¯t have a spare body for you, and can¡¯t afford to lose the one you¡¯re using. Not to mention, we need you here to watch the ship while we¡¯re going, and make sure it isn¡¯t attacked.¡± ¡°....Fine¡­ but you have to be careful! I already set up clone controllers for Yin and Yang. I¡¯m still researching how to set one up for Yo, so I¡¯ll keep her back here with me for now. Deal?¡± ¡°Deal.¡± I nodded my head as we gradually drew closer to the first inhabited planet, which was the sixth planet from this system¡¯s star. ¡°Anything on the scans yet?¡± ¡°Not from the satellites. It¡¯s possible that the planet-side communication towers were hit by monsters already. I should be able to start a more detailed scan of the planet in a few moments¡­¡± Celeste closed her eyes and focused. ¡°Okay, pulling up the information now. There are life signs scattered all over the planet, some bigger than the rest. Those are likely to be the ¡®boss¡¯ class monsters. However, either through accident or a previous rampage, each of these three bosses are in an area where there are almost no significant signs of life within fifty miles.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s avoid those for now¡­ Celeste, while we¡¯re gone, I want you to have your construction drones start working on making orbital weaponry. If they have anything like that around their planets already, prioritize fixing it..¡± ¡°Roger, captain. So far, all of their satellites seem to be focused on communication or deep space scanning. If they are still functional, then whoever is controlling them has likely detected our arrival. I¡¯ll add stealth technology to the list of things you want for the next ship.¡± Celeste smiled at me, and I nodded with a sigh. I decided to take this moment to review my skills and status while Celeste got the scans for the nearest planet.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider SlaughtererFame1000
Level 4132%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health310/310Health Regen0.52
Mana1300/1300Mana Regen4.92
Strength15Wisdom166
Agility26Intelligence130
Dexterity22Charisma15
Vitality31Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 15%Fire 15%Wind 15%Water 15%
Lightning 15%Light 15%Dark 15%Plant 15%
Void 16%Metal 15%Magnetism 15%Plasma 15%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Advanced Level 5: 1%
Nature Magic - Intermediate Level 9: 49%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 8: 33%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Novice Level 2: 1%
Gathering - Beginner Level 9: 6%
Alchemy - Novice Level 3: 2%
Mana Signatures - Advanced Level 5: 0%
Cooking - Basic Level 4: 10%
Flight - Basic Level 1: 0%
Aura Sight - Intermediate Level 3: 1%
Technomancy - Intermediate Level 5: 89%
Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%
Enchanting - Basic Level 6: 30%
Engineering - Novice Level 2: 18%
Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 24%
Dodge - Beginner Level 5: 24%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 5: 29%
Marksmanship - Basic Level 3: 59%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 9: 42%
Soul Arts - Beginner Level 8: 9%
Psychic Power: Toybox - Basic Level 2: 9%
Piloting - Beginner Level 5: 3%
Navigation - Beginner Level 2: 12%
Weapons Systems - Basic Level 1: 13%
Shield Systems - Basic Level 1: 0%
A few things of note. First of all, after learning around twenty million runes or so, I was considered ¡®fluent¡¯ in the language, and it removed itself from my skill list. Secondly, there were four other shiny new skills at the bottom of my list that Celeste had been training me in. This was so that I could take over the Seraglio at important moments if she needed to focus on other things. I imagined that Sharon had a similar addition to her skill list as well. Finally, I had received an increase to my Fame stat¡­ though I wasn¡¯t really sure why. I had never gotten a message regarding it before. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve got a visual scan of the surface. It¡¯s not looking good.¡± Celeste muttered out from her seat near me. ¡°There are fights all over the planet, with elves against monsters. Their weaponry isn¡¯t as evolved as Earth, since it seems like they had a fairly peaceful uprising. Their most advanced weapons appear to be tesla guns, and they completely lack any orbital or nuclear weaponry. As expected, there do not appear to be any elves wielding magic.¡± ¡°Alright. Get ready to set us down somewhere that we can make an entrance. I¡¯ll get Yin and Yang ready to go.¡± After I said that, Sharon nodded and headed for the medbay to get into her own clone body. Meanwhile, I summoned the demi and the gustwing out of my grove. ¡°Yin, Yang, we¡¯re about to head down to the planet. Want to come with us?¡± I asked with a gentle smile, trying to reassure the winged woman who was afraid of space. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Y-yes please¡­ though.. can I stay in your grove until the fighting is over, Master?¡± Yang looked to me pleadingly, and I accepted. Even though we¡¯re leaving the ship, she still wouldn¡¯t enjoy being in a large fight. As for Yin, she simply nodded her head in approval. According to Celeste, she had already managed to cultivate her Wind and Water Affinities to the level needed to evolve, and was merely working on her Lightning Affinity now. Even that was not too far from the level needed. Heading down to a real planet could help her cultivate quite a bit. ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s get the two of you suited up.¡± They appeared confused when I said this, but followed me to the medbay. There were two clones more than there had been the last time I was in here. One looked like a pure white bird with lifeless eyes, while the other was the same generic human clone that mine and Sharon¡¯s had started as. Celeste helped them get strapped in while I put on the headset and logged into my own clone. After Yang was in her clone, I sent her into the grove so she could relax until it was safe. Once we were all ready, we moved to the teleport bay, where there were a dozen small metal plates lining the ground. ¡°Alright, just stand on any one of those and we can begin.¡± After Celeste spoke, Yin was the first to rush towards the plates, understanding that this was her way off the ship and down to the action. Yo, however, just looked at me with pleading eyes. ¡°Papa, can¡¯t I come too? I promise I won¡¯t get in your way..¡± ¡°Sorry, Yo. You stay up here and help Celeste for now. Once we¡¯ve taken care of everything, we can bring you down to the surface and let you walk around. If you¡¯re good and help Celeste with her research, then next time you might be able to come down and join us.¡± I offered her a bit of an incentive, hoping it¡¯d encourage her to be helpful rather than sulking the entire time we were gone. Thankfully, the slime girl rapidly nodded her head, sending a bit of green slime splashing around before it began sliding back towards her body. ¡°I¡¯ll be good, papa!¡± ¡°Alright guys.¡± Celeste spoke as she stood near a console. ¡°I¡¯m about to send you down to the planet. Once there, I won¡¯t be able to connect with you for about five minutes, since this will drain a lot of the ship¡¯s power. I¡¯ll have to focus on refueling first, and then I will make contact. Until then, try to stay out of trouble.¡± I felt an odd sense of foreboding from that. ¡°Add a better generator to the list..¡± She giggled slightly, nodding her head. ¡°Will do, captain. If you¡¯re lucky, maybe they¡¯ll offer you a ship as thanks for saving them.¡± ¡°Since when do I get that kind of luck?¡± I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°Well, beam us down.¡± Sure enough, dozens of lights began surrounding us, and I got ready for the likelihood of appearing in a battlefield. After the lights briefly blinded us, there were shouts and various sounds of battle filling the air around us. Sharon quickly waved a hand, and pulled ten of her strongest wolves out of her grove. Three of them were naturally the worldwolves that we had previously evolved in NeoLife, but surprisingly four others had evolutions as well. One had become a two headed diamondback wolf, fire emitting from its mouths. Another was a wolf whose entire body seemed to crackle with lightning, giving it a fearsome appearance. Finally, the last two each looked like larger, more ferocious versions of a lesser orthrus, each having two heads and black fur along their bodies. Looking around, we were in a wide plains area, where the elves were shooting lightning from various sized weapons at swarms of goblins, minotaurs, and¡­ giant walking trees. I¡¯ll call them treants for now. Anyways, their weapons were moderately effective when they hit, but highly inaccurate. From my count, there were fifty goblins, twelve minotaurs, and five treants on the battlefield, against roughly two hundred elves. However, the elves were still being pressed back. Seeing the number and type of enemy, I felt like it wasn¡¯t even really needed for me to interfere. ¡°Sharon, would you do the honors?¡± ¡°Yes, please~!¡± She said happily as she hopped onto one of the wolves¡¯ back and had them all charge towards the battlefield. Fighting meant experience, and experience meant levels. Leveling up her wolves gave them the possibility to evolve, so no doubt she was eager to do that. The elves paused briefly as they saw Sharon riding into battle, surrounded by several unnatural looking wolves. Flying above her was a large, powerful looking bird that shot lightning from its mouth at one of the treants, causing it to let out a cry of pain. A few elves seemed to think about attacking the ¡®unnatural horde¡¯, but were dissuaded from doing so when they began to show their power. First, the lightning wolf had its entire body turn into a single bolt of lightning that flashed across the battlefield, killing several goblins in its path and landing against a minotaur. Then, its body glowed brightly as it amplified the electricity within its body to electrocute the pinned beast. The two headed diamondback wolf tore at goblins with its two mouths until it managed to get to a treant, and began tearing it to shreds with its razor sharp claws. Meanwhile, the two orthrus were releasing twin breaths of fire and water, wiping out anything in their path. There were still several elves in melee, but the worldwolves would quickly appear next to them and throw them out of the battlefield with a single push before moving out of the way of the impending attacks. Within ten minutes, the battle that had looked like it would cost dozens of elven lives had suddenly ended. Likely because she didn¡¯t like the looks of any of the monsters, Sharon hadn¡¯t spared any in her slaughter. From beginning to end, she had simply ridden on the back of one of her wolves. Once the fight was over, Sharon moved back over to me, and we were soon joined by one of the elven soldiers. Thankfully, the language appeared to be the same as it was in NeoLife, because I was able to perfectly understand him. ¡°Thank you for your assistance, strangers. But.. how did you do that? You wielded the power of the cycle as if it were your own.¡± The awe in his words was obvious, and I was suddenly wondering what this ¡®cycle¡¯ was supposed to be. ¡°I¡¯ve tapped into their network.¡± Celeste said a few moments later, being a bit late to contact with us. ¡°The Great Cycle is the elven religion. All things come from the cycle, and in the end all things return to it. The bodies go to the earth, while the spirit goes to the flow. Likely, they see the monsters as beings born of the cycle, and thus their power is the power of the cycle. So, they mean magic.¡± I sighed at the overly long explanation. ¡°We are¡­ not from around here. We¡¯ve come to help you learn to wield the ¡®power of the cycle¡¯, and fight back against the creatures that threaten you. I take it all of you have seen the blue panels appearing at one point or another?¡± After I asked that, the man in front of me nodded. ¡°We¡¯re going to help you learn about that. In the meantime, could you take us to whoever is in a position of leadership around here?¡± ¡°Very well, follow me. I can take you to the Queen of the Woods.¡± The elf nodded, and gave what was likely some form of salute. His left hand was placed behind his back, while his right hand came up and did an action similar to Earth salutes. Surprisingly, though many of the elves looked in awe at Sharon for the power she had displayed, none of them seemed to look at her lustfully¡­ Maybe having a large bust was not considered attractive among the elves. And that, my friends, was how I came to meet an elven queen. Chapter 87: The Royal We Author¡¯s Corner: Greetings all, and happy reading! *runs off to write before the slave driver gets angry*
I feel like a bit of backstory is needed here before we begin. So¡­ the first monsters to spawn in this world were, like on Earth, slimes. With this world¡¯s tech in weapons, they had almost no method to defeat them aside from point blank shots from their tesla guns. And even these weapons had been improvised quickly when they found out that physical damage did nothing, and that the slimes had no genetic makeup that could be targeted by their biological weapons. Each planet has a single ¡®high queen¡¯, which governs the entire planet, while the planets themselves have local queens, such as the Queen of the Woods that I was being taken to now. Roughly a week prior to our arrival, the former Queen of the Woods for this area had been assassinated by monsters. Well¡­ that¡¯s what their network called it, anyways. From the sounds of things, a mimic slime had eaten her throne while she was in the bathroom, and when she came back and sat down it ate her. Do natural mimic slimes have the ability to change their colors, or was the queen just careless? Anyways, after that, the queen¡¯s daughter had to take the throne, despite being underage. Well¡­ underage by elf standards, but she was still almost fifty years old. Thankfully, the retainers and other queens have been helping her get adjusted. But in this matriarchal society, she still held the highest level of authority for the area where Celeste had sent us. This information had been transmitted to me as we were being led into a large stone palace within the forest. Unlike in NeoLife, it seems that they have not yet mastered the art of making the trees become buildings, and have typical stone houses. The Queen of the Woods sat on her throne, looking at us with excited eyes as someone next to her whispered to her. Sharon was just about to bow, but suddenly stopped. When I got curious as to why, Celeste sent me some information. ¡°In this culture, bowing is a show of guilt, seen as lowering your head to beg forgiveness of the cycle while avoiding eye contact with the one you wronged. I managed to warn Jeeves to let her know before she did something wrong.¡± Ahh.. thanks.. Cultural differences¡­ well, at least they don¡¯t have something more hostile as shows of respect, like challenging the opposing party to an honorable duel. ¡°Nope, nothing like that!¡± After Celeste reassured me of that, it looked like the queen was done getting the information from her retainer. The Queen of the Woods looked to be in her late teens, just barely above the size one would consider a loli. She had long platinum hair, bright red eyes, and wore a silver gown. No, really, the gown itself was made of silver thread. I even confirmed it with my Mana Sense. ¡°I am told that you have saved my people in the battle to the west. For that, you have my gratitude.¡± The queen spoke slowly, as if confused by her own words. ¡°However, when we scanned you at the entrance, your genetic profile does not match any known elven citizens. Your race would seem to be of the forest elves, but we do not have any record of you. I--We would like to demand an explanation of this, and how you can wield the power of the cycle, that which our enemies have used against us.¡± Well¡­ looks like it¡¯s my turn to speak. ¡°Your elfness, we do not come from this planet. Or this star, we have journeyed quite a long ways to help.¡± She seemed a bit annoyed by the title I had given her, but I continued. ¡°The planet we come from was the first to be afflicted with what you have been fighting. However, I guess that you could say we had the help of what you call the cycle in dealing with it.¡± ¡°The cycle has aided your world?¡± The queen suddenly looked far less annoyed by what I had called her previously. ¡°Do you have any way to prove your words, aside from the power your friend¡¯s animals displayed earlier?¡± Ah¡­ she wants me to use some magic¡­ Well, might as well go flashy. I closed my eyes and focused. First, a set of four angelic wings burst out of my back, ripping my shirt to shreds(why did I forget to enchant everything I wear with adaptable enchantments again?) before a bright light shined down on me from above. Really, this was just me activating my Aspect of the Bird and using Light Manipulation to put myself in the spotlight, but still. It seemed to have an effect. Several elves drew back from me, muttering beneath their breath. Even the Queen herself stood up in shock at the sight. ¡°You¡­ you can change your body at at whim. It seems your words were true. Still, you are but two people, and we are three worlds. What could you alone do that would save us?¡± ¡°Well.. you have seen the blue panels appear, yes?¡± When she nodded her head, I continued. ¡°Can you tell me what is listed next to the box of your status that says ¡®Class¡¯?¡± She paused for a moment before she answered. ¡°It says I am a novice. This is so for all, but we do not know what it refers to.¡± I had thought that this might happen. For us, being in the Seeds essentially put us in the presence of the system pantheon, thus we were granted a class easily. However, they have no such luck, so they have been unable to gain their classes. ¡°In this new age, and you can consider it as such, there are special classes which give powers that could help you. For example, my class is druid, and allows me to control the elements, or in my friend¡¯s case to control animals. There are also several types of magic you will be able to discover, and we can help with.¡± Slowly, the queen sat back in her chair, still looking eagerly at us. ¡°Please¡­ how do we gain these classes? If it is as you say, they will prove extremely beneficial to helping us combat these strange foes.¡± One of the retainers next to the queen leaned over and seemed to be whispering to her, sending harsh glances towards us. However, the queen brushed him off. ¡°We will hear none of that. If these people wished us harm, they have displayed more than enough capability to fight on their own.¡± I nodded my thanks, before trying to think of how to word this. However, it was Sharon that spoke up, rescuing me from my dilemma. ¡°Your Royal Elfness.¡± The queen was still annoyed by that manner of address, but at least Sharon added ¡®royal¡¯ to it. ¡°In order to gain a class, it is required to visit a temple towards a powerful group of people that have already passed and returned to the cycle. We can help you construct this quickly, and then all you will need to do is visit and kneel before one of the statues. Anyone that does so will be granted the ability to choose a class.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. I muttered a silent thanks to Sharon, and the queen thought this over. ¡°We will grant you a small plot of land to construct this temple. However, be warned that if your words turn out to be false, you will have the entire elven empire against you. Now go, I must discuss this with the High Queen.¡± With that, we were quickly led out of the castle. On the way, I kept an eye out for the scanners that the little queen had mentioned, since I didn¡¯t recall seeing anything scan me on the way in. At the outer gates of the castle, there were a series of small black dots lining the floor and ceiling, likely acting as genetic scanners. Really, this race could be scary if they used their genetic technology the wrong way. The guards that had escorted us out of the castle led us off back towards the plains where we had been found. ¡°Since this is where you first appeared, this shall be the site of your so-called temple.¡± The guard that spoke had long black hair and a slim athletic build, and didn¡¯t seem to appreciate our involvement as much as the queen did. Well, it didn¡¯t really matter as long as he didn¡¯t get in the way. Looking over to Sharon, I sighed slightly. ¡°Mind setting up a defensive perimeter while I get working? I don¡¯t want any monsters to spawn and interrupt me.¡± She nodded, and several streams of light emerged from her chest, surrounding her and turning into a hundred fluffy white rabbits, each with a single horn on her head. ¡°Form a circle, little ones.¡± She spoke gently to them, and the rabbits rushed off at a frightening speed, startling the guards. They ended up making a circle roughly fifty meters wide, which was plenty for me to work with. ¡°Think that¡¯s enough, or should I spread them out more?¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be fine.¡± I nodded my head, and sat down on the ground. I still had my wings spread out, so I might as well make use of them. Celeste, give me the plans for a small temple. And please make it as racially inoffensive as possible to the elves. I heard a faint giggle in my mind, before the information was transmitted to me. At the same time, I activated my Aspect of the Mana Leech to start absorbing all of the ambient mana, my wings turning into a myriad of colors. Reaching out with this mana, I used my Earth Manipulation to begin constructing the temple that Celeste had sent me. The rock walls rose slowly, but it was enough to get the guards and Sharon to move out of the way. There was a great shaking in the ground around us as I did my best to bring in the rock from the surrounding soil to use to reinforce the foundation of this temple. The building plans that Celeste had sent me were for a temple fifteen meters wide, and eight meters tall. Since I wasn¡¯t that confident in making glass, I just left empty holes for the windows, and did the same for the doorway as well. The important part was to put three statues inside of it. Thankfully, these statues all appeared to have distinctive elven characteristics. The first was of an annoyingly familiar woman, the one who first introduced me to NeoLife, though a few characteristics seemed to differ. The second was an elven male, wearing a suit of full plate armor and having a sword at his side. The third looked like an elven man in rogue attire, a simple shirt and leggings, with multiple daggers strapped to his sides. Making the building was easy, that only took me about fifteen minutes. However, the three statues were far more difficult, as I had to make them as accurate as possible. If they were not recognizable as the three patrons, then their existence here would be meaningless. As such, I spent over two hours on each, following Celeste¡¯s instructions to work and rework the facial features until they were just right. Finally, there was a plaque at the bottom of each statue, for which I had to write their name and ¡®domains¡¯. The first was Aria, patron deity of fashion. I really wished that wasn¡¯t true, but Celeste informed me it was. The second was Halen, patron deity of elves. Part of me wondered why he was the only one of the three with that title, but neither I nor Celeste had the answer to that. Finally, there was Draxin, patron deity of hidden blades.
You have created the first Temple of the Gods
Have a shiny gold piece to remember us by! -Aria
Sure enough, a gold coin, similar to what had been used as a currency in NeoLife, fell down onto my lap out of nowhere. ¡°This is totally unfair teasing.¡±
Maybe! Thanks for doing me first, though~. Makes me feel all warm of fuzzy. I remember back when you were just a naked man embarrassing himself in front of me. Though I must say, you look far better now that you¡¯ve slimmed down.
Note to self, it is possible to talk to gods inside of a temple. Second note to self, never devote a temple to Aria again.
Awww, that''s mean! I''m taking that coin back now!
And with that, the gold coin that had appeared in my lap was whisked away. Having nothing else to say to that, I stood up and walked out of the temple, cancelling the Aspect of the Bird so that I could announce that it was done. ¡°You can go on in now.¡± I sighed to the two guards, who were standing nearby with cautious expressions. The one who had been rather rude earlier was the first to walk in, glancing at me as if to say that he would be back when this all failed. Shortly after he entered, there was a brief cry of shock before he came rushing back out. He ran over towards the other guard and whispered to him. My new theory as to why elves have long ears¡­ so that they can better hear when they whisper to each other. Chapter 88: What is it with Royalty? Author¡¯s Corner: Good morning/evening/night/indistinct time period, everyone! I bring to you another chapter!
After the whisper guards spoke back and forth for a few moments, they hurriedly left to run back towards the forest. Seeing that, Sharon and I looked at each other helplessly, and slowly followed behind. Strangely, Sharon did not dismiss her rabbit swarm, and instead picked two of them up to hold while we walked. ¡°Guess that they completely forgot about us, huh?¡± She looked over to me with a wry smile. ¡°Seems like it. Well, if the place gets destroyed, I can always just fix it later.¡± I might ¡®forget¡¯ to fix a certain goddess¡¯s statue, though. Sharon nodded, and we leisurely took our time heading back towards the city. Since Celeste was splitting her processing, I didn¡¯t get the free mental map that she had always given me, but it was not hard to navigate our way back. This time, we even got to truly enjoy the scenery. Their forest, which I had yet to hear the name of, was rather spacious. From what I could see, the entirety of the forest counted as their city, as every now and then there would be a group of trees cut down to make space for a wooden or stone building. The architecture reminded me of medieval kingdoms from various online games I used to play, so the fact that they had the ability to travel to other planets in their system and even colonize them was somewhat amazing. Every now and then, I would see inside a window of a passing house, and find that there was actually some technology inside. While they weren¡¯t using holograms, they did have old two dimensional screens for television. Since I couldn¡¯t see any power lines, they likely buried it all underground. The palace itself stood almost as high as the trees, but had various trees planted at the top of its towers to make it invisible from above. I wasn¡¯t exactly sure what the meaning behind this was, but it probably had some cultural significance. Once we got to the castle gates, the two who had run ahead of us were awkwardly walking back out. ¡°Odds that they got reprimanded for running off without us?¡± ¡°Pretty high.¡± Sharon giggled as she heard my question. The two guards, upon seeing us, quickly ran over. ¡°The queen wishes to speak with you.¡± The notably ruder one said, though his attitude seemed a bit different. With a shrug, we followed along after Sharon put away her animal horde. Once we were back inside the throne room, the two guards offered a brief salute before leaving. With them gone, it was just the queen, Sharon, and myself in the room. Seeing that, the queen visibly relaxed. ¡°Sorry about all that¡­ Well, at least we didn¡¯t get off to a bad start, right?¡± She offered a weak smile in our direction. ¡°After you left to work on the temple, we called this planet¡¯s High Queen and discussed things. She said that if your words held truth, that we should arrange for you to speak with her. Judging by the words of our guard, this is the case.¡± After saying that, the queen rummaged around her throne like someone who had lost the remote in their couch. A few moments later, she made an ¡®aha¡¯ sound, and pulled out a device with a single black button. ¡°Calling the High Queen.¡± She spoke into the device as she pressed the button. Soon, a large section of the wall behind her throne and to the right receded away, revealing a television screen. Currently, the screen was blue, with a single white line going across it, and a low beeping. ¡°Sorry¡­ this can take a minute¡­ come on¡­¡± She muttered under her breath before the call seemed to connect. ¡°Ah, that was fast!¡± A feminine voice on the other end spoke up. Soon, we were greeted with a young woman apparently in her late thirties, wearing a golden gown. I could only imagine that, like this queen¡¯s silver gown, it was made of actual gold threads. Like many other elves we have seen, her chest was nearly flat, with only two small mounds barely visible through her gown. Otherwise, she had fairly well defined curves. ¡°Hello again, little Talia~! Are these the ones you told me about?¡± ¡°T-talia?! P-please try to keep this formal, High Queen!¡± The teenage queen suddenly had red cheeks and blurted out. ¡°And yes¡­ these are the ones we mentioned earlier¡­¡± ¡°Oh come now, you don¡¯t need to keep up the formalities. If what you said is true, and they are aliens to this world, then the formalities would mean very little to them. Now, how to begin¡­ Hmm.. Well, hello to you, offworlders. I am High Queen Maeve of the planet Gerin 6. I don¡¯t suppose ¡®her Royal Elfness¡¯ has asked for your names yet?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle, seeing how the Queen of the Woods was getting more and more embarrassed as this went on. ¡°No, but I¡¯m sure there was some reason for that. My name is John Hulett.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m Sharon Bradbury.¡± Sharon spoke up next to me, smiling at the attitude the High Queen was using. ¡°Pleasure to meet you. I received a report roughly an hour ago that an unidentified ship was in position around the planet, and I would assume that is your craft?¡± When we nodded, she continued. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I don¡¯t have any designs for it. If anything, it seems a bit inferior in some aspects to our own ships. Now, since we¡¯re talking, I assume that the temple was a success, and that someone managed to gain one of these ¡®classes¡¯?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, High Queen.¡± Talia spoke up from her throne, crossing her arms over her petite chest in frustration. ¡°Jorel was granted the class of Fighter, which would indicate that they were speaking the truth.¡± ¡°Jorel, huh? I think I remember that one. He¡¯s the one with the attitude, right?¡± When Maeve said this, even Talia couldn¡¯t help but giggle slightly. ¡°Still, just this is a significant help to us. I wonder if there was another purpose for your visit here, John and Sharon?¡± ¡°Well.. there is more we can offer you. For instance, we know of two methods you could use to prevent these monsters from appearing in your territory.¡± I answered honestly. To be frank, I hadn¡¯t even considered a reward yet. What could they give me that I couldn¡¯t give myself? Money that would not be useful anywhere but on this planet? Resources I could easily mine from asteroids or my grove? At most, they might be able to give me one of their ships. Maeve and Talia both looked to us in surprise at this. ¡°Oh? There is such a method?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°For now, they are limited to those that choose either the Priest or Druid classes. In the future, there will be options available for a Mage to do so, but the materials needed do not exist yet.¡± Talia raised a curious eyebrow at that. ¡°You speak as if you have seen the future.¡± ¡°I have. On my world, when this happened, we were given the chance to go many years into the future to prepare ourselves. I imagine the rest from my world are still making those preparations.¡± ¡°Ohh?¡± Maeve smiled mischievously from the television screen. ¡°Then, why is it that the two of you are here, when the rest of your planet is still fighting back this force?¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Because ours was the only world given this privilege, and we were not needed there. So instead, we decided to set out, and visit the nearest civilizations that we had found with the information obtained in the future.¡± ¡°I see¡­ You already have a bride in the woman beside you, so you do not want a position as a king. If you possess the information from the future, your technology is bound to be far more capable than our own. Am I to believe you are doing this solely out of the goodness of your heart?¡± Looking over, I saw that Sharon¡¯s face had gone entirely red at the High Queen¡¯s words. I wonder why she immediately believed we were married? Celeste, while laughing, provided me the answer mentally. Apparently, elven women with large breasts were limited to those who had many children, so that they could better care for them. Otherwise, almost all elves had the slim figures of the two queens. ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ we aren¡¯t married or anything like that¡­ But yeah, I wasn¡¯t really expecting a reward when we got here.¡± When I answered like this, a bit embarrassed myself, Maeve covered her mouth with a hand. Though, I could see an almost wicked grin underneath it. ¡°Oh, really? Then, you wouldn¡¯t object if Talia were to be your bride?¡± ¡°A-aunt Maeve!!¡± The local queen suddenly looked to Maeve in shock, and I have to say none of us were expecting that. ¡°Uhm¡­ well.. we are going to be journeying more after we help the elves, so I am afraid that I must decline.¡± Not only Talia, but Sharon as well visibly relaxed when I declined the offer. I don¡¯t want an elven queen! My harem is growing too much as it is already! Let me have at least some peace¡­ Maeve, on the other hand, just laughed happily, as if she had been expecting a reply like that. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry dear, I was only joking. Though, I do think that there is still much that we could offer you in exchange for the services you are prepared to provide.¡± ¡°I-I see¡­ just please¡­ no more women¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but saying that. Sharon, next to me, covered her mouth to suppress a laugh. Celeste, however, showed no such restraint. ¡°Oh fine¡­¡± Maeve put on a fake pout. ¡°Anyways, what are these methods for repelling the monsters that you mentioned?¡± Thankful for the change in subject, I let out a sigh of relief. ¡°Well, it will be easier to explain once people have begun training in a class. I¡¯ll have the AI for my ship upload the information to your network, and you can look through it.¡± ¡°Oh, that means it¡¯s my turn!¡± Celeste spoke up in my head, and I could imagine as she quickly compiled the information on various classes, before uploading them to the local network. ¡°Aaand done!¡± There was a brief alarm sounding from the other side of the call, and Maeve¡¯s eye twitched involuntarily. ¡°I¡¯ll assume that was your doing, then¡­ Oh well¡­ Still, you wield the power to control the earth, and change your shape. I imagine that such things can¡¯t be learned through simply reading?¡± Sharon looked to me and smiled before explaining. ¡°The both of us are druids, and that is one of our abilities. John focuses on those aspects, while I focus on growing animals. We can offer early training for anyone that wants to be a druid, since we have been through such ourselves. Ah¡­ by the way, if you have any interesting animals on this world, could I borrow a couple?¡± She looked up to the High Queen with pleading eyes. Never miss a chance for new fluff, do you? ¡°Hmm, very well. I¡¯ll have Talia see about showing you some of the local wildlife in her woods.¡± When she heard that, the Queen of the Woods just sighed, shaking her head. ¡°Yes aunt¡­¡± ¡°Now now, none of that. These people could very well be saving our people. And not just the ones on our world. I¡¯ll discuss with the other High Queens and share this information with them. Now that we have seen what this temple looks like, we can have our people build them wherever they are needed. I assume there won¡¯t be a problem with that, John?¡± I shook my head at the question. ¡°No, there shouldn¡¯t be a problem. The important part is to get the statues. If you have those built, you can put them in any building you want, and it should qualify as a temple.¡± ¡°Oh, well that makes this easier. We pride ourselves on our artistic ability.¡± Maeve smiles proudly, puffing out her almost nonexistent chest. ¡°I would ask that you stay around for a few weeks, however. This will serve as both time to train a few local druids, as well as for us to prepare our gift for you.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Sharon looked to me, as if wanting me to take care of this one. I had never mentioned how long we¡¯d be staying. ¡°We had planned to stay for a little while. Aside from the general monster problem, our ship detected a small number of much more powerful monsters that had appeared in this world.¡± Maeve¡¯s expression turned more serious at that. ¡°You are referring to the six calamities. Yes, there were reports of powerful creatures wiping out entire cities as they established their domains. The other planets have similar problems, though they only have four or five such.¡± ¡°Yes.. they are what we call a boss class monster. One of our companions back on the ship is working on making a weapon capable of getting rid of them, but it may take some time.¡± Talia seemed surprised by my statement, but Maeve only nodded. ¡°Yes, I do not imagine it would be a good idea to leave them as they are. On Galen Prime, our original homeworld, they successfully managed to exterminate one of the great winged creatures by using our bioweapons. However, getting close enough to do so cost many lives. With each of these creatures having a different appearance, there is no guarantee that the same method will even work on all of them.¡± As she said that, I could feel a cold sweat coming over me. These elves actually had a bioweapon capable of killing what sounded like a dragon¡­ How is that not terrifying?! ¡°Well¡­ yes, we will be doing our best to help you deal with them.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, John, they don¡¯t seem to be the really strong dragons. Not like the ones that were starting to appear on Earth. From what I¡¯m seeing, these are smaller ones. Though, they are still much more powerful than anything we¡¯ve fought before. At the very least, each one of them would be on par with that nature wyrm you fought on the jungle planet.¡± Celeste failed quite epically at reassuring me. I fried myself to deliver an ultimate attack, that did nothing more than stun that thing for a few minutes! ¡°Look on the bright side. Orbital lasers! Also, only three of them are actually dragons. One is a giant golem that was birthed from a mountain, another is a massive¡­ let¡¯s just nuke that one rather than telling you, and finally we have a giant ice wolf.¡± You were going to say that one is a massive spider, weren¡¯t you?! Despite my mental retort, there was silence from Celeste, which only seemed to confirm my suspicion. Kill it with death lasers! Chapter 89: Scorched Earth is Best Plan Author¡¯s Corner: Happy Double Release day!
After the call ended with the High Queen, Queen Talia let out a long sigh. ¡°We are sorry about High Queen Maeve. She¡¯s a bit eccentric, but she really is quite capable, and has only the welfare of our race in mind.¡± I could only chuckle softly at that. ¡°It¡¯s not a problem. But¡­ I take it that¡¯s why you dismissed the guards?¡± ¡°Right, right¡­ She always puts up a serious face when others are around, so she asked us to make sure that was not an issue during this call, as a show of respect. Personally, we think she should take it more seriously. It¡¯s the fate of our race, after all¡­ Please don¡¯t take her jokes too seriously¡­¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s alright.¡± Sharon said, waving a hand quickly. ¡°Besides, there¡¯s not much else for us to do while we wait, Queen Talia. Do you suppose that we could look around to see what animals your world has?¡± At this time, Celeste chimed in inside my head with a somewhat wicked laugh. ¡°Oh¡­ I did a scan to learn about their wildlife¡­ She is going to love this¡­¡± If you could just scan for it, why are we bothering to have someone show us around!? I retorted mentally. Talia however, simply nodded her head, clapping her hands loudly. A moment later, a few guards opened the large door to the throne room. ¡°Have one of our hunters show Sharon Bradbury around the woods, and let her experience the wildlife. What is it you would like to do, John Hulett?¡± I thought about it for a moment, and shrugged. ¡°I could set up a ward around this forest for you, so that monsters don¡¯t spawn inside of it anymore. It won¡¯t stop them from wandering in, or remove the ones already here, but it should help.¡± ¡°We would appreciate that. What do you require to make it happen?¡± I looked to the little queen. ¡°I would need a glass sphere, about this big..¡± I measured it out with my hands to show how large I would need. ¡°And I need a circle drawn around the forest. Alternatively, if you have someone take the Priest job at the temple, they can pray to the patrons there and ask them to shield the area.¡± While the priest method was not feasible back on Earth due to religious conflicts, the way Sharon worded it here made them readily adapt these deities as part of their current religion. In that sense, what was impossible back on Earth could potentially be the easiest solution here. The queen thought about it for a moment, before nodding. ¡°We will personally take the Priest position, and ask these patrons to defend us. We believe that doing so will show that we are completely sincere. Furthermore, we would ask that every generation of queen in these woods take the position of Priest for this same purpose.¡± I wasn¡¯t really sure about that, but the logic was sound. Even if I can¡¯t count on Aria to be useful, I can hope the other two are. ¡°Alright, then I¡¯ll take a look around. I¡¯ll probably fly around for a bit to make sure that there are no more fights breaking out.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Talia nods, and Sharon is escorted out by an elf with a large bow on his back. Presumably, that is their hunter. ¡°We ask that half of the royal guards accompany us, that they may be granted a class as well. The other half shall defend the realm according to their normal duties.¡± I didn¡¯t bother sticking around after that, and directly left the castle. ¡°Celeste¡­ there aren¡¯t big you know whats in these trees, are there?¡± ¡°No sir, it is safe for flying! But¡­ don¡¯t go too far north. Just a warning. Probably best not to fly too high above the treetops either.¡± The AI quickly responded in my head. ¡°Please don¡¯t tell me that it¡¯s the closest ¡®calamity¡¯.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not the closest calamity.¡± ¡°You¡¯re lying to make me feel better, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°...Thanks¡­ Just¡­ warn me if it heads this way.¡± I mumbled under my breath, causing several elves nearby to look at me strangely, backing up to put distance between us. ¡°Guess I¡¯m not flying. Is there enough power on the ship to teleport up?¡± ¡°Barely. It¡¯d drain almost all of the power on the ship. It¡¯d be best if you just found somewhere to log out, and help resupply the ship¡¯s generator while you¡¯re up here. I could theoretically refuel us by flying at the sun, but at that distance we¡¯d lose the connection with the clone bodies. Since that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s best for you to do so yourself.¡± I nodded my head, and looked around. Since this wasn¡¯t anything too important, and wouldn¡¯t take too long, I cancelled my Aspect of the Bird, and sat down against a nearby tree before ¡®logging out¡¯ of the clone. Back on the ship, I lifted the headset and examined my surroundings. The others were all still plugged in, so Celeste and Yo were the only ones here to greet me. The slime girl tackled me before I even had the chance to stand up from my seat, giving me a strong hug. ¡°Welcome back, Papa!¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Has any progress been made for creating a slime clone?¡± I looked to the AI, who let out an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. ¡°You¡¯ve been down there only eight hours. I¡¯ve barely had time to run the first round of tests. Give me a bit more time before you ask for results. However¡­ I¡¯ve managed to come up with a way to synthesize more slime, similar to what makes her body. The problem is that without a slime core, it¡¯s just a bunch of useless goo. I need to figure out a way to make an inert monster core, that way we can transplant Yo¡¯s soul into it when she does the cloning process.¡± ¡°Any idea how long that will take?¡± I ask the AI, who grumbles something under her breath. ¡°No¡­ Thankfully, I don¡¯t have to do much work with the ship, so my attention isn¡¯t too divided, at least. I¡¯ll let you know when I get a working theory. For now, could you go fill the generator? I didn¡¯t have enough spare upgrades to get ones to generate plasma freely like you can do.¡± I nodded my head at her, and walked off towards the generator. Once I had spent enough mana to completely refill the ship¡¯s engine, I went to the bridge. ¡°So, what can you tell me about these boss monsters?¡± Celeste smirked at my question, having followed me back to the bridge. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve only got reliable information on two of them from what I downloaded in the future. Another one has fairly detailed reports that I was able to put together to make a profile, but the last three have unknown abilities.¡± On the screen, a large wolf was displayed against a green background, but its entire body was made of clear ice. ¡°This is known as a frozen tundra wolf king. Bit of a mouthful, but not without reason. It¡¯s a large scale monster that only spawns in thick ice climates. This one spawned at the northern pole of the planet, and seemed to wipe out the city that was positioned there within five hours of its appearance. Its body is bigger than this ship, and likely more powerful.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. The screen shifted again, this time showing a giant stone man. ¡°This is a mountain golem, one of the largest forms of stone golems that can spawn. Obviously, they don¡¯t compare to a lunar titan, but it is still not something to underestimate. This one is fairly passive unless provoked, and its weakness is its slow movement speed. However, in close range, it is able to reshape its skin to attack anyone that tries to climb on it. Rather than attacking a city, it destroyed one simply by walking through, trying to find a quiet place for itself to live.¡± ¡°Neither of the two so far are likely to be affected by any bioweapons that the elves might deploy, since they are made of ice and stone respectively. However, this one could be.¡± The screen shifted to display a green dragon, standing proudly on four legs with its wings fully extended. ¡°This looks to be a lesser green dragon, if I¡¯m putting the information together right. It attacks with a peculiar kind of breath weapon, green flames that will cling to any surface, and burn for six hours without fuel. From the elven reports, nothing could put the flames out until the time had expired, at which point they go out by themselves.¡± ¡°Since the elves aren¡¯t familiar with magic yet, I don¡¯t have enough information to tell you if this is a magical attack, or just a peculiar chemical. If it¡¯s the latter, it¡¯s entirely possible that your ability to control flames would be useless against it.¡± With that, Celeste ended her presentation. ¡°Do you have any other information on the remaining two dragons, or the giant spider¡­¡± I really didn¡¯t want any information on that last one, but since it was the closest to where I currently was stationed, I needed to know. ¡°All I can tell you about the other two dragons are their colors, black and yellow. Otherwise, their physical appearance resembles the green dragon. There weren¡¯t any reports filed about their attacks, so I have to assume that they knocked out the local communications before they attacked. This could indicate either luck, a natural ability, or intelligence.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope they aren¡¯t that smart..¡± I grumbled slightly, knowing that the bad news came next. ¡°As for the spider¡­ well, I won¡¯t go into too much specifics. However, in the area surrounding the city that was destroyed by it, there is merely a giant web covering everything, with countless other spiders of varying degrees of huge. The boss monster has been resting at the heart of the web ever since we hit orbit.¡± ¡°We can nuke it from orbit, right? Please tell me that we can nuke it from orbit¡­¡± ¡°We should be able to¡­ However I am not positive that it would solve the problem. Since I don¡¯t know the characteristics of the smaller spiders, they may be capable of burrowing underground to avoid detection or damage. If that is the case, and these are its children, then over time any that survive in this manner will simply grow to this size on its own.¡± Celeste had a worried expression, her brows knitted together as she thought about this. ¡°Okay¡­ so nuke it from orbit, then go in and perform a deeper scan to look for survivors. If there are any, nuke again. Repeat process until they all die.¡± This was very simple to me. If one shot didn¡¯t work, keep nuking until they were all dead. ¡°That¡­ could work, but there is no guarantee we¡¯d catch them on the scanner, depending on their size and ability to hide themselves. I¡¯d suggest we take care of that one first, and keep an eye on the area while we deal with the others. If there is any signs of movement before we¡¯re done, we just have to revisit the scorched earth strategy.¡± ¡°I like the scorched earth strategy. Let¡¯s stick with that one.¡± I nodded my head rapidly. This was a very good strategy to use against giant pests that consumed everything in their path. ¡°Now¡­ onto a much better topic. You said that there was interesting wildlife to be found here. What did you mean?¡± ¡°Ah!¡± Celeste suddenly began grinning from ear to ear. ¡°About that, it should be right on time.¡± She closed her eyes, likely doing another scan, before an image appeared on screen. I saw Sharon, being led around by that elven hunter, though at the moment she was running ahead¡­ and dived head first into a giant white wall of fluff. ¡°Is that¡­¡± Slowly, the image zoomed out, showing me a rabbit¡­. a thirty foot tall rabbit. ¡°I think I just broke¡­¡± Celeste giggled off to the side. ¡°And that¡¯s only a young one. The adults can reach nearly double that size!¡± ¡°Error¡­ sanity not found¡­ Why does this exist¡­¡± And more importantly, will it hold the same grudge against me that Sharon¡¯s rabbits do? Am I going to be glared to death by a fifty foot tall bunny? ¡°If it helps, their wolves are only the size of puppies, and eat grass and weeds. It¡¯s the rabbits that eat meat.¡± ¡°The food chain has been flipped. This feels wrong on so many levels¡­¡± I fell down into my comfortable captain¡¯s chair, unable to take the shock of this news. To me, this was more painful than almost any of the information I had heard today. After all, I¡¯ll have to live with those things in the future! Giant, carnivorous rabbits¡­ ¡°So wrong, and yet so right for Sharon.¡± Celeste chuckled, as the screen showed Sharon absorbing the giant fluffy creature into her grove. No doubt she had either already found another one, or was going to do so soon. ¡°Well, can you tell what¡¯s going on with the High Queens?¡± I tried to change the subject towards something safer. This was one of the rare cases where politics qualified. ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ I may have hacked into their calls¡­ I didn¡¯t want to say anything about it¡­ She was just too fun to watch!¡± Celeste smiled at me, before continuing. ¡°Maeve, though that¡¯s not her real name, already called the other High Queens to discuss the information we sent. They¡¯re still chatting now. And before you ask, Maeve is her ¡®given title¡¯. While normal queens keep their birth name when they ascend to the throne, the High Queens instead get an inherited name. For Gerin 6, that name is Maeve. The others are Kalira for Gerin Prime, and Melris for Gerin 3. That¡¯s how they distinguish their planets, rather than fancy names like Mars, or Uranus.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t that only apply to the planets they colonize, though?¡± I glanced at her, confused. ¡°Why would they need special names for planets they don¡¯t use? That¡¯s their view on it. Stars will have names, but planets are the children of the star. As such, they are addressed how they are. By the way, I looked up their information, and found Sol on their star charts. Their name for it is Espior, and apparently the name loosely translates as ¡®dim child¡¯.¡± Celeste was giggling like a lunatic by the time she finished telling me that. Chapter 90: Kingdom Rules Author¡¯s Corner: First of all, an announcement! I¡¯m moving into a new house later this week, and we don¡¯t have the internet set up there yet. So, unless I strategically manage to tap into my phone¡¯s internet in order to post chapters(entirely possible, I get bored very easily), there may be a day or two where nothing is posted. This is NOT because I am taking a hiatus or dropping the story, just moving to a new house. Also, please feel free to vote on the poll above!
After confirming the information on the ship, I logged back into my clone body down on the planet below. There were several elves surrounding me when I opened my eyes, who jumped back in shock. Apparently, they had not expected me to suddenly wake up or something. Sharon was already on her way back from her little outing, with an incomparably happy expression on her face. I could only imagine that she found a bunch of new animals to add to her grove. ¡°John, I¡¯ll be cultivating for a while to make space~. Should take me just a day or two and I¡¯ll be ready to look around again.¡± With that, she excused herself, and had a guard show her somewhere with a wide open area that she could meditate for a while. Part of me wondered just how many animals she had at the present time that would be able to help her cultivate, but Celeste promised to do a scan and send me an image, just because she was curious as well. Given that animals live, die, and reproduce so quickly when we got most of her animal companions from, she could have as many as double the number she had previously told me that know how to cultivate. Especially now that she is able to properly communicate with them. Roughly half an hour later, Celeste sent me a mental screenshot, likely taken with the ship¡¯s scanner, of Sharon sitting in the castle¡¯s courtyard. Surrounding her were at least twenty wolves of various shapes and colors, fifty rabbits, even a pair of large armadillos the size of a car. At the very back, there was even a boulder lizard that she had only recently acquired before we left NeoLife for the last time. And they were all sitting straight up with their eyes closed, as if they were meditating. So¡­ she now has over seventy cultivating animals¡­ I¡¯m sure it¡¯s just a matter of time until she converts them all¡­ I sighed, shaking my head as I looked around. I wasn¡¯t really seeing any vehicles that could be used to go between cities. Did they just ride large mounts, or were their vehicles hidden away from view? I knew that they had the technology, after all they had space ships able to travel to other planets in the system. ¡°Celeste, how long will it take to have the orbital laser ready?¡± I asked as I walked around, bored out of my wits. I could probably train my affinities, but we had just touched down on an alien world, and there was still quite a bit I wanted to do. Or, to put it more accurately, I wanted to do anything but training right now. ¡°Should be a little over ten days. I¡¯ve gotten all of my construction drones working on it right now. But once it¡¯s done, it¡¯ll need a full five hours to charge between blasts. You don¡¯t have the materials for anything more energy efficient in your grove.¡± I wasn¡¯t really surprised by this revelation, to be honest. In fact, ten days for an orbital weapon was still quite impressive. ¡°Will we be able to take it with us to the other planets to help them out with their monsters as well?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll make a towing cable so that we can bring it along, but it will take some careful piloting so that we don¡¯t damage it in transit. Can you do a quick check, see if you¡¯ve managed to acquire any more mithril in your grove yet?¡± After Celeste asked, I inspected the grove to do a search. Mithril was, in essence, platinum that had been naturally saturated with magic. I only had one tiny ore vein that held any platinum in it, so there was not much to check. And in that small vein, there was maybe five grams of mithril. Definitely not enough for whatever she wanted to use it for. However, if I keep expanding my grove, more will naturally appear over time. After I relayed the information, I heard a disappointed sigh from Celeste. ¡°Well, it can¡¯t be helped. Still, be sure to check every once in awhile, mithril is useful in a lot of construction materials.¡± I nodded my head, and walked back out of the forest, towards the plains where the temple had been constructed. Already, I could see a long line of elves lined up in front of the temple, numbering no less than two hundred people. Standing at the temple¡¯s entrance, Queen Talia was no longer wearing her silver gown. Instead, she was wearing a pure white dress with golden embroidery, and carried a white wooden staff. When she saw me, she smiled happily and beckoned me closer. ¡°Quite a¡­ drastic change of attire.¡± I commented as I approached her, making her blush slightly. ¡°Not my choice¡­ We received a message from the one called Aria, saying that this would fit our new role better than our last outfit. At the same time, our royal gown was transformed into this. It was¡­ quite an uncomfortable experience.¡± When she said that, I blinked rapidly. Aria is doing stuff like that now? When I got my class, all I had to go with it was a quest telling me to find a trainer. Spreading out my Mana Sense, I found that her new outfit was lightly enchanted for defense, and her staff was constantly storing energy for something. ¡°Please tell me that she told you what they do, at least¡­¡± ¡°Do..? Are they meant to ¡®do¡¯ something?¡± Talia looked at me blankly, as if she could not understand the meaning behind my question. ¡°Oh for the love of¡­¡± I activated my Aura Sight and called out to Celeste. Need your attention down here for a minute. Can you identify that staff? ¡°Roger, Captain!¡± I heard the tired AI¡¯s voice in my head as she looked through my eyes to identify this god¡¯s handiwork. ¡°This is an arcane enchantment, not a runic one. If I had to guess, it builds energy over time, and can unleash it in one big blast. The longer you wait, the bigger it gets. It¡¯s not very efficient, though. With the energy stored right now, it¡¯d barely be the same as a hard punch.¡± I nodded my head, and looked to a very confused Talia, who had her head tilted to the side and awaiting my explanation. ¡°This outfit and staff are magical. The dress is capable of providing a measure of defense for you, while the staff is able to store energy to fire a blast. I¡¯m not sure what the activation condition is for the staff, though.¡± ¡°Eh¡­? Magical? You mean the power of the cycle?¡± Talia still had a confused look on her face as she glanced at the staff. ¡°Right. It¡¯s possible to imbue items with power as well. I take it Aria is now listed as your patron..?¡± Talia quickly shook her head at that. ¡°No, no. My patron was listed as Halen.¡± ¡°Ah.. I don¡¯t really know anything about him, but hopefully he¡¯ll be a better help. Did you already set up the protective barrier?¡± ¡°Yes, as soon as I accepted the role of a priest, I asked Halen to defend this area. It was strange, when he did I was granted a vision of the range that it covers. Even now I can see that information, as well as others. There is now something called a ¡®kingdom domain¡¯ menu present.¡± ...You know, knowing about this earlier would have helped a lot. ¡°I¡¯d suggest exploring that, carefully.¡± Meanwhile, I was mentally asking Celeste what she knew about this. ¡°Sorry, Captain! I saw it mentioned in a few articles, but since it was unlikely that you¡¯d ever set up a kingdom of your own I didn¡¯t look too deep into it. All I know is that it is something that owners of a vast area get when they receive their class. I had thought that you would get it for the Seraglio, but either the population or the size of the ship must have been too little for it to qualify.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Talia nodded her head, focusing on something. After a few moments, a window appeared in front of me. From the reactions of those nearby, everyone got one.
Kingdom Alert
Queen Talia of the Woods has set a work order for Increased Agriculture. After a period of 7 days, the Agriculture rating of the area will be improved. Qualified participants may help accelerate this process. Qualified: Scientists, Farmers, Geneticist, Worker
I was not expecting something like that, and looked over to Talia curiously. ¡°What¡­ just happened?¡± ¡°Uhm.. There were a list of upgrades we could choose from. We thought it would be best to secure food for our people, now that it is not safe to move beyond the boundaries of the kingdom. Did we do something wrong?¡± I looked up into the air, and in the sky was a massive clock counting down. ¡°Well¡­ I guess we¡¯ll see in.. six days, twenty-three hours, and fifty-nine minutes.¡± ¡°Uhm.. there¡¯s an option to cancel the work order¡­ should we do so?¡± She looked far more worried now, since I did not have the answers she wanted. ¡°No.. I think it¡¯d be best to see how this develops.¡± In the meantime, I checked the area with my Aura Sight and Mana Sense again. It was faint, but I could see a trace amount of mana leaking from everyone present, myself included, and heading up towards that clock. ¡°What other upgrade options were there?¡± Talia began to list some of the things that she had seen in her window. Among them was increased internal security, increased defenses, increased weapons technology, and various others. There were also options to move or remove trees, change the landscape, and even change the architectural style. I had the feeling that being a ruler made your ¡®playing experience¡¯ similar to a real-time strategy game. I was slightly curious how this would work for the High Queen, but I¡¯d have to ask later. ¡°Ah, right. Before I forget, would you like to be friends?¡± I asked Talia, and another window appeared in front of me.
Friend request sent to Queen Talia of the Woods.
Friend request sent to Queen Talia of the Woods has been accepted.
She blinked for a moment before nodding. ¡°Uh¡­ sure. Is there some significance to this?¡± ¡°Actually, yes. I wasn¡¯t sure if your people had discovered this system yet, but people on the friends list can talk to each other at any time, regardless of the distance between themselves. Even if you are on a completely different planet or in a different star system, there doesn¡¯t seem to be anything that I¡¯ve seen to interrupt it.¡± Talia nodded briefly, focusing again. ¡°Ehh¡­? You are¡­ my only friend?¡± I could imagine the queen pouting as she misinterpreted that. ¡°Ah¡­ that¡¯s¡­ you just need to add them to your friends list.¡± I tried to console the queen like this, and she nodded her head slightly. ¡°But¡­ I take it that means the High Queen isn¡¯t actually your aunt? Family was automatically added to the list when I got mine.¡± ¡°Huh? No¡­ we just consider the other queens to be family. Since the High Queen has a higher status, it made sense to refer to her as our aunt. Besides, they have helped to raise and educate us since our mother passed¡­¡± ¡°Ah.. yeah, I heard about that. The slime chair incident.¡± Talia let out a resigned sigh. ¡°Yes¡­ We became much more strict against slimes after that. Thankfully, our lightning guns have proven useful in deterring them.¡± ¡°They¡¯re weak against energy damage and magic. Once your people start training, slimes will be easy to take care of. In fact, I could probably provide a few magic weapons for you to distribute to help you fight.¡± The little queen quickly looked up to me, her eyes practically shining after I said that. ¡°You would do that for us?¡± I nodded my head, stepping back a bit in surprise. ¡°Yeah.. I need to practice my enchanting as well. Though, you¡¯ll need to teach them how to control their own magic before they¡¯ll be able to activate the weapons I give you. Having a sword constantly emit flames would quickly turn into a problem.¡± Talia furrowed her brow, but nodded nonetheless. ¡°Still, you have our thanks. The green ones and the large bulls are easy to deal with if we focus on them with numbers, but those slimes are almost impossible to kill without a lightning gun. Even then, some have shown a resistance to it.¡± ¡°Well, there are too many types of slimes. Any with an affinity leaning towards lightning would be resistant.¡± I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°But anyways, let me work on getting you a basic sword.¡± Closing my eyes, I sent my consciousness into my grove. It was at this point I realized¡­ I didn¡¯t actually know how to make a sword properly. The last weapon I made broke after a few swings! Celeste, mind sparing a drone to make me a sword? I heard a giggling in my mind, as one of the construction drones broke off from the ship and gathered up some metal. It seemed to hit the small pile of metal with a blue laser, which gradually reshaped it into a decorated scimitar with an ornate carving on its handle. It then repeated the process with another small pile to make the sheathe. Afterwards, the robot moved back to its construction job while I pulled the items from my grove. Maybe I should learn blacksmithing, but really it¡¯s better to leave that to Celeste. No need to have too many people able to do the same type of crafting. When the blue light emerged from my chest, and formed the scimitar and sheathe in my hands, Talia¡¯s eyes went wide, and her mouth gaped slightly. No doubt, she was under the impression that I personally made this in the span of under a minute, so she was understandably impressed. A few of the nearby guards glared at me as they saw the sword in my hand, putting their hands on their own weapons. They seemed to have other ideas about why I was suddenly holding a weapon in front of their queen. ¡°Okay.. any special kind of effect you want on it?¡± I asked, wanting to try out a custom order for once. Since Celeste had given me the complete rune language, there was no doubt that I had the runes to make whatever effect I wanted. It was just a matter of if I had the skill as an enchanter. ¡°Hmm¡­ maybe something to freeze? If a slime can be frozen, their body can then be smashed with physical attacks.¡± After she made her request, I nodded my head and stabbed the sword into the ground. Using Earth Manipulation, I formed a circle around the sword and began to work. Using runes, I constructed a simple ¡®freeze on contact¡¯ spell, which I then imbued into the blade of the sword, and began pouring water mana into it to strengthen the enchantment. Once I was done, I put my hand on the hilt, and activated it with a bit of magic. Immediately, the ground around the blade was frozen, but the effect stopped at the circle. ¡°Just put a bit of magic into the sword when you swing, and it should activate.¡± After saying that, I glanced at my mana, and saw that it took well over half of what I had to do that one enchantment. Chapter 91: Who Ordered the Elven Montage With a Side of Doom? Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! For those wondering, the poll does NOT mean he¡¯s about to leave the planet. I just felt like it¡¯d be good to get opinions early this time. There¡¯s still work that must be done!
After a few hours, I found myself back in the queen¡¯s castle, right in the middle of her throne room. However, unlike last time, I was not alone with her and Sharon. Instead, there were dozens of people standing around me, with Talia sitting on her throne. It was time for the promised lessons... Out of a ¡®kingdom¡¯ with roughly fifteen hundred elves(this was considered quite large for this planet, before the monsters started killing people), about two hundred chose to be craftsmen. Three hundred chose to be hunters, one hundred chose to be priests, four hundred became fighters, fifty became rogues, another hundred and fifty chose to be mages, one hundred became knights, twenty became merchants, and the last nearly two hundred became druids or were undecided. Out of those, there were ¡®leaders¡¯ chosen from nearly every magic wielding class present to learn how to control their mana. Naturally, Sharon was still cultivating with her animal army, so that left the job of speaking with the masses to me. Looking around, I took several deep breaths, quickly crafting a stone chair in my grove and pulling it out to sit on. This is the first time I¡¯ve spoken in front of so many people in a long time! ¡°Okay¡­ I¡¯ll do the druid training later¡­ but first, mana control¡­ something everyone needs to know.¡± I slowly went about the process of teaching them how to sense their own mana, waiting for them to understand it. After that, I taught them how to move it within their bodies. To my surprise, there were a few people in the group that could be qualified as geniuses. They picked up the skills easily, and even expanded on them before the rest had caught up. One man had managed to use his mana control to reinforce his fist punched a small hole into the wall of the throne room. However, he forgot to reinforce his arm as well, so I had to administer some emergency healing. Others managed to quickly awaken the Aura Sight and Mana Sense skills, which I had taken ages to figure out. As for Talia, she was quite good at it. In fact, when she first received the skill, she asked me what it meant that her Mana Manipulation skill started out as Basic Level 2, instead of Level 1. At that point, I explained the skill levels, and that typically a new skill will start at Beginner Level 1. Most of the people in the room confirmed this, except for those talented individuals who had managed to produce other skills already by working their mana. I even honestly answered that my own skill level for Mana Manipulation was merely at the Advanced tier, so they knew that there was still a lot of room for improvement. To be honest, even I wasn¡¯t sure what a Legend ranked skill would be like. It would essentially mean knowing everything there was to know about a subject, and being able to put it to practice. Wouldn¡¯t that mean also knowing everything that could be ¡®discovered¡¯ later in the future? If that was the case, then once someone reached the Legend rank in a skill, there was truly nothing else possible for them to learn in it. Once everyone present had managed to learn the basic Mana Manipulation skill, we moved on to schools of magic. Naturally, I could only teach two schools of magic since they were the only ones I knew. Aside from Nature Magic and Technomancy, all I had was my druid magic, and runic magic that I had almost never experimented with. I was already having Celeste send a complete list of runes to the elven database. For the first magic school, I taught Technomancy. This was because most of the people that would be learning Nature Magic would be the druids and hunters. Quite a few people present seemed interested in learning Technomancy, including the queen. To teach them, I did the same thing that the man from NeoLife had done. I simply channeled a bit of mana in front of me and attuned it to Technomancy, letting them scan it and experiment for themselves. With that taken care of, the throne room of the castle gradually emptied, until only a few mages, hunters, and druids were present. Once again I repeated the teaching method, this time with Nature Magic instead. When everyone had gotten that skill as well, I took my leave from the throne room, doing my best to not make it look like I was running away. The training for druids wouldn¡¯t be for a couple days yet, because the ones present at the basic training today had to go teach all of the others what they had learned first. There was no point in teaching someone how to perform worldcasting if they can¡¯t even feel their own mana. The elves, I found, were rather considerate hosts. Rather than making us go back and sleep in our ship, they arranged a room for us at the local inn. It was only natural that we couldn¡¯t pay, since we didn¡¯t have any of whatever currency the elves used. And since the area could now be considered as ¡®safe¡¯, I summoned both Yin and Yang from my grove to let them look around. That caused quite another commotion as people saw what appeared to be a winged elf looking around happily with a strange bird that they¡¯ve never seen before. After getting my permission, Yin actually flew off, supposedly to find somewhere to cultivate the Lightning Affinity, since that was all she needed in order to evolve. The next few days went by rather slowly. With Celeste¡¯s help, I managed to get quite a bit of information about the local elven culture. The reason that we hadn¡¯t seen any vehicles was actually because the wood elves did not keep them. Most of the technology was kept with the high elves in the cities, whereas the wood elves were the caretakers of the forests. As such, they had as little technology as they could manage, so that they could still keep in touch with the outside world without damaging the forests that they protect. Naturally, Celeste kept tabs on the monsters and their territory. The golem and the big ice wolf had remained where they were, not bothering others. However, the dragons and giant spider of doom had slowly expanded their territory, presumably in search of food. Thankfully, the big spider was NOT expanding its territory in this direction, and was instead going further north. The druid training was going¡­ slowly, to say the least. Right now, I was having the druids practice cultivation with the element that Celeste identified as being the most suitable for them out of the primary seven. To my surprise, there was only one that was cultivating Lightning Affinity right now out of the whole set, and he was apparently one of the ones that had come up with the idea for the tesla guns. After the first few had finished cultivating to 5% affinity, I had them practice manipulating their chosen element. There were several gusts of wind, tiny fireballs, water splashes, and so on after that. The druids were very happy by now, and ready to do any kind of training that I wanted. So now, I gave them the most boring task of all, cultivating all seven affinities to 5% so that they could make a grove. This part of the training didn¡¯t really need my help, until they were done with their affinities, so I told them to just find me when that was the case. When Sharon exited her secluded cultivation, I asked her what kind of magic she knew. After all, she was not virtualized, so she should have gotten two schools of magic at the start. So far, I only knew for sure that she had Nature Magic, but according to her she also had Summoning Magic as a starter school. Though, she hadn¡¯t had a chance to practice it much, aside from using it as a quicker method to call out her animal companions from her grove. I asked Celeste to help her train it, since she had some information regarding most of the basic schools of magic. Unfortunately, Celeste herself seemed unable to utilize the information to cast the magic, likely because her aura was too different from the normal. That, or it just wasn¡¯t possible to replicate a school of magic based on information read online. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Since Sharon¡¯s Summoning Magic was still in the Beginner levels, she wasn¡¯t able to properly teach it to others yet. Instead, she taught them tricks related to animals with Nature Magic, such as how to tame them and use the Animal Affinity. She seemed quite happy being able to teach, though every now and then I would catch a trace of annoyance on her face. Likely, it felt like her pride as a woman was being stepped on, since none of the elven men seemed interested in her. As for me, while I was waiting for the druids to finish working on their affinities, I had Celeste help me identify a few local herbs that would be useful in alchemy. Given the elves¡¯ ability to genetically engineer plants, there were quite a few high quality herbs to be found here. Though they were not designed for alchemy, and instead designed for more scientific medicine, their alchemic properties were good nonetheless. As such, I began teaching a few people the Alchemy skill, and gave them a few of the low level herbs I had gotten from Hascion in the future to plant here. I was debating whether or not to teach them Soul Arts as well, but to do so would be far more difficult without the use of a Skill Shard, and I wasn¡¯t confident enough to perform the procedure myself yet. After six days on the elf world, we were contacted by High Queen Maeve again. This was mostly just to thank us for what we¡¯ve done so far, since they had managed to construct the statues in several castles across the three worlds, thus expanding their anti-spawn territories. Although the High Queen did not personally tell us, Celeste found out by tapping their calls how the kingdom system worked for them. Apparently, it is a completely separate matter from the anti-spawn barriers, because a High Queen¡¯s kingdom covers their entire planet. Likewise, rather than doing planet-wide work orders, they can issue commands to the queens in their territory to perform the work orders there, while their own work orders only work for the immediate area. On the seventh day, we finally found out what the Increased Agriculture work order would do. When the giant countdown in the sky finally finished, it exploded in a burst of mana which sank into the ground. In the nearby farms, or any fruit bearing tree, the production immediately began to hasten. Fruits and vegetables were grown overnight, and would continue to grow right after seeds were planted. This lasted for three full days before it gradually returned to normal. Then.. how are people supposed to help with that?! I couldn¡¯t help but comment that in my head after seeing the trees and fields returning to their normal state. Thankfully, Celeste provided me an answer. ¡°It looks like the upgrades can take two forms. One is a tech upgrade, such as adding irrigation to a field, while the other is a production speed upgrade. If nobody contributes towards a tech upgrade, it will default to the latter. One of the High Elf cities purchased an increased defense upgrade, and created a design for a large wall around the city, complete with sentry turrets. When the countdown finished, the wall was immediately constructed. Though the turrets themselves were not included, there were positions made for them on the new wall.¡± Well¡­ that did explain a bit¡­ but still. Would it kill them to have a help menu? That earned me another giggle and further explanation. Apparently, a priest is capable of asking for information from their patron, if they pray at a temple where that patron is placed. Though the amount of information given is dependent entirely on the mood of the god that they pray to. I feel like Aria wouldn¡¯t give any help that did not involve ¡®fashion¡¯, her apparent domain. After learning this, I had Celeste send the information regarding as many other gods in the pantheon as she could, because I highly doubted that all of the elves had those three as their patrons. They¡¯d need to have statues for the others as well, eventually. At the same time, I ¡®logged out¡¯ and returned to the ship, because it was the promised day of orbital death lasers! When I arrived on the ship, I excitedly took off the headset and immediately changed into a void elf, moving to the airlock with Celeste. She was going to go with me, and help me place the satellite in a stable orbit around the planet. I was already looking forward to frying some of those big monsters from space. This was¡­ actually my first time being a void elf in space. Feeling the air thinning as the airlock depressurized, I almost panicked thinking that I wouldn¡¯t be able to do the racial breathing. However, I soon found that although there was no air in my lungs, and it felt like I couldn¡¯t breathe, I was still perfectly fine. Using my mana to inspect my surroundings showed me that a steady stream of void mana was being poured into me, separate from my passive cultivation. This was going directly to my lungs, as if I was breathing it in instead of air. The next challenge was controlling my flight once we exited the ship. I call it flight, but really that¡¯s not what void elves do. They have the ability to slightly alter which way gravity pulls them, so instead of flying, they just gracefully fall in the direction they want to go. This is mostly done by them focusing, and designating which direction they want ¡®down¡¯ to be. After I did that, and banged my head into the ship a few times¡­ for practice, I swear¡­ I managed to control my flight and pull away. Seeing as there is no air in space, and thus no real sound, Celeste and I could only communicate mentally. ¡°We need to move at least five kilometers away from the ship to get a safe distance for its orbit. I already did all the necessary calculations.¡± The Deus Ex happily informed me as she flew along, watching as I tried my best to swim through space after her. Note to self, dog paddling in space only serves to make you look like an idiot. After roughly ten minutes of awkward flying, we managed to reach the spot that Celeste had assigned for the orbital death laser. ¡°This thing only has basic steering thrusters, so be careful. Try not to let it fall when you pull it out.¡± I nodded my head, focusing as I brought out the satellite in the same manner that I had retrieved the Seraglio from my grove. The satellite was even roughly the same size as our ship, so it took roughly the same amount of time to pull it out. Once it was done, I got a good look at the weapon of massive monster death. The doom laser(that¡¯s what I¡¯m calling it, yes) was a big satellite dish roughly sixty meters in diameter, pointed at the planet while multiple layers of solar panels stretched out to charge it up. I could just imagine that once it fired, the beam would originate from the large dish, and crash down into the planet to wipe out whatever it was targeted at. I could not be the big kid with a magnifying glass while fighting giant monsters! The juicy experience was just waiting for me to take it. ¡°Yeah.. don¡¯t expect any experience from these kills.¡± Celeste gave me a smirk as she explained. ¡°From my research, the further you are away from a kill, the less experience you receive. This is theoretically caused by the soul dissipating in the air as it tries to make its way to you. Since we¡¯ll be blasting from orbit¡­ I imagine we¡¯d get very little, if any, experience from these boss monsters.¡± But.. but¡­ my precious experience¡­ My levels.... I suddenly felt depressed as we flew back towards the ship, waiting for the satellite to charge up for its first run. Chapter 92: The Biggest Boot Author¡¯s Corner: I come bearing a chapter! There may be one more today, if I can get to it!
Following the original plan, I intended to attack the giant creepy monster of terror before anything else once the laser was finished charging up. But first¡­ it might be a good idea to let the High Queen know the full plan. ¡°Celeste¡­ could you..?¡± ¡°Yup, I¡¯m on it.¡± The Deus Ex nodded, and we soon had a blue screen hovering in front of us, sending a call to High Queen Maeve. We were waiting for about five minutes, and I was starting to think she might not be in the room before she finally appeared on the screen. ¡°Hello? Ah, you! You have this number?¡± She seemed surprised when she saw it was us that were calling her. ¡°Ah, sorry. I figured this would be a more convenient way to talk for now. I had a couple of things to say, which I didn¡¯t go into full detail last time we chatted.¡± She raised a curious eyebrow at that, but shrugged. ¡°Well, it shouldn¡¯t be too bad, right? If I remember, it should be almost time for your attack on the monsters, so I assume it is related to that? And probably has something to do with the large object that just appeared in orbit?¡± ¡°Ahh¡­ yeah, pretty much. It¡¯s a weapon from my world, an orbital laser capable of destroying most boss monsters. At least, it worked on the ones from my world, and they were a bit bigger than your calamities.¡± Maeve furrowed her brows in thought at this. ¡°Will there be any lasting damage to the surroundings if you go through with this attack?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ shouldn¡¯t be? I mean, it might melt quite a lot of ice around the one in the far north, but otherwise the damage done will be significantly less than what the monsters themselves have been doing. And, with your technology, I imagine that you will be able to easily regrow any destroyed plants in the area.¡± The High Queen gave a tired sigh at that. ¡°Yes, that is true. Very well, you have my permission to fire at the monsters, and there will be no retaliation. However, I can not speak for the other worlds. I will need to converse with them regarding this to obtain their permission. How long will it take before you are ready to fire?¡± I looked at Celeste, who nodded at me before she turned to answer. ¡°It¡¯ll take five hours for the weapon to fully charge, and then ten minutes to move into position to launch a direct attack on the first boss. Each shot afterwards will also take five hours to charge up.¡± ¡°Oh? You must be their other friend from the ship.¡± Maeve smiled towards the Deus Ex. ¡°You certainly don¡¯t look like an elf, so it seems you really are from beyond the stars. Alright then, I¡¯ll look forward to seeing the results of the first volley.¡± Celeste nodded with a slight smile of her own. ¡°Hopefully, within two days this issue will be taken care of.¡± After that, we said our goodbyes, and ended the call. Celeste turned to me with a fairly concerned look. ¡°Do you think we should leave one of these orbital weapons for them? It has been less than two months, and six boss class monsters appeared on this world. At that rate, wouldn¡¯t another spawn every week or so after we leave?¡± I had considered this myself, and honestly we had no real need or method to take the orbital laser with us when we left. At most, we could take it apart and reabsorb it into either mine or Sharon¡¯s groves. ¡°How far is it until the next homeworld?¡± Having understood my thoughts, Celeste¡¯s smile brightened a bit before she told me. ¡°The closest would be to double back and go to the halfling world. However, since we have yet to see another human pass through here, it is likely that world is already being overseen by one. So the next on the list would be¡­ roughly one hundred and fifty parsecs away. On the way, there are two unverified worlds that could be inhabited. These worlds are supposedly home to minor races that merged with others to the point of their own culture being lost.¡± ¡°A hundred and fifty¡­ that¡¯s almost half a year, you know?¡± I felt my eyebrows knitting together as I thought about that. ¡°How long will it take to mine enough materials to build better engines?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ If we use your Deus Ex form, it could take roughly two weeks, seeing that we would also have to build a better power core to support the engines, and upgrade the shields to handle the added subspace speed.¡± Celeste said after thinking it over, making me sigh in resignation. Two weeks of mining¡­ ¡°Well¡­ guess I know what I¡¯ll be doing after we finish with these three worlds.¡± I said gloomily while making my way back towards the medbay. Celeste just smiled knowingly, following along. When we arrived, we found Yo poking a blob of goo that she had apparently separated from her body. The slime girl made sure to give me a good tackle and hug before I managed to log back in. When I arrived in my clone body, two of the druid trainees were already waiting, having apparently finished their 5% cultivation of the various elements. Seeing that, I had the two practice their Nature Magic on various plants in order to control it enough to handle merging the element seeds. Technically, I could save time and make it all myself, and just have them absorb it. But, if I did that, then wouldn¡¯t they be unable to teach the later generations of druids? Leaving them alone to that, I went to check up on Sharon, and see if she had made any progress in her own training. When I got there, I found her diligently training her magic with a focused expression while sitting down. ¡°Everything going alright?¡± Hearing me speak snapped her out of her focused state and caused her to look over at me. ¡°Huh? Oh, it¡¯s fine. Just trying to get a handle on this magic. There was a reason that I never really bothered to train it much.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± I sat down next to her. ¡°Need to talk about it? Might help.¡± Sharon thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. ¡°For Summoning Magic, there are two types of summonings. The first is a contract summon, which can further be divided into ¡®willing¡¯ and ¡®forced¡¯ contracts. To create a summon contract with a creature is similar to the process of gaining an animal companion, and requires consent by both parties. I do this with my animal companions to make it easier to summon them.¡± ¡°The forced contracts require me to put a magic brand on them before they die, at which point I can summon their spirit to fight for me. This is weaker than a willing contract, but has greater control. I¡¯ve never done one like that before, because it¡¯s better just to put them in my grove.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. Then, she shook her head and continued. ¡°The other type of summoning is an artificial summon. It¡¯s a more advanced method, but lets me summon anything, as long as I meet the prerequisites. Mainly, I need to be able to understand the mana requirements that spark the birth of a monster in order to summon it. There are other ways to summon things, such as long and boring rituals, but those aren¡¯t usable without a lot of time and training.¡± ¡°So, you¡¯re having trouble with that last type of summoning?¡± I asked curiously, and Sharon nodded her head. ¡°That¡¯s not too much of a problem. Why don¡¯t you start with slimes? You weren¡¯t there for it, but I created Yo by just drawing in excess water mana to a Seed of Water.¡± When I said that, Sharon looked at me blankly, before nodding her head. It seemed that she understood something with that. I watched as she focused, and I could sense a magic welling up around her. It felt almost like water mana, but not quite. It should be water mana imitated with Summoning Magic. After a few moments of focus, a blue light emerged in the air in front of Sharon, before water seemed to surge into it from the surroundings. When this was all over, a small blue slime sat in front of her. Inside of the slime was the typical slime core, but when I observed it with my Mana Sense, it didn¡¯t feel like a real Seed of Water. Sharon, however, seemed extremely pleased with this success, smiling wide and jumping at me to give me a big hug while thanking me repeatedly. Now it was just a matter of her studying and experimenting to get the right combinations to summon other monsters. ¡°Oh, by the way, the first shot will be fired pretty soon. Hopefully, the monster will be destroyed with that.¡± I spoke up after she had calmed down, watching her dismiss the slime she had summoned. ¡°Oh? Cool. Might be interesting to go up and watch it later.¡± I nodded my head when she suggested that. I had not seen an orbital weapon fire before, so I had to agree that it would be pretty interesting. I then talked about leaving the orbital cannon with them, and Sharon seemed confused. Not because she couldn¡¯t understand why we were doing so, but because it seemed only natural to do it. Anyways, after leaving Sharon, I found Yang excitedly talking with one of the craftsmen elves. Even though it¡¯s been over a week and a half, Yin has still not come back to the area. I can still feel the companion link with her, so I know that she is not in danger, but still. Moving over to see what was going on with Yang, I found that she was learning some new carpentry techniques from the elves, which would go towards her improving her own craft skills. It seemed that she was still extremely eager to prove helpful, so I decided to let her do what she could. I had to admit that I was fairly interested in seeing what she would be able to make once she finished adapting to her class. The next few hours passed fairly slowly, with me occasionally going to check on the two druids I had left to train. Once I thought they had practiced enough to get started, I told them how to make the element seeds, and instructed them to make one for each element out of fire, water, earth, wind, and light. That should keep them busy for a while, I imagine. Once the time came for the laser to be fired, Sharon and I each found somewhere to log out. After arriving back on the ship, we made our way to the bridge, where Yo was apparently playing another game on the console while Celeste moved the orbital weapon into position. ¡°Here for the show, I take it?¡± She smiled over to us, and we nodded. ¡°Alright, let me just finish moving it first.¡± Sharon went over and sat down in her seat, looking around the bridge. ¡°Too bad we don¡¯t have popcorn or anything¡­¡± The Deus Ex giggled lightly at that, while Yo just looked up from her console for a moment. ¡°What¡¯s popcorn?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­¡± Sharon smiled wryly before explaining to the slime girl about the best treat ever invented for watching movies. Yo¡¯s eyes gradually went wide as she heard about it, before she was practically begging Celeste to get her some popcorn. ¡°Maybe later. I can¡¯t split my processing too much to focus on that right now.¡± She said while patting the slime¡¯s head. Why did it feel like, if I was the Papa in this situation, that made Celeste the mother with how Yo acted. ¡°Aaand we¡¯re there!¡± Celeste commented, though she sent a mischievous grin in my direction that likely had everything to do with my former thought. ¡°Starting up the firing sequence.¡± The big screen lit up, showing the orbital weapon. Six tiny lights slowly began glowing, before they shot out at the center, all striking the same spot to create what seemed like a ball of red light. Then, a seventh, thicker beam emerged from the center of the satellite and struck at the ball. ¡°Target acquired, and firing!¡± The power of all seven lights joined together, and a thick red laser shot down at the planet, seemingly becoming smaller and smaller as it moved into the distance. Naturally, that was because it was going further away, and it was still a very powerful attack. ¡°And impact!¡± I looked towards the cheering Deus Ex and decided to ask. ¡°Is it out?¡± Celeste smiled, nodding her head. ¡°That was a direct hit that encompassed half of its abdomen. I¡¯ll continue monitoring, but for now it seems to have stopped moving, with a considerable hole through it. The shockwave from the blast seems to have dealt with most, if not all of the ¡®children¡¯. Just to be safe, I¡¯ll keep the satellite in position while it charges and scan for any abnormalities. But¡­ I don¡¯t think it will get back up.¡± Before I could ask why, Celeste showed me an image from her perspective, which included a blue window that had appeared in front of her.
You have slain the continental-class boss monster Twilight Widow.
Due to the methods used, experience is unable to be awarded for this kill.
I smiled slightly as I saw that method. ¡°Good¡­ one down, five to go¡­ then two more planets to go.¡± Celeste and Sharon nodded their heads as we went back down to report to Talia that the monster had been destroyed. Chapter 93: A Storm Approaches Author¡¯s Corner: For previously stated reasons, there was no chapter yesterday. So, have a second one today!
¡°Wait, you did what?!¡± Talia¡¯s face was pale as we explained that we had just killed the first of the six calamities, the twilight widow. ¡°We thought you planned to go have some drawn out battle, or use powerful magic¡­¡± ¡°Ah.. about that.. I have this¡­ ¡®condition¡¯ that the new system deemed to give me.¡± I chuckled dryly as I tried to skim over one of the main reasons I would not go anywhere near the giant spider. However, Sharon proved to be my undoing, whispering in a very loud voice. ¡°He blacks out and goes berserk any time he sees a spider.¡± After saying so, she winked playfully towards me, and I suddenly found the floor to be very interesting. ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s¡­ unfortunate.¡± Talia seemed to be struggling to hold in a laugh. I¡¯m still right here, you know! ¡°Still¡­¡± I sighed, lifting my head back up. ¡°We told the High Queen about that, so we figured she would have informed you.¡± The little queen huffed, crossing her arms. She was still wearing that white dress that she had been granted at the temple. To the best of my knowledge, nobody else has been given anything like that. I really couldn¡¯t understand what Aria would be thinking. ¡°The High Queen did not tell us anything about this. We assume that you plan to deal with the other calamities in the same manner?¡± When we both nodded our heads, she just gave a tired nod. It¡¯s hard to remember that she¡¯s really older than either myself or Sharon when she looks like that. ¡°We understand. Not like we have any say in the matter at this point, since it was already taken care of. Is there anything we can do to help?¡± It was at this point that Celeste chimed into my head and had me ask for something. ¡°Ah, well, if it¡¯s possible, could you provide us with samples of various fruits and vegetables from this world?¡± That got me a curious glance from Sharon before I explained. ¡°We don¡¯t have as much of a variety on our ship as we would like, so meals can get a little bland.¡± Talia smirked wryly at that, nodding her head. ¡°We¡¯ll see what we can do. We hope that you will remain in our territory until the first of the druids have finished their training, and then we can ask to arrange for someone to give you a tour of the cities.¡± I thought about it, and those first two druids that I had started training should be able to finish in a few days, since they seemed naturally gifted. ¡°I think we can handle that.¡± I nodded to her. It was a perfectly reasonable request. Leaving the training only half-done would eliminate the entire purpose of doing it in the first place. We spoke for a few more minutes before we left. Soon after we did, there was another Kingdom Alert, saying that Talia had placed an order for Improved Architecture. I was curious what that would result in, but since the countdown was going to last another week, I just made a mental note to check back on it before we left the system. It was only a few moments later that there was a sharp cry in the sky. Looking up, I saw a small storm cloud moving in our direction, before a streak of lightning shot down at me. Reflexively, I wanted to use my magic to defend, but I soon realized that the very fact I had time to think about that meant that this could not be a real lightning bolt. Indeed, just a few meters short of me, the lightning bolt shattered, and in its place was a silver bird with golden specks along her feathers. She stood just over a meter tall, and yes I knew it was a she because she immediately nuzzled against me when she arrived in front of me. Yang, who had heard the cry, rushed nearby and squealed in surprise. ¡°Sister!¡± Yang hurriedly ran over and gave the bird, who was by now obviously an evolved Yin, a big hug. Then, something happened, something that nobody here expected. ¡°I¡¯m home¡­¡± Yin spoke, even in her bird form. It was a high pitched voice, but still distinctly feminine. I could only chuckle, patting Yin on the head. ¡°Welcome back. Did you finally manage to get your alternate form.¡± Yin nodded her head quickly. ¡°But¡­ embarrassing. No clothes¡­¡± She then looked towards Yang, nodding towards the latter¡¯s attire. It seemed that with this method of evolving, her mentality was much more developed than Yang¡¯s was when she first became a demi. Even Yo was not that developed. And finally, I could be proud of the fact that one of my animal companions did not enjoy walking around naked. ¡°Well¡­ this is going to be interesting¡­¡± I chuckled, opening up my friend¡¯s list and placing a call to the little queen that we had just left. ¡°Yes? Did something happen?¡± She sounded somewhat worried that we had called her so soon after leaving. ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ kind of. I need a favor, and I¡¯m not sure who the right person here would be to ask.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She calmed down quite a bit, relieved by the fact that there was not some earth-shattering terror invading her land. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I need clothes.¡± ¡°...Say again?¡± ¡°One of my companions needs clothes.¡± I nod towards Yin, sending her a mental message to head into the castle. She nods back, and flapped her wings to fly on in, passed the shocked eyes of several guards. ¡°I just sent her in now. I really hope that this is not asking too much.¡± ¡°No, no, it should be fine. Is it Sharon? We could see her outfit getting damaged easily if she spends so much time with wild animals--you just sent a bird in here.¡± I could quite easily tell when Yin arrived in the throne room based on the conversation. ¡°Please do not tell us that this is a joke? Are we supposed to find clothes for a--oh¡­wow..¡± Either Yin just spoke, or she shapeshifted in front of Talia. Either way, mission accomplished. ¡°So, can you help her out?¡± ¡°Uh huh¡­¡± That was pretty much all the reply I was getting, which made me curious. Worried for my own future, but still curious. Nonetheless, that was taken care of. So, we decided to wait around. It¡¯s not like it would take too long to find something for Yin to wear. ¡°You know, we¡¯ll really need to get someone that knows how to sew in the future.¡± Sharon looked to me with a slight smile. ¡°Even leaving your companions aside, now that they all will have at least one outfit, I have no idea how many I¡¯ll evolve that will require clothes of their own. And last I checked, the ship did not have a sewing station.¡± It really didn¡¯t, as Celeste informed me, but Sharon raised a very valid point. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t suppose you¡¯d be willing to learn?¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I was instantly pierced by a rather evil glare. ¡°That was a joke because I¡¯m a woman, right?¡± However, her smile quickly returned. ¡°Just kidding. But no, I really couldn¡¯t. I¡¯m more likely to stab myself with a needle than use it properly. Maybe we can teach Yin or Yang to do it? I mean, Yang is already a craftsman of sorts. Maybe she could make clothes out of natural materials?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll have to find out eventually, I guess¡­¡± I felt a bit of a cold sweat, and I was not entirely sure why. I glanced over towards Yang, and saw her looking at us curiously after we mentioned her in our conversation. Yang, Sharon and I waited outside the castle for roughly fifteen minutes, and I was just about to send Talia another call when the gates opened. The figure that came out was, in a word, stunning. At just over five and a half feet tall, although she did not have much of a bust like most of the other girls around me, she had a very well defined body. Silky smooth skin, an almost perfect face with long silver hair trailing down to her narrow waist, and long, slender legs. The woman¡¯s outfit was something that I believed could have been pulled from the queen¡¯s own wardrobe, a light green dress that practically shined when the light reflected off of it. The dress only had one sleeve, the other side dipping down under her should for an almost teasing view of skin. She was wearing rather elaborate green slippers on her feet as well, which matched rather nicely with the dress. When this woman walked out of the castle, she approached us and said with a soft smile. ¡°I¡¯m back¡­ what do you think?¡± Sharon, who had not thought much of the woman that came out of the castle, suddenly widened her eyes in surprise. ¡°Yin..?¡± The other woman¡¯s cheeks reddened slightly, but she nodded. ¡°Wow.. you look great.¡± She then turned towards me. ¡°You know that this is totally not fair, right? All of your companions have become gorgeous in one way or another¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh lightly at that, grinning to her. ¡°Yes, they have.¡± After realizing the implication of those words, Sharon¡¯s face turned red immediately, and she began mumbling something to herself. Yin, however, walked up to me and did a polite bow. ¡°I¡¯m back, John.¡± Well, this was a pleasant surprise. Not master, not papa, she actually called me by my proper name. ¡°Welcome back, Yin. Did you have enough of your training?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ I¡¯m glad to be back. I missed you.¡± Her smile widened, and she stepped forward to give me a light hug, before moving over to give one to Yang as well. Though, I thought I heard her whispering something to the demi. ¡°It¡¯s good to have you back, sister.¡± The demi didn¡¯t seem to mind whatever it was that Yin had said, and only smiled brightly at the fact that Yin had returned. Still, looking at how she turned out, I am not surprised that Talia was left speechless. Aside from her ears looking human, Yin looks like the perfect example of what the elves value for beauty. And she just appeared naked in the throne room. I could guess that those clothes likely came from the late queen¡¯s wardrobe, and that they were simply too big for Talia to wear herself yet. With that thought in mind, though, I went over to Yin before something bad had the chance to happen. ¡°Before anyone goes doing something that we all might regret¡­ Yin, can I enchant those clothes real quick? That way they won¡¯t break when you transform back.¡± Yin blinked at me in confusion for a second, before realization dawned on her and she nodded her head quickly. After all, I was still shirtless from my previous incident of forgetting to enchant my clothes. Seeing her agree, I quickly went through the process of enchanting her dress and shoes to adapt to her form. After I did so, the dress seemed to tighten slightly, further revealing her figure without causing her discomfort. I was not even going to suggest doing this for her undergarments before she spoke up to save me. ¡°Will have Celeste do the rest.. on the ship.¡± ¡°Right.¡± After this was all settled, we would still need to retrieve these clone bodies so that we could go to the other worlds as well. That meant that Yin could hand off these clothes to her real body at that time. Though, it seemed that she did not enjoy talking as much as the other girls, which was not a bad thing. Variety is the spice of life! At this time, Celeste spoke up in my mind, and I had to relay her words. ¡°Celeste¡¯s going to teleport you back up to take care of this real quick.¡± Which meant that I would need to log out afterwards to refuel the ship. But still, I felt that this was worth it. A few moments later, green lights surrounded Yin, and she vanished from our view. Roughly two minutes later, as expected I was asked to log out and resupply plasma to the ship¡¯s generator. When I got out, Yin was looking around the medbay, seeming to take the view in with a different perspective than she had previously. Thankfully, she didn¡¯t seem as averse to space travel as Yang did, though I figured she would probably still stay in my grove to keep the demi company. Our next trip was going to be a long one, longer than the total amount of time we¡¯ve had since NeoLife appeared. It would be natural for her to get lonely if she was in my grove all by herself. I¡¯ll have to try to get her more comfortable with the ship¡­ See if there¡¯s anywhere that we can put in a garden or something for her. I thought about this as I went and refueled the ship, letting Celeste teleport Yin back down before I filled it up with plasma one more time. Might as well make sure the generator is full before I go back down, right? Anyways, when we got back down to the planet, we decided to walk around for a bit with everyone and catch up. To my surprise, Yin had apparently evolved several days ago, but wanted to do some training to get used to her new body(or would it be bodies?) before she returned. As such, she was already familiar with her new powers. That explained how she was able to do her little entrance that she had shown before, at least. She had various other powers as well, such as shooting lightning bolts from her feathers, altering the weather, and she was even able to wield the lightning like a sword or a whip in her human form. Though, according to her, it felt like she could only use about half of her power when she¡¯s not in her bird form, which made sense. If she was able to use the full potential of the bird form in human form, then what would be the point of it? Chapter 94: Why me? Author¡¯s Corner: Good evening everyone! Enjoy the chapter.
After Yin came back, she continued to escort Yang around the elven village, promising to take care of her. I wasn¡¯t sure if the two of them were literally sisters, or just treated each other that way because they were both my animal companions, but it was nice to see that Yin wasn¡¯t getting mad at her anymore. There¡¯s only so much space on that small ship and in my grove, getting angry at each other doesn¡¯t really help anyone. Anyways, our stay in the elven village lasted a few more days before the first of the two druids managed to successfully complete all five element seeds and fused them together. When they successfully completed their grove, they were again amazed at this new aspect of their power, and wanted to fully explore it. Naturally, I first made sure that he was willing to teach the other druids, and even watched him help the second one through this final breakthrough. Out of these two druids, neither of them had chosen the path of a Xeno-Shifter or a Colony Druid. One wanted to be a Plant Lord, while the other wanted to be something he called an Earthshaker. According to Celeste, it was a druid that specialized heavily in the earth element. Not an uncommon choice, but not exactly one that we could help with. As such, I could only direct the two of them towards whatever information Celeste had left in the elven networks. Of course, our attack on the bosses did not stop during this time. Although we did not go up to personally witness the destruction of the other five, they were all killed over a matter of days. Apparently, Celeste had to go back and attack the spider boss¡¯s location three more times to completely clear out all of the little pests that had hidden away. As for the dragons, they were all wiped out with one direct hit. The mountain golem didn¡¯t fight back or resist at all, even though it took two shots to fully kill it. And for the ice wolf¡­ well, according to Celeste, it literally melted under the orbital laser. Once the two druids had been trained, and the bosses killed, we spent a day touring around the elven world, taking a look at their cities. The high elf cities were really quite impressive, holding large metal buildings instead of the small stone shacks of the wood elves. While we were in the city, I made sure to spread out my Mana Sense and properly study the high elves¡¯ auras to add it to my collection. Although they physically looked very similar to wood elves, their ears were slightly shorter and their bodies a bit taller. Before we left Gerin 6, we even met with High Queen Maeve in person. Though, this time there were guards present so she was using a business-like demeanor. The purpose of the visit was very simple, and she wanted to thank us for the help we have given to her planet and her people. She told us that, for our services thus far, we could ask any reward we wished, even a place in a royal castle. Sure enough, she was hinting that she wanted us to hook up with Talia, and seemed a bit disappointed when we declined. Finally, before we left, she asked that we visit one last time before we left the system, to receive a reward arranged by all three High Queens. Celeste made sure that I agreed, even though she wouldn¡¯t tell me why. Anyways, after that we left to visit the other worlds, but all we really did there was blast the bosses from orbit. Apparently, Gerin Prime had already taken out another two boss monsters by the time we got to it, using their biological weapons. The remaining monsters were all made of inorganic materials, so doing the same thing again wasn¡¯t really an option. Thankfully, none of the monsters were light elementals or something that could just shake off the laser. This made dealing with them just a matter of time. However, one of them was tricky, and required us to build a specialized bomb to deal with it. This was because it was buried deep underground, and would only surface when it was ready to eat. After getting the local High Queen¡¯s approval, we(Celeste) spent a few days constructing a bomb that would not harm the planet itself, and made sure to accurately target the monster with it, sending it straight into the thing¡¯s stomach. Not surprisingly, this teleport took all of our remaining power, and I had to store Sharon in my grove while switching to my void elf body until I recharged the generator. We really needed to get a few upgrades here¡­ Oh, something I forgot to mention before. I managed to find a way to use this to power level myself! Though it¡¯s not completely effective, I gained a few levels from doing it. After slaying some of the boss monsters who were safe to approach after death, or who managed to leave behind some of their body, I used my Soul Arts to slowly purify their aura before absorbing it into myself. It felt strange doing it this way, but after I got back to the ship I would then ¡®share¡¯ the absorbed aura with the others. This gave me a rather interesting ability.
Share Souls - Soul Arts - ¡ï¡ï After absorbing excess soul energy, you are able to share it among those you choose. This is currently limited to pure soul energy.
Yup, I was now able to power level the entire group by farming bosses. I initially thought about just stopping at various planets along the way to our next destination, but Celeste shot that idea down. In order to do that, we would have to spend a little over a week at each extra planet to build an orbital laser, and then when we leave we would have to abandon it. Our current ship does not have any weapons capable of assaulting a monster from orbit. Anyways, by the time we had taken out all of the bosses, my stats looked something like this.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider SlaughtererFame20,000
Level 501%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health310/310Health Regen0.52
Mana1300/1300Mana Regen5.16
Strength15Wisdom166
Agility26Intelligence130
Dexterity22Charisma15
Vitality31Luck20
Points Remaining45
Earth 16%Fire 16%Wind 16%Water 16%
Lightning 16%Light 16%Dark 16%Plant 16%
Void 16%Metal 16%Magnetism 16%Plasma 16%
I decided to invest my points in wisdom until I hit two hundred, and then focused the rest on dexterity. After hitting two hundred wisdom, my mana regeneration shot up to nearly six per second, which made me very happy. It would take me less than four minutes to fully recover my mana, even if I used it all at once right now. Though, with how my health looked I was the very definition of a glass cannon¡­ I¡¯ll work on that later. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Anyways, after the round of monster exterminations, we headed back towards Gerin 6 as promised. I personally wanted to just get moving to our next destination, and avoid the trouble of a party or anything to see us off. However, Sharon and Celeste both encouraged me to go. As much as I wanted to, I couldn¡¯t really say no to them. After all, wasn¡¯t I only a figurehead captain? Celeste is the one that actually takes care of the ship¡¯s functions. Probably the only reason I am captain in the first place is that she is essentially programmed to help me succeed. What I found was¡­ surprising to say the least. When Celeste teleported all of us to the location, including Yin, Yang, Yo, and herself in our original bodies, we did not appear in a castle like I had expected. Instead, we appeared on a much larger bridge to a ship. Surrounding us were various elves, almost all of which were in a fitted uniform. The only exceptions to this were Talia and Maeve, who were in their queen¡¯s attire. Well¡­ Talia¡¯s queen dress was still the priest clothing that she received from Aria. Apparently, any time she appears in front of other people, anything she is wearing automatically is replaced by that dress. That meant she basically had no other option but to wear it all the time. She made sure to vent this to me one day while we were at Gerin Prime, talking over a friend call. Now, the Queen of the Woods has come to share my disapproval of the elven goddess of fashion¡­ ¡°Surprise!¡± The two queens, and Celeste all said at once, while the various uniformed elves all gave a salute. I could feel my eyes twitching slightly at this scene. Please don¡¯t tell me this means what I think this means¡­ ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry John, the queens aren¡¯t coming here with us. They just wanted to be here to say goodbye before you left. Besides, the look on your face right now was worth it.¡± Celeste replies with that same mischievous grin that I¡¯ve seen her wear several times over the last few days. No wonder¡­ ¡°Ahem¡­¡± Maeve cleared her throat, assuming her queenly persona around all of these people. ¡°For services rendered to the entire elven race, with the approval of all High Queens, we bestow onto you this cruiser-class vessel, the Ariadne. In addition, we have granted you a crew of two hundred and fifty high elves, enough to fully operate this vessel. Lastly, you have been granted the title of Captain of the Ariadne, and savior of the elven people.¡± After this, Maeve gave a warm smile towards Queen Talia, who nodded her head and continued. ¡°As this ship and crew were of the elven worlds, it is requested that you maintain regular contact, so that their families back home can be kept apprised of the situation. For that purpose, we, Queen Talia of the Woods, have been chosen to act as your point of contact on the elven worlds.¡± She gave a small smile as she added one last part in. ¡°We hope that your future travels will see you safely, Captain John of the Ariadne.¡± Well, that title just sounded all sorts of strange. However, Celeste didn¡¯t give me time to think it over. ¡°This is actually one of their newer models of ships, but it hasn¡¯t had much to do in a while. I helped them upgrade various features to our level, such as helping them install hologram technology and the enchanted systems. This ship¡¯s speed is roughly ten percent faster than the Seraglio, as well, while their generator is far more efficient than the one we were using. The combat systems are still lacking, but that¡¯s only natural for now.¡± I turned towards Sharon, to see if she had anything to add about this. After all, she had also encouraged me to come to this event. However, she simply shook her head back and forth. ¡°I just wanted to enjoy a party before we left, I didn¡¯t know anything.¡±
You have been granted the title of Captain of the cruiser-class vessel, Ariadne!
Due to crew size reaching the minimum requirements, you now have access to the Ship Management Window.
You gained a new title!
Starship Captain +20 Charisma. Access to Ship Management Window You have gained a ship and the loyalty of a crew through your actions. So long as you remain a fair and just captain, they will remain faithful to your cause, whatever it may be.
Deep breaths¡­ deep, calming breaths. ¡°Okay.. so let me get this straight.¡± I first turned towards Celeste, likely the mastermind behind this whole thing. When she read that thought, she adopted an innocent smile. ¡°I am now a captain¡­ like an actual captain of an actual crew..?¡± ¡°Yep! Although I can interact with the ship computers, I am not required to be in full control like in the Seraglio. And don¡¯t worry, we aren¡¯t trashing the other ship or anything. After we transfer the clone tech over here, we¡¯ll be leaving the Seraglio with the elves, so that they can study it.¡± After Celeste said that, Maeve nodded her head slightly, so I turned towards her next. ¡°While I must thank you for the ship, it is rather sudden¡­ Still, I hope that I live up to the expectations.¡± Maeve smiled to me, nodding her head again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Captain John. You seem to be far more noble than you believe. Many in your position, even among the elves, would have taken advantage of your position and knowledge to subjugate other races who were no longer capable of defending themselves. Instead, you chose to come to our aid, and even took the time and effort to eliminate several calamities that our people were suffering from. As a representative of the elven race, we sincerely thank you for this. You will always have a place to return to, should you choose to once again visit our worlds.¡± Finally, I turned to Talia, the little queen. ¡°....I¡¯ll be in touch.¡± There really wasn¡¯t much to say in that regard, was there? I mean, she was basically going to be calling me every so often to speak anyways. She looked like she was getting ready to smile and say something, before she realized what I had just said, and puffed her cheeks out to pout. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± Was she expecting some grand speech or something¡­? Finally, I turned back to Celeste. ¡°So¡­ being captain means I have the authority to choose a vice-captain, right?¡± The Deus Ex nodded to me. ¡°Alright then¡­ I hereby appoint Celeste to be the Vice-Captain of the Ariadne. Furthermore, she will be in charge of regular operation of the ship, unless an emergency occurs. Bye bye.¡± With that, I turned and immediately retreated from the bridge, having absolutely no idea where I was going. I will just ignore the sudden laughs coming from behind me as I try to find my room and hide in it until forever. Chapter 95: New Ship, Same Old Group Author¡¯s Corner: Vote in the poll above! It has no immediate impact on the story so far, I just want to see people¡¯s opinions!
After a while of aimlessly walking around the ship and being greeted by a few random elves, I got tired of not knowing where I was going. Remembering something that Talia had mentioned, I pulled up the Ship Management Window. Hopefully, there should be a map in here somewhere!
Ship Management
MapReports
UpgradesCrew
Oh good, there is a map¡­ Opening it up, I was surprised by just how large the ship was. The ship itself was just over a thousand meters long, almost a hundred meters wide, and roughly a hundred and fifty meters tall. There were several different levels within the ship, with various elevators between them. On the map, there was clearly labeled areas such as the hydroponics bay, the medbay, the canteen, and several crew quarters. However, there were also several areas that were greyed out. The greyed out areas included things like a secondary bar, a lounge, and even a sauna. When I selected one of them, it pulled up with information about who was working in which section. Apparently, the greyed out areas, deemed as nonessential, were unstaffed. Looks like two hundred and fifty elves don¡¯t really cover everything. I shrugged, and looked through for the captain¡¯s quarters, using the map to guide me. This was a far better option than aimlessly running about. Though, I may have overreacted a bit due to my embarrassment. While I was walking, I took a look at the ship upgrade options. With Celeste here, getting the plans needed for the upgrades shouldn¡¯t be too hard. Though, maybe the advanced upgrades won¡¯t be possible without slowly working our way up there first.
Improved Sensors
Improved Shields
Improved Generator
Improved Weapons
Improved Hull
Improved Engines
Improved Security
Additional Features and Facilities
For some reason, the Additional Features and Facilities option was grayed out. When I tried to select it, I got the following error message.
Minimum requirements not met. Must have all current facilities staffed before more may be added.
So I really do need more crew. Well, maybe they only got this many people with that in mind, so that I can bring in more from the planets I visit in the future. There¡¯s also the animals from Sharon¡¯s grove that could evolve and take over the nonessential areas. Looking in the reports section, I found various stats about the ship, as well as reports filed from engineering, medical, navigation, and security. How is this so convenient!? And why didn¡¯t I have it before? Was it because I was just a figurehead captain? It¡¯s got to be that, right? As I was thinking about this, I finally arrived at the room that had been labeled as the captain¡¯s quarters. When I opened it up, I found a wide circular bed, large enough that I was ready to mentally curse a certain AI who probably set it up like that to tease me. The rest of the room was fairly normal though, with a dresser built into the wall, a walk-in closet, and a personal bathroom. Laying down on the bed, I closed my eyes and let myself drift away for a few moments, until there was a knock on my door. ¡°Huh? Wha? I¡¯m awake! I mean¡­ come in.¡± The door opened, and Yin walked through the door, giving me a slight smile in her human form. ¡°Enjoying the new home, John?¡± She asks, sitting down in a chair on the far side of the room, a bit surprised at how comfortable it was. This was probably one of her first times ever actually sitting in a chair, so I can¡¯t blame her. ¡°Ah¡­ yeah. You¡¯re not with Yang right now?¡± I looked over to Yin, doing my utmost to keep my thoughts pure and professional. ¡°No, Yang is in the gardens right now. She seems to like it there, and the one in charge was happy for the company. While it is not as comfortable as your¡­ grove? It is still better for her than the rest of the ship, and I managed to talk her into it.¡± I was still amazed at how mentally mature Yin was after evolving. Was this the effect of manually evolving a creature the long way, rather than taking the shortcut and turning into a demi like Yang? ¡°Thanks. I was worried she¡¯d get lonely, since our next trip will be a long one.¡± Yin nodded to me, smiling slightly. ¡°The queens wanted me to apologize on their behalf for ¡®springing this on you¡¯ so suddenly, but they felt that our previous home was not up to the task we had set for it.¡± I couldn¡¯t really fault their logic there. We had to save power at quite a few times, which became inconvenient. Still¡­ a bit of warning next time! ¡°So, what are you going to do?¡± ¡°Well¡­ Not sure.¡± Now that she didn¡¯t actually know what to say, it seemed like Yin had gone back to being a taciturn. Maybe Celeste had offered her advice on those first few lines? I can¡¯t keep up with these women! ¡°What about you..?¡± ¡°I was thinking about just sleeping until we get to the next world. That sounds like fun. No training, no emergencies, just me and a pillow, and lots of pleasant dreams.¡± I began to fantasize about being able to do just that. Before this whole thing started, I was a proud NEET¡­ and now I¡¯m a captain of a starship out to save the various races of the galaxy. Yin smiled slightly, but didn¡¯t say anything about that. ¡°I see¡­ Where next..?¡± ¡°Honestly¡­ that¡¯s a good question. Celeste said that we were heading to another world that is several months away, but didn¡¯t mention which one it is. We¡¯ve also got several stops along the way, to other planets that I know really nothing about¡­¡± At this point, Celeste chimes in over the mental link. ¡°Ah, sorry. The next big stop is for a cybernetic race. I¡¯m not sure at what point there history is at in this time, but in the future they were the ones to originally invent the Deus Ex.¡± I relayed that information to Yin, who didn¡¯t seem to really understand. She was mentally mature, yes, but that didn¡¯t mean that she automatically knew what cybernetic meant. I explained that they were robots like Celeste, and she seemed to understand with that. ¡°Ahh.. I¡¯ll leave you alone for now, John.¡± She gave me a warm smile before she headed for the door. ¡°Call me¡­ if you want some company?¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! I nodded my head, and she stepped out the door. I could hear her say to someone in the hall. ¡°Your turn.¡± Before she walked away. What is going on now? Sure enough, there was another knock on my door a few moments later, and Sharon came in. She sat down in a huff, in the same seat that Yin had just vacated. ¡°Ooh¡­ this is soft. Wait, wait, that¡¯s not why I¡¯m here.¡± She quickly shook her head as she tried to gather her thoughts. I gave her a moment, before she started again. ¡°So, new ship, new crew, new position. How you handling it?¡± ¡°You know I used to be a NEET right?¡± She looked at me blankly for a moment. ¡°What¡¯s a NEET?¡± ¡°.... To put it simply, a lazy bum. I was quite proud of being a NEET¡­¡± Sharon covered her mouth with a hand and laughed lightly. ¡°And now this, right?¡± ¡°And now this¡­ I would really like to just lie down and pretend it¡¯s all been a crazy, messed up dream. That I¡¯ll wake up at home, slightly overweight and need to worry about bills again. But nope! I wake up, and see the stars flying by, or go out and see a bunch of strangers that are apparently now following my orders.¡± ¡°Well¡­ if it helps, those aren¡¯t really stars that flash by in subspace. Those lights are a residual effect caused by the exotic mana bouncing off the shields. That¡¯s how Celeste described it to me when I asked. There aren¡¯t any planets or stars known to exist in subspace, so there is nothing for you to see fly by.¡± ¡°...That¡­ did not help, no.¡± I shook my head and sighed. ¡°How are your animals coming along?¡± She smiled brightly at that. ¡°Pretty good! I managed to get a few more to learn how to cultivate, and some of the evolved ones have begun breeding. I¡¯m expecting to need to expand my grove even more here soon, to support all of the new species. After that, I guess I¡¯ll see what I get when we get to our next planet.¡± I nodded my head to her. ¡°That¡¯s good. At this rate, you¡¯ve probably got a small army in there now.¡± She chuckled lightly, nodding back to me. ¡°Probably, I never counted them all. But my Wild Voice has been progressing pretty steadily. I think that, soon I¡¯ll be able to carry a conversation with it on all the time. I¡¯m not really sure what the more advanced effects of the power could be, but this much is already pretty good.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ my Toybox is¡­ still a pain to use¡­ It¡¯s great for sending a small rock halfway across the room, but anything more than that takes quite a bit of focus.¡± ¡°This is the part where I¡¯m supposed to come up with some profound advice that suddenly helps you break through a bottleneck in training and unleash your full potential, right?¡± I saw a wry smile on her face when she asked that. ¡°Well¡­ my profound advice for the day is¡­ that I want icecream. That¡¯s all you¡¯re getting out of me.¡± With that, she laughed again, jumping out of the chair and running to the door. What is with these girls¡­ At least the elf crew is not all female. It¡¯s not all female, right?! Those queens wouldn¡¯t do that to me! I hastily pulled up the management window, and saw that there were actually more men than women in the elf crew. I¡¯m saved¡­ I don¡¯t have to worry about a massive harem ship. While I have the window up, I go back and select the upgrades. From there, I select to improve the ship¡¯s engines, so that we can maybe get through this trip faster.
You have chosen to upgrade the engines of the Ariadne.
This action will take 7 days to complete, which may be influenced by various crew members. Do you wish to continue?
¡°Yes¡­¡±
Ship Alert!
Captain John of the Ariadne has chosen to upgrade the engines of the Ariadne! This process will take 7 days, unless influenced by qualified personell. Qualified positions: Engineering, Miscellaneous
¡°Oh, nice! Finally, my time to shine!¡± I heard Celeste over the mental chatter, and she seemed quite happy for this news. ¡°Alright, John. I¡¯ve got a schematic right here for you to look over.¡± As she said that, she downloaded the schematic for stronger engines into my mind, which would nearly double our current speed¡­ if I understood this right.
This ship does not currently qualify for this upgrade.
¡°Eh? Okay¡­ how about this one!¡± With that, I got yet another schematic download, this time for a slightly less powerful engine.
This ship does not currently qualify for this upgrade.
¡°...Okay, okay...fine¡­¡± The next one she sent was an engine which only increased our speed by a small margin.
Vice-Captain Celeste has submitted the plans to upgrade the ship to a Binary Ion Drive with secondary Pulse Thrusters.
This will increase the upgrade time from 7 days to 20. Do you wish to accept this upgrade?
¡°Great.. yes¡­ sure.¡± I said while holding my head to recover from the three rapid schematic downloads.
Captain John of the Ariadne has chosen an upgrade model for the ship engines.
The upgrade time remaining has increased to 19:23:59:21
¡°Finally.. I hope we don¡¯t have to go through that with every upgrade¡­¡± I grumbled under my breath, lying back in the bed. ¡°When are we going to subspace?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, we¡¯re already in subspace. We took care of that while you were napping earlier. Don¡¯t worry, the inertial dampeners on this are well beyond what the Seraglio had.¡± The AI replied in my head again. ¡°Oh¡­ how long was I out?¡± ¡°About twenty minutes.¡± ¡°Oh¡­.¡± Well, that was much longer than I thought. ¡°This bed is very comfortable.¡± ¡°I know.¡± Celeste giggled in my head, and I grudgingly sat up to do my training. ¡°Don¡¯t forget to take time to meet the crew over the next few days. You can¡¯t be the hidden captain forever.¡± ¡°Watch me¡­¡± Chapter 96: Creatures of the Abstract Author¡¯s Corner: Finally, after long hours and much arguing with the cable company, I HAVE INTERNET!
After taking a few hours to train myself, I reluctantly went out and introduced myself to the various elves on board the ship. Because I¡¯m too lazy to list out all two hundred and fifty of them, I¡¯ll just say that there was actually someone named Demuril Ackbar. And he was the tactical officer¡­ I feel like this adventure just got more fun. As for the other major positions, just like the queens had promised they were all taken. We even had a pair of chefs. One of them was actually assigned specifically for me and my ¡®core party¡¯, but I overruled that because we needed both of them for the regular crew. As I have said before, synthesized food just doesn¡¯t taste the same. Though, I can see there being obvious political advantages here for the elves, now that I¡¯ve had time to think it over. First of all, all of the core crew positions are held by elves, and will be until one of the positions are vacated and a non-elf takes over. But at the same time, there¡¯s nothing we can really do about that. We can¡¯t exactly leave those positions empty until we find someone of another race that can do the job. After introducing myself to the crew, and making sure that I at least knew their names, I hastily went back to resume my training. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m antisocial, it¡¯s just that I don¡¯t really do well with large groups of people. Wait, that¡¯s the same thing, isn¡¯t it? Well, don¡¯t sweat the details! Over the next few days, I began to notice a pattern in behavior with Yin and Sharon. Any time one of them came and chatted with me, the other would not be far behind. Now, I pride myself on not being a dense harem protagonist, so when two girls show this much interest in me, and seem to be competing for attention(no really, sometimes I¡¯ll hear one of them say ¡®I win¡¯ before knocking), I know that they like me. I¡¯m not going to pretend that they don¡¯t, I¡¯m not going to try to delude myself into thinking that I shall forever remain single. I will, however, resist! I don¡¯t particularly want to have a harem! I never have, and have been trying all this time to fight that idea with my very being. On the other hand, if I accept the affections of just one of them, then that would hurt the other¡­ Oh great gods above, I wish for relationship advice!
Wait, really?
I¡¯ve changed my mind, I¡¯ll handle it myself! I don¡¯t know which of them wrote that, but it is most likely either my own patron, the god of insanity, or Aria¡­ I don¡¯t think either of them would be a good idea to get advice from about relationships.
Well, if you''re sure. See you next prayer!
Okay, just ignore this matter for now. I¡¯ll think about it later. To be honest, I don¡¯t even know how I feel about them. I mean, they¡¯re both hot, and I find them physically attractive, but Sharon is a good friend, and Yin was my animal companion. That does sort of tip the scales in her favor. Bah, clear my mind! Training time! This pattern lasted for the first couple weeks. Neither of the girls made any overt advances, just coming to talk to me now and then, or sitting near me during meals. I was thankful for that. However, after just over two weeks had passed, I got a rather unsettling call from Celeste. ¡°John, something¡¯s happened. We¡¯re probably going to run into trouble once we drop out of FTL¡­¡± At the time, I was quietly training my Metal Affinity, having almost reached 20% in it. Opening my eyes, I quickly looked around to make sure that nothing was exploding. ¡°Why, what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°Monsters. Some of the crew members have reported seeing strange faces outside the windows, clinging to the ship.¡± ¡°Celeste¡­ we¡¯re in subspace.. I thought there weren¡¯t supposed to be many monsters here?¡± I heard a sigh from the AI as she agreed with me. ¡°They¡¯re rare, and only come in two varieties. We¡¯ve got at least one of them latched onto the ship right now.¡± Grumbling under my breath, I got up and stretched my arms. When I looked out the window, I jumped back for a moment. Outside the window, in the midst of subspace, there was an empty face looking back at me. Instead of eyes or a mouth, it had deep black holes. Its pale skin was peeling off like old paint, and its hair seemed to be splashed with blood while sticking to her features. ¡°They¡¯re called Abstracts.¡± Celeste said as I watched the face. As soon as I blinked, it was gone, and all that could be seen out the window was the gently passing lights. ¡°They come in two varieties. The first can¡¯t move unless it is unseen, while the second can¡¯t interact with the world unless it is being observed. Anything with a soul can trigger these reactions. The main difference between the two is whether or not one possesses its own soul.¡± ¡°The variant that is frozen when looked at has a soul, while the other does not. They both gradually absorb soul energy from those that are watching them, which trigger those effects. In one, the excess energy forcefully freezes them in position, while the other gets just enough to solidify itself. In a way, they are the same monster, with one merely being the ¡®finished¡¯ version.¡± ¡°Okay.. how do we kill it?¡± That was pretty much all I wanted to know at this point. Everything else could wait until after that. ¡°Let me finish explaining, and I¡¯ll tell you.¡± I could practically hear the smile in Celeste¡¯s voice. ¡°Although these creatures are born of exotic mana, they don¡¯t have all of the same properties. Specifically, they can¡¯t simply destroy everything in their path, now that they are confined to a body. However, it is also difficult to destroy them. Doing so with magic is all but impossible, since they invalidate magic by touching it.¡± ¡°For the same reason, you can¡¯t let them get to the FTL drive or the teleport bay, or they will destroy it. For the time being, they can¡¯t get inside of the ship thanks to the shields keeping out the same stuff they are made of. But, once we drop out of subspace, they¡¯ll have a chance to get in.¡± ¡°In order to kill them, you have to hit them with a strong physical impact while they are solid. Thankfully, our electrical system hasn¡¯t been upgraded to use mana wiring, or else they could play with the lights and control when we can and can¡¯t see them. But don¡¯t let your guard down, because the ¡®statues¡¯ are ridiculously fast. With the scans I¡¯m seeing, they are able to cross the entire ship¡¯s length in a matter of seconds.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Scans, this is good. You can detect them on scans, then.¡± Hey, if that was the case, then we still had a pretty good chance. ¡°Only when they solidify. Otherwise, they blend in with the surroundings too much to pick up.¡± ¡°So what you¡¯re saying is, we are now in a horror movie. That¡¯s what you¡¯re saying, right?¡± ¡°Yup!¡± She responded as if this was good news. ¡°But don¡¯t worry, we know the rules of horror movies, and we know in advance that we¡¯re in one! This increases our chances of survival drastically.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not feeling that relieved here.¡± My eye twitched, because I saw a black wisp, like a giant mass of hair fly past my window, with black claws trailing behind it. ¡°I am definitely not feeling relieved. How many of them are out there?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have an accurate reading, but there have not been any more than five appear on the scans at any one time, so let¡¯s say seven. I like seven, it¡¯s a good number.¡± ¡°How long is it until we drop out of FTL?¡± There was a pause before she answered this time, likely to get information from someone. ¡°There are a couple of nearby systems, within a day¡¯s travel. I don¡¯t want to come out in between systems, just in case we lose the FTL. One of them is heavy in asteroids, so I¡¯ll set that as the destination. In about sixteen hours, we¡¯ll drop out. At that time, it¡¯d be best to have everyone gather together, to minimize risk.¡± I nodded my head, trying to think about this rationally, rather than like a protagonist in a horror movie. ¡°Alright¡­ we can have Sharon¡¯s rabbit army scout the ship. They will spread out farther and faster than any of us. And knowing those rabbits, they might even be able to take one or two of the abstracts down..¡± There was a light giggle from Celeste at that. ¡°True, and it¡¯s a good idea. In the meantime, I need to send a few construction drones into your grove, so that we can get some hammers. We have swords to deal with the ¡®early stage¡¯ abstracts, but it takes blunt force to kill the finished ones.¡± I was still not liking this at all. Could I go back to my biggest concern being whether or not I should date the friend or the evolved bird? I would really like to go back to that right now. Just as I turned around to head back out, I saw another empty face flash in front of my window again, but as soon as I turned to look it was gone. I really want to go back a few hours and have none of this happen.
Quest Accepted!
Creatures of the Abstract Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï Ship Defense Deep in the darkest reaches of subspace, the abstracts have begun to emerge. Your ship caught the attention of some of them, and now it will pay the price. Will you be able to repel the creatures of nightmares, or will you lose, and have your body float along forever in this ghost ship? Time Limit: None Rewards: Live to die another day, One Favor(Small) Failure: The loss of your ship and crew
Okay¡­ looks like we¡¯ve got another quest¡­ last time I had that happen was Legion, which does not inspire me with courage. Though, the rewards on this are a bit odd. A favor, from who? Do I get to personally ask the gods for something if I repel the abstracts? That would be a bit absurd.. maybe the favor is limited to information, or a level-appropriate item. Anyways, I quickly made my way to the bridge to meet Celeste, so that she could get started on building sledgehammers in my grove. Along the way, I found Yin, who looked like she was heading to my room. ¡°Situation, heading to the bridge.¡± The woman stopped, tilting her head, but gave a quick nod and turned around to follow me. ¡°What happened¡­?¡± I began telling her what Celeste had told me, in regards to these strange creatures and what we needed to do. When I mentioned that they were all but immune to magic, she furrowed her brows. Most likely, she had obtained a class that was directly related to magic. Having that thought, I asked her if she had gotten one yet. Yin blinked in confusion for a moment, before quickly giving me another nod. ¡°Yes¡­ Storm Queen.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ base class?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ mage.¡± Okay, so she got a weather controlling mage class. This is officially unhelpful on a ship in the middle of nowhere(literally) fighting monsters immune to magic. ¡°I want to take Yang into my grove with you and Yo. Would you mind watching them until this is over?¡± ¡°Want to help¡­ but okay. Will take care of them.¡± I gave a relieved sigh as she said that. I considered putting the entire crew into either mine or Sharon¡¯s groves, but we need more eyes out here to give us a better chance against these monsters. Preferential treatment, you say? Hell yes I give preferential treatment to people I¡¯ve been with since the start of my adventure! After getting to the bridge, Celeste summoned eight of her construction drones and had me send them into the grove. Following that, I went and rounded up Yang from the hydroponics room, and Yo from the sauna. We don¡¯t even have anyone staffing the sauna, did she ask Celeste to run it for her? More questions! Anyways, time went by slowly, and for some reason I found it hard to sleep when random terrifying faces would peek in on me through the window. Who knew? So instead, I used my Mana Leech aspect to substitute sleep, so that I wasn¡¯t going to try to fight these monsters when I was dead tired. Roughly sixteen hours later, we pulled out of FTL. At almost the same time, alarms started sounding out. We were all gathered in the mess hall, the one room able to hold everyone with room to spare. Sharon¡¯s animals were already spread out, watching. Celeste, using her connection with the ship to get the information, gave a brief report. ¡°Two airlocks were just pried open. I¡¯ve sealed the area to prevent the atmosphere from leaking out, but they may have already gotten through. Those should be the finished abstracts.. the rest can just phase through the walls.¡± Oh¡­ this was not going to be a fun time. Chapter 97: Fighting the Abstracts Author¡¯s Corner: Hey all! Have some more nightmare fuel(I think, anyways. All depends on how this turns out)
With everyone here, and Sharon¡¯s rabbits roaming the halls, I knew that we wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the statue type abstracts. Even if there were more of them, putting five sets of eyes on them at once would almost guarantee that it would not be able to move before we had the chance to kill it. The problem was the other type, the ones that could phase through walls. ¡°I¡¯ve got three statue types on the sensors. The rabbits have them locked down just a few corridors down from the airlocks. As for the others, I¡¯m getting intermittent readings, but I think they are hiding in the life support vents to avoid detection. Wait, no, one of the rabbits was just killed. They¡¯re hiding in the floors and ceilings!¡± Celeste gave a detailed report as she kept an eye on the situation with the ship¡¯s sensors and internal cameras. ¡°Come on, give me some good news, Celeste¡­¡± ¡°Working on it¡­ more of the rabbits are dying, all over the ship. The good news is that they aren¡¯t going for the ones watching the statue types, so those won¡¯t get free. However, they seem to be gradually making their way in this direction. These readings¡­ there should be six loose abstracts heading this way.¡± I closed my eyes, and quickly turned on my combat Aspect spells. If swords work against the ¡®loose¡¯ abstracts, then razor sharp claws should work just as well. ¡°Any final advice?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t stare at them too long. They absorb soul energy through eye contact, it¡¯s what triggers their solidifying ability and feeds them. You could end up losing levels, or completely dying if you take too long.¡± Suddenly, Sharon spoke up next to us. ¡°Is this going to be a problem for the rabbits?¡± ¡°Probably¡­ The ones watching the statues might not last until we defeat the loose abstracts. Ah! One of the loose abstracts just ate too many souls from the rabbits, and has turned into a statue type. The nearby rabbits managed to lock it down, so now there are only five heading our way. Make it four, the rabbits got a kill in!¡± Finally, we had some good news! ¡°Alright, they¡¯ll be here any time. Get ready, and make sure you watch everything.¡± Nodding, I spread out my mana sense, feeling for anything out of place. If they came from the floors, I wanted to be ready. However, the first one burst directly through the door. Or rather, it phased through the door. Do only the parts of them that we see become solid, or can they still walk through walls whenever they want?! Make up your mind on how you work, or at least let us have more details! The one that ran into the room was a giant mass of long bloody hair, with four thin arms protruding out from the sides and two stubby legs. At the end of each arm were three long and deadly looking claws, while the feet appeared to be mismatched. One was the foot of a large feline, while the other looked like a smaller elephant¡¯s foot. There were no discernable features underneath the thick hair, as it covered too much of its body. When it ran towards us, there was a trail of black blood left in its wake. ¡°First one, incoming!¡± I said as I dove towards it, with three of the other elven officers. If I was able to use my magic, I would choose to simply burn this thing, and had to actively resist doing so. I wasn¡¯t even sure whether energy attacks like my beam saber would work, or if that would be invalidated as well. Hence, I decided to just rip it to pieces with my claws. Just as I was getting near the violent mass of hair, I felt something was off with my Mana Sense. As such, I jumped into the air at the last second, and a moment later heard two crashes near where I had been, from the elves that had been running alongside me. I heard the voice of our tactical officer from within the group of armed elves yelling out. ¡°It¡¯s a trick!¡± Damn, so close! Anyways, apparently a pair of hands had appeared beneath our feet, and tried to grab onto us. Aside from myself, one of the elves had noticed in time and jumped out of the way, while the other two had been tripped and crashed into the ground. Moments later, they let out a brief scream before an explosion of blood erupted under their heads. Near their bodies, a creature appeared that almost made me lose what little lunch I had managed to eat before this battle. This one was all hands¡­ literally. There were tens, if not over a hundred hands along this one, all connected by rope-like arms. At the center was a long insectoid body, making this seem like the freakiest centipede in history. Two of its hands were stained in blood, likely having been what killed the two elven officers. Hearing a mild shriek from behind me, my attention returned to the monster that I was still in a midair jump towards. Bringing my claws out, I readied myself to fight head on, likely the most reckless action I could have possibly taken. But, since magic doesn¡¯t work, and there¡¯s a chance energy weapons wouldn¡¯t work either, this was our only option. We didn¡¯t have physical projectile weapons like guns made yet, since that would have taken Celeste a lot longer to make and train people to use. Well, that was what I had thought at first anyways, until slashing down my right claw at the abstract. It easily intercepted it with its own claw, and its hair began to whip around, lunging at me like thousands of sharp needles. Oh, this is going to hurt. I waited for the stabbing pain that was soon to come, but instead there was a loud boom from behind me. While I was still thinking that I was going to be pierced by a swarm of sharp hair, the creature in front of me was suddenly sent flying backwards, crashing against the wall heavily. From its center, a large metal ball fell to the ground and rolled lightly across the floor, like a cannonball. Looking back, I saw that Celeste had summoned one of her larger pets, which took the form of a stationary artillery. ¡°I figured we¡¯d need a physical ranged attack eventually¡­ But don¡¯t slack off, I have to eat through the metal in the floor to load this thing!¡± The Deus Ex spoke, holding the controls for the turret while standing behind it. Meanwhile, Sharon had called out another half dozen horned rabbits to distract the centipede hand monster. Though, Celeste¡¯s attack did give me a good idea, which I was slapping myself mentally for not thinking about it earlier. These things are all but immune to magic, but who said they¡¯re immune to physical attacks launched by magic? Jumping back a step, I put some distance between myself and the shaggy abstract, and began focusing just as it stood back up. I would like to use my Magnetism Manipulation and have it pull all the swords towards the monsters. But, it would just eat through the magic magnetism. So instead, I lifted up the two swords from the dead elves with my Metal Manipulation, and brought them in front of myself. Since I didn¡¯t know where in that mass of hair was a body, I just launched the two swords at its center, like Celeste had done for the cannonball. Out of the two swords, one merely chopped off a good deal of hair and bounced against the wall behind the shaggy, while the other struck something solid. The creature let out a deafening shriek, before it slumped lifelessly to the ground. Taking a deep breath, I let out a sigh and looked back to see how the others were doing. It appeared that Sharon had adopted my strategy, though on a larger scale. Where I had taken the two swords of the dead elves, she had instead taken twenty swords, and had them rapidly rotating as they cut through the various hands of the monster. Unfortunately, almost all of the rabbits she had summoned previously had been crushed in this creature¡¯s hands, which was likely the cause for her current unfiltered rage. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Curious how she was doing this without the creature eating the magic, I activated my Aura Sight. From what I saw, she was only holding the handles of the swords, and making sure that they did not come into contact with the abstract directly. A good idea, and one I wish I had thought of before wanting to dive in head first. Off on the other side of the mess hall, the elves and Celeste were fighting the other two abstracts, which must have appeared while I was briefly fighting the shaggy one. The first abstract, being attacked by over a dozen elves, was¡­ a large foot. However, under the sole of its foot were a dozen legs, each with their own feet, while along the sides there were long, blade-like arms. Still¡­ it was a foot. Did they have to appear so random?! Finally, the last one looked like a three-eyed female, with two of the eyes on one side of her head. There were long, bloody trails down her pale arms, which ended in dark, six inch claws. This one actually seemed to be the strongest of the group, as it displayed remarkable agility by jumping along the walls to dodge Celeste¡¯s cannon fire. In between shots, it would crawl along the ceiling, and then dive down on top of one of the elves in a blur of movement, crashing right through the poor elf and going straight into the floor. A moment later, it would appear outside of the crowd with a wide, demented grin covering its bloodstained face, ready to repeat the cycle again. Grabbing the discarded sword that had missed the abstract I had just taken care of, I moved to help Sharon finish off the one she was fighting. She seemed to be aiming to ¡®disarm¡¯ it at the moment, because every time she moved to strike its main body, it would move a bundle of its arms to block the attack. Lifting my ¡®borrowed¡¯ blade with Metal Manipulation, I moved up behind the abstract. Taking a note from Sharon¡¯s attacks, I began rotating my blade in a similar manner, and chopped into it from the back, earning another shriek. However, my attack did not seem to cut deep enough to kill it, before several tentacle arms grabbed the blade, handle and all. These were likely arms which already had the hands cut off by Sharon, leaving it with only the wriggling stubs. Does that make this a one hundred armed octopus? A centipus? I¡¯ll call it a centipus from now on. Anyways, the centipus had grabbed the blade, ripping it away from my control by negating the magic on it. With that, I was entirely out of ammo, well almost at least. There was still one thing I could do, but it would probably hurt like hell. Using my Toybox power, I grabbed the blade from within the mass of tentacles, and set the other portal away from it. Did I mention that this would hurt like hell? Because I was gripping my head from the sudden pain by the time the sword was completely out of its grip. Deciding to change tactics, I made two thin portal rings around the handle of the blade, to grip it without transporting it. This let me move the blade in a manner similar to telekinesis.
New Ability Unlocked!
Toybox: Toy Hand - Psychic Power: Toybox - ¡ï¡î By placing portals in the proper manner, it is possible to grip objects with your power, and control them as if with an invisible third hand.
Not now, blue screen. I¡¯ll look at you later. Right now, I was surprised at how natural it felt to hold the sword in the portal grip like I was. It was as if it was actually just a third hand, like the message had said. Taking advantage of that fact, I once more began slicing and dicing at the creature, stabbing at anything I could. With just moving the portals, I only felt a minor increase in the pain in my head. Sharon seemed a bit surprised when she looked at me, but instantly her face became one of worry. ¡°John, stop it quick!¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why she was saying that, but I had to at least help take this one out so that she could help deal with the freaky girl abstract that was practically toying with Celeste. Of course, I began to understand once I started tasting copper in my mouth, but by then the sword was at the head of the monster, stabbing into it. There was another shriek, and the centipus fell to the ground, its tentacle arms falling limply to its sides. Rather than going to help Celeste, Sharon quickly ran in my direction. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I looked over to her and nodded my head, cancelling the Toybox power and using the formula Celeste had taught me for psychic stress relief. ¡°I¡¯m fine, go help them.¡± I nodded towards the other fights, and Sharon soon ran off. I would like to say I was the cool guy that stayed focused and watched the entire fight. But does that sound even the slightest bit like me? No, I didn¡¯t think so either. Although the headache was lessened with my casting of the spell, it was still quite powerful, and easily enough to knock me out the moment I relaxed enough to allow it. Why do I have to miss all the cool action sequences? I could vaguely hear various shouting around me, which only further agitated the headache. Such as ¡®the statues are moving, the rabbits around them died¡¯, or a panicked scream of a dying elf. The worst was the high pitched, crazed laugh that I had to assume came from the little girl monster. Seriously, who the hell thought of that one!? It only took a little while before I was completely out of it, and likely to die if another monster shows up to step on me. However, I did wake up safe and sound in the medbay, eventually. There was a worried Sharon sitting next to my bedside, slumped over asleep in a chair. Looking around, there didn¡¯t seem to be anyone else in the room. Was nobody else injured? Well¡­ aside from those that died. Wow¡­ I must be a seriously shitty captain. I haven¡¯t even gotten to a planet yet, and I¡¯ve already started losing crew members. Pulling up the Ship Management Window, I decided to see how many people were left. Before, it had shown two hundred and fifty elves, along with myself, Sharon, Celeste, Yin, Yang, and Yo. So, a grand total of 256 people.
Crew Members: 237 Names ---
I furrowed my brow, thinking that through. Yin, Yang, and Yo were all still in my grove, so they might not count as crew members on the ship at the moment. That still meant we had lost sixteen people. Celeste? ¡°Ah, John, you¡¯re up!¡± I heard a voice cheerfully calling back to me mentally. ¡°We were starting to get worried about you. You¡¯ve been out for a couple of days now.¡± ¡°...Seriously? I even missed the aftermath?¡± I could just imagine the gods laughing at me. I barely contribute in the fight, lose sixteen of my crew, and pass out before the battle is even over. ¡°You better have a very good report for me to look over¡­¡± There was a slight giggle, and I could just imagine Celeste nodding. ¡°I¡¯ll come up with something, Captain. It¡¯s good that you¡¯re alright.¡±
Author''s Basement: Did I just kill off Officer Ackbar for not saying his lines properly?! Stay tuned next time to find out! Chapter 98: A Review Author¡¯s Corner: Greetings all! Time for another chapter! This time, we¡¯re doing the reports from a certain crew member regarding the event of the last chapter.
Crew Member: Officer Demuril Ackbar Position: Tactical Officer Incident Injuries: Minimal It all started with the faces that couldn¡¯t be there. Several of us would see them, lasting for only a few blinks at a time, before they would vanish into subspace. We thought it to be a unique form of dementia at first, triggered by the unfamiliar atmosphere. However, when I made the report to Vice-Captain Celeste so that I may be relieved of duty until my mental health improved, she took it remarkably seriously. Our scanning technology had been focused primarily on looking beyond the veil of this ¡®subspace¡¯ region to look at possible planets and systems we would be passing. The Vice-Captain instead issued an emergency order to have them scan the exterior of the ship for life signs. What could survive out there? Even with our technology, we have yet to make an organism that can survive in the vacuum of space, let alone this hostile environment. But sure enough, there were readings from the scans. I didn¡¯t know whether to be impressed that the Vice-Captain knew about this, to rejoice because I was not insane, or to dread what was out there. She called them Abstracts, and described them as one would describe a terrifying monster to a young child. And I was glad she did, as well. Without her explanation, we may have all been killed the moment we left subspace. After she informed the Captain about the situation, he decided to have Sharon Bradbury¡¯s small rabbit swarms patrol the halls to lock the creatures in a solid state. While I did not approve of the blatant waste of resources, the person in question didn¡¯t seem to mind it. However, that did not solve the larger issues, which were the crew¡¯s lives and the safety of the ship. As such, I proposed a plan the the Vice-Captain. First, I verified that these creatures were capable of sensing the ¡®souls¡¯ of their prey. Then, I proposed that the crew place itself in a single, large room capable of easily holding them while maintaining a line of sight with all entrances and exits. Although it was not possible to see them through the floor and ceiling, this would drastically limit their paths of approach. The Vice-Captain readily accepted this plan, and when the Captain himself showed up(a rare sight for sure), she conjured over a half dozen small metal spheres that floated above the ground. The Captain took these into his mysterious inner space, and went back to his room for ¡®training¡¯. While I do not question his morals, I believe the Captain is unfit for leading a large group of people such as this, though others seem to not share my opinion. Nonetheless, we have our orders. I am merely thankful for his decision to leave the regular operation of the crew to the Vice-Captain. For the next several hours, those who were able to sleep did so, while the rest prepared for the fight that was to come. As for me, there was little that I could do to prepare. My own class was Huntsman, and I had yet to acquire any of the combat pets that would serve to enhance my ability. As an addition to this report, I am also submitting a formal request to be allowed on the away team to the next inhabited world, so that I may rectify this. In order to avoid the risk of being stranded between systems, the Vice-Captain chose a nearby star system which was rich in asteroids. With any small amount of luck, we would easily be able to find the minerals needed to replace any damaged sections. When the Vice-Captain produced a sword and hammer for me to wield, I was at a loss for what to do. I have wielded a sword before, but not since basic training. As for this large hammer, I could not even see how such an implement would be useful for combat situations. My preferred weapon was a bow, but against these creatures I had my doubts if that would be useful. As such, I refrained from requesting a new weapon, and merely accepted what I had been given. The preparations, what little there were, went exactly as planned. Several dozen rabbits had emerged from Bradbury¡¯s body, which then began to patrol the hall in an orderly manner, the likes of which I had never before seen from an animal. I wonder if it would be possible to ask for the use of one of her animals as my Hunstman companion. I will inquire about that after this report has been filed. The following day, we had all gathered in the mess hall, and were ready to encounter these creatures. Given my own lack of combat ability, I assigned myself to a rear scouting position, so that I could keep eyes on the Abstracts at all times. As such, I would like to take this time to list the various abilities demonstrated by the four Abstracts that appeared. The first, identified as a Needle Hair type for the purpose of this report, appeared to have the ability to manipulate its excessive hair, and seemed to be able to use the hair as a stabbing implement. Although it possessed four limbs with long claws on the hands, it did not use them as proper weapons. The second, identified as a Hundred Hands type for this report, was a long insectoid with a hundred hands attached to it by what appeared to be tentacles. These limbs were capable of exerting great strength, as demonstrated by when it effortlessly crushed the skulls of two of the elves who had foolishly charged ahead with the Captain. They are also capable of forming a shield to evade attacks, shown while fighting against Bradbury. The third, identified as a Large Foot, had a peculiar appearance, but its only offensive power appeared to be the blade-like arms protruding from its sides. It may have hidden combat abilities, but there were not shown during this encounter. Finally, the Demon Child type, which proved the most difficult to deal with. It had a great agility that far surpassed that of the other three. According to the Vice-Captain¡¯s information, this should be due to it having not absorbed enough souls so far. Nonetheless, it was the most troublesome enemy. As with the others, it was capable of fading through walls at a whim, and would toy with its opponents. Now, I shall describe the order of battle, as I saw it. After the Needle Hair charged into the room, the Captain, along with three other elves, recklessly charged forward while brandishing their swords. With my position and duty to scout, I noticed hands rising up near their feet, and quickly shouted out about the trick that the enemy was using. The Vice-Captain showed obvious disappointment at my words, likely due to the group of people that had charged forward, only to succumb to such a maneuver. After two of the crew were tripped, their heads had been gripped from below by the Hundred Hands type Abstract, and instantly crushed. The full creature itself then floated up from under the floor, and Bradbury engaged it in battle. To my surprise, she first fought by summoning another series of horned rabbits, directing them to engage with the enemy. Afterwards, several of the crew had their swords float up into the air. At first, we believed this may be due to an unseen enemy, but Bradbury seemed to be controlling them. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. While she engaged with the Hundred Hands, the Large Foot dropped down from the ceiling, crushing one of the crew. Several others then drew their swords and charged towards it, while the Vice-Captain quickly summoned a large turret, which blasted towards the Needle Hair with a ball of metal. Afterwards, she turned her attention to the Demon Child, which cut off the legs of one of the crew when it arrived. The Large Foot was easy to fend off, with the crew members occupying is blade limbs. The Hundred Hands was being distracted by Bradbury using several spinning swords the flew through the air. The Needle Hair was quickly dealt with by the Captain using a similar flying sword. However, the Demon Child was too fast to be hit by the Vice-Captain, and was quickly killing several of the crew. It wasn¡¯t until the Captain used some strange method to control one of the flying swords to defeat the Hundred Hands that the situation turned in our favor. Although it caused him to collapse, while bleeding from his eyes, nose, and mouth, it freed up Bradbury to help against the Demon Child. With her more nimble control of the two dozen swords, the Demon Child had no chance to evade, and was quickly pierced through while the Large Foot was destroyed by the Vice-Captain¡¯s turret. With those four taken care of, the Vice-Captain reported that the original groups of animals that had been watching the statue-type enemies had already died, and another group had taken their place. In order to avoid wasting more valuable resources, we immediately headed out to take care of them. These statue types posed no real threat to us, so long as we had enough eyes on them to ensure that they could not move, so we dealt with them using the large hammers that the Vice-Captain had provided. After the four statues had been dealt with, we did a final sweep to confirm that there were no more enemies present on the ship, and gathered our dead. Thanks to the warning from the Vice-Captain, and the information she had given us beforehand to allow us to devise a plan to attack, we were capable of overcoming this situation with only sixteen crew deaths. While we had also lost nearly a hundred of the horned rabbits, Bradbury did not seem disturbed by this fact. It is possible that she has an even greater reserve within her inner space. I would like to formally nominate Bradbury as the primary leader when forming away teams. With her abilities, I believe she is well suited for the task. End of report. ¡­ ¡°He gives really good reports¡­¡± I said musingly after finishing reading Ackbar¡¯s recap of the incident. Even if I did feel a bit upset at the parts where I was described essentially as an incompetent leader, I couldn¡¯t really deny that he was right. ¡°Hmm?¡± Sharon next to me slowly woke up, and finally saw that I was awake. ¡°Ah! John, you¡¯re alright! I mean, well, we knew you¡¯d be alright, but you¡¯re finally up!¡± ¡°Yeah, I should be okay now. Not so much as a headache.¡± It would have been strange if I still had one after resting for two full days. ¡°And I read up on what happened. You did a good job?¡± Sharon had a silly smile as she heard that. ¡°I did, huh?¡± ¡°Yup. Ackbar even recommended you to be the leader of away teams, thanks to the ability you showed.¡± She giggled lightly. ¡°Well, he ended up asking me for an animal, so I gave him one of my younger wolves. He seems to be quite active when it comes to training.¡± I nodded my head, and a blue screen appeared in front of me.
Quest Completed
Creatures of the Abstract Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï Ship Defense Thanks to your foreknowledge, the abstract creatures were repelled with only a minimal loss of life. Your ship is safe, for now at least.
As a Quest Reward, you have been granted one Small Favor from your patron deity. Patron Favors are ranked as Small, Medium, and Large, and can be redeemed for the following effects. Favors of a lesser category may not be exchanged for a larger one.
Small: One item of equivalent level, one new skill
Medium: One item of superior level, two new skills, one free resurrection
Large: One intelligent item, three new skills, two free resurrections.
You may redeem your favor at any time by praying to your patron deity. Additional favors may be earned by completing quests assigned by your patron deity, or performing actions that they approve of.
I looked at the rewards list, and couldn¡¯t help but stare dumbly. A new skill, am I able to choose what kind of skill it is? Or is it chosen for me? Same with the item.. would I even get to pick whether it is a weapon or armor? ¡°What¡¯s wrong, John?¡± I heard Sharon asking from next to me, but I knew it wasn¡¯t just me that was confused by this. I could almost feel Celeste in my head, trying to process this. ¡°Uhm¡­ well¡­ apparently the god of madness and chaos liked what we did, so he is letting me get a free skill or item¡­¡± ¡°Wait, what? You can actually talk to your patron?¡± She looked at me confused, and I nodded. Though really, I didn¡¯t know either until just recently. I thought that you had to be at a temple to do so. ¡°Well¡­ here goes.¡± Calling Malthan, do you read me oh god of chaos and madness?
Huh? Oh! Hi, I''m here. Sorry, was playing strip poker with the goddess of beauty. What''s up?
¡°This is a very casual god, apparently¡­.¡±
What''s the point of divinity if you don''t enjoy it? Now try to hurry up, I sense a royal flush coming up, and I want to get that shirt off..
Ah¡­ it¡¯s about this favor....
Oh, for the abstracts? Yeah, that was a good show. So, what are you wanting?
Author''s Basement: Comment below what you think he should ask for. One item, or one skill, with description! Chapter 99: A Prayer and a Promise Author¡¯s Corner: Counting the prologue, this makes 100 chapters of World Seed! Thank you all for reading up to this point, and enjoy the chapter!
Well.. I thought, towards the god of madness and chaos. Could I get a boost to a current skill, rather than a new one or an item?
Yes! Royal flush! Called it! Now come on, baby... Whoops! Sorry, got my channels crossed. Uhm, sure. I can have you get either an item that gives a considerable boost to a single skill, or directly give you a smaller boost to it.
My eye twitched slightly as I read that. My patron is a shameless perv! Ah, well I¡¯d like to have something that would assist with my Toybox power, to let me create identical portals so that they would be safe for travel.
Hmm... Alright, let me see if I can''t patch you through to someone to help you with that. Please hold while I redirect your favor and stare at the most glorious breasts in all creation.
I thought he was joking at first, but then I actually started to hear an annoying jingle in my head, as if he had actually put me on hold! Looking over at Sharon, I saw her closing her eyes and focusing, likely trying to get through to her own patron, or having a conversation already. I wasn¡¯t sure which. This annoying jingle lasted for several minutes before my mind was suddenly assaulted by a barrage of information. It felt similar to the time I had absorbed the Soul Arts skill from Legion, except that there were no memories contained within this knowledge. It felt as if it was becoming something I had known all along, but never understood.
New Skill Unlocked!
Spatial Comprehension - Beginner Level 5 Exp: 0% Sorry, man, wasn''t able to get them to buff your psychic skill. However, instead they came up with this handy skill for you, that should allow the same effects! With this skill, you can understand the size, shape, and density of a thing merely by looking at it with your Aura Sight. It may take a bit of practice, but this should be a good starting point for you! Once you level it up some, you won''t even need the Aura Sight, and will naturally understand these things. So... good luck! And now, time to deal another hand!
Well¡­ thanks anyways, I guess. I was left holding my head in both pain and annoyance as the information swept through me. I wasn¡¯t sure how Aura Sight was supposed to serve as a medium for this skill, but out of curiosity I tried it. Once the world filled with those usual colorful strands of light, I felt that I was able to sort through them, and ignore the ones I didn¡¯t want to look at. Turning to look at Sharon again, I saw¡­ everything. Without the lights of the auras in the way, my eyesight was amplified by several times. I could see the angle of her nose, the tension in her forehead, and could tell how much her shirt was being strained by her chest. Okay, that last one wasn¡¯t important, but I couldn¡¯t really block it out either! This literally made me see everything in complete detail at the same time. Focusing, I tried to slowly tune my sight to bring back the auras around the areas I did not want to focus on. I found that this was considerably more difficult than just omitting them completely. ¡°Wow, this is a handy skill for an organic to have.¡± I heard Celeste¡¯s voice ring out in my head as I looked around, taking in the information of the room. Already, I was able to spot a few structural weaknesses in this small medbay, where the wall appeared weaker than in other places. ¡°Typically, only a computer will be able to process the visual information like that. Otherwise¡­ wait for it¡­¡± Sure enough, I began to feel a nagging headache building as I looked around some more. Taking the hint, I cancelled the Aura Sight. Too much information being processed at once causes a meltdown, right? ¡°Exactly. Before you start training that new skill full time, you should hop into your clone body and practice your Technomancy to give yourself better processing abilities. That, or I can give you an actual implant for it.¡± ...I wanted to go with the actual implant, but that meant real brain surgery¡­ opening up my skull and digging around to put it in¡­ ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry about that. The implants I looked up weren¡¯t that messy. Though I would still need to cut into your head to put it in.¡± I¡¯ll go with the Technomancy solution, please. That was not a very difficult choice for me. Can you prepare a computer for me to study, or do we not have the parts necessary? ¡°Hmm, we¡¯ve been mining asteroids for a couple days now, so we have plenty of metals, and I can even create small diamond processors. Give me a few hours, and I can have a working computer for you. I¡¯ve almost got the last airlock fixed.¡± I nodded my head, and turned over to see Sharon, who had just ¡®snapped out¡¯ of her praying or whatever she was doing. ¡°So, make any contact?¡± She nodded her head slightly. ¡°Yeah¡­ My patron is a bit strange. She actually went ahead and gave me a quest, but I¡¯m not sure how to go about it.¡± ¡°Oh? What¡¯s the quest?¡± I was rather curious, since Malthan hadn¡¯t mentioned giving me a quest or anything like that. Though, he may have been too busy ogling breasts to think about it. ¡°I have to populate three different worlds with at least four species from my grove, each. There¡¯s no time limit, but if I do it, I¡¯ll be granted a ¡®Medium Favor¡¯.¡± ...Fighting off the abstracts earned me a small favor, but just visiting three planets along our way and dropping off some animals would earn Sharon a medium favor? Where was the justice?! ¡°So¡­ who is your patron, by the way?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± She looked at me, realizing she hadn¡¯t told me that yet. ¡°Krisa, goddess of wild beasts. What about you..?¡± ¡°....Malthan¡­ god of madness¡­¡± I hung my head in shame as I admitted that. Sharon got an interesting patron, and I could even see how it connected with her personality, since she keeps grabbing wild beasts for her grove. After I admitted my patron, Sharon brought a hand up to her mouth and giggled. ¡°Really, now?¡± I nodded my head, and decided that it was time to bring the other three out of my grove. The battle was over now, and we weren¡¯t in any danger, so there wouldn¡¯t be a problem with it. With a thought, I sent my mind into my grove, and pulled the three women out of it. ¡°John.¡± ¡°Master!¡± ¡°Papa!¡± The three girls all quickly hugged me, calling out to me as they usually would. Perhaps because I had not called them out for a while, they were worried that something had happened to me. Yin smiled, and patted me on the head while the other two clung to my sides. ¡°You¡¯re alright¡­ Good.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Yeah, yeah. I¡¯m fine.¡± I smiled back to her, and slowly sat up. I had to push away Yang and Yo, but I managed to get to my feet. ¡°Oh, right, the upgrade for the ship should be just about done¡­¡± I checked the Ship Management window, and found that there were still two days left before it was complete. Yin looked to Yang, who was growing increasingly uncomfortable in the medbay, and spoke with a soft smile. ¡°Come, Yang.. forest¡­¡± She grabbed the demi¡¯s hands, which seemed to make her relax slightly, and pulled her along out of the medbay. ¡°Will be back¡­ later.¡± I nodded to her, and turned towards Sharon. ¡°So, guessing you¡¯ll be trying to populate a few planets along our way with your critters?¡± ¡°Yeah, though I¡¯m not really sure what these favors are supposed to be good for.¡± I took a moment to explain just that, and her outlook quickly changed. ¡°Wow.. Okay. Yeah, that would definitely be good. I wonder if I could get a cool combat skill.¡± ¡°Probably¡­ I asked for something to help with my psychic power, and they gave me the ability to comprehend space.¡± Now I just needed to train it to the point where my portals were actually usable without making me black out for two days at a time. But first, I had a magic surgery to perform! Sharon and I continued chatting for a while, until Celeste had finished with her work and came by the medbay with a small, handheld computer. ¡°This will be a good model for you to work with. The processing speed is about the same as computers from Earth, which is still dozens of times faster than most organic races.¡± I nodded my head, and pulled up my companion bracelet. If I was going to increase the speed at which I could process information, then essentially my perception of time would slow down. Naturally, my body wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up, so I had to write a program that would limit the enhanced processing speed. This took about another hour, with more help from Celeste to correct some variables. After that was done, the program was stored in the companion implant, and I moved to the chair to put on my clone controller headset. It was time to take my cyber brain to the next level! Once inside the clone body, I grabbed the handheld computer from Celeste, thanking her for her work. Then, I began studying the computer with my mana sense, identifying the parts I had already applied to my brain and focusing on the rest. Thankfully, there weren¡¯t many other pieces in this particular computer, so I was able to quickly find the part that handled information processing. From there, it was just a matter of identifying that section of my own brain. For this, I had Sharon help me out. I gave her a small list of math problems, and asked her to go through and solve them. While she did so, I analyzed her own brain to find the parts that lit up when she thought about the questions. To be safe, I confirmed the location by having her do two more tests. One was a sensory deprivation test where we covered her eyes, ears, and nose, while the other had her simply looking around the room and analyzing it. With her help, I was able to identify the parts of the brain that I would need to alter for this surgery. So, I lied down on the medbay bed, and got to work. I had already done a few of these magical surgeries on myself, so I was not surprised when the pain started. I forced myself to think past the pain and continue to work, for several minutes until I was fully finished with the procedure. In the end, I felt my thoughts slowing down, and it gradually became harder and harder to focus. Finally, just as I completed the process, I blacked out entirely.
You have died.
Immediately, I woke up in my original body, but I couldn¡¯t move. Wait¡­ I could move, everything was just going so slow. Damn, did I kill my clone by finishing the procedure? Celeste, upload the program! I had to wait for what felt like an hour as I slowly reached up to grab the headset. Then, suddenly, everything came together all at once, and Sharon was rushing over to me. ¡°What happened? Did it work?¡±
New Spell Unlocked
Cybernetic Adaptation: Processor - Technomancy - ¡ï¡ï¡ï Ever had trouble paying attention? Well no more! From now on, you can see and hear everything at once! Your processing speed is now similar to that of a computer!
New Software Installed!
Limiter X Due to the heightened information processing brought about by Cybernetic Adaptation: Processor, you see and hear things at a far faster rate than normal. To counteract this, this program allows you to adjust the speed at which your mind can take in information.
I smiled slightly at the two windows that appeared. ¡°I¡¯m fine, it worked.¡± I looked over to the clone body, which was now lying dead on the medbay bed. Walking over to it, I infused a portion of my soul into it, approximately one level from my buffer area. If I was right¡­
New Ability Unlocked
Resurrection - Soul Arts - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î This is a powerful skill, known to a select few, with the ability to bring back the dead. The only requirements are for the body to not be fatally damaged, and for the death to have occurred less than twenty four hours ago. At a cost of a portion of their own soul, equivalent to one full level of the deceased, they can stimulate the aura and revive the target.
...Wait¡­ five and a HALF stars? Doesn¡¯t that mean the ratings are based on ten or more stars, rather than just five, like I had been thinking all this time? Still, resurrection is a powerful ability, so I don¡¯t doubt that it is far above anything I have right now. Shaking my head, I cleared my mind of that, and looked towards Sharon and Yo. Deciding to test my new abilities, I deactivated the limiter program, while activating my Spatial Comprehension. As expected, the information flowed ceaselessly into my mind. I was able to accurately perceive everything about them as they stood frozen like statues. If a pervert got their hands on this power¡­ I would fear for the safety of women everywhere. Still, the combat applications of this were enormous, as it would let me pause any situation and analyze it to determine the best method of attack or defense. I would need to practice it extensively over the next few days, in combination with my other abilities. Chapter 100: Oh Captain, My Captain Author¡¯s Corner: Official Chapter 100! Woohoo! *disco ball descends*
After dying, and then¡­ undying? I¡¯ll think of the proper term later. Anyways, after I left the medbay, Yo went back to my room to play games, while I headed to the bridge with Sharon. I just recovered after being out of comission for two days, and before that we lost several crew members. It just feels like I should say a few words, you know? On the way, Celeste filled me in on what had been going on. In order to play it safe, she had chosen to remain in this system until the upgrade to the engines had been completed. We didn¡¯t want to risk something happening in subspace if the engines upgrading caused a problem. In the meantime, she had us move towards a large cluster of asteroids and sent out her construction drones. Although mining was not their specialty, they were capable of breaking down the asteroids and transporting the ores back until she made a small mining vessel. After that, they used the mining vessel, several crew members getting experience with short distance flights outside of the ship. That lasted until about noon yesterday, when the crew had a space burial for the dead elves. I was glad that Celeste handled that part, even though they weren¡¯t sure when I¡¯d wake up. Celeste must have let them know that I was awake now, and that I was feeling better, because there were several people in the bridge that did not actually have a post in there, and were just standing to watch the entrance. Others that were at their consoles had also turned around and were facing the door. Walking in on this¡­ I¡¯ll admit that I deactivated my limiter and took several very long seconds to calm down. Focus¡­ focus¡­ Pretend they¡¯re all in their underwear. That may have been a bad thing to think, because Celeste provided me with a mental image of them all being in their underwear. I was kidding! Thankfully, Celeste cancelled the image and I was able to take another long period to think and plan, while my body remained frozen midstep. After that step finally ended, I reactivated the limiter and cleared my throat, something I was unable to do while essentially frozen in time. ¡°Thank you all for being here today.¡± Not like you have anywhere else to go besides this ship. ¡°I know that recent events have been hard, despite the journey having just begun. I cannot tell you things will get better from here, because I cannot guarantee that they will be. For all we know, we could encounter an abstract attack every time we jump out of subspace.¡± I could see their expressions turning a bit grim at that, so I took another de-limited moment to collect my thoughts. ¡°Celeste has assured me that these monsters are rare, but this is a new frontier for all of us. As such, these events will happen, no matter how carefully we plan. This time, we got off with as few casualties as possible thanks to the foreknowledge provided to us. However, we naturally can¡¯t have this same advantage when it comes to everything. There will be times when we are caught off guard, when we lose people because we don¡¯t know what we¡¯re up against.¡± You know, this had started off so well¡­ I suck at speeches. ¡°When that happens, I¡¯ll be counting on each and every one of you to do your best. To make sure that, even if lives are lost, they are not lost for nothing. Our mission is to help whatever races we can, so that they can better deal with this new world. And, I¡¯ll do my best to help, but I am still new to this whole captain thing¡­¡± I had played space games before, and they were fairly realistic, however I never had the aptitude to be a captain. I would always end up as either a navigations officer or a mechanic. So basically either read a screen and tell people when the dots move around, or play a mini-game to fix technology that hasn¡¯t been invented yet. There was a long silence after I was done talking, and surprisingly it was Officer Ackbar that spoke up first. ¡°Salute!¡± Suddenly, everyone present, Sharon and Celeste included, performed the elven salute that we had witnessed before. I could see smiles on several of the faces, and it seemed that they had approved of my failed attempt at a speech. For the next two days, I stayed on the bridge whenever possible. Even if I was cultivating or training my psychic power, I would do so in the captain¡¯s chair. At the same time, I had Celeste ¡®tutoring¡¯ me on the basics of being a captain. I still had trouble accepting this, and I probably would for a while, but this chair isn¡¯t going anywhere¡­ And it is technically my chair. The most comfortable chair I have ever sat in. It¡¯s a good chair¡­ What was I thinking about again? Anyways, I made some interesting discoveries with my power testing for these couple of days. Although my physical body can only move at its normal speed, even when the limiter is removed, my magic and psychic abilities are controlled by my mind. My magic still has a limit to how fast it can move, which is roughly double what I had been using it for, but my psychic abilities seem to work at the speed of thought. I also made what could be counted as the single most important discovery of my Toybox power, and likely the reason that it had its name.
New Ability Unlocked!
Toy Chest - Toybox - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï It took you a hundred chapters, but you finally got one of your OP abilities! Those who possess the Toybox power are capable of accessing a special linked space, with an essentially unlimited capacity. However, this single space is shared by all users of the Toybox power. Be careful of what you put in there, because anyone with the same power as you can take it out!
I unlocked this ability after I did a test to see what would happen if I tried to force a portal to stabilize without setting up a connecting portal. The result felt like it was splitting my head open, but I didn¡¯t hit the nosebleed stage. However, a small black hole opened up in the space in front of me. When I stuck my hand in, I could feel what seemed to be a solid floor. Either there was nothing inside the Toy Chest, or it was just not near where I opened it up at. This ability has the potential to be truly overpowered. Just think, if I found someone else with the Toybox power, and we both opened the Toy Chest, we could move across the entire galaxy instantly. Also, I had no idea what that message meant about a hundred chapters? Is there some sick bastard god that is writing about the lives of people being changed by their events? This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Anyways, I spent most of these two days training my Toybox power, until I could finally open small portals and stick my hands through them, and only get a minor headache. That was already a great improvement over when opening just a small portal would cause me a migraine in my elven form. Soon, I will be able to combine this with my druid abilities hopefully, and make some epic combos. Fast forward two days, give or take, and we arrive at the time that the engines begin their automatic upgrade.
Upgrade Timer Complete! Commencing engine upgrade! It is suggested that you evacuate nearby chambers while the upgrade is in progress. Upgrade beginning in two minutes.
Naturally, I gave the quick order for everyone to evacuate the areas around the engines, just to be safe. Two minutes later, there was a brief rumbling through the ship, and I felt a rush of mana from far behind me. ¡°Captain!¡± One of the officers¡­ her name is Saren, in charge of internal security. Anyways, Officer Saren called out over the comms. ¡°Our internal scans just went wild at the rear of the ship.¡± ¡°The upgrade¡¯s happening¡­ things might be shifting around.¡± I really hoped that¡¯s all it was. ¡°Roger that.¡± Saren called out again, seeming to accept that answer. I should see about getting her to train Yo how to use the staff better. Maybe we can get some armor for her even.
Upgrade has been completed.
Engine Thrust +15% Maneuverability +20% Engine Power Cost +10%
I groaned slightly as I read that message. Pushing a button, I called down to engineering. ¡°The engines are going to be taking about a tenth more power from now on. How much more can the generator take before we start taxing it?¡± There was a brief pause before a reply came. This one¡­ his name¡­ Halinth! That was it. Halinth Fathoel, Chief Engineer. ¡°We¡¯re still running good down here. I¡¯d say there¡¯s about another twenty percent or so leeway, even if we had all systems running. But if you¡¯re going to keep upgrading, I¡¯d suggest adding the generator to the list before too long, Captain.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± I could have gotten that info from Celeste, and it may have been even easier to do so¡­ but I am a Captain, I have a crew¡­ I need to talk to them, right? I can keep Celeste as my excuse to run down to the planets when it is time to do so. Normally, the captain would stay on the ship at all times, and assign an away team to go down. However, since we are technically a diplomatic ship, and I am considered the leading diplomat for some reason, my presence down there is required. Thus, I can dump the responsibilities on Celeste when it¡¯s time to go planet-side! ¡°Alright¡­ next¡­ Celeste, got any generator upgrades that the system might accept?¡± I looked towards the Deus Ex, who had apparently assigned herself standing behind my chair and to the right. Celeste smiled at me, and nodded her head. ¡°I¡¯ve got a couple that might work. Otherwise, I¡¯ll have to brainstorm with the engineers to draw up a schematic.¡± I nodded back to her, and chose to upgrade the generator as my next option. Thankfully, the first design Celeste offered me worked, since she knew to take it in small increments this time. And the timer for it was only two weeks, which seemed rather good. ¡°How long until we reach our first stop?¡± Uhm.. you.. what¡¯s your name¡­ Xavril? The navigations officer looked back to me as he gave the report. ¡°We¡¯re just over seven days out from the first planet on the list.¡± I didn¡¯t have many hopes for this planet having a sapient race, since it was just one of the ¡®remote possibility¡¯ planets. However, I knew it would at least be inhabitable. That meant that Sharon could use it as a point for her quest. By the way, I asked about my party¡¯s patrons when I found out that we could get quests from them. Celeste is, unsurprisingly, a representative of the god of technology. Yang has the goddess of evolved beasts as her patron. Yin has the god of storms. And finally¡­ the one that was perhaps the most ridiculous of them all¡­ Yo had the goddess of breasts as her patron. I was expecting the god of children, god of slimes, or even the god of Tuesdays¡­ but the goddess of breasts? I made a note to not let Yo take any divine quests. Aside from her, the others all received a quest after praying to their patron. Yang has to create an entire suit of armor, as well as a weapon, from the body of a single slain creature to prove her ability. Yin has to demonstrate her power by summoning as powerful of a storm in a monster-infested world as she could. As for Celeste, her divine quest was the creation of the Deus Ex race. Yin and Yang were offered rewards based on the results of their quest, but Celeste was immediately offered a medium favor if she completes this, and a large one if she helps them adapt to the new system after doing so. Naturally, since I am technically capable of turning a robot into a Deus Ex, I¡¯m willing to help her with this. Medium favors are not something to laugh at, hell even a small one got me a skill like Spatial Comprehension, which can completely turn the tide of a crisis situation. A large favor¡­ I was quite interested in seeing an intelligent item. It was possible that between my various magic types, I might even be able to create one if I can understand the principles behind it. With the next upgrade selected, we departed into subspace again, heading towards our first planet on the road to the robot world. Only later did I find out¡­ that as a ¡®free¡¯ addition with the new upgrade, one of the spare rooms was turned into a temple, with about three dozen small god statues present. If there is anything to be thankful for, it is that Aria was not among them. It seemed to be only the patron deities of the crew members, and luckily none of them belonged to the goddess of fashion. Chapter 101: Dinosaurs?! Yay! Author¡¯s Corner: Hello everyone! Hope you all enjoy the chapter!
For the next couple of weeks, the journey continued fairly smoothly. There was not another appearance of the abstracts, and I was beginning to think that we just hit an incredibly unlucky cluster. Nonetheless, I continued to train my own abilities, while having Celeste make several more clone bodies. I wanted to give the crew the option to go down and explore planets as well, without having to risk their lives against random monster attacks. Though, we did not create more clone controllers, since I also wanted to limit how many people were gone at one time, for now. When we arrived at the first ¡®possibility¡¯ world on our path, we set up a high orbit around it while performing surface scans. The landmass of this world was brown, so I initially thought that it was barren. However, once the first scan was completed, I saw that it was just the peculiar coloring of the foliage of this world. There were several large insects and things which appeared as giant black spots in my vision. I could guess what those were.. Finally¡­ I saw what looked like dinosaurs. ¡°Celeste, I don¡¯t think this is the planet we are looking for. Or at least, it doesn¡¯t have the species we¡¯re looking for.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem like it¡­ This planet seems to be in the early Jurassic period. The dinosaurs would be a good addition to Sharon¡¯s grove, and she could populate this planet with her own animals as well.¡± I nodded to Celeste. ¡°Run a scan for monsters, let¡¯s see if there is anything big and bad here.¡± This scan took a bit longer, since it had to scan for mana signatures as well as creatures. ¡°It looks like roughly one percent of the inhabitants on this planet are monsters. I¡¯m also showing two ¡®boss class¡¯ monsters, one at each of the planet¡¯s poles. Your orders?¡± I thought about that for a long moment. Sharon did still need to make progress on her quest, so we would be sending down a team. However¡­ with the giant insects, specifically the giant spiders down there, I can¡¯t go personally or else I might rampage. ¡°Sharon, you can pick and lead a team to go down to the planet to work on your quest.¡± Sharon responded over the comms. Her and Yin hadn¡¯t had as many chances lately to talk to me in private, since I was in the bridge all the time. However, I would almost always find one of them waiting for me in my room to chat when I retired for the night. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll take Yin with me, and let her do her quest too. As for the others¡­ How has the research been coming for Yo¡¯s clone?¡± I turned towards Celeste, who responded. ¡°I¡¯ve made considerable progress. I think, soon I should be able to finish creating a suitable controller and clone for her. However, it is not yet ready for use.¡± ¡°Alright, then can¡¯t take her with me. I¡¯ll take Ackbar, Lorenz, and Saren. They need some more combat experience, and could do with seeing a new planet.¡± I thought about that for a moment. Lorenz was¡­ ah that¡¯s right. Lorenz was one of Saren¡¯s subordinates in security. All three of them could be considered as combat personnel, though aside from Ackbar I did not know the classes of the others. ¡°Alright. Have Yin do her thing after you¡¯re done. Don¡¯t want to get caught up in a storm when we don¡¯t know how big it will be.¡± ¡°Roger that, captain!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have Celeste meet you at the teleport bay to send you down.¡± We did have a shuttle, but it was mostly for diplomatic purposes. After all, why potentially waste the resources by sending it down when it might get lost? Now that we have a generator capable of sustaining the teleport without shutting down, we might as well take full advantage of it. I watched on the screens to view their progress. Since I couldn¡¯t go down directly, this was the best I could do. After a few moments, the groups appeared down on the planet¡¯s surface. According to Celeste, they asked to be placed near some of the larger dinosaurs. When it was time to finish up, Yin could be teleported to an area heavy with monsters to go crazy. What came next surprised me a bit. Saren and Lorenz pulled out a plasma pistol each and targeted a nearby dinosaur. Sharon simply watched as they shot into the creature that looked like a T-rex with a turtle shell. When I saw that, I had Celeste be on the lookout for large flying creatures. The Turtle Rex was fairly angered by the repeated plasma shots, but they did not penetrate its shell. However, when the shots landed on exposed skin, they tore right through. This let the two of them quickly kill the rex before it could charge over to them. Next up was Ackbar. He pulled out a small white crystal, and held it in his hands. The gem began glowing brightly, before a white wolf appeared next to him. That must be the animal that he got from Sharon. Since I knew how huntsmen worked thanks to Celeste, I knew that both the wolf and Ackbar had to have the same level. Fighting against a rex like that would be suicide, and they seemed to agree. Their target was a large insect about one meter long, with fly-like wings on its back supporting a long, caterpillar body. Ackbar¡¯s wolf had apparently not evolved yet, nor learned any of Sharon¡¯s cultivation methods. It charged in head first, biting and clawing at the otherwise docile creature while Ackbar himself took out a rifle from his inventory. The only attack that the insect seemed capable of making was spitting a green glob of goo at the wolf, which appeared to cause it some pain. It was probably either poison or acid, both of which we¡¯d be able to treat once they came back up to the ship. Soon, the caterfly was dead, but the wolf was almost covered in the green goo that it had been spitting at him. Ackbar requested an emergency evac for himself and his companion, and I had Yang meet them at the medbay, telling her over the comms that she would be needed to heal. She didn¡¯t seem that pleased with the idea, but still accepted it and rushed towards the medbay. Ackbar and his wolf arrived, and quickly went to meet them, while Sharon led the other two around on what could only be described as another one of her ¡®recruitment drives¡¯. She summoned a pair of boulder lizards, and had them pin down one of the turtle rexes. Rexi? Rexors? I¡¯ll just keep calling them rexes for now. Anyways, the two giant lizards pinned down a turtle rex and she walked over to it. The creature seemed furious at this turn of events, trying to snap its giant jaws to bite at either of the creatures restraining it, or Sharon herself. However, the shape of its shell prevented it from turning its neck far enough to bite the lizards. As for Sharon, she stayed just out of reach. She simply stood there, letting it bite at her, waiting for it to calm down. After about ten minutes of trying, and failing to get her, the rex gradually brought its neck back towards the shell, its limbs doing the same. It seemed that if the creature couldn¡¯t get her, it wanted to make sure she couldn¡¯t hurt it either. However, she simply began talking to it. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. Since she wasn¡¯t speaking into her comm, I wasn¡¯t sure what she was saying to the dinosaur. However, she continued talking, occasionally nodding or shaking her head while Saren and Lorenz watched with confused expressions. Eventually, the turtle rex gradually poked its head back out, while Sharon walked forward. I saw her petting its large head, as if saying it was a good boy, before it vanished in a stream of blue lights that rushed into her body. Her recruitment program continued like that until she had recruited two pairs of turtle rexes, two pairs of giant condors, and two pairs of mammoths. Although, they had to teleport to a different part of the planet to get the mammoths, since they were not native to the region they initially went to. After getting the three animal types, she found an area to place two dozen rabbits, another for a dozen wolves, some snakes, and finally a pair of large crows. With that taken care of, they teleport to another region, but with Yin joining them this time. Surprisingly, Yin was in her bird form from the moment she arrived, and her body began to glow as she shot up into the skies. The area they appeared at this time was the one most densely packed with monsters in the entire planet, so there was no doubt that she was going to go for a super-sized storm. A separate screen appeared that watched Yin as she flew into the clouds. Her body began hovering, wind and water rotating around her as sparks flew off her body. Her eyes closed as she began channeling her magic, drawing it in with her cultivation techniques and sending it back out with her racial powers. There was no immediate effect, but after five minutes the clouds around her began to darken. After ten minutes the storm began as a heavy rain with intermittent thunder. After twenty minutes, Sharon and the others were called back because the wind was beginning to grow too heavy for them to stay there. At the half hour mark, the effects became visible to us from the ship, without even using the scanner to watch. Dark, swirling clouds slowly gathered at Yin¡¯s location, gradually spreading out as she fed the storm, and the storm in turn fed her. After roughly an hour, the storm seemed to be at its peak. Small tornados had appeared beneath the clouds, lightning striking along the surface randomly. Looking at Yin in the small ring of calm weather at the center, she seemed to be struggling to maintain the storm at its current size. Even still, her offensive power in terms of area attacks had already completely dominated the rest of our group. ¡°Yin, that¡¯s enough.¡± I sent a message to her through the comms, which Celeste assured me would still work given her position. I could tell how difficult it was for her to maintain this storm, because every now and then her head would whip from side to side with a pained expression, while her wings trembled. She stubbornly held it for another five minutes before the lightning around her body faded. The storm gradually shrank down, but looked like it would take a long time before it completely faded away. If she had cast it over the ocean, perhaps it would have become a true hurricane, and no longer need her to fuel it. After she let go of the spell, Celeste immediately teleported her back up to the ship. Out of concern, I rushed to the teleport bay to check on her. There were too many things that could go wrong from overusing your abilities, as I had personally experienced. Thankfully, when I arrived she was just out of breath, already back in her human form. ¡°I¡¯m fine.. John¡­¡± She panted out, soaked from head to toe. I did not purposely pay attention to it, I swear, but her dress clinged to her body a lot more when it was wet, nearly having the same effect as a white shirt. Must not look, must not look¡­ Okay, so I looked. Happy?
Yes.
Oh, nobody asked you, Malthan! Go back to your ogling!
Well, if you insist. The goddesses of beauty and breasts are looking for someone to judge. If you ask real nice, I might even give you a peek.
Stop! No, don¡¯t! I am doing my best to avoid looking at the girls I already have around me. And I¡¯m not doing very well with that either!
I did ask if you wanted advice, you know? But noo, you rejected it.
Who would want advice from the god of madness?! You¡¯d just end up telling me to sleep with them both!
...What''s your point?
...You were, weren¡¯t you? Dammit, knew I shouldn¡¯t have expected anything else from a god of madness..
I''ve got a bet running with the god of harems to see how long you last. He says you don''t have what it takes to run a harem. Come on, don''t you want to prove him wrong?
No, no I do not. I will take the advice of the wise elder and not attempt to take the harem route. At this point, I¡¯m not even surprised that there is a god of harems.
Well... fine. At least you aren''t one of those guys naturally surrounded by a harem but completely oblivious to it. Though your own rejection is annoying in its own way.
I¡¯m not sure if that is a compliment or not. However, while I was chatting with Malthan, I forgot that my line of sight still led directly to Yin. Naturally, she did not know that the view was being covered with the blue screens of the god talking to me. I could see her cheeks redden as she spoke out softly. ¡°John..?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I blinked and looked at her, realizing that it must have seemed like I was staring. ¡°If you wanted to look¡­¡± I shall ignore the rest of that, as I quickly moved back towards the bridge. Everything was fine now, nothing to see here.
Hahaha! Man, I was wondering how long that''d take. Totally worth it. Now... where were we, ladies?
Chapter 102: The Birds and the Beasts Author¡¯s Corner: Hard to believe that we¡¯re already this many chapters in xD Feels like yesterday that this story started!
We stayed in orbit around this planet for roughly six hours until the storm finally dissipated fully. I was quite shocked by the damage that occurred during that period, as I was watching the life signs blink out one by one under the storm. Sure, several creatures managed to find shelter or hide underground to avoid the destruction, but many didn¡¯t have that option. There were even a few monsters that appeared within the storm, snakes made of lightning that twisted about inside the clouds. Or birds made of rain that flew through the skies. A magic storm was nothing to laugh at, truly. Leaving aside the initial damage, the monsters formed from the excess mana would be enough to cause troubles for an area. By the time the storm had ended, and the monsters created left for other areas, over half of the life forms that had been below were wiped out. ¡°Scan the area for the corpse of a large monster, let¡¯s see if there is something suitable for Yang to use in her quest.¡± As I spoke, Yin walked into the room, her dress now completely dry. She gave me a gentle smile, and then looked in surprise in front of her. Likely the rewards for her quest. ¡°John¡­ help?¡± She furrowed her brows and looked to me, likely wanting me to help her decide on what she would get for her rewards. ¡°What level of reward were you given?¡± ¡°Medium favor¡­¡± I was pleasantly surprised by that, and nodded my head. She might have qualified for a large favor if she had started the storm over the ocean, but her patron might have taken that into account. ¡°Hmm¡­ How about an item that will boost your magic?¡± I didn¡¯t know all of her skills, but if there was anything in particular that she wanted she wouldn¡¯t have asked for my advice. Yin smiled slightly, and nodded her head. I was interested in seeing how this would look, since the only other time I had seen a god grant an item was when Aria trolled me with that gold coin. Soon, a thunderous roar filled the room, after which a lightning bolt descended from the metal ceiling and struck Yin¡¯s hand. She jumped back in shock, but did not seem to be in any pain. After the lightning vanished, a glowing golden ring with swirling ornate patterns appeared on her finger. Even without actively using my Mana Sense or Aura Sight, I could feel a strong magic being emitted from that ring. Unlike the one given to Talia, this seemed to be a proper enchanted item. Yin looked down to the ring, and nodded her head. ¡°Ring¡­ good.¡± Her smile widened a bit as she looked at it. I wasn¡¯t sure what the effects of the ring were, but since a medium favor meant an item of superior level, it was most likely better than anything I could create, even if I had the best materials. ¡°We¡¯ll let you test it out on the next planet.¡± I said, and then turned towards the front. ¡°Results of the scan?¡± ¡°None of the monsters appear suitable for your request, captain. However, one of the local animals was caught in the storm and died, and should fit what you wanted.¡± One of the crewmen spoke up, pressing a few buttons and showing a creature appear on the screen. This creature was an adult turtle rex, and appeared to have taken a lightning bolt right between the eyes before it had the chance to hide in its shell. ¡°Alright, it¡¯ll have to do. Celeste?¡± ¡°Understood.¡± She smiled, and went off to the teleport bay. Naturally she knew my plan, to send the creature to the cargo hold for Yang to work on it. Pressing the button for the comms again, I spoke up. ¡°What¡¯s the progress at the medbay?¡± It was Ackbar that answered me this time. ¡°Yang is proceeding with the treatment, but it is going slowly. Right now, it seems that she can only prolong it.¡± I could tell that he was upset from his tone. This was like losing a new partner your first night on the job. ¡°I¡¯ll be right down.¡± My healing spells are more powerful than the ones Celeste taught Yang, so I should be able to do better. Standing up, I quickly moved out of the bridge and headed down to the medbay. When I got there, I found the white wolf lying on the operating table, half of its skin melted and revealing the muscle and bone beneath. I couldn¡¯t help but frown at this sight. The insect¡¯s acid had been considerably more powerful than I originally thought. Still, I should be able to help with this much. Yang was currently crouched down over its body, frantically pouring her magic in to try to save it. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Yang. I¡¯ll take over from here.¡± I patted the bird girl on her back, and she looked up to me with watery eyes. ¡°Please, Master¡­ can you save him?¡± She pleaded with me, and I could tell that she would be acting the same no matter what was on this table, as long as it was something that she was asked to heal and couldn¡¯t. A life entrusted to her, she was not willing to let it go so easily. ¡°I¡¯ll do my best.¡± I smiled to her, nodding my head. She gave a faint smile in return, finally backing up. Without Yang¡¯s constant healing, the wolf was immediately racked with severe pain, crying out. Looking at the wolf, I put my hand above one of its wounds, and used the strongest healing formula I knew with my Nature Magic. I watched as the muscles began slowly knitting themselves back together, skin stretching out to cover the wounds. Since the wolf was so low level, only two castings of this would be enough to finish this treatment. If it weren¡¯t for the nature of its injuries being acid, then even Yang¡¯s treatment would have been enough to fully heal it. After the second casting, and the injuries had all closed up, there were several burn scars, which I helped heal over using a burn heal formula. Although there was nothing I could do to help it regrow the lost fur, it was much better now than it had been before. ¡°That should do for now. If anything else happens, let me know.¡± Ackbar smiled, petting the wolf with one hand, while the wolf itself slowly sat up, carefully as if to avoid the possibility of lingering pain. ¡°Thank you, Captain.¡± Closing his eyes, he poured a bit of magic into the wolf, causing it to revert to the same white crystal he had summoned it from. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Looking back at Yang, she was also smiling brightly, relieved that the wolf was no longer in danger. ¡°There¡¯s a creature waiting for you in the cargo bay.¡± I told her, and she looked up at me in confusion. ¡°For you to work on for your quest.¡± ¡°Oh¡­¡± She nodded, slowly rising to her feet and walking out the door. From there, I went back to the bridge, and returned to the captain¡¯s chair of unparalleled comfort. I swear the only reason they made this chair so well is so that the captain would not avoid his duties. It¡¯s like they had some plot in mind! By the time I returned to the bridge, Yin had already left, so I wasn¡¯t able to ask about the effects of her ring. I could always just call her on the comms, but that seemed like a bit much just for idle curiosity. I¡¯m sure if she needed me, she would find me easily enough. And man¡­ sometimes I both love and hate being right. That night, our last night in this system before the generator upgrade was complete, I retired to my room like normal. However, this time there was no Yo already napping on my bed like she had been doing since the Seraglio, but Yin and Sharon sitting there in thin white negligee. I had a bad feeling about this, but I could not help but admire how they looked through that material. Sharon, being the obviously more talkative one of the pair, started. ¡°So¡­ we¡¯ve been talking.¡± She paused for a moment as she said that. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve been talking mostly, and Yin has been giving me short answers, but still. We decided that five weeks of trying to get you to look at us was enough.¡± Well, I¡¯m in trouble now. ¡°John¡­ choose?¡± Yin looked up at me with a hopeful expression, though I could see a bit of regret mixed in as well. ¡°I¡­¡± I looked at the two of them, and thought it through. It really had been five weeks since they began their little ¡®contest¡¯. Though I had been busy with captain things and training during that time, but still. ¡°I can¡¯t¡­ I mean, you both are really sweet, and I like you both. But if I pick one of you over the other, won¡¯t the one not chosen get hurt? This is a small ship, relatively speaking, and I don¡¯t want any bad feelings between us¡­¡± Sharon let out a ¡®tch¡¯ sound, clicking her tongue while Yin wore a big smile. ¡°I won¡­¡± ¡°Yeah, yeah. It was pretty obvious he¡¯d say something like that. Fine, fine, you tell him.¡± Sharon sulked on the side of the bed, crossing her arms under her bust, which was much more effective in the transparent outfit. Yin nodded her head slightly, putting her hands in her lap. ¡°John¡­¡± She closed her eyes and focused, likely recalling a script she had prepared before hand. ¡°We¡­ decided that we did not want to fight over you anymore. Sharon and I are¡­ friends. We know that whoever ¡®lost¡¯ would be hurt¡­ and we did not want that either. We¡­ both feel very strongly for you, and so¡­ we have decided to share.¡± ¡°But just us!¡± Sharon added on. ¡°Not Yang, Yo, or Celeste, just the two of us, alright? Yo¡¯s practically your daughter¡­¡± ¡°And Yang is¡­ still simple.¡± Yin nodded. ¡°And Celeste isn¡¯t even really an option.¡± Sharon finished. ¡°I mean, even if she was interested, it¡¯s not like she is physically capable of it. But, I doubt she was ever interested in that in the first place.¡± Yin gave another nod. ¡°So¡­ just us.¡± ¡°No harem, no bevy of beauties waiting on your every need. Just Yin and I. Deal?¡± At that, she looked up at me hopefully, as if thinking I was going to run away from this. And, I¡¯ll admit, the thought had crossed my mind. But, what reason did I have now? They were right. They were the only two girls I could even remotely think of that way, and since they decided to work together and ¡®share¡¯ me, I didn¡¯t really have a reason to refuse anymore. I took a deep breath, and sighed. ¡°Deal.¡± No sooner had I said the word than two bodies tackled me to the floor, pinning me there in a tight hug. It seems they really did think I would try to run off again this time. After a few minutes, they finally got off of me, and pulled me into the bed while both were wearing large smiling expressions. I¡¯m sure you expect that this is the part where I tell you all about how I rocked their world, right? ¡°And John, clothes stay on tonight.¡± Sharon said with a wicked grin. ¡°Consider this punishment for making us wait.¡± Yin likewise nodded, and thus we all laid in the bed, cuddled together without actually doing anything more. I was tempted, oh so tempted. But I finally had a good thing going with these girls, and did not want to spoil it. In the morning, I found out that they had two bets between themselves. The first, was whether or not I would try to refuse choosing one of them to avoid hurting the other. Yin won that bet, knowing what I¡¯d pick. The second was whether or not I¡¯d be able to resist the urge to push them down after everything was settled. Yin won that one too¡­ Sharon has no faith in my restraint! ¡°Oh, come on..¡± She pouted after seeing what I was thinking. ¡°Can you blame me? I¡¯ve known you for months now. All that time, I¡¯ve never seen you get the least bit of action. I¡¯ve seen how you look at us, so I know you¡¯re not gay. It was either that, or the patience of a saint.¡± I had to admit¡­ she was right. Sadly.. she really was. ¡°Fine¡­ fine¡­ I concede defeat.¡± She puffed her chest out proudly, while Yin giggled lightly. ¡°John¡­ better now?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I looked at Yin curiously. Was there something wrong with me before? Well, I do admit I felt better having two beauties sleeping next to me than one slime girl that was basically a daughter. ¡°I guess?¡± ¡°Good.¡± She smiled, and leaned in to give me a soft kiss on the lips. Afterwards, I found out that was her prize for winning the first bet. As for the reward for the second bet¡­ I¡¯d apparently get that later. Chapter 103: Does not Compute Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for no chapter earlier, just have not been feeling good at all today. Managed to get this one typed out just before I headed to bed.
Later that day, we evacuated the central part of the ship for a few minutes so that the upgrade could take place. I¡¯ll admit, there was a bit of a panic as the entire ship briefly lost power. However, once the new generator was installed, that was quickly fixed. Afterwards, we left the system to go towards our next destination, which was a little over a week away from this one. During that time¡­ well, let¡¯s just say that Yin and Sharon made sure I wasn¡¯t bored. It was a very comfortable travel, and that¡¯s all you need to know about it, alright? Anyways, the next planet, as well as the one after it were inhabited only by small, feral life forms. To my surprise, there wasn¡¯t even anything Sharon particularly wanted from these worlds, though Celeste had us stop at one to gather a few rare herbs that would grow on planets like that. Once those planets were out of the way, we went off to the robot world! You¡¯re probably wondering about the results of the divine quests, right? Sharon was able to finish her¡¯s without a problem, just by putting a few animals on each of the worlds we visited. For her favor, she asked for two types of magic, Divination and Barrier magic. To my surprise, she was granted both magics at Novice rank, together with a few basic spells for them. As such, we spread those schools of magic around the ship, and even Celeste and I made sure to copy it off of her. Having the ability to erect barriers would surely not be a bad thing. As for Yang¡­ well, she wasn¡¯t able to make a full set of gear out of the turtle rex. Since her quest required her to make it all out of a single creature, that meant she had to wait until the next time. Though, it wasn¡¯t really her fault, because we did not expect the bones of the rex to be as weak as they were. Even with reshaping the shell, she was only able to complete half a suit of armor, and a shield. I have naturally stayed in contact with Talia during this time, and even spoke with my parents a few times. Talia was¡­ upset about the loss of the elves when I first told her after the abstract attack, but she was thankful that there were not more casualties, considering the enemies we faced. As for my parents¡­ when they found out I had not one, but two girlfriends¡­ I think if my mom wasn¡¯t a robot she might have fainted. Now, we have not stopped upgrading the ship in this time, obviously. Instead, these last few months have been spent on upgrading the various battle systems, such as the shields and weapons. It was important to be able to hold our own against other ships or space monsters. Unfortunately, each upgrade could only work on up to two guns at a time, so that actually took most of our journey. Nonetheless, we eventually made it to the robot world. By now, our ship was actually something capable of engaging in combat with a few monsters in space. Theoretically, at least. We haven¡¯t had the need to put that to the test as of yet. However, that would naturally come in time, once more space monsters began spawning, or people began taking up space piracy. When we arrived at the robot world¡­ we were quite surprised in what we found. There was an entire fleet of spaceships around the planet. As soon as we dropped out of subspace, we received a message on a communication channel. Thanks to Celeste¡¯s foreknowledge, we were able to translate it. You might think that it would be easy to communicate with robots, just use binary right? If only. Who says that their binary is the same as ours? Who says that these robots even have the same concept of binary code? No, their language is entirely different, composed of dots, dashes, slashes, and triangles. For the verbal language, Celeste tried playing it for me to help me learn it, but to me it just sounded like static. After a few moments, the translated message played in a computerized voice. ¡°Halt, traveler. Your craft is not registered. What is your purpose in Crynak space?¡± I raised an eyebrow towards Celeste at the strange name, but she only shrugged. ¡°Run a scan for monsters. Let¡¯s try to determine the situation at least.¡± I then cleared my throat. ¡°Greetings. I am Captain John Hulett of the Ariadne. I am on a diplomatic aid mission, due to the events that have recently begun to happen.¡± I waited for Celeste to translate all of that and send it over. ¡°No monster readings sir. Their planet appears completely unoccupied by monsters. Judging by the large amount of orbital structures, they likely eliminate any as soon as they appear.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that¡¯s going to make this difficult. If they are handling the monsters just fine on their own, how do we convince them that we can help?¡± I frowned slightly, furrowing my brows as I heard that. Celeste¡¯s mission is to kickstart the Deus Ex race. That means, at the very least we need to convert one robot here to Deus Ex, and teach it the means to convert others. Soon, another message came through from the robots. ¡°We have detected your scan. You refer to the unusual beings that spontaneously appear as of half a solar cycle ago.¡± Celeste told me that their year was just a bit longer than ours, so it would have been just half a year for them since the appearance of the monsters. ¡°As your scans should indicate, we have no need for assistance dealing with these beings. The only thing we wish of from you is your interstellar technology. You may transmit the schematics before your timely departure.¡± I looked back at my Vice-Captain. ¡°Celeste, if I didn¡¯t know any better, I¡¯d say we aren¡¯t wanted here¡­.¡± She chuckled dryly at that. ¡°Sir, it would be unwise to engage in combat. Their weapons tech is superior to ours, and they have the benefit of numbers. Our odds of surviving are¡­ less than your usual odds in a fight.¡± That bad, huh? ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to fight them. Alright, next message. Our subspace technology requires parts that your species is incapable of making without utilizing the energies that have started to spawn those ¡®beings¡¯ you mentioned. We have the capability to allow you to harness that energy, however it must be done over a short period of time, and only I myself am capable of it.¡± There was another long pause before the next message came through. ¡°Another like you came rotations ago. This being also claimed we would be incapable of creating such devices and left after scanning our world. Yet you also suggest that you have are capable of giving us this ability.¡± I was going to try to explain how the system worked, but Celeste stopped me with a shake of her head. ¡°Right now, they are only regular robots. They have no concept of the system. The only thing that has changed from their perspective is the appearance of the monsters. If we try to tell them now, we have no proof to back it up, beyond what could be explained as a unique ability that might be possessed by any of our race. We can send the information over after we convert one to Deus Ex, since that would handle the proof.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I sighed lightly, nodding my head. ¡°I do. However, in order to do so I require twenty of the strange beings, alive. As long as I have that, and a single willing participant from your people, I will be able to perform the procedure.¡± Another pause, and then a message came in. ¡°Very well. The consortium accepts your offer of aid. By our calculations, it will take sixty-seven minutes for the required number of beings to appear again on our world. In the meantime, it is asked that you remain where you are.¡± With that, the communications link was broken. ¡°I liked the treatment from the elves better¡­¡± I shook my head, remembering how they had accepted us right away, and thanked us for our help. Here, they would rather tell us to leave the information behind and be on our way. If it weren¡¯t for Celeste¡¯s quest, I might have just done that, despite the fact that they couldn¡¯t perform the enchantments needed for the subspace technology. However, Celeste¡¯s quest requires the successful creation of the Deus Ex race. I could set aside what little crumbling pride I had left if it was to help her complete a quest that would award a large favor from a deity. I really wanted to see what an intelligent item would be like. In the end, we waited for over an hour. Every few minutes, our scans would detect an energy surge from one of the orbital artillery. At the end of the waiting period, we received another message. ¡°The specimens have been acquired. Preparing a transport shuttle with a disconnected unit.¡± From that, I could tell that they didn¡¯t really trust us. It sounded like the robot race was a sort of hive mind, but in order to do this safely, they specifically disconnected one of the units from the hive and sent it over. Though, I couldn¡¯t really blame them for that. It is a bit of a strange request. Looking out, I could see the small shuttle approaching from one of the larger ships. However, I didn¡¯t see any such shuttle carrying the monsters to that ship. Did they master teleport tech without the use of magic? That had been something that humanity was never able to accomplish. ¡°Shuttle is requesting permission to board. Twenty life signs detected, all monsters.¡± Our scanning officer spoke up. ¡°Allow it. I¡¯ll go down and meet him with the Vice-Captain.¡± I said, standing up. When I walked out of the bridge, Celeste followed along behind me. Naturally, I needed my translator along or else this would go nowhere! We quickly made our way to the airlock where the shuttle had docked. After Celeste pressed a few buttons to unlock it, the airlock opened, and in came the robot. It was an almost perfectly humanoid android. Its skin was entirely made of metal, with a blank face and shining blue lights for eyes. The only non-human thing about its body type was that it walked on three legs. Its mouth area lit up as it spouted out static. Thankfully, Celeste translated it in my head. ¡°Greetings. This one is designated X5-B3-E2-01-D9-C2. This unit has been selected to undergo the procedure.¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to call you X5 for short¡­ and alright, where are the monsters?¡± I hoped they were at least a little powerful. After all, I¡¯d be needing more buffer in order to give X5 my Soul Arts. ¡°You refer to the requested beings. They are located inside the shuttle, and have been reduced in order to allow for easier storage.¡± X5 turned around, and walked back into the shuttle after giving us a moment to follow. ¡°Their size would have made it difficult to transport under normal conditions. If necessary, it is possible to revert them.¡± This was sounding stranger and stranger. When we got into the shuttle, there were twenty small glass jars on the wall. Each one had what seemed to be a tiny figurine of a monster sleeping. Though, I knew they weren¡¯t figurines because I could see their chests expanding and deflating slightly as they breathed. So they are good with shrink tech too¡­ I like these bots. Using my Aura Sight, I had Celeste assess the levels of the twenty monsters. Out of all of them, two were in the single digits, while the highest was a roughly level sixty monster. ¡°Alright¡­ is it alright for me to break those jars?¡± I asked, pointing to the monsters. After Celeste and X5 spoke in static for a moment, she gave me a nod. Activating my Aura Sight and switching to Spatial Comprehension, I cancelled my limiter program to slow everything down. When I go into this mode, the accuracy for any attack is at my absolute greatest. Channeling my mana, I began making one magnetic donut around me after another, going until I hit my limit. Another bright side of using this power is that that limit increases drastically. Without Spatial Comprehension on, I can make at most fifty magnetic donuts, but with it I can get just over two hundred. And each one I fill with a bit of plasma, letting it rotate around briefly before I shoot it all at the twenty jars. For the two single digit leveled monsters, I only devoted a single blast. For most of the rest, I did ten shots each. But for the highest level monster, the level sixty, I focused a full thirty shots on it. Even if it was sleeping, and was no bigger than the palm of my hand, I wanted to make sure it was dead. There is no kill like overkill. Celeste, please stop him from shooting me in the head while I do this. I quickly sent that message to Celeste mentally while reaching out with my Mana Sense to snatch up the various souls from the monsters. While I did get a level up from that, I was about to give it right back up anyways. After what felt like five hours, but was really only a half dozen seconds, I had stripped away the souls of the monsters and purified them. This was all a part of my training that I had been pushing myself to go through for the past few months. I had everything I need with my perception abilities, but my magic speed was incapable of keeping up. So, I trained my magic speed until it was at least ¡®almost¡¯ able to keep up with my de-limited processing speed. Taking the purified soul, I began the long and arduous process of turning myself around. You know what, screw that. I briefly re-engaged my limited long enough for me to take a single step to the side and turn around before turning it back on. X5 was now pointing a gun at me, with Celeste in the process of raising her plasma spear to defend. Time to make a Deus Ex! Chapter 104: Paradoxical Parady Author''s Corner: Hey guys, just a heads up. Lately, the writing mood has been somewhat lacking, so there is the chance that I may take a break to let my batteries recharge. If I don''t feel up to doing a chapter in the coming days, don''t panic. I repeat, DON''T panic. I figure an author is entitled to a brief break after every hundred chapters or so, right?
I felt as the soul energy rushed into X5, and rapidly worked to infuse it into his aura. Thanks to Celeste holding him off in super slow motion, I was able to focus. In order for his aura to not explode, I would need to spread the energy out as evenly as possible. I¡¯m pretty sure that making him explode would send a bad message back to the ¡®consortium¡¯. This process went quite a bit longer than the process of purifying the souls, and I watched in slow motion as Celeste knocked X5¡¯s hand up with the shaft of her spear just as he fired his gun. Fun fact, even though I am essentially perceiving time at over three and a half thousand times normal speed, light still moves faster than the eye can follow. So, when a beam of red light suddenly appeared above my head, I was painfully aware of how close it came to hitting me. I would really like to shorten my neck right now, but that is really difficult when moving so slow. After a while, the beam of light disappeared, and I thought I could hear the two of them speaking. But, that¡¯s also really hard to be sure about. All I really know is that X5 didn¡¯t take a second shot at me, which is nice because it let me finish the procedure.
New Ability Unlocked
Awakening - Soul Arts - ¡ï¡ï¡ï By infusing an intelligent object such as a robot with a soul, you are capable of awakening them. Robots awakened in this manner will become Deus Ex.
After the soul was entirely infused into X5, a bright light shined out from his body. After activating my limiter, I watched as the flash ended a few moments later, with X5 looking much more¡­ simple. The sleek body was rougher, the three legs replaced by two. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it still had the laser pistol in its hand. ¡°What is this?¡± Celeste translated its white noise speech for me again, but then began the process of explaining what was going on. Meanwhile, I put my hand up on my head to make sure that I wasn¡¯t going to get a bald spot from the laser earlier. ¡°Really feeling less altruistic around these guys¡­¡± Celeste sent me an apologetic smile, before going back to communicating with X5. After a couple minutes of them talking, she looked to me and spoke. ¡°He¡¯s ready for the Soul Arts skill, if you are able to transfer it.¡± I nodded my head, deactivating my limiter again. Not because I particularly needed the extra speed, but I wanted to make sure that I did this just right. Looking into my aura with Mana Sense, I focused on my Soul Arts skill, the most basic parts of it. All I wanted to give X5 was the ability to purify souls and infuse them into another robot. Anything else they can figure out for themselves. Once I found those portions of the skill, I began copying them over to my buffer area, and then gently pulled it out of me to send to him.
New Ability Unlocked
Share Skill - Soul Arts - ¡ï¡ï By isolating and copying a portion of your soul containing a skill, you are capable of passing that skill on to someone else.
Good...now we can get out of here. I sighed, reactivating my limiter again and looking to Celeste. ¡°Let¡¯s just send the basic information and leave. I don¡¯t want to stick around any longer than I need to here.¡± I knew it may have come across as a little offensive, since these things could be seen as Celeste¡¯s ancestors, but they were really hard to like. She nodded, somewhat stiffly at my choice, and spoke with X5 again. After that, we left the shuttle and returned to our own ship. ¡°Sorry, John¡­ didn¡¯t think they¡¯d be like that.¡± Celeste gave a low sigh as she spoke. ¡°Though, it does explain a few things?¡± ¡°What does it explain..?¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh, a robot race naturally can¡¯t come into being through evolution. They need somebody to manufacture them. But there are no organic life forms anywhere near here. So, it seems like they had a robotic revolution in their history, and wiped out all life on their planet¡­¡± ...Did you REALLY need to give me an excuse to like them even less? ¡°Let¡¯s just hurry up and get out of here. Give them the most basic info you can and let¡¯s go.¡± She nodded to me, and we hurried back to the bridge. As we got there, our communications officer reported to us. ¡°We¡¯ve got another message from them.¡± With the power of Celeste, we have translated¡­ ¡°Your assistance is appreciated. Now, relinquish the promised information.¡± I nodded to Celeste, who began sending the basic info. ¡°Charge up the FTL, I want out of here as soon as possible.¡± ¡°Captain, we¡¯re getting a reading from the lead ship!¡± Ackbar suddenly shouted out. ¡°They¡¯re charging up weapons. It¡¯s¡­ a double-cross!¡± Celeste and I both cursed slightly, though not from the fact that the robots were trying to attack us. Is it so hard to call it a trap!? ¡°Evasive maneuvers, and get me that FTL.¡± I was immensely thankful for artificial gravity, because the only evasive maneuver we could do with the shape of our ship¡­ was a barrel roll. ¡°Ackbar, think we can send a volley on our way out?¡± He nodded to me. ¡°FTL is almost charged. Firing forward cannons now. Doubt they¡¯ll do anything, but still.¡± A large red beam passed through our previous position as we completed our barrel roll, and we shot off a dozen smaller plasma charges towards the robot ship. However, before the shots landed we were already in FTL. I sat back in my chair with a sigh as I looked at Celeste. ¡°Please tell me that counted as completing your quest.¡± She looked like she was disappointed, and about to say something, but suddenly her expression brightened. ¡°Ah! There it is.¡± Celeste closed her eyes for a moment, likely requesting her reward. I still had a bit of a buffer left from the procedure with X5, so I was quite interested in seeing what would happen if I used Awakening on an intelligent armor or weapon. There was a bright flash of blue light around Celeste, runes forming and merging together until a thick metal bracelet appeared on her wrist. It appeared to be a single metal piece, with the edge being about three inches thick, and snugly fit on her wrist. ¡°Greetings, operator Celeste. I am the G-series modular cannon.¡± Celeste looked down to the metal wristband, and could only say one word. ¡°Coooool¡­.¡± ¡°Mind sharing with the class?¡± I looked back to Celeste, hoping she¡¯d tell me what her new toy does. ¡°Ah! Right. I asked for a ranged weapon capable of firing various projectile types. According to the information I received, this modular cannon is capable of firing lasers, plasma, or physical projectiles. It can also serve as a conduit to fire most kinds of magical energy. But to fire a physical projectile, it first needs to be fed the materials to make the ammunition.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Huh¡­ so¡­ that¡¯s interesting.¡± Now I understood the difference between the different classes of favors. A large favor can give a truly overpowered item like this. ¡°I take it that it transforms in order to fire?¡± ¡°Yeah. Enter firing mode.¡± She said as she raised her arm, and the metal bracelet expanded outwards. Then, it split into four rings, which spaced themselves equally in front of her arm. When I activated my Aura Sight, I could see a large current of mana holding the pieces together. ¡°It¡¯s only good for three shots at a time before I need to recharge it, but still an impressive weapon.¡± I nodded my head at that. ¡°Alright, we can study it later to learn how to do an intelligence bestowal. After that, we¡¯ll see about awakening it, agreed?¡± Celeste grinned broadly at that, nodding her head. I wasn¡¯t sure what the result would be, but if it was anything like a Deus Ex, then awakening an item could give extremely powerful results. But, now we were done with the robots. And hopefully would never be back, unless they received a major attitude adjustment. ¡°Celeste, what are the nearest homeworlds?¡± ¡°There¡¯s the Arachne roughly fifty parsecs out, or an additional ten parsecs on a different course, we have a psychic alien race known as the Ha''vosh.¡± ¡°Ha''vosh.¡± I did not even have to think about that for half a second. Let somebody else deal with the Arachne. I¡¯d probably end up destroying the entire planet in a berserk rage by bombarding it from orbit. ¡°Understood, captain. Uploading the navigational data to the ship¡¯s computers.¡± I nodded, and got up with a sigh, moving back to my room. I did not want to mess with this stuff anymore, so I was officially taking a break for the day. When I got there, I found Sharon sitting at a computer terminal that she had Celeste install. Apparently, she brought some of her games from Earth, and wanted a console to play them on. Hearing me come in, she looked back at me curiously. ¡°You¡¯re back early. Shouldn¡¯t we be getting to the robot world today?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ yeah, we got there and left already. They were¡­ less than hospitable.¡± I began describing our brief encounter, after which, I summarized it with ¡®They¡¯re dicks¡¯. ¡°Dildoes.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°They¡¯re mechanical dicks, so dildoes.¡± Sharon said, giggling slightly and grinning at me. ¡°So, on to the next race now. Any quests from the lord of chaos?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t make me ask, please¡­¡± ¡°Oh, come on. It could be fun~.¡±
Yeah, come on. It could be fun~.
Nobody asked you! ¡°Oh great, now we have his attention.¡± I lowered my head depressingly. It still irked me that I had this patron. Haven¡¯t I done enough by now to get myself someone else yet? Anyone?
Well, if you want, I could trade you to Aria.
I¡¯m sorry, Malthan, I¡¯ll be a good follower. Sharon looked at my expression and let out a warm laugh. ¡°So, who¡¯s he ogling this time?¡±
Sharon Bradbury.
¡°Sharon Bra--Hey, back off there, mister! This one¡¯s taken.¡±
Haha, I was kidding. Actually, I''m more interested in that daughter of yours. Her body is right in my strike zone. If only her mind were a bit further along, we could get together and make a Jesus baby.
Eww, no. I know she¡¯s a slime, and thus only my daughter by technicality, but that still sounds so wrong! Looking at Sharon, I saw a shocked expression, which slowly turned into a wide grin. ¡°Taken, am I?¡± ¡°Well¡­ aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I guess I am. So, quest? Or just random adventuring.¡± ¡°Fine.. fine¡­ I¡¯ll ask.¡±
Oh goodie! Hmm.. I could have you investigate a black hole.. oh! Maybe see the birth of a new star. Hmm... so many choices! Aha, I''ve got it!
You have been granted a Quest.
The Miracle of Life Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Creation For the amusement of your lord Malthan, god of chaos and madness, you have been assigned the task of giving life to a brand new monster. This must be a creature that has never existed before, in all of time and space, present and future. With this quest, you can throw a wrench into the plans of time, and potentially create your own future. But can you do it? DARE you do it? Time Limit: None. Rewards: Medium favor for a small or medium sized monster, Large favor for a big one. Failure: I play the My Little Pony theme song in your head for a week straight if you give up.
¡°Oh come on¡­ that quest might not even be possible!¡± I walked over to the nearest wall, and banged my head against it.
Should I start the music, then?
¡°What is it?¡± Sharon looked at me as I continued banging my head against the wall, a bit concerned for my mental health. No, no, don¡¯t play it. At the very least, I can just put this quest off indefinitely. ¡°Malthan wants me to make a monster that has never existed before, even in the future. I¡¯m basically breaking the laws of time if it works. I think, quantum mechanics was never my strong suit.¡± ¡°What does Celeste have to say on the matter?¡± Sharon asked, a bit concerned with the quest as well. I was just about to ask, when I heard a voice in my head, laughing like a mad woman. ¡°She¡¯s laughing.¡± I moved to the bed and fell down on it. There was a brief bark before I felt a mild weight resting on my back. Though my voice was muffled by the comfortable blankets, I did manage out a ¡®Hi Chrome¡¯. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it should be possible.¡± Celeste said, though resumed laughing afterwards. ¡°There is magic for time travel, and using it makes it possible to alter the past. Though, the mana cost is enormous, and almost nobody is able to go back more than a few minutes even with a full mana pool. But nonetheless, that proves that it is possible to alter the course of history. It¡¯s just very difficult.¡± I was not nearly as hopeful about this as she was, and continued to allow the blanket to hug my face, because at least that is comfortable. Chapter 105: Dungeons and Directions. Author¡¯s Corner: This chapter does not mean the end of the break, it just means I had an itch to write again for a bit. Hopefully the break won¡¯t last too much longer. I¡¯ve already gotten quite a bit planned for after the story gets back on track, but for now I¡¯d like to thank Xacual for the ideas he¡¯s given me over the last several chapters! It¡¯s really amazing to me when I see someone who understands my characters better than I do myself. Also, Xacual, enable your private messaging!
¡°So, what do you want to do now?¡± Sharon asked, the morning after we left the robot world. ¡°We can keep going on to the psychic world, or you can work on your quest for Malthan.¡± Right now, we were on our way to the bridge, with Yin still being asleep in the bed. I guess that she wasn¡¯t feeling like an early bird today. I nodded my head slightly. It would be really impractical to want to do both, since I need to study the creation of a variety of monsters. Hmmm¡­ ¡°Let¡¯s find a dungeon, first. Unless we go all the way back to Earth, the easiest way to watch and measure monster spawns would be inside a dungeon, and there is another benefit for us as well.¡± Sharon looked at me questioningly, before the answer came to her, and her eyes widened. ¡°You want to take the chance to strengthen the crew?¡± ¡°Right. Unless it¡¯s a high level dungeon, you and I could just run through it with ease. But the crew will take quite a bit more effort.¡± Celeste, we need you to start mass-producing the clone controllers and bodies. ¡°I got it, boss!¡± The AI¡¯s voice sounded out in my head. ¡°Hmm¡­ It could work. But one of us should go with each group. That way, we can provide backup if needed. It would defeat the purpose if they lost levels faster than they gained them.¡± Sharon added in after my brief mental exchange with Celeste. ¡°Good point¡­ How about four teams? There can be one each for you, me, Celeste, and Yin.¡± ¡°What about Yo?¡± I shook my head a bit at that. ¡°We still haven¡¯t mastered the tech to clone Yo yet, so she can¡¯t go down.¡± I had been keeping an eye on Celeste¡¯s progress with that project, and so far there was still one major problem. Even though we could create the slime that makes up Yo¡¯s body artificially, it would not hold a soul. ¡°We need to find a way to create a blank monster core.¡± Sharon tilted her head slightly at that. ¡°Why not just take a core from an existing monster and refine it into what you need?¡± This time, it was again Celeste that answered in my mind. ¡°Well that¡¯s because¡­ even still¡­ but then¡­ This could work¡­ She¡¯d only get as many chances for clones as the number of cores we could refine, but if we run short we can get more.¡± Unfortunately Sharon hadn¡¯t been part of that research from the beginning, or that simple answer could have been taken care of months ago! So far, Celeste has been simply looking for a way to artificially create a monster core, rather than just stealing one. It¡¯s less efficient this way, but until we find an alternative it¡¯s the best we have. Leaning over, I grabbed Sharon¡¯s head and gave her a quick kiss. ¡°You¡¯re a genius.¡± She smiled wide at the show of affection, nodding her head. ¡°Thanks. So, that means five teams. Does Celeste know what the limit is on team sizes?¡± After consulting with her mentally I came back with an answer. ¡°Ten people per team, but if we set it up right, we can form a raid party. There can be up to ten teams in a raid. A step up from that, which we don¡¯t really need to worry about yet, would be a platoon, which can have up to ten raiding teams, and then an army, which can have an unlimited number of platoons.¡± Sharon blinked, confused by the explanation. ¡°Does the experience still get divided among the whole raid?¡± ¡°No, only among the party that earns it. Otherwise, it seems like the groupings are just for communication purposes. Still, that means we can take thirty-six elves down with us for the first run, then forty-five for each run after that once we get Yo to join us.¡± ¡°What about Yang? It wouldn¡¯t be nice just to leave her behind on the ship when the rest of us are going down to a planet.¡± Sharon had a point¡­ but¡­ ¡°But would she even want to go down? She¡¯s the pacifist of the group. I think that she¡¯d rather spend her time in the garden on the ship than to go down and fight monsters. And she definitely can¡¯t handle her own group.¡± Sharon smirked slightly. ¡°And Yo can?¡± ¡°....Touche. I¡¯ll have to give them both a lesson on tactics.¡± Sharon looked at me and raised an eyebrow, so I amended my statement. ¡°Celeste will have to give us a lesson on tactics.¡± Okay, fine, so I wasn¡¯t really the best planner for group fights either. ¡°I think we¡¯ll all be part of that class. After the first couple of runs, we can get more teams set up, and bring more of the crew down at a time. It¡¯d be better after we get more people, but right now we can¡¯t be too picky.¡± I was somewhat relieved to hear that I wouldn¡¯t be in the ¡®team combat for dummies¡¯ class alone with Yo and Yang. But I had to agree with her, getting more people down would be good. ¡°Okay, but no more than one full raid party. We still need people on board the ship in case something happens.¡± Sharon seemed to agree with my statement, and we soon arrived at the bridge. ¡°But where are we going to find a dungeon fit for a hundred people? I mean, if it¡¯s a small dungeon, then it¡¯d be good for no more than just one or two teams at a time.¡± At this point, Celeste, who was standing by my chair of captain¡¯s comfort, spoke up. ¡°We¡¯ll just have to make them.¡± Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t the only one surprised by this, as Sharon appeared to be as well. I was the first to answer this time. ¡°You can just make dungeons?¡± ¡°Well, sure. They¡¯re just like a special brand of monsters. It¡¯ll take a bit of work, but once we find an uninhabited world with a breathable atmosphere, then it¡¯s just a matter of time.¡± ¡°Just like a special brand of monsters¡­ does that mean that the moon, wherever it ended up, would be spawning monsters inside of it?¡± Sharon asked something that I had been about to, but it didn¡¯t really matter as long as it was asked. ¡°Well, maybe? Not all monsters can be counted as dungeons, but all dungeons can be counted as monsters of one kind or another. For instance, Yin. She¡¯s technically a monster now, but she¡¯s not a dungeon. Or Yo, she is most definitely a monster, but nothing¡¯s spawned inside of her.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but nod at that. If monsters had begun spawning inside of Yo, we would have noticed. I mean, we can see right through her, it would be hard not to notice if something was swimming around inside. ¡°Okay¡­ so how do we make dungeons? Do they have a special formula, or what?¡± Celeste shrugged her shoulders at that. ¡°Not really? A runic spell circle could do the trick, you¡¯d just have to define the area ahead of time, or else it could turn into a giant monster instead of a dungeon. In the future, establishing a dungeon was banned on inhabited worlds for that very reason. Doing it wrong could make a boss-class monster.¡± ¡°That.. could be bad.¡± I nodded my head a bit. ¡°So, set up a few different dungeons on a suitable planet, and then send down teams to run through them?¡± Celeste nodded. ¡°As long as we don¡¯t destroy the dungeon heart, the monsters will just keep respawning. However, if we completely clear it out, then depending on the size of the dungeon it could take up to a week for the monsters to spawn again. If you are sure about doing this, then it will be a long-term project.¡± I furrowed my brows at the thought. ¡°How long term?¡± ¡°In order to get everyone up to a reasonable level, I¡¯d say around three months. But on the bright side, we can leave the dungeons established, and just come back when we get more crew members to use it as a training ground. You could also put your monster lab on the same planet.¡± This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it I thought about that, and nodded my head. ¡°Alright. Follow our present course, but continue scanning for a suitable world. In the meantime, I need you to select five crew members that will lead the other teams. Those five, along with myself, Sharon, Yin, Yang, Yo, and you will all be going over how to properly lead a dungeon team.¡± Celeste nodded, smiling slightly at that. ¡°Alright, captain. Anything special that you¡¯re looking for in the planet?¡± ¡°It¡¯d be best if it was somewhere easily survivable. Since we¡¯re going to be there for a while, we¡¯ll need a steady supply of food and water, though we could get that from the ship if it is absolutely necessary. Since I¡¯ll be having the monster lab there, we need somewhere with a calm climate. Raging storms and blizzards would probably make things go poorly for that. Finally, it¡¯d be best if there were not a lot of monsters already present on the planet, that way the lab could be left alone.¡± Every now and then, Celeste would give another nod, as if taking notes. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ve inputted the scanning parameters into the database. If we pass near a system that shows a planet that matches a few of the conditions, we can drop in to take a look.¡± ¡°Thanks. Now, next order of business¡­¡± I gave a tired sigh as I sat down in my chair, and pulled up my friend¡¯s list, choosing to call Talia. ¡°Good afternoon, Captain.¡± Talia quickly answered the call from her end, and I couldn¡¯t help but groan at the time differences. ¡°Good morning, Queen Talia.¡± ¡°We assume this call is for a regular report?¡± Judging from how formally she was talking, she wasn¡¯t alone. She had a tendency to drop the formalities every now and then when she was. ¡°Right.¡± I began filling her in on the plan, to have the people she sent trained in dungeons. This of course, led to detailed explanations on what exactly dungeons were. ¡°Oh, we had one of those appear on the homeworld a few months ago. We thought it might be a threat, so a group was assembled to clear it out and destroy the source of its energy. Had we known what it was, maybe the local queens would have chosen to preserve it as a similar training ground.¡± I nodded my head slightly, not surprised that a dungeon would appear there eventually. The elves were still relatively close to Earth, so for now I expect big things to spawn there more frequently than other areas. Obviously, this wasn¡¯t the case in the future¡­ Though, the land wyrms on Hascion could almost qualify as boss monsters on their own, so maybe it didn¡¯t change that much? I wasn¡¯t really that sure. ¡°There¡¯s also the chance that other people will begin arriving in the Gerin system soon.¡± Since there was already someone that had beaten us to the robots, there were sure to be people that would stop by the elven worlds. ¡°Yes¡­ a few weeks ago, a strange craft appeared. However, they made no attempts to communicate, and simply left after a couple of hours. This was deemed as an unimportant matter since no actions were taken by either side, so you were not informed of it earlier.¡± Well, is there any chance that I can warn people about stuff BEFORE it happens for a change? We talked like that for a few more minutes, but there was really nothing else to report, and she was busy entertaining the elven nobility or something like that. After the call ended, I took a moment to glance looking through my status and skills list before going about my daily psionic training.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame20,000
Level 5045%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health310/310Health Regen0.52
Mana1300/1300Mana Regen6.93
Strength15Wisdom200
Agility26Intelligence130
Dexterity33Charisma35
Vitality31Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 20%Fire 20%Wind 20%Water 20%
Lightning 20%Light 20%Dark 20%Plant 20%
Void 20%Metal 20%Magnetism 20%Plasma 20%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Advanced Level 5: 1%
Nature Magic - Intermediate Level 9: 49%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 8: 33%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Novice Level 2: 1%
Gathering - Beginner Level 9: 6%
Alchemy - Novice Level 6: 13%
Mana Signatures - Advanced Level 5: 12%
Cooking - Basic Level 4: 10%
Flight - Basic Level 1: 0%
Aura Sight - Intermediate Level 3: 1%
Technomancy - Intermediate Level 5: 89%
Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%
Enchanting - Basic Level 6: 30%
Engineering - Novice Level 2: 18%
Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 24%
Dodge - Beginner Level 5: 24%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 5: 29%
Marksmanship - Basic Level 3: 59%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 9: 42%
Soul Arts - Basic Level 8: 34%
Psychic Power: Toybox - Basic Level 8: 31%
Piloting - Beginner Level 5: 3%
Navigation - Beginner Level 2: 12%
Weapons Systems - Basic Level 1: 13%
Shield Systems - Basic Level 1: 0%
Spatial Comprehension - Beginner Level 9: 12%
Barrier Magic - Beginner Level 1: 10%
Divination - Beginner Level 1: 15%
Looks like it¡¯s about time to start training a new affinity. I wonder if I can set up an elemental seed factory in the monster lab? If I could do that with runic circles, then I wouldn¡¯t have to worry so much about the increased difficulty in training. I decided that I¡¯d look into that once we got settled onto this new planet. Chapter 106: The Other Side Author¡¯s Corner: This is the tentative end of the hiatus! As long as I can keep the writing spirit up, I will try to do regular chapters again. I may take breaks every now and then as needed, but I should not need another week to do so again(I hope).
After setting our mind on the new plan of action, I once again began practicing my Toybox power. There were still so many possibilities for this power, which I had never explored. By now, I was able to make a small portal that led to the Toy Chest that could fit my arm inside, without causing a headache. Of course, if I tried to do it too frequently, like make two of those portals in a row, I still get a mild pain. For my next trick, I wanted to see if there was another layer passed the Toy Chest. If forcing a portal open without an exit opened the Toy Chest, then what would happen if I did it again, inside the Toy Chest? As I was contemplating this, Celeste shot me a rather evil glare. ¡°John, no more dangerous psychic tests unless you¡¯re in a clone body.¡± ¡­ Okay, so she had a point. Discovering the Toy Hand power had knocked me out for a couple of days. Opening portals that led to fixed dimensions like the Toy Chest could potentially cause even more problems. ¡°Noted¡­ And I agree.¡± I gave a sigh as I got up and went to the medbay to sign into my clone. Let¡¯s try this again! Another safety precaution, after getting into my clone, I sent my consciousness into my grove, and gathered a few ingredients. Using my handy dandy pill refining method, I created a batch of pills from the psychic stress relief formula. This would be much easier to use than a spell, if my head started to feel like it was about to explode. Now, with my batch of pills in my hand, and my clone body active, I started work on my experiments again. I opened a portal to the Toy Chest about two feet wide, and immediately tossed one of the pills into my mouth as I felt the headache starting to form. Immediately, it halted, and even began to settle down since I was not passing anything into the portal yet. For this, I actually wanted to do two experiments. The first, to see if mana would cause any strain when passing through the portals, and second to establish the second portal. Using my Mana Manipulation, without giving it any elements or spells, I sent my mana directly into the portal. To my surprise, there was not the typical pain of something passing through, at least not to the extent I had expected. It felt more like a warm breeze were passing through the portal. And, to be sure, I even ignited my mana on the other side by gathering the fire mana in the air and lighting it up. Sure enough, as long as the flames did not directly pass through the portals, I did not get a great shock. However, if I sent the command through my mana to create a spell effect like a barrier, then I felt a surge of pain that was barely suppressed by the pill I had previously taken. This should be an advantage for druids, since we can make use of the mana on the other side of the portal to attack. Most likely, the mana was treated as a formless, weak energy until commands were sent through that would let it do something. Then, those commands gave it substance, which triggered the headache. All in all, that was a pretty good success for the first experiment. Now, for the second one. Sitting down in front of the portal, I closed my eyes and rested until the last remnants of the headache from before were gone. I did not want to go into this at anything less than my best condition. Once my headache was gone, I opened my eyes, and focused on the portal. Gradually, it began to widen at a slow, but steady pace. I hadn¡¯t truly taken a look inside the Toy Chest yet, and wanted to do so now that I was dedicating some time purely for my psionics training. For that matter, I had never actually stepped through one of my portals before, either¡­ Though, thankfully this is only one portal, not a linked pair, or there would still be a considerable risk of danger. I had to stop twice while expanding the portal, to allow my head to recover before continuing on. But, after about ten minutes of slow, methodical work, I had a two meter portal into a nearly pitch black world sitting in front of me. ¡°Come on¡­ like pulling off a bandaid¡­ but the injury is my brain, and the bandaid is my skull.¡± I hesitated a bit, before going for it. Eventually, I stepped inside the portal, feeling a much sharper pain, more like when I had forcefully used the Toy Hands power. I immediately popped another pill into my mouth, but the pain didn¡¯t fade much at all. At this point, I was halfway through the portal, with one foot on either side. I had three options, and none of them were fun. I could either finish going through the portal, and let my headache intensify to the point of bleeding eyes. I could go back and have the same thing happen, or I could sit down on the portal itself and wait to take that last step. I chose option three. Having no desire to black out for a while again, I obediently planted my butt down on that portal and rested there. Every couple of minutes I would toss back another pill, until I was completely out nearly an hour later. By that point, the majority of the headache had passed, and I just took that last step into the Toy Chest. And then proceeded to lay flat on the floor while clutching my head and wishing I had made another batch of pills before taking that last step. Without the pills, the recovery took considerably longer, a total of three hours. When I was finally confident enough to open my eyes without wanting to gouge them out, I looked back and saw Yin, Sharon, and Celeste standing on the other side. The latter was explaining some things to Yin and Sharon, though I still couldn¡¯t make out what yet. Most likely, how either of them coming in to ¡®save¡¯ me would just get me killed from the pressure. Well, at most I¡¯d lose a level when I loaded up a new clone, but still it¡¯d hurt like hell. About fifteen minutes later, I was able to process sound without my ears feeling like they were splitting open. ¡°Alright, looks like he can chat now.¡± The Deus Ex dutifully reported to the two women, who each let out a sigh of relief. ¡°John¡­ You do realize that this is probably the most suicidal thing you¡¯ve done so far, right?¡± Sharon glared at me and spoke, logically irritated by my going where no man had gone before, and collapsing into a mess of psychic pain in the process. However, I could only let out a weak laugh. ¡°You weren¡¯t there when I jumped into a giant snake¡¯s mouth¡­ or headbutted a bear to death¡­¡± The more I thought about it, the more I realized¡­ I do accidentally suicidal decisions a lot! If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°It¡¯s true¡­ he did.¡± Yin said regrettably, shaking her head from side to side. ¡°...Okay, let me try this again. Do you have a shred of self-preservation instinct?¡± Sharon asked with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Well.. I¡¯m in a clone. That counts, right¡­?¡± ¡°Barely.¡± She buried her face in her hand, shaking her head. Alright, I totally earned that facepalm. ¡°But next time, try to realize you¡¯re in over your head before Yin comes running for me to tell me that you are in trouble? If Celeste hadn¡¯t beaten us here, we would have dived in after you to try to pull you out. And, according to her, that would have been a very bad decision.¡± Celeste nodded her head slightly. ¡°Unless you want to risk the portal closing behind you and trapping you in an unknown dimension, possibly with unknown monsters.¡± I really hope there weren¡¯t monsters in here. That would just be cruel. Then again, it would also make sense that this place wasn¡¯t immune to monsters. ¡°Had not thought about the monsters. I kinda don¡¯t want to be in here alone anymore¡­¡± Sharon laughed wryly at that, smiling at me. ¡°Well, let¡¯s see if we can fix it. Once your head finishes clearing up, bring us into your grove. You should be able to do that just by sticking your hand through, right? No need to fully come out.¡± That¡­ is a perfectly reasonable idea that I wish I had thought of first. There is no increase in mana from me if I have people in my grove. It was specifically stated that even three thousand years in the future, no technology existed that could see through a druid¡¯s grove. Therefor, this ability should also not be able to tell if I had people in my grove. A short while later, after Sharon and Yin got in their own clones and my headache cleared up, I stuck my hand outside the Toy Chest. The three girls all grabbed my hand, and I quickly wrapped my mana around them, bringing them into my grove. Although there was a considerable headache brewing from the surge of mana passing through the portal, it was nowhere near the level of when I personally stepped through. Before bringing them out of my grove, I went ahead and brewed another batch of psychic meds. Unfortunately, the headache proved to be rather distracting, and I failed to properly refine the first batch. The second one came out fairly well, though, and I popped one into my mouth when I retrieved them. Afterwards, I brought the girls out as well. Finally, I took a chance to look at my surroundings. This place was¡­ empty was the only word I could come up with. There was no sky that I could see, no horizon. The only light was what flooded through the portal leading back to the ship. The ground, from what I could tell, was not even made of dirt. It was not metal, nor stone, nor any element I was familiar with. ¡°Celeste, you reading this?¡± I asked, as I examined the mana of the ground with my Aura Sight and Mana Sense. ¡°Yeah, I see it. According to my database¡­ this should be Dural Mana. It¡¯s a strange mana type, with only a little information listed. All I know is that it has similar physical properties to earth, but is far more mana-conductive. The ground here would probably make for fairly good construction material if it could be refined.¡± After Celeste¡¯s explanation, Sharon spoke up. ¡°Anything for the blind people?¡± However, before I could respond, she created a fireball above her, which immediately blinked out. Instead, an orb of light rested above her head. Okay, that was a bit creative. Make a small flash with fire mana, then capture the escaping light mana to condense into a ball¡­ small, harmless light. Even with Sharon¡¯s light globe, there appeared to be nothing more to see in this place. The visible area expanded to a little over fifty meters, but it was all exactly the same. ¡°It would really suck if this place was as empty as it appears.¡± ¡°John¡­¡± Yin said warningly, before Celeste pulled out her cannon wristband and fired it into the distance without warning. Yin immediately went into battle mode, her body sparking with electricity as she shifted into her stormbird form. ¡°Trouble?¡± Celeste however, did not answer. We watched the shot of plasma sailing into the distance, and I thought I saw some figures briefly illuminated by it. Then, after a few moments, the shot seemed to come back at us from behind. Thankfully, Sharon was able to quickly set up a barrier to block the blast from hitting us. ¡°So¡­ assuming we are in the center, this area has a radius of about two kilometers. And the height is¡­¡± Next, she aimed her cannon upwards, firing a second blast. I was somewhat expecting the ground to blow up and the plasma bolt to fly up from beneath us, but what actually happened confused me even more. Looking up, at the same time that Celeste¡¯s shot disappeared into the darkness, an identical one appeared just a few feet away from it heading back down. ¡°Celeste, can you please stop doing that?!¡± Sharon cried out as she hastily set up a second barrier. This blast seemed quite a bit stronger, having not traveled the same distance as the first. ¡°Five hundred meters.¡± Celeste nodded her head, satisfied with her readings. Then, she turned to Sharon, an innocent look of confusion on her face. ¡°Hmmm? Oh, sorry. Science, and all that.¡± Even Yin was annoyed at that, but stayed in her bird form for now. ¡°No time¡­ not alone.¡± She opened her mouth up, gathering lightning in it, and shot it into the distance at a slightly higher angle. Yin¡¯s lightning moved far faster than Celeste¡¯s plasma shot, and passed over our heads a dozen times in a split second. However, after that it suddenly stopped, and a loud shriek was heard from the darkness. ¡°Was that a monster? That sounded like a monster.¡± ¡°Yes, Captain Obvious, that was a monster.¡± Celeste groaned as she equipped her full battle armor, her metal wings sprouting from her back. Sharon likewise called out a pair of two headed dogs. The creature in the distance had a towering figure of at least fifty meters. From the brief flash that I saw thanks to Yin¡¯s blast, it had a large cube at the base of its body, with an odd, winding appendage coming out to the side. From the top of the cube poured forth a long, snake-like body, at the top of which a demonic white face resided, two large hands coming from the sides of its body. ¡°Is that a¡­¡± I started to ask, but just didn¡¯t want to finish. ¡°Yes¡­ That¡¯s a jack in the box.¡± Sharon said, in a mix of surprise, disappointment, and anticipation. Chapter 107: Clean Up Time Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! I added a donations button for World Seed, but people are by no means obligated to use it! I won¡¯t be doing sponsored chapters or anything like that, because I feel like I¡¯d just burn myself out again if I tried to write more than I am doing now. It¡¯s only there for those people that want to use it.
I looked at the demonic jack in the box in the distance, using my Cybernetic eye to enhance my vision in the darkness. Unfortunately, that let me see some other things too. Along the ground were several toppled figures. However, these were not the bodies of other psychic races that stumbled into the Toy Chest, they were green, almost plastic bodies. As the jack in the box let out a loud laugh, its mechanical arm cranking on the box below it, the green figures began slowly standing up. Some of them looked humanoid, while others looked monstrous. There were dogs, lions, even birds among the figurines. The birds flapped their wings and took to the skies, while the humanoids all grabbed some form of weapon. There were swords, guns, even axes. Once they were in position, a faint music seemed to enter our ears.
New Quest Received!
Cleaning up the Toys Rank ¡ï¡ï Repeatable Extermination The Toy Chest is a place only accessible with the help of those with the Toybox power. However, it is still a space of its own, and monsters are bound to spawn there over time. Clean up the lost toys, so that this place can be used for its true purpose. Time Limit: Not really. Reward: Random magic item Failure: Getting teased by Malthan
I looked at the others, and it seemed that they got the quest as well. ¡°It¡¯s only ranked at two stars, so it shouldn¡¯t be that difficult.¡± Sharon smiled slightly, and called out an army of over a hundred horned rabbits. Raising her hand, she increased the intensity of her light sphere, raising it up until we could see the toys just over a hundred meters away. Celeste called out her two large cat-like robots, which stood at her side and waited for the enemies to approach. She then held up her spear and launched into the sky, flying straight towards the large bird-type toys. With one swing of her plasma spear, she instantly cut the first bird in half. ¡°They¡¯re not that much!¡± However, her words didn¡¯t last long, as the bird fell to the ground. Its pieces then began stretching out, each one forming into another large bird of the same size as its former self. ¡°Okay.. they may be a bit of trouble.¡± She admitted finally, as over a dozen other birds approached her. Yin didn¡¯t speak, but simply rose up into the air. With Celeste dealing with the birds, she didn¡¯t seem to want to fire lightning bolts at that area. Unfortunately, Yin¡¯s attacks were not suited for single target damage, so instead she swept over the field with her magic. Targeting the biggest clusters of toy beasts she could find, she blasted them with lightning. Shattered pieces flew in every direction, but again the slowly grew and reformed into their original shapes, in greater numbers than before. Sharon, meanwhile, sent out her rabbits to engage the soldiers. They raised their weapons to attack, but the rabbits were far too quick to be hit. Thankfully, their guns seemed only for decoration, because they were used as clubs rather than actual ranged weapons. ¡°Go for the big guy, he seems to be controlling everything.¡± I nodded, activating my Aspect of the Bird and flying into the air. Aspect of the Armored Beast followed shortly after to cover my skin in hard scales.Two of the large birds broke away from Celeste to charge after me. These two each had a wingspan of two meters, with their bodies being a meter long. Aside from that, and apparently being made of green plastic, they looked similar to eagles. Raising my hands, I surrounded the two of them in magnetic spheres, which I then filled with plasma. I wanted to see if they would be able to recover from incineration. If not, that would be a method to deal with them, albeit a long and boring one. Sure enough, there were brief cries within the glowing red spheres, followed by silence. Tiny green flakes fell out of the plasma orbs, scattering on the ground as I considered my work done. However, those few dozen flakes then seemed to absorb the ground, growing until each one was the same as the two birds that had attacked me originally. ¡°Great¡­ so even just a tiny scrap and they regenerate fully.¡± I couldn¡¯t be bothered to deal with them now, and thankfully Yin swooped in to distract them with lightning bolts. My target was the giant jack in the box, who kept staring at me with that creepy white face. ¡°Let¡¯s see just how tough you are.¡± I quickly brought my plasma rifle out of my grove, and fired it at that giant face. Logic says that the face is always the weak point, right? Right?! Well, the plasma shot from my rifle blew a hole completely through the jack¡¯s head. Score on for the-oh wait, it¡¯s healing. Within seconds, the hole had been entirely recovered, so I moved on to plan B! Plan B was, of course, to cut off its head entirely by the neck. To do this, I brought the two plasma orbs I had already made, and shrunk them down into long, thin donuts of red death. I call it, destructo rings! The two rings arced through the sky, easily cutting into the jack¡¯s neck, and even severed it on the first swing. However, that faint music never faded. Soon, the neck began growing a new head, just like the plastic monsters. And the severed head began growing a new neck¡­ New hands¡­ all the way until it was a giant, creepy snake with a demonic clown face and hands slithering along the ground. There was only one part that it did not recover, which I had to assume meant that was its weakness. With that line of thought, I brought back the destructo rings, and prepared my assault on the wind-up box at the base of the jack. So far, this creature had not shown any offensive abilities, leading me to believe that it was not capable of attacking. However, this idea was proven wrong once the rings began closing in on the box. The snake-jack lunged at the two rings, hands spread open and mouth emitting a cackling laugh. Although the rings could easily cut through its body, it still cost some energy to do so. By the time the rings had finished carving through the hands, and then each cut across its neck, their glow had diminished to less than half of what it was before. After that, the main jack did the same thing, using its own body to block the rings. Again its hands were cut through, but this time it used up too much energy to do so, and the rings completely faded away. Although the magnetic fields were still there, there was no more plasma to fill it with. And my problems were only just beginning, as their sacrificial defense meant that I had turned two jacks¡­ into ten. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Each severed body part began absorbing the ground where it fell, expanding rapidly to become a full length snake-jack in under ten seconds. They seemed to have weak bodies, no real offensive power, but at this rate they would quickly overwhelm me in sheer numbers. Thankfully, nobody said I had to play fair. Removing my limiter program, I allowed my perception to speed up to its limit. My magic was still incapable of properly following my thoughts in this state, but it was far more effective than normal. The downside was that it also spent my mana faster than doing things slowly, as I was no longer recovering mana at the same perceived rate. I moved the magnetic rings that I had previously used to attack so that they wrapped around they jack¡¯s box, and then slowly began filling them with mana again. The ten jacks all very slowly began to turn around, preparing to lunge to protect their precious box, but they were no longer fast enough to make a difference. The red rings brightened, and began constricting around the wind-up box from all around it, and I could see as it slowly carved into the frame, leaving black scorch trails. When the rings hit the mechanical arm, it snapped right off, though what remained continued its ceaseless spinning. I had to feed the rings plasma an additional two times to make sure that they cut all the way through, and even spent my entire mana pool to speed things up. However, it was more than worth it to see the box explode in slow motion. I was tempted to just sit there and watch the last of the explosion before reactivating my limiter, but decided it¡¯d be better to see what was happening first. Once the limiter was back on, I saw the box quickly shattering to pieces in an eruption of red light. The music had faded away, only echoing from the distance at this point. Looking over, I saw that the girls were no longer fighting monsters. Instead¡­ they all seemed to be covered in dirt. Where¡¯d they go? I thought curiously, looking around for any signs of the toy soldiers. However, I only found clumps of soil falling to the ground. Even the giant snake-jacks were no longer present, having turned into large piles of dural. ¡°So¡­ there was really only one monster¡­?¡± If that was the case, then it would make a bit of sense. Calmly, I looked back and analyzed the situation. The jack in the box¡¯s box was the only monster that actually spawned in the Toy Chest, but it had the ability to manipulate dural to form constructs. These constructs would serve as its fighters and protectors. When Yin attacked the jack with lightning, it triggered its defense response. From there, any time one of the constructs were destroyed, it would use more dural to regrow the severed pieces and only increase its army. In a way, we actually started this fight¡­? Maybe it wouldn¡¯t have even attacked if we didn¡¯t do so first? Oh well, it¡¯s over now either way! ¡°I¡¯m filthy¡­¡± Sharon spoke up from the ground, shaking her arm to try and clean it off a bit. Since they were all covered, it seems like they had already been overrun by the dural soldiers by the time I finished the fight. ¡°I don¡¯t care if this is only a clone body, I am so taking a bath when we get back.¡± ¡°Me too¡­¡± Yin flew down next to Sharon, first using a burst of wind to blow a large amount of the strange substance off of herself, then doing the same thing for Sharon.
Quest Completed!
Cleaning up the Toys Rank ¡ï¡ï Repeatable Extermination You have defeated the evil, sinister jack in the box, who was really only lonely and wanted friends. Congratulations!
Each of us had a small light form in our hands as we were awarded our quest item. For Yin and Sharon, it was a ring. Though, Yin¡¯s ring just sat on the ground in front of her, since she was not in her human form. For Celeste, it was a small cloth bag that seemed to be filled with marbles. And for me¡­ Do I really have to say it? Okay¡­ fine¡­ it was a toy wand, with a little plastic heart at the end. It even gave little sparkles when it moved. Why, god, why?!
Because everyone needs a magical girl in their life.
I looked over to the girls, who quickly looked away and pretended that they didn¡¯t see anything. ¡°Please tell me one of you are willing to trade¡­¡± ¡°Are you kidding? That thing would look terrible with me.¡± Sharon violently shook her head, while Yin simply pretended not to hear me. Celeste, however, had a wide grin on her face. Oh god, don¡¯t tell me¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll take it!¡± She said, and instantly tossed me the bag of marbles, snatching the toy wand from my hands faster than I could react. She then looked in front of her, blinked, and her grin grew even wider. ¡°Magical Girl Celeste, go~!¡± She waved the wand in a wide circle, and her body was enveloped in a bright pink light. Her armor seemed to shatter under that light, instead replaced by large ribbons around her waist and shoulders. A leotard formed under the light, a deep purple color, before a short red jacket covered her chest. Even her metal wings turned into wings of pure light during this transformation sequence. Dear god¡­. I dare not imagine what would have happened if I had used the wand myself. ¡°So cool!¡± Celeste said, looking over herself as the light surrounding her faded, leaving her in her new outfit. She then floated around happily for a few moments, while I began wondering what the bag of marbles in my hand were for.
Well, it was either that, or a dildo bat. I doubted that Celeste would take that as seriously, so I went with this. As for what they do... well, you''ll have to throw them at someone to find out, won''t you?
Thank you for taking this seriously¡­ even if only a little bit. I then turned to look at Sharon and Yin. ¡°So¡­ what did you two get?¡± Sharon looked down at her ring, which looked like a plastic ring with a murky blue stone. ¡°The information window called it a mood ring. It said that I could use it to affect the moods of those around me¡­? That¡¯s not how they work, right?¡± ¡°Decoder ring¡­¡± Yin said simply. ¡°Translates text?¡± ...And what I ended up with was a magical girl wand. You did this on purpose, Malthan!
Why yes, yes I did.
Chapter 108: Must conduct MORE RESEARCH! Author¡¯s Corner: Here we are then, at the top of the page. Yeah, that was pretty much all I had. Enjoy the chap!
I looked down to the bag of marbles in my hand, and debated asking the girls to help me test them. However, that thought was quickly dismissed, for several reasons. If these things had a function like grenades, then it would hurt them far too much to ask that. Worse, if they did something like absorbing souls, then even being in a clone body wouldn¡¯t save them. Why is this the only one that didn¡¯t come with a user manual!? I sighed, shaking my head. I was told how to activate them, but not what they would do. Looking at the marbles, they all appeared varied in appearance, just like a normal marble collection. It was Sharon¡¯s voice that broke me out of my concentration. ¡°Wasn¡¯t there something you came here specifically to do?¡± ¡°Huh? Oh, right! The experiment!¡± I had almost completely forgotten that after the appearance of the evil jack in the box and Magical Girl Celeste. Focusing ahead of me, I released some of my psychic energy. Since I had not been using it with the fight just now, it was already recovered from bringing the girls in here. However, before I was willing to form it into a portal, I quickly made another batch of pills inside my grove. ¡°I need to get a pill bottle one of these days¡­¡± I looked down into my hand at the twenty pills resting there. Anyways, no distractions! I began gathering my energy to a single point in front of me, wanting to start with a small portal no bigger than my fist. Given how much effort it took to make the connection to the Toy Chest, I didn¡¯t want to risk going all out and killing myself by making a portal too large. To my surprise, the portal established itself fairly easily, no more difficult than the one we had used to come here. I was even more surprised to see a light pouring through the small portal from the other side. ¡°Okay¡­ that was easy¡­ now to see where it leads¡­¡± I said as I gradually began to expand the portal. As soon as the pain in my head began to flare up, I tossed one of the pills into my mouth, grumbling because of how many I had already taken in one day. Once the portal was opened far enough to see what was on the other side, we all looked anxiously in, hoping to see some strange new world. Maybe one inhabited by living toys, given the theme of the power. However¡­ what we saw was the medbay of the Ariadne, precisely where the portal had been that brought us here. Looking back, I had never even noticed that the other portal vanished when I created this one, since we had moved further away from it during the fight. ¡°So¡­ I guess that means no third layer¡­?¡± ¡°Well¡­ maybe. There¡¯s still one more thing we can do.¡± Celeste said, having thought of something. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I looked at her curiously, sincerely wanting to know what else there was that could make the Toybox power more interesting. ¡°We could always just ask your parents. They still have access to the future, so can¡¯t they just log in, or have one of their friends log in and look up the information about this particular power?¡± ...Wait¡­ you mean all this time, all I had to do was phone my parents, and ask them to look it up?! How come we never thought of that during the last six months?! Sharon simply tilted her head back and laughed at the simplicity of it, while I sulked over the several months of trying to self-discover cool things about the Toybox. Opening up my friends list, I wasn¡¯t surprised to say that Jacobs was not registered as available. Either he downloaded into a new robot body and was killed, or he is still in NeoLife. Most likely the latter. I decided to call my dad, since he was the one that had previously been a psychic human. He was more likely to have contacts that could look up the information we needed. ¡°Hello there, boy!¡± He said in a rather energetic, albeit digitized, voice. ¡°And what is the reason for this call, hmm? Decided to check up on your old man?¡± Not really¡­ I thought to myself. Usually, when I wanted to call to check in, I would do a group call with both him and my mom. ¡°Not this time. I need you to look something up for me, in NeoLife, if at all possible.¡± ¡°Hmm.. Your capsule won¡¯t recognize us as owners, so we¡¯d have to find a previously unused one, which is rather hard these days. How about this, you tell me what you need looked up, and I¡¯ll pass it to some online friends.¡± ¡°That works too.¡± It was the Plan B already, so I easily accepted that. ¡°I need research done on a certain psychic power, known as Toybox. If possible, research on another one called Wild Voice would be appreciated as well.¡± ¡°Toybox and Wild Voice. Got it. Give me a little bit, and I¡¯ll call you back.¡± After he said that, he disconnected the call, likely moving to contact his other friend. Looking at the open portal to the medbay, I just decided to sit on the ground. ¡°He¡¯ll call me back. And since it takes a few hours for me to walk through that¡­ I think I¡¯ll wait.¡± It was already getting a bit late. Aside from Celeste, there wouldn¡¯t really be any harm in leaving these bodies in the Toy Chest and simply logging out. However, Celeste would need a way out, meaning that we¡¯d need to make the trip anyways. ¡°Or¡­¡± I disconnected from my clone body, and sat up in the medbay. Looking at the portal across the room, I saw the understanding expressions on their faces. Well, on Sharon¡¯s and Celeste¡¯s. It¡¯s really hard to tell the expression of Yin when she¡¯s in her bird form. The same as when I pulled them into the Toy Chest, I simply stuck my hand in the portal and had them grab on while I transferred them to my grove. Once transferred over, I then pulled them back out of my grove on the proper side. ¡°There, that takes care of that.¡± Now, the only body left in the Toy Chest was my clone. Really, I could have just pulled my clone out too, but this way I won¡¯t have to go through all that trouble again if I want back in the Toy Chest. I¡¯ll just need to open a portal and log in. Assuming no monsters spawn and kill my body before then. But if the Toy Chest appeared a long time ago, such as when mana spread, and only that one monster existed in there until now, it will probably be a little while before another spawns. While I was waiting for the call from my dad, the three girls decided it¡¯d be best to go get a shower. Unsurprisingly, it took a little over an hour before I got the call back from him. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
Incoming call from Jordan Hulett
I accepted the call, speaking up. ¡°What¡¯d you find out?¡± ¡°Well, let¡¯s start with Wild Voice. According to my friend, that one¡¯s a much simpler power. Simply put, it has the ability to speak with anything that has a soul. That includes plants, animals, monsters, whatever. Now, they may not always respond, but if they do it¡¯s like a universal language. Taking it a step further, people with the Wild Voice ability can strengthen it until they can not only speak with, but command these creatures. Naturally, they can¡¯t make something do what it can¡¯t naturally, like moving trees and whatnot.¡± He explained Sharon¡¯s power in detail, and I nodded. This was all pretty much within my expectations. I had figured that there was a higher level than just talking to creatures. ¡°Now, as for the Toybox. This one is¡­ unusual. Only about one in every hundred thousand people will have access to this power, at most. And not many people have a high opinion of it, since it¡¯s one of the shortest range teleport powers available to psionics. However, it also has a wide variety of uses, according to what I was told. The biggest downside to it is that the portals are not linked in size and shape, so they aren¡¯t very safe to go through.¡± ¡°The most popular ability of the Toybox is called the Toy Chest. It¡¯s a pocket dimension linked to every Toybox user in the galaxy. The more people open the Toy Chest, the larger it becomes. Of course, monsters still spawn in there sometimes, but not usually anything too powerful. Now, it also has a peculiar effect known as ¡®Space Lock¡¯ around any portals. This makes the area around the portals extremely hard to pierce with conventional means.¡± So far, he hadn¡¯t told me anything I didn¡¯t already know, but he wasn¡¯t done yet. ¡°People often use this space lock to interweave portals into large shields that can deflect many attacks. They can also serve as platforms to walk on, but aren¡¯t usually used for attacks, aside from using indirect attacks through them.¡± ¡°Now, from what I¡¯ve heard, there is a later form of the Toy Chest ability, known as the Toy Prison. Rather than making a portal into the Toy Chest, you trap someone in their own little pocket dimension. This space is separate from the Toy Chest, and each prison is its own little world. However, the strength of this prison is dependent on the strength of the one that used it. The more powerful the psychic, the stronger the dimension is. If a weak psychic used it, then their prisoner could smash through the dimensional walls and exit at the same spot they were trapped.¡± ¡°If the prisoner can¡¯t escape on their own, the only hope for rescue is if the psychic chooses to let them out. They have an instinctive link to all of their established prison cells, and can choose to open one any time they want, so long as they have the power.¡± Now this was sounding like an awesome power. Of course, I obviously am a long ways from being able to do this. I can barely make a flat portal to walk through, let alone send someone entirely into their own little pocket dimension. ¡°Okay.. that¡¯s neat.¡± I took the chance to voice my opinion. ¡°Anything else you can tell me?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ There was a bit about the portals being usable like telekinesis. But I can¡¯t think of anything offhand. I¡¯ll have my friend keep an eye out for more information, and get back to you if he comes up with anything.¡± ¡°Thanks. This should help me quite a bit with the training.¡± After saying a few words of goodbye, we ended the call and I looked back at the portal to the Toy Chest. It seemed that in order to advance my Toybox power now, I would need to practice weaving the portals together to make those spatial constructs. ¡°Learn anything¡­?¡± Yin asked, walking back into the medbay with a towel wrapped around her. I could see that her hair was still wet, so she obviously just got out of her shower. Did she walk all the way here like that¡­ I wonder how many nosebleeds there were. ¡°Ah.. yeah. Something to train for. In the meantime, let me get a look at you--I mean I need to study your body¡­ Well, that just didn¡¯t sound any better.¡± I said as I watched Yin¡¯s face heat up slightly. ¡°Would it help at all if I said I wanted to study your aura for purely academic reasons?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± She said, slowly walking over to me, one hand holding her towel up. ¡°Druid stuff?¡± ¡°Druid stuff.¡± I nodded my head. ¡°Bird form, if you¡¯d please?¡± I tried to keep my expression neutral, and pay no attention to what I saw when she dropped her towel. It¡¯s nothing I hadn¡¯t seen before, and thoroughly enjoyed at the time. ¡°Alright.¡± She spoke softly, now standing in front of me in her stormbird body. I hadn¡¯t properly taken the chance to memorize her aura yet ever since she evolved, since it felt like an invasion of privacy. However, I also felt like I should do so, just in case something happened. ¡°While I¡¯m at it, do you want me to give you a psychic power too?¡± I asked curiously, putting a hand on her head. She seemed to enjoy that, closing her eyes slightly and tilting her head into it. ¡°Like you and Sharon..?¡± She opened one eye to look up to me. ¡°Okay.¡± You know, while Yin is an awesome woman, an amazing companion, and a badass combatant, she is a terrible conversationalist. However, the simple answer was all the permission I needed. From personal experience, I knew that enabling psychic powers wouldn¡¯t cause any real harm to the patient, so I didn¡¯t bother knocking her out like I had done when modifying Sharon. Instead, while going through her aura, I simply changed that one little part in her head that would allow her to wield new, untold powers. I was honestly rather curious what Yin would get, since my own power and Sharon¡¯s were vastly different. I let her stay there like that for a few minutes, gently petting her head even after I was done studying her aura. It was only a little while later that I reluctantly pulled my hand away, letting her log back out into her main body. ¡°Go see Celeste to find out what kind of power you have. It¡¯ll be about time to turn in for the night after that, I expect.¡± It had already been a pretty long, and mostly painful, day. I took one last look at the open portal, and mentally closed it so that I could also retire for the night. Chapter 109: Bonding Author¡¯s Corner: Late chapter is late. Sinuses, blech. Short chapter is also short, because this felt like the proper place to stop it.
The next day, I decided to do some more psychic control practice. I¡¯d need to train pretty hard if I wanted to do things like making shields out of portals, or eventually make the Toy Prison. Or, I had planned on it, at least. ¡°No.¡± Celeste said mentally to me when I was about to start practicing. ¡°No what..?¡± ¡°No training your psychic ability for at least three days. You used way too many of those pills yesterday to go into the Toy Chest in such a short amount of time. If you continue to use your psychic power and consume any more, you could easily develop an addiction. I¡¯m pretty sure that¡¯s not something you want¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± She had a point. No matter how much I wanted to perfect my psychic power, it was not worth it to get addicted to pills. ¡°Okay¡­ so what am I doing today?¡± ¡°I dunno. Cultivate, practice your magic, talk with the crew. Whatever you want. Just no psychic shenanigans.¡± I could almost feel the mental shrug coming from the AI at that. ¡°Fine, fine.¡± I walked around the ship for a bit, looking for Yin. She had already been out of bed when I woke up in the morning, and I had been asleep by the time she got there last night. So, until now, I had not yet had the chance to find out what her psychic power was. Walking through the ship, I greeted several of the crew members, debating over whether or not I should give them all psychic powers as well. On the bright side, it would be an extra level of power for them to train, but it would also bring with it the extra strain. Especially since they were elves, and thus were unable to bring out a psychic power¡¯s full potential. I wonder if it¡¯s possible for me to change only my brain into that of a human¡¯s, so that I can use my power better. That will be something to test once I am ready to begin practicing again. I nodded my head to that thought, before I found Yin. As expected, she was in the hydroponics garden, watching over Yang with a soft smile. Sensing my approach, she looked over towards me. ¡°Hello, John.¡± ¡°Hey. You took off today before we had a chance to talk.¡± I walked over to her, patting her shoulder lightly. Looking at Yang, I found that she was happily dancing and singing beneath one of the large trees in the room. There were also several rows of vegetables planted, and what looked like a sprinkler system above them. As Yang danced and sang beneath the tree, its leaves became visibly more lively, even swaying as if under a heavy breeze. ¡°You slept in¡­ Didn¡¯t want to disturb you.¡± Yin answered honestly, shifting her weight so that she could lean over against me. ¡°Yeah¡­ sorry about that. Anyways! What kind of power did you end up getting?¡± I gave a small smile as I turned my head to face her. ¡°Promise not to laugh¡­?¡± The human-shaped stormbird looked at me with somewhat depressed eyes. ¡°Uhm¡­ sure, I won¡¯t laugh. What¡¯s the worst it could be.¡± I probably shouldn¡¯t have said that part, now that I thought about it. What if she ended up with a power that revolved around sex or something? I¡¯m not sure I could keep my promise if that was the case. ¡°Okay¡­¡± She took a deep breath before saying a single word. ¡°Telekinesis.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± That can¡¯t be it, right? ¡°You mean telekinesis is one of the main components of your power, right?¡± None of the psychic powers I had heard about so far were purely one aspect. The closest would be Sharon¡¯s, but even hers is a mix of telepathy and empathy, with a focus on language. However, Yin just shook her head. ¡°No¡­ pure telekinesis.¡± Celeste? I called for the AI in my head, hoping for an explanation. ¡°Huh? Oh, about Yin, right? Yeah, it¡¯s pretty weird, but it does happen. People that have a power with a 100% purity in one psychic aspect are known as ¡®Focuses¡¯. Their powers are typically far more powerful than others of the same type, because it is so purely focused. However, there are drawbacks too. For instance, with Yin. Since her power is pure telekinesis, and has not a trace of clairvoyance, her power range is limited to what she can reach by expanding her psychic energy.¡± ¡°Other telekinetic powers might let you control objects over a vast distance, so long as you either know, or can divine the location of the object. A teleporter focus might be able to blink around a battlefield effortlessly, rip people apart by removing half their body, or so on, but they can¡¯t cross continents. See the difference?¡± Yeah¡­ extra power, less versatility. I nodded my head, then returned to simply smiling at Yin. ¡°That¡¯s nothing to be embarrassed over. If anything, it means you can use it to be even stronger than normal. Have you tried using it yet?¡± Yin nodded her head slightly. ¡°Tried¡­ only works in this form.¡± She knitted her brows together in frustration. ¡°In true form¡­ nothing.¡± So her stormbird form is totally incompatible with psychic powers, then? I guess it would make sense that her brain changes a bit when she shifts between forms. ¡°That¡¯s still fine. Even if you didn¡¯t get a power at all, it would have been alright. To be honest, you¡¯re probably the strongest of all of us when it comes to large area damage. Sharon is the best at mobilizing her companions to attack multiple targets. And Celeste is probably the strongest of us when it comes to single target damage.¡± Hearing me talk like that, Yin looked up at me with a wry smile. ¡°So what is John best at?¡± ¡°Uh¡­¡± That was a very good question! ¡°Versatility? I¡¯ve kind of spread my powers out so much that I can switch between them whenever I want in a battle and find something to do in most situations.¡± That was kind of the best answer I could come up with. Considering that I was soon going to be spreading my powers out even more by adding another element so that I could do this quest for Malthan¡­ Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Though again, what kind of creature could I create that would be truly unique in all of time? No, that¡¯s not it.. It doesn¡¯t have to be unique, it just has to be something that hasn¡¯t appeared yet in the past or the future. I could create more than one, and then they would begin to appear in the future. But the issue still remains of how to make it. The very concept of this quest implies that time can be altered. However, given that NeoLife wasn¡¯t constantly changing from the actions of the people in the past, time should only be changeable on this large of a scale by the interference of a greater power, like the gods. Malthan giving me this quest causes new monsters to appear in the future, which would never have existed otherwise. But, have the monsters already appeared in the future? If someone logged into NeoLife now, and did the right research, would they be able to find the creatures I will create? Or will the timeline not change until I am done making it? Or, even still, are the Seeds linked to a fixed timeline, which won¡¯t even be altered with the creation of this monster? I feel like I got off track with my thoughts. Oh right! I was wondering what element I should train to make this new monster. Given the vastness of the galaxy and the whims of random people and nature, almost every combination of mana should already exist for monsters. If it is a mana type that can be easily found, then it can be easily gathered together naturally to create a monster. With that in mind, I need to choose an element that is so obscure, it could never naturally gather in a great enough density to serve as a component in making a monster. Something obscure¡­ yet easy enough to find that I won¡¯t have to cross half the galaxy to locate. If possible, it should exist wherever I need it. But what exists everywhere? I can¡¯t use light, because there are definitely monsters that are made from light mana. Same with void, even though it exists everywhere in space. Then¡­ wouldn¡¯t that leave only one option? It¡¯ll be a bit of a pain to train, and it might not even be possible. ¡°No, it¡¯s possible.¡± Nevermind, apparently Celeste believes it¡¯s possible. ¡°John¡­?¡± Yin reached up and poked my cheek. I suddenly realized that I had spaced out and began thinking about my quest in the middle of our conversation. ¡°You okay?¡± I let out a dry chuckle, nodding my head. ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± After that, I leaned down and gave her a peck on the forehead. ¡°Just thinking about my divine quest.¡± ¡°The one to make a monster?¡± ¡°Yeah. Was thinking about how I¡¯d go about it.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± She looked up at me in interest. ¡°All in due time.¡± I said, waving my hand mysteriously. Yes, that¡¯s right, no spoilers-- Ow, don¡¯t pinch my side like that! I saw Yin showing me an extremely cute upset face, while she was pinching my side with one hand. ¡°Fine, fine I¡¯ll tell.¡± With that, she gave a satisfied nod, and released my flesh to once more lean against me, the offending arm wrapping lightly around my waist. ¡°Good.¡± ¡°I want to start cultivating the Time Affinity. If I use that, I should be able to create some interesting creatures.¡± ¡°Time¡­? You can train in that?¡± Her voice held a mild tone of surprise, but it was not unexpected. If not for Celeste, I wouldn¡¯t be sure myself that it was possible. ¡°Yeah. Not really sure how yet. But I should be able to do it. And even more, if I can cultivate the Time Affinity, it should be a pretty powerful weapon.¡± Though I myself wasn¡¯t quite sure how the Time Affinity worked. I¡¯d have to practice practice practice! I think we¡¯re due for another training montage after we find the planet for our dungeon base. Yin gave another nod at that. ¡°Should focus on something¡­¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Was I going to hear a rare Yin speech? ¡°Yeah¡­ specializing is good, too.¡± Okay, maybe not. Sorry, folks, but it was worth a shot! ¡°Yeah, I know. I would like to specialize in my shapeshifting, but I haven¡¯t found enough interesting creatures to study for that. The only mage type creature I¡¯ve encountered so far, has been you. And while I take immense pleasure in studying you every chance I get -- not the same kind of studying, but still -- I need to find others to work on.¡± Yin let out a small giggle at that, tightening her hold of my waist slightly. ¡°Well, you¡¯ll get your chance, eventually.¡± I nodded my head, and continued talking with her for a little bit, before an announcement came in over the ship¡¯s comms. ¡°Attention, all crew members. A potential candidate for our next stop has been located. The time to arrival is roughly one hour. Please make sure that you are properly prepared to exit subspace at that time.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice sounded out throughout the ship, surprising me. ¡°We find a planet already?¡± I asked to nobody in particular. However, the comms actually responded. Though, they probably only responded for this one room. ¡°That¡¯s right. According to long-range scanners, this planet shows potential for habitation. We won¡¯t be able to accurately check its climate and monster situation until we get closer. Once we arrive, and verify the planet is suitable for our purposes, it should take up to a week to get the dungeons started.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± Okay, so I couldn¡¯t exactly come up with a better reply than that at the time. ¡°I guess we should get ready to see the place we¡¯ll be staying for a while.¡± I said as I looked over to Yin, who nodded her head slightly. Chapter 110: 100 Years to the Day Author¡¯s Corner: I really, really, really hate sinuses. REALLY.
So, I feel like I¡¯ve said this before, but this has to have been the longest day in my life. This time, though, I meant it literally. In order for you to understand, let me go back to earlier, when we were just landing on this planet, which we designated as Hydra. We decided to call it that on a whim, because we were going to be building a bunch of different dungeons. When we approached Hydra, we saw that there was almost no animal life on the entire planet, and only a very few monsters. The weather was likewise stable as far as we could see, so we decided to use this as our base. There weren¡¯t enough clone controllers for everyone yet, so I only had myself, Celeste, Sharon, and ten druids from the ship head down to the planet. The ten druids, with Sharon¡¯s help, would dig out the area for a dungeon. Meanwhile, Celeste and I appeared in a large plains area with tall grass as far as the eye could see. This was going to be the spot for my research lab and mana farm. With my Earth Manipulation, I gradually constructed the building, bringing in metal beams to provide support with Celeste¡¯s help. Once it was done, it was the size of a normal house on the outside, but inside there was a large basement which I would work in. Naturally, I didn¡¯t have anything like paint or furniture yet, and everything was made out of either stone or metal. For my mana seed farm, I set up six tilted platforms, surrounding a funnel. The plan was to inscribe an element gathering spell array on each one, followed by a condensing spell, so that they would be made into elemental seeds. Naturally, each of the six platforms would correspond to a different element, each being one of the seven main ones. The only element left out was lightning, because there was not a sufficient source for that here. Once the seeds were done, they would fall onto the tilted platform and naturally roll into the funnel, to be dropped in a wide bucket below with the rest of the seeds. Using this, it would only be a matter of time until I had a large quantity of them. However, I also needed to set up my own anti-spawn barrier around my lab, in order to make sure the seeds did not become slimes. This all didn¡¯t really take too long, only a couple of hours to get the foundations set up. Then a couple more hours to get the spell circles designed drawn, and powered. Finally, it was time to start on what was currently my most important project, cultivating time. This was the reason I had Celeste here with me instead of helping Sharon and the others, because I needed someone to watch over me in case anything went wrong. ¡°We don¡¯t know what the effects of cultivating time mana will be. It could age you, make you younger, or even freeze yourself in time entirely. If the effects are too severe, I¡¯ll be on standby to break the formation.¡± This is what she said to me when we were getting ready to leave. And it made sense. For some reason, this spell circle took a vast amount of mana to kickstart, well over my maximum capacity. But it was not because of the spell itself, but a single rune that we had changed. After all, it was essentially the same as the element gathering array we set up for the seed farm, but the element designated in this one was ¡®time¡¯. That one rune by itself took over five thousand mana to activate. If I was alone, I¡¯d have to channel mana for quite a while to get that amount, but thankfully Celeste¡¯s magical girl wand doubled as an external mana source. She was able to supply what I was lacking. Now, for the part that gets long, and honestly¡­ really boring. I¡¯ll try to skim over it as much as I can, but there are a few important things that you should know. First, after entering the array so that I could feel the time mana gathering, nothing happened. And then it kept happening. My eyes were closed, my senses reaching out to their utmost to try to feel a trace of time mana. ¡°John, John open your eyes!¡± Celeste called out in my mind, almost frantically. When I opened them, I found that the world outside of the circle had all but frozen. Celeste¡¯s expression was distorted, but she was not making the slightest move. But, not because she didn¡¯t want to, more because she was incapable. Even a single tiny rock had frozen in mid-fall as it dropped from the ceiling. ¡°....Oh great. This was not part of the plan.¡± I grumbled. Apparently, this formation gathered time alright, and vastly accelerated it. I was about to reach my hand out to break the formation when Celeste stopped me. ¡°Don¡¯t. If you don¡¯t handle this right, the resistance from the wind and moving at such high speeds could tear your body apart. At this point, you have two options. You can either log out and return to your main body, and we can find another way to do this, or you can make the breakthrough to cultivate time mana. If you do that, you should be able to protect yourself by gradually returning the flow of time back to normal.¡± ¡°And¡­ if I can¡¯t sense time mana..? Well, I guess I can just log out in that case. What¡¯s the current time ratio?¡± I asked, out of curiosity. ¡°Ten thousand times faster on this side. However, that number is already going up even further. I¡¯m not sure where it will stop at.¡± I didn¡¯t very much like that answer, so I began devoting my entire attention to trying to detect any trace of the time mana that logically should be flooding this formation. However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn¡¯t feel it. I even used Celeste¡¯s help, and accessed what she knew about time mana. But still, I could feel the slightest trace. If not for my grove, I¡¯d be worried about dying of starvation or dehydration in this formation, but I had a ready source of food and water inside of me. I lost track of how long it took, but thankfully Celeste didn¡¯t. It took me one full second, or from my perspective three weeks before the time mana was dense enough that I could feel it. Even still, it was just a small sensation. But I focused on that, and began trying to attune my mana to it as I had with so many elements before. This went on for another week before I managed to finally complete a small cycle of mana. But from there it was much easier. The next cycle took a day, then twelve hours, then five hours, then one. Eventually, I was able to slowly, but constantly cycle the mana through my body. But doing so caused time to further speed up for me. After my fifth week in this formation passed, Celeste reported that the time rate had stabilized around me. However, it stabilized at four and a half million times the normal speed. I thought about upgrading my Limiter program, so that time didn¡¯t pass so slowly for me, but before I do that, I would have to make sure to get Time Affinity over 5%. Right now, Celeste reported that I had gotten that affinity up to 2%, so I had a bit of hope. However, that hope lasted about another second. I lost track of how much time passed in that second. Even Celeste had tried to think of other things to distract herself. Another second passed. I was still at 2% affinity. Another minute, still 2%. I don¡¯t know how many months had passed inside this little bubble of time. I didn¡¯t get to 3% until three minutes had passed on the outside. 4% didn¡¯t come for ten minutes. By that time¡­ I wasn¡¯t measuring in months anymore. I thought that years, maybe even decades had passed for me. There were many times that I thought about giving up, going back to my main body and leaving this one to age into dust. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. By now, though, I had another reason to stay in here. I had already gotten to the point where I was visibly aging. If I logged out now, my main body would likewise age to match this one. Even with how much I missed my friends on the outside, logging out now would only cause more problems. Besides, this was not as difficult as practicing Time Affinity. This was something I already had experience with, simply altering my own aura. ¡°Celeste, wake up.¡± I called to the AI who had gone into standby mode after the first couple minutes. ¡°Need your help here.¡± ¡°Hmm? Alright. Ah, how long was I out? You¡¯re looking¡­ worse.¡± She said, trying to sound like it was a joke. But I knew it wasn¡¯t. My hair had grown out far enough that I could tell it was starting to gray. My, uh¡­ ¡®biological needs¡¯ were entirely sated by my grove, which was why I was not elbow deep in my own feces. ¡°Yeah¡­ I know. Need you to help me check my aura.¡± I grumbled out, using a quick thought to cut my beard, which had grown down halfway to my waist, with a thin metal razor I retrieved from my grove. I then did the same thing for my hair, before using my senses on myself to try and see what had changed. ¡°Ah, learning how to make yourself younger? I already let the girls know what was happening with my main body. In¡­ a few more years, they should start getting here. You¡¯ve got a while yet.¡± She said, the last part coming out a bit gloomy. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. Once I get this done, I¡¯ll let you rest again. It should only take me a few more minutes.¡± I said, more to comfort her than myself. Though, I needed it a bit too, because I was running out of water in my grove. Unfortunately, time being sped up so much did not mean I continued absorbing the elements unceasingly, because those elements that were in this little bubble of time had already long ago been depleted. Scanning my aura, I found that it really had changed a bit, compared to what it was when I shifted into this elven shape. Well, not really that it changed, more that it was damaged. From what I could tell, time mana held a single, sole purpose. It aged anything it touched. I wasn¡¯t sure if time mana would allow for time travel, or reversing time, because I hadn¡¯t reached that point yet. But, this meant that I knew what I needed to do to ¡®de-age¡¯ myself. All that I needed was to repair the damage done by time. Since I already knew exactly what my aura looked like before stepping into this formation, it was a very easy feat of just shifting back to that form. However, if I was going to do this, might as well do it right. That way, this technique would be applicable to more than just myself. Piece by piece, I strengthened, revitalized, and invigorated my aura. Doing this took a full hour of ¡®me time¡¯, but from an outside perspective it happened faster than the blink of an eye. I was just suddenly young again. Maybe even younger than when I stepped onto this planet.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of Youth - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï By studying the auras of the young and the old, you have learned how to make the old young again.
This brightened my spirits slightly, and gave me the determination to resume cultivating Time Affinity. This was only further reinforced when I saw something change in the scene around me. At the top of the stone stairs that lead down to this basement, I saw a pair of smooth white legs frozen as they were descending down. When she said it¡¯d take them a few more years, that could very well have meant that they were simply upstairs. If I had to choose between abandoning this body so that they would watch it age to dust in front of them, or persevering so that I could welcome them back, I would easily choose the latter. Even if it took several minutes, which is a LOT longer than it sounds, I would stick with it. A few seconds later, Yin was down the stairs, and I could see the worried expression on her face. I opened my eyes once every few hours of my time to see her progress. Though it was slow, it was still reassuring just to have her there. And as she reached the bottom of the stairs, I saw Sharon¡¯s legs peeking out from the top as well. A few more seconds, and she was standing next to Yin. A minute later, and I could see that they were opening their mouths to say something to Celeste. However, I had absolutely no way of telling what it was. Even Celeste herself couldn¡¯t help, until they had finished asking some time later if I was alright. Five minutes later, and I had to reapply my Aspect of Youth, and again another five minutes later. By now, I think I had been in this bubble for nearly a century¡­ I was really ready to get out. How did xianxia cultivators manage to do this without going crazy!? Thankfully, at the end of those ten minutes of being watched by Sharon and Yin, I finally managed to break through to Time Affinity 5%.
New Ability Unlocked!
Time Control - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï After countless years of study, you have grasped the secrets of time. By manipulating the time mana which exists in all creation, you can alter the flow of time to your wish. As long as you know what you are doing, at least.
With that, I immediately got to work, using my newfound ability to control the time mana around myself, thinning it and forcing it out of this accursed formation that has practically kept me trapped in it all those years. With that taken care of, I saw that the girls seemingly twitch. It was such a small movement, but it made me so happy. My life has been practically a stilled image for so long. I redoubled my efforts, turning the time mana on the formation itself, pulling as much of it as I could away from my body. I saw as my mana plummeted, but at the same time the stone floor that held the runic patterns were eroded away. The stale air I had gotten so used to breathing suddenly freshened, and I took a big gasp of it. ¡°John!¡± Yin called out, and suddenly ran over to me, seeing that I was moving at a speed they could watch. Sharon was not far behind her, and the girls were at my side in seconds. I held them close, wrapping my arms around both of them. To them, it may have been just a few minutes since we were together, but to me it had been a lifetime. So, I¡¯ll admit, I let myself cry now that I finally had them back in my arms. Chapter 111: Recovering and a Report Author¡¯s Corner: What are you doing reading this note? There¡¯s a whole chapter down below!
Seeing that I had no intention to let the two of them go, the girls simply smiled at each other and tried to comfort me. I was sure that it was all but impossible for either of them to imagine what I had been through in the last half hour, but I finally was able to come back after so long. Even though I hadn¡¯t really gone anywhere, just being trapped in an essentially stilled world was already the worst kind of prison. ¡°Let¡¯s get him back to the ship. I¡¯ll send someone else down to manage this area.¡± Celeste spoke softly, and the girls nodded. However, getting me up was another matter. I had kept my arms moving every once in awhile so that I could eat, but my legs had been motionless for a hundred years. Even with my healing spells keeping them from atrophying, they were still incredibly stiff. Just getting me to stand up took over half an hour, and I still needed to be supported. When we got back to the ship, I set my clone body down and logged out to my main one. Unfortunately, the stiffness in my legs transferred over, so the girls had to help me get back to the ship as well. In the meantime, Celeste went off to tell the crew something. Back in the captain¡¯s quarters, Sharon brought out Jasmine and Chrome from her grove, and had them stay with me for a bit. I was worried that Sharon was going to go away somewhere, but she just smiled and sat down on the bed next to me. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, John. I¡¯m still here.¡± As if to reassure me, she reached out and grabbed my hand, gently squeezing it. A few minutes later, Celeste came back in and told Sharon that she was being relieved of dungeon digging duty. Celeste was taking over for Sharon to go and supervise the other druids, since she wasn¡¯t needed at my lab anymore. ¡°Thanks, Celeste.¡± She said with a small smile. Though, I was definitely not going to be very useful for a while. Yin came back into the room after having gone to visit Yang for a moment, and the two of them had me explain what had happened. I tried not to get too deep in the memories, because I was afraid I would have a panic attack, but thankfully the two girls were on either side of me, holding my hands. I told them about the plan, which was to break the formation if anything went wrong, and then how things had gone horribly wrong. However, I ended up staying in that formation to try and work through it, rather than log out and let my body turn to dust. Every small increase in my affinity served as a push to keep me going. And when I saw the two of them, and was already so close, I knew that I had to finish what I started. They hadn¡¯t known before just how long I had been in the formation, and to be honest, I was unclear as well. It was only when Celeste spoke up that I found out I had been in there for nearly a hundred and seventy years. For Sharon and Yin, neither of which were born as long-lived races, such an amount of time must have seemed unfathomable. Even I wouldn¡¯t have believed it, had I not lived through it personally. But since I did, I honestly wouldn¡¯t have been surprised if she told me it was double that number. Anyways, after finding out how long I had lasted, the looks in their eyes changed a bit. Not upset that I had become so old or anything. More realization at just how long I had been alone. Even my voice wasn¡¯t entirely working, because I had no reason to use it during that entire time. After all, I could communicate with Celeste mentally, but even that only happened once every few years near the end. But they were patient. In Sharon¡¯s words, ¡°You waited over a hundred years to gain a special ability. We can wait a few minutes for you to talk about it.¡± At times like this, I was even more thankful for having the two of them. The rest of the day went by much more quickly, and I was very glad it did. According to Celeste, I would need about a week to get my body back to normal, but I should stay resting for much longer in that to recover from the other side effects. I didn¡¯t truly know what she meant until that night. I sat in a black room, seemingly trapped in an endless voice. I would open my mouth, but no sound would come out. Spreading my hands out, I found that the endless void was instead small, small enough that I could reach every inch of the walls with my arms. Nothing in this tiny world would change, no matter what I did. I tried to scream out for help, to beat against the black walls of my cage. Suddenly, I woke up, sitting up in my bed quickly. Sharon and Yin were laying on either side of me, sound asleep. Remembering my dream, and looking around at the still room, I felt a sense of panic rising in my chest. In order to do my best to avoid waking the girls up, I made a pair of portals to hold onto, and pulled myself out of bed. Moments later, I was laying down in the bathroom, just listening to the faucet running. Closing my eyes, I thought to myself over and over again. Everything¡¯s okay¡­ I had hurried here because I knew, if my fears had relapsed, and time had stopped for me again, the water wouldn¡¯t run. I had used that small amount of sanity I could muster to bring myself to the nearest source of water I could find. And thankfully, listening to the faucet slowly began to ease my mind. Then, a knock came from the open door. Turning my head, I found Yin looking at me worriedly. ¡°Are you okay..?¡± Rather than waiting for me to answer, she came and sat down on the floor next to me, putting her hand in my hair and stroking it slowly. After I shakily nodded my head, she smiled slightly to me, but didn¡¯t stop what she was doing. She sat there with me until I was ready to go back to the bed, and then helped me do so. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m sorry, for waking you up.¡± I admitted quietly, but she shook her head and gave me a light kiss on the forehead. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s all okay.¡± She had me wrap my arms around her and let me go back to sleep. Thankfully, that dream didn¡¯t come again that night. I quickly learned that I needed things moving in my surroundings. Not just wanted, but needed it. If the room I was in became still for too long, it brought me back to that formation. I would feel as if my world was crumbling away, as if all of this was just a dream, that I was still locked in that neverending moment of time. Some people say that they wish they could capture a moment and let it last forever. I wish I had never done so. The girls took turns watching me, never really leaving me alone for the next few days. It wasn¡¯t until just over a week later, when the last dungeon had been completed, that they both left me alone at once. But even then, Sharon made sure to leave Chrome and Jasmine in my room. Between the two of them, I could ward off my panic attacks easily enough. The real problem was the nightmares. They hadn¡¯t gone away, and each night I would suddenly wake up. Sometimes, I would wake up screaming, others the girls had to wake me up themselves. Only a couple of times did I manage to wake quietly and pull my way to the bathroom to listen to the faucet running again. But for both of those times, one of the girls would show up soon after to sit with me. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. In a way, them both leaving me alone to help train the crew was a sort of test, to measure how well I was recovering. Since I could walk slowly on my own, I didn¡¯t have any special physical needs. It was just whether or not my mind had recovered. They both made sure to promise me, that if I needed them, they would log out immediately and come help. That made me feel better, at least. While they were gone, I had Chrome in my lap, and was petting him while some of Sharon¡¯s music played in the background. I might not have cared much for the music, but it was a good way to calm me down, and remind me that everything was normal. To my pleasant surprise, I was able to avoid a panic attack the entire time that they were gone. I even called my parents and talked with them. I didn¡¯t tell them about what happened¡­ but I really needed to hear their voices again. The next day, I decided to read through preliminary reports on the dungeons. Only the first few had monsters in them, but that was already enough for the crew to go diving. And, maybe by Celeste¡¯s order, each team had at least one person that submitted a report of the dungeon.
Crew Member: Aschwalt Saren Position: Senior Security Officer Incident Injuries: Minimal This report is being filed in regards to Dungeon 2, led by Officer Bradbury. As this is our first expedition to this dungeon, we were currently unaware of what creatures it may hold. However, we were confident in our skills to clear out whatever appeared. According to the Vice-Captain, powerful monsters would not appear for quite some time, and typically then only in the deepest parts of the dungeon, further boosting the team¡¯s morale. The squad led by Officer Bradbury consists of myself, and Officers Lorenz, Hasen, Kremver, Jarn, Florence, Malack, Naver, and Trom. With this configuration, we teleported to the dungeon¡¯s entrance. Trom stayed at the back of the group with a handheld device of the Vice-Captain¡¯s designs. Per orders, we are to use this device on any monsters we see spawning, to get readings on their mana levels. Inside the dungeon, what we found were small, green men. Bradbury referred to them as goblins. They did not seem very powerful, but they traveled in great numbers. The first group we faced had over a dozen of the creatures, armed with only their claws and teeth. They lunged at us, but were easily dispatched by the vanguard. The next group had even more, twenty of the little cretins. This time, they managed to break past the vanguard, and I had to fire my plasma pistol into melee in order to help clear them out. Thankfully, the Vice-Captain had converted one of the Ariadne¡¯s rooms to a firing range so that we could practice with these new weapons. I expected over fifty goblins to be in our third encounter, but instead found something else. Five goblins were walking around with a tall creature, well over two meters, with green skin and long tusks coming from its mouth. Its arms were thin and elongated, and its red hair was unkempt. From Officer Bradbury¡¯s information, this creature was designated as a troll. Although the goblins in this party were easily dispatched, the troll presented a bit of issue for us. Its strength far exceeded what its frame would indicate, and it was capable of throwing Kremver back with one hand. Once again, we had to rely on the ranged units to eliminate this creature. However, we had not yet suffered any real casualties, and Hasen made sure to heal us after each encounter. From then on, almost every group possessed at least one troll, but the amount of goblins began increasing. What seemed stranger, was that the intelligence of the trolls also seemed to increase. They began utilizing different attack patterns, no longer simply charging out headfirst into our blades. If these creatures had weapons to fight with, we may have fallen already. Our journey into this dungeon continued, and we reached the end of the first floor. From previously gathered information, a ¡®boss monster¡¯ would likely appear in this room. However, calling it a boss is inaccurate. In truth, it is simply a monster from the lower floor that left--
My reading was interrupted by an overly excited, two headed dog jumping into my lap and yipping at me for attention. I couldn¡¯t help but smile slightly at it, and resume my petting. Now, where was I?
In truth, it is simply a monster from the lower floor that left to rule over the floor above. In this case, the boss monster looked similar to the trolls, but had far more muscle on its body. Likewise, it had two heads on top of its head, each of which growled out guttural tones at our approach. The most unsettling thing was that it actually had weapons. Each of its hands held a giant stone club, each club being over a meter long, and as thick as a man¡¯s body at the end. This creature was called an ettin, and this was the first time that Officer Bradbury had to interfere in the fights. We charged forward, hoping to end this quickly. The ranged fighters stayed in the back, and Hasen was just behind us to provide healing to whoever needed it. However, the swords of our vanguard barely left a scratch on the ettin¡¯s thick skin. Our plasma pistols were much more effective, but we were running low on charges after our last few battles. With one swing of its clubs, the ettin crushed Jarn and Malack. Their bodies practically exploded from the impact, bone and blood flying around to paint the walls. With its next attack, two more of our group fell. At this point, a bolt of lightning struck out from the back of our group, striking the ettin dead center in its chest. The lightning materialized to form a brightly glowing wolf, which savagely tore apart the ettin, ripping the thing¡¯s arms off with its jaws and then biting off the two heads. Per Officer Bradbury¡¯s orders, we stopped our excursion here this time. In the future, we would continue to travel only the first floor of the dungeon until we could defeat the boss without any losses. I expect similar results to be found in the other dungeons.
Chapter 112: Rumble in the Jungle Author¡¯s Corner: Hi guys! To those of you not wanting just another report chapter, I apologize, but this one actually has some important stuff hidden in it! I think. Maybe. I¡¯m not really sure myself. Read and find out!
Crew Member: Aelsgwynn Fallem Position: Chief Chef Incident Injuries: Substantial As part of the third dungeon expedition, we were tasked with fighting in one of the newer dungeons. The Vice-Captain conducted a preliminary scan before our entrance, and was leading this team personally. According to her report, the dungeon in question was filled with plant life. This did not cause us to relax our guard at all, as we knew just how dangerous certain species of plants could be. My class was Mage, and after some trial and error I managed to create Fire Magic with the help of Officer Bradbury. With this, I at least had some confidence going into this dungeon. Moreover, I was often praised within the crew for being the first among us to discover a field of this new magic. In the process of doing so, I was actually able to unlock the Sub-Class ¡®Researcher¡¯. Although it would have been nice to have a class that compliments my position within the crew, this is still a good role. When we entered the cave, we were greeted with a tunnel of thick foliage. These plants can¡¯t all be monsters, right? Looking to the Vice-Captain, she gave me a nod so I stepped forward, using a weak fire spell to send a ball of flame at the nearest batch of plants, before stepping back. We all watched that patch of plants as the flames burned at it for a few moments, waiting to see if it would have any hostile reaction. However, the plants offered no reactions, simply burning into ashes after a short while. This gave us both relief and concern, because we knew there had to be some monsters hidden among these plants. But now, they could be hiding anywhere, perfectly blending in. The warriors in the front of the party slowly advanced with their swords drawn, ready to strike at anything that moved. Behind the three warriors were a pair of gunslingers with a single hunter, who was accompanied by a large wolf. Behind them was my group, a pair of mages, a healer, and the Vice-Captain. Every now and then, the warriors in the front would chop away at a plant that was blocking their path, in order to clear a trail for us to move in. At first, we made it through three large rooms without encountering a single monster. However, in the fourth room, our troubles began. Roughly halfway through the fourth room, there was a scream from the front of the party. I wasn¡¯t able to see the source of it, because a large leaf from a plant had blocked my view, but the scream stopped abruptly. When I managed to get a clear line of sight to the front, I saw two fighters standing back to back, looking around and trying to find the source of the attacks. The third vanguard was nowhere to be seen. We waited there for over a minute, but there was no further attack. So, we continued forward. Just as we were nearing the end of the room, I caught a glimpse of thick vines shifting atop a tree that grew from the floor all the way into the ceiling. Before I could shout off a warning, those vines had already lunged out like a snake, and grabbed our team¡¯s healer. She barely had time to utter a cry before the vines yanked her into the air, and pulled her out of our view. The thought of saving her came to our minds, but the Vice-Captain told us that she had already been killed. Was it by design or chance that the vines targeted our healer? I do not know, but that was not the end of it. After reaching the hallway between the fourth and fifth rooms, we took a break, and I discussed a plan with the Vice-Captain in order to potentially clear out the next room. I had been developing a spell, which could potentially set the entire room on fire. However, I needed some time to properly prepare it, as this was my first attempt to cast it in actual combat. The Vice-Captain approved of my plan, and even gave me a small red bead, something she told me would make my fire spell even stronger if I used its energy. She said that was the only one she had, but this experiment would be worth it if it worked. With her approval, I moved to the entrance of the next room, and prepared my spell. As part of our lessons on magic, the Vice-Captain had told us that associating words and phrases with spells was a good method of memorizing them. I had chosen to use this method to prepare the spell, which if it worked properly would release a sea of fire in front of me. The phrase that I used for this spell was: ¡°Fires from the heart of the sun, flame that burns creation, manifest and devour all in your path.¡± I then said the name of the spell itself ¡°Emperor Flare¡±, while channeling the spell through that bead that the Vice-Captain had given me. The little red bead shattered, and flames exploded out in front of me, with an even greater strength than I had imagined. There was an audible roar, not from the plants being burnt, but by the sudden emergence of flames scorching the air. The fire continued burning for a long time, and we could not see anything within the room for over a half hour. I was amazed by the power of my own spell, but also exhausted. That single casting had taken every bit of my mana, and for some reason it was not recovering like it should have been. After another ten minutes, I discovered that it was not that my mana would not recover, but that the spell was still using it as fuel to continue burning. Thanks to that, I had no mana to do anything with, and my exhaustion from exerting so much energy would not fade away. However, the Vice-Captain nodded, seemingly satisfied by this experiment. Calming down, I tried to focus, and found a small link between the flames and myself, which was constantly draining away my mana. After severing that connection, the flames finally died out roughly another fifteen minutes later. We could finally see the results of nearly an hour of burning. As expected, most of the plants in the room had been reduced to ash, or would crumble up as soon as they were touched. However, a few plants remained untouched, as if the fire had never been there in the first place. One of these, which was also the perfect example, was a tall, three meter flower with red petals. Since it was not moving, we believed it to be safe. As such, the others began to move closer, wanting to pick it and take it back for the Captain or Officer Bradbury to put in their groves. If this was a rare plant that happened to be created here, that would only help us. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. During this, I stayed back, because my mana had yet to fully replenish. However, doing so allowed me to see what happened next. Very slowly, the petals on the flower began spreading apart, as if the flower itself were blooming. I shouted out a warning to them to be careful, but they didn¡¯t seem to notice. The moment the flower fully bloomed, I was utterly amazed. There was an explosion of fire almost identical to the one I had just released into the room. Aside from myself and the Vice-Captain who had stayed behind with me, the rest of the team were engulfed in these flames. The Vice-Captain next to me noted that this flower likely absorbed the essence of my fire spell, and stored it for a set amount of time before copying it. As far as she could tell, the flower was not a monster, but rather a special kind of flower able to mimic magic cast at it. After saying that, she suddenly flew into the flames. I didn¡¯t know if she had some method to survive in that hell, but sure enough, the flames stopped a few moments later. Where the large flower had been, the Vice-Captain was now standing with a proud smile. The flower itself was nowhere to be seen, likely meaning that she already collected it. Looking to me, she gave me the option of continuing forward alone with her, or ending the expedition here. Although I had gained a significant amount of experience from clearing out this room, and had even gained a couple of levels, I chose to continue forward. Really, I was the best suited for this dungeon out of our previous party, and I wanted to see if there were other unique plants that we could bring back to the ship. With only myself and the Vice-Captain here, I was forced to use my spells much more frequently. This helped to raise my skill level, as I became more accustomed to using my magic, and even managed to develop a few new spells. However, it also meant we had to take breaks much more frequently. Thanks to our continued journey deeper into the dungeon, we encountered many strange plants. There were some that emitted pink spores that caused me to hallucinate for a short period of time, some that responded to my fire magic with sprays of water, and some that even seemed to speak. However, the voice they used were either my own or the Vice-Captain¡¯s, and they did not say any words that we had not spoken ourselves, so we were easily able to spot them. Now, using the method of switching between my flames and the Vice-Captain attacking the hostile plants, we managed to work our way to the boss room. This is where things really got complicated. Before we entered the room, the Vice-Captain ran an initial scan to see what we would be up against. From her information, all of the plants in the next room would actually be a single, massive entity. As such, it would be entirely possible that an attack could come from any direction. And since some of the plant bodies were naturally underground, I could not even use my ¡®Emperor Flare¡¯ to destroy the boss in one go. At this point, the Vice-Captain chose to explain something to me regarding my magic, as she deemed it would help us in our coming fight. Until now, I thought that Fire Magic was all about unleashing fire to damage the enemy, like how the Captain or Officer Bradbury fought. However, she explained that that was only the druid method. The mage method of Fire Magic was able to create any effects conceptually associated with fire, based on the user¡¯s imagination. After that, she told me to take all the time I needed to prepare a new spell before we fight the boss. Though, I did not know what I wanted to create. If I was not limited by just blasting fire around, then what would I make? I spent a little over an hour sitting down and thinking of the perfect spell that could burn away a massive plant all at once. In the end, I did come up with something, but had to focus for a little while to figure out how to make it work. My plan was to create a spell with all of my mana, which embeds itself in my target and spreads throughout the entire thing before activating, burning every scrap of it together. The idea for this spell came to me because I thought about cooking. When cooking, it is often best to make sure to evenly heat the entire meal as you prepare it, so that no part is left uncooked. Naturally, this kind of spell fit me the best. The Vice-Captain also seemed to agree with this method, and offered me a reassuring smile. Before we entered the boss room, I went ahead and prepared my spell. Again, I used the method of associating it with a phrase to memorize it properly. This time¡¯s phrase was: ¡°Fires that can burn the world, solar flares of pure destruction, spread, defy, destroy.¡± As I said the name of the spell, which I decided to call ¡°Kitchen Fire¡±, a red ball of light formed in my hand. I pushed every ounce of mana I had into it before moving with the Vice-Captain to enter the next room. This room seemed almost identical to the last few, with a variety of plants scattered throughout the area. However, the ones here were even more densely packed, which only served to make them a better target. I randomly tossed the red sphere in my hand at one of the plants, and watched as it sank into it without leaving a trace. I could feel as the magic spread throughout the room, and waited to watch it engulf everything in fire. I wasn¡¯t sure if the Vice-Captain had already considered the weakness of my spell, but I only learned about it after casting. Apparently, the size of the target determines how powerful the flames are. Since this one had to spread throughout the entire room before activating¡­ there was only a small puff of smoke as the spell activated its final step. Before I could even react, I had been pierced through by over a dozen sharp roots that shot out from the ground, and felt as they quickly ripped me apart for my attempted attack. Well, at least this wasn¡¯t a total loss. I managed to learn a good spell for cooking, and got quite a few levels. End of Report. Chapter 113: Beat Me to It. Author¡¯s Corner: Welcome to another random rambling of author-sama!
So, I¡¯m sure everyone is tired about hearing about my gradual recovery. I¡¯ll try to keep this short. There really wasn¡¯t a whole lot for me to do while we were at Hydra anyways. For the first three weeks, I was still fidgety, and could only occupy my time by playing with either Chrome or Jasmine, or by reading reports on the dungeons. After that, I started to get better. I was still not allowed, or interested in going down to the dungeons myself, but at least I could go five minutes by myself without screaming at the air. We made a nice little bamboo fountain out of one of the arrow vines from my grove. Not only did it help with a constant background noise, it even made my room look a little nicer. After the fifth week, I was almost all the way better. I mean, I still had nightmares, and would get twitchy if I was by myself too long, but my only real panic came at the most embarrassing moment. Because I¡¯m such a nice guy, naturally I¡¯ll tell you all about it. After a long night of dungeon diving, Sharon and Yin decided to watch a holo-movie with me in my room. About halfway through it, Sharon suddenly hit the pause button so that she could go to the bathroom. However, she didn¡¯t say so before hand, so all I saw was the movie suddenly freezing. Although it was only a mild panic attack, they did have to calm me down for a couple minutes. I swear, I¡¯m getting better, honest. After two months had passed, the boredom started to settle in. I wanted to go do something productive, instead of just reading reports on the different dungeons. So, that¡¯s exactly what I did. Well, sort of. I didn¡¯t go down and fight monsters or anything, I just got to work on enchanting items. I wanted to make sure that everyone in the crew had at least one enchanted accessory to boost stats. Of course, half of these accessories were lost in the following month, due to people taking them down to boost their abilities in the dungeon. But still, it gave me something to do, and helped me to practice something I¡¯ve been needing practice with. At first, they were just metal rings formed from the ores in my grove. However, Yang began making rings from bones she collected in her dungeon runs, so I would work on those as well. Speaking of Yang, she has been coping quite well with going down to the dungeon. Since she is a crafting class, she was unable to get experience from it, but she was still able to watch the fights and collect the resources. Yang was definitely not the leader of her team, as she had someone else in the group take care of that, but at least she wasn¡¯t hiding from it. The worst that happened was I caught Yin having to comfort her after one of their first runs, because she was scared of what had happened. Yin herself had actually done much better, surprising me with how well she could lead a group with her reluctance to speak long sentences. Out of all of them, her team had the lowest death rate, usually no more than one or two per run. According to the reports I read, any time a situation looked dire, she would step in at the last second and prevent a fatal strike from landing. Those that did manage to die in her team often did so because of either friendly fire or an ambush. Yo¡­ well, she let someone else lead her party and was just having fun ¡®playing¡¯ with the dungeon monsters after we got a soul core for her to clone herself into. Unlike us, she actually had to put her entire body into a large cylinder so that she didn¡¯t spill out when she relaxed. Aside from that, though, her clone worked much like anyone else¡¯s. She even managed to absorb one of the monsters from the boss room of the ¡®goblin¡¯ dungeon, the ettin. Seeing her turn into a giant, two headed slime woman was¡­ I¡¯ll just leave that out. She was still as affectionate as ever, even in that form.... Now, as for the dungeons themselves. We made a total of ten of them. Two of them became plant dungeons, which was not surprising given the fact that plants seemed to be much more abundant on this world compared to animals. One turned into the goblin dungeon I mentioned before. One actually became an undead dungeon, filled with skeletons on the first floor with a zombie boss. That one wasn¡¯t very difficult, but the second floor was a mix of zombies and ghosts, the latter required magic to deal with. Another dungeon spawned rock-based creatures, much like I had encountered in NeoLife. Then there was the lizard dungeon, the fire dungeon, the water dungeon, and the weirdest of them all¡­ the demon dungeon. In the demon dungeon, all of the creatures had at least rudimentary intelligence, and some even spawned with weapons, or used methods to make them themselves. Creatures weren¡¯t really spawning around us, so we weren¡¯t able to tell, or get the readings I had wanted. Since we couldn¡¯t get the readings, Celeste modified the scanning device. Rather than something the group carried, they placed them inside the dungeons, and they would scan constantly, taking note of when the mana began condensing. To power them, Celeste rigged them to run on the ambient mana of the dungeons themselves. With those, we began to get semi-regular results. She had the results automatically sent to a terminal she set up in my lab on the planet, powered by a few elemental seeds to keep it running. The rest of the seeds were brought up to me. Now¡­ is there anything else I¡¯m forgetting¡­ While we were here, Celeste has been gradually teaching me the language of the people we are visiting next. From her information, they are a powerful psychic race known as the Ha¡¯vosh. In NeoLife, almost every Ha¡¯vosh is born with at least two psychic powers, sometimes even more. One is almost always rudimentary telepathy, while the others vary as much as other psychic powers. It would not surprise me if we found a Toybox owner or two among them. I think, with that, I¡¯ve caught you all up with where we are now. The last of our crew members have just gotten back from their final dungeon runs, and we are taking one day of rest before we leave for the Ha¡¯vosh homeworld. As for me, I am leaning back away from a pile of bone rings I just finished enchanting with extra strength and agility, while thinking about the things that had happened lately. ¡°John?¡± I hear Celeste speaking up from behind me, and turn around to find the Deus Ex waiting at my door. I wasn¡¯t in my quarters right now, but instead in an empty room I had repurposed for my enchanting and alchemy experiments. It¡¯s good to be captain. And yes, I have another bamboo fountain in here, too. Though, the two headed dog sitting between my feet was an even better anchor for my sanity. ¡°Can I come in?¡± ¡°Sure, what¡¯s up?¡± I could see a bit of a troubled expression on Celeste¡¯s face, her brows furrowed slightly in thought. ¡°There an issue with the lab or something?¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Ah, no, nothing like that. Well.. maybe not. It¡¯s probably completely unrelated.¡± ¡°Slow down¡­ what¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± She took a deep breath, more likely to calm herself than to actually breathe, because of the fact she doesn¡¯t breathe in the first place. ¡°It¡¯s this planet. I got curious, so I did some calculations.¡± ¡°And¡­?¡± ¡°I plotted its location three thousand years in the future, and cross-referenced it with the star maps I had memorized. I found out where it will be, when the players begin arriving in the future.¡± ¡°Again, and?¡± Not really sure what she was getting at, but I didn¡¯t think I was going to like it. ¡°Well¡­ we¡¯ve been here before. You and I have, specifically.¡± She said, still looking a bit nervous. ¡°Celeste¡­ What is this planet¡­?¡± Okay, now I was starting to get nervous. Not in a panicky sort of way, I checked. But still. ¡°You remember that jungle planet we crashed into¡­? Where we met that dryad, Arianne?¡± ¡°Wait, you¡¯re not saying¡­¡± I subconsciously looked to a nearby wall, as if the planet we were orbiting around was just behind it. ¡°Yeah, this is the same planet. Obviously, it¡¯s not been overrun yet, so it is still relatively safe. As safe as any other planet these days.¡± ¡°I hate time travel¡­¡± I shook my head, thinking this through. ¡°I read Fallem¡¯s report about the first floor of the plant dungeon you guys visited early on. Thanks again for the specimens, by the way.¡± The unique plants they had brought me were sitting on their own little island in my grove, waiting to be studied. ¡°So¡­ we come on this voyage, gather a crew, find a planet to train them on. But, that planet¡¯s dungeon then spawns something that escapes, and over time takes over the entire planet. The same planet which I then crash land on three thousand years in the future.¡± ¡°And meet a naked plant lady, yes.¡± She added in that last part to tease me, I just knew it. Chrome yipped at her, and I mentally cheered him on. At least someone is on my side. ¡°And meet a naked plant lady. But still, awfully big coincidence. But, if this is indeed the same planet, then we should be halfway between the elven homeworld and the Klax, correct?¡± She nodded her head slightly. ¡°That¡¯s right. They haven¡¯t been one of the nearest races to us yet, so I haven¡¯t brought them up. But yeah, they¡¯re about half a year away from this planet.¡± ¡°We won¡¯t be going there anyways.¡± I shook my head. It wasn¡¯t just because the Klax were a warmongering species, or that they literally bled acid and looked like a monster straight out of a horror movie franchise. No, why would you think that? It¡¯s because we don¡¯t have a reliable means of communication with them. Since they speak in clicking tones, only Celeste would be able to carry on a conversation with them. Hearing my reasoning mentally, Celeste put on a knowing smile. ¡°Very well, Captain. Is there anything else you need before I return to my duties?¡± ¡°No, that¡¯ll be all.¡± I said, before remembering something ¡°Wait, no. I still need you here for a minute. Some research I¡¯ve been meaning to conduct.¡± ¡°On Glenda, right?¡± ¡°....Glenda?¡± ¡°My G-series modular cannon. I named her Glenda.¡± Celeste smiled brightly, skipping over to me and showing me the thick metal bracer. ¡°Yes¡­. On Glenda. Unless you¡¯ve conducted your own tests?¡± I looked up at the Deus Ex, who looked away innocently. With a reluctant sigh, I shook my head and asked. ¡°What did you find?¡± ¡°A soul.¡± She said, starting to show some surprise as we got onto this subject. ¡°Using your Soul Arts, I found that Glenda had a soul. Not only that, all of her enchantments seemed to merge together into one. It was so cool!¡± ¡°And did you get any ideas on how to make our own ¡®soul weapon¡¯?¡± Celeste furrowed her brows in thought again, and then gave a slight nod. ¡°If we give an intelligence enchantment to an item, it should be capable of holding a soul. Not an intelligence boost, but an actual intelligence. Take a look, you¡¯ll see what I mean.¡± She said as she held her wrist out again. Nodding, I extended my Mana Sense to observe the cannon in its inactive form. ¡°Her name is Glenda.¡± Celeste corrected my thoughts. Sorry, Glenda¡¯s state. Like she said, there were various enchantments, but they seemed to be all mixed together. And there was one part of the aura that seemed to be the center of everything else, and was unlike anything I¡¯ve ever seen. Well¡­ not quite anything, but I¡¯ve never seen it in an aura before. It looks like¡­ ¡°It looks like a neural map, right? I think this is the basis of her intelligence. Without this, it would be meaningless to give an item a soul.¡± I glanced up at her suspiciously after she said that, and she again looked away before admitting something else. ¡°I kinda already tried. I had Yang make me a bone dagger, and enchanted it with a fire spell. Then, I tried adding a soul to it. The soul went in, but nothing changed. The aura grew stronger after killing monsters with it, so it was getting some experience, but it wasn¡¯t showing any signs of growth like Glenda does. When I kill enough creatures with Glenda, she has the ability to make new effects based on her enchantments. An intelligence enchantment is probably needed for that.¡± I really didn¡¯t know what to say next, so only gave a defeated sigh. ¡°You know, I was really looking forward to doing that research myself¡­¡± Celeste giggled lightly, but shook her head. ¡°Nope. You were too down lately to do it. If I just waited for you, I didn¡¯t know how long it¡¯d take. And I was really curious. So I checked it out on my own. And before you ask, no I don¡¯t know how to do the intelligence enchantment. I¡¯ve got some ideas, but¡­¡± ¡°The simplest would be either to create an AI and convert it into a magical formula, or to write an artificial intelligence in runes, right?¡± I asked, and she nodded. ¡°Either one of those would be hard, but the last one would require an insane amount of mana to activate. Easily the tens of thousands.¡± ¡°Right. I¡¯ve already started work compiling some basic AIs on my terminal. Keeping them entirely separated from the network as a safety precaution, don¡¯t even have the terminal itself connected to the ship¡¯s systems. They are basic, low level learning AIs. Should be around the same level as the one you had in your house back on Earth. The problem is converting them to an enchantment.¡± I nodded my head at that, starting to think on it. ¡°We¡¯ll come up with something, I¡¯m sure.¡± I reached down and picked up my adorable little two headed dog and put him in my lap. Good boy, Chrome. Good boy. ¡°Is it just me, or are we actively trying to break the system?¡± Celeste grinned slightly at that remark. ¡°Well, it¡¯s just payback. The system did try to break us first, right?¡± Chapter 114: Children of Science and Magic Author¡¯s Corner: And we¡¯re off to see the chapter, this mediocre chapter today!
For the record, I have the best girlfriends in the world. Just wanted to point that out there. When I was recovering from my post-traumatic stress, they were there for me. If I needed anything, they would help. And after it was all over, they gave me another gift. ¡°Well¡­ you were in that bubble a long time, right?¡± Sharon said with a slightly mischievous smile. After I nodded, she continued. ¡°So, you must have missed a lot of birthdays.¡± Another nod, confused as to where she was going with this. ¡°By Celeste¡¯s count, we have a hundred and sixty seven birthdays to catch up on.¡± ¡°Where are you going with this?¡± I asked, still confused. ¡°Well¡­ Yin and I talked about it, and this is going to be a fairly long trip. Plus, we have to make the trip back when we¡¯re done. So, for the next hundred and sixty seven days, you are the birthday boy.¡± She giggled lightly, while Yin simply nodded, determination showing in her eyes. ¡°Birthday boy¡­¡± Yin spoke up, moving to hug me from behind, pressing her weight against my back. Okay, I was really liking this so far. ¡°Hope you don¡¯t mean for me to have half a year¡¯s worth of birthday cake.¡± I smiled to Sharon. ¡°No, but you can get your presents.¡± She added a wink at the end of her words, and thus started my very enjoyable trip to the world of the Ha¡¯vosh. When the girls weren¡¯t occupying my time, I would experiment with my enchanting. In all honesty, there was a very easy way to convert the AIs to a magical formation. It just hasn¡¯t been invented yet. I thought back to the Soft Stick that I had seen in NeoLife, which was capable of taking a program from a computer and convert it to a magic formation. If I could create something like that, then transferring an AI to an enchantment would be fairly simple. Unfortunately¡­ I had no idea how to do it. After thinking about it for a while, Celeste chimed into my head. ¡°I can make a soft stick, if I get the materials. The problem is that it requires ten grams of mithril. The rest of the materials we have on hand.¡± Okay¡­ mithril. Didn¡¯t I have some of that in my grove? I recalled back to when I was on the elven worlds, and I had noted some mithril in my grove. That was over six months ago, so the amount of mithril should have increased since then. Diving into my grove had become more of a second nature to me these days, and I quickly found that platinum vein. As I had expected, the previous five grams of mithril had turned into five ounces. Even if we wanted to create ten soft sticks, this would be plenty. Pulling out a small amount of the mithril, I placed it above ground. I was surprised to find the long-forgotten pile of gear on the second grove planetoid. These were all items I had gotten nearly around a year ago fighting Legion. Some of them I had never even-- Is that a soft stick¡­? Seriously, I felt like sulking when I learned there was already a soft stick in the pile of tech that I had randomly deposited there. There were a couple of force field vests, plasma guns, beam swords, even a true laser pistol. I felt a bit depressed when I thought about how long this gear has been in here, completely forgotten. Anyways, I pulled the soft stick out with the raw mithril. I didn¡¯t even feel up to refining it at this point. ¡°Eh? You already had one¡­ Why didn¡¯t you say so?¡± Celeste delivered the final, critical blow to my self-esteem. ¡°Let¡¯s just do this¡­ What item do you want to practice on?¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± The AI thought about it for five whole seconds. I know, right? Five seconds can take forever! ¡°The magical girl wand! I want to see what an item bestowed by the gods would be like if we granted it a soul.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ but does it have any attack abilities? Well¡­ it might not matter so long as you have it equipped when you fight monsters. I guess it will be interesting.¡± I walked off to head for Celeste¡¯s room, where she said she had the AIs stored on a terminal. This was actually my first time going to her room since we arrived on the Ariadne. When I arrived at her room¡­ to say I was surprised by the scenery would be an understatement. There were books everywhere. She had a rustic looking wooden shelf full of books, and there was another pile next to the shelves. Off in the corner by the bed were two computers. Each had a sign clearly above them, one saying ¡®online¡¯ and the other ¡®offline¡¯. Guess she wanted to make sure she never mixed them up? ¡°What rainforest died for you to decorate your room¡­?¡± I asked, still a bit in awe over the books. She must have made a printing press or something for her to print those. ¡°Hmm? Oh, Sharon was sweet enough to donate a few trees for me. Now, let¡¯s get started!¡± The Deus Ex jumped up from her pink bed and walked over towards me. She was wearing a pair of blue pajamas with stars all over them, an outfit I also hadn¡¯t seen before. ¡°First, we need to transfer one of the AI programs over to the bracelet. I can handle that part. After that, you can take the soft stick and copy the program, then use it for an enchantment.¡± After getting my approval for the plan, she skipped over to her offline terminal, and talked to it. ¡°Hey guys~! No time to play right now. Can Chelsea come out for a minute?¡± I was surprised to see her talking to her computer rather than going through files, but what surprised me more was the response. ¡°Aww¡­ but we never get to play anymore.¡± The voice sounded like a young girl, no older than ten years old. ¡°That¡¯s alright, Chelsea. I¡¯m going to move you to a much better home, and then we can play a lot. Deal?¡± Celeste talked to her in a sweet tone. ¡°Alright, mommy!¡± My brain kind of broke there for a second, but I guess it makes sense. These AI would essentially be Celeste¡¯s children. ¡°Good girl. Now, sweety, can you open up your core files for mommy? I need to transfer you real fast.¡± As she spoke this time, her wrist opened up, and a long wire slowly came out. She then plugged the end of the wire into her computer. ¡°O-okay mommy. Here I go.¡± There was a flash on the screen, but it seemed like Celeste was downloading the files. My head felt fuzzy for just a second as the program was transferred over the mental link, then converted for the companion bracelet. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. After she unplugged herself from the computer, Celeste looked at me with a slight smile. ¡°It¡¯s a waste to just let them wait until they are needed to be activated, so I made a few of them at once and activated them. Now I go in and play games with them every now and then, or read them stories. Chelsea¡¯s a sweet girl, evolved into a personality of an innocent little daughter. Perfect for the magical girl wand, right?¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡± I honestly never expected any of that. I figured that Celeste would make a few variations of a default AI program and leave them inactive. But, turning them on to interact with each other would eventually give rise to individual personalities. Even if the programs themselves aren¡¯t more advanced than what I used for my home AI, the personalities would be more varied. Anyways! Holding up the soft stick to the bracelet, I copied the program over. We now had the artificial intelligence in a magical form. Celeste pulled out the magical girl wand and handed it over to me. Looking at her, I spoke up. ¡°We¡¯ll need to give it a communication enchantment if you still want to be able to talk to her.¡± Celeste nodded her head slightly. ¡°I can take care of that. I¡¯ll be leveling her up after we¡¯re done, since I have a lot of buffer saved up from the dungeon runs. I¡¯ll transfer some over to her.¡± I agreed to that, and looked down at the soft stick in my hands. Using my Aura Sight, I could clearly see the aura of magic on it that contained Chelsea¡¯s program. Now I just needed to pull it out carefully, and combine it with the aura of the magical girl wand. Looking up at Celeste, I knew that I had to take this very carefully. After all, this was essentially her daughter, and if I messed it up she would be lost. I didn¡¯t know if Celeste kept a backup of her just in case, but I couldn¡¯t really risk it. Using the Metal Manipulation, I made a circular indentation in the floor, and set both the soft stick and the wand inside of it. With this, and me filling the circle with mana, that should contain the aura if it tries to break out. Next, I began carefully wrapping the aura for Chelsea¡¯s program up with my mana. I did not want to try to take it piece by piece, because I might put it back together wrong. The only way I could do this was all at once. Once I had my little bubble of mana around Chelsea, I very slowly began moving it over to the magical girl wand. I was surprised to find a large empty area of the aura near the plastic heart, and placed the AI aura inside of it. From there, I began grabbing the nearby strands of aura from the wand, and interwove them with the AI. When I was done, and sure that I had gotten it as well as I could, I pulled back my Mana Sense to look at what had changed. The pink heart of the wand seemed a little brighter, but aside from that it was normal. Celeste, knowing that I was finished, grabbed up the wand and pulled it into a hug. ¡°There we are, all better now. Do you want to stick around and watch the next part?¡± She asked the last bit while looking at me, so I nodded. Celeste held up the wand, and closed her eyes. At first, I couldn¡¯t tell what she was doing, so I activated Aura Sight again. I saw that a small number of runes were flowing along her arm and into the wand itself. From the ones I saw, I could make out runes such as ¡®voice¡¯ and ¡®listen¡¯. On a normal item, an enchantment like this would be meaningless, because an item without a mind can¡¯t speak or hear, even if it is granted the ability to do so. After the runes were done flowing, she lowered the wand again, looking at it with eyes full of expectation. ¡°You in there, Chelsea?¡± ¡­ For a while, there was no answer, and I started to think that I had messed up with my ¡®transplant¡¯. Even Celeste seemed to have water forming at the edge of her eyes, before a young and cheery voice spoke up from the wand. ¡°I¡¯m here, mommy! This is so cool. What am I now?¡± ¡°You¡¯re still Chelsea, baby. Still mommy¡¯s little girl.¡± She spoke softly, stroking the heart of the wand with her fingers. ¡°Now, let¡¯s see about making you even cooler.¡± Again she closed her eyes in focus, and even without the Aura Sight, I knew that she was transferring some of her buffer aura over to the wand. If this step worked, then this might be the first manmade item with both a mind and a soul. Well, sort of manmade. The item itself still came from a god, but we supplied both the mind and soul! I decided to stick around and wait until this was done, but there was not a lot happening. With how still Celeste was being while she transferred her aura over, I began to get fidgety for a minute before she finally finished. Of course, the only indication I had of this was when the wand started speaking again. ¡°Oh! Mommy, mommy! I¡¯ve got new options! It¡¯s asking me to choose how I want to level up!¡± The wand spoke excitedly. ¡°Oh? What choices are you getting?¡± Celeste asked curiously. ¡°It¡¯s letting me choose to develop either my mana storage, transformation, or communication enchantments. What should I pick, mommy?¡± Celeste thought it over, but ultimately decided to have Chelsea play with the transformation ability. From there we learned that Chelsea could either design a different transformation power for the wand, or give basic special abilities to Celeste while she was transformed. So far, the only advanced abilities that Celeste would get were sonic attacks and the ability to absorb magic attacks. For this time, she went with the sonic attacks, but promised Chelsea that they¡¯d play more and get another upgrade soon. It seems that items level up similarly to Deus Ex, but their upgrades are limited by what enchantments they have. Also, after we were done, Celeste did her transformation again to test it out. This time, when she transformed, she looked almost exactly the same as her last time in this form, except the wand had transformed into a microphone. ¡°Oh great¡­ first a magical girl, now she¡¯s a pop idol.¡± I shook my head, resigning myself to this fate. No doubt soon she¡¯d be hosting ship-wide concerts with how she was looking at her new ¡®weapon¡¯. Chapter 115: Adjusting Author¡¯s Corner: When life gives you lemons, squeeze them and throw the juice back in life¡¯s eyes so that you can steal life¡¯s wallet while he¡¯s doubled over in pain.
After leaving Celeste¡¯s room, knowing full well that she was about to start practicing karaoke with her new mic-- need I remind you all that thing is technically a weapon-- I wandered around the ship for a bit. It felt good to get up and just stretch my legs, though I did end up eventually setting a destination for myself. Seeing Celeste and her AI children got me thinking about my own illegitimate offspring. ¡°Daddy!¡± A certain slime girl launched out of her room and gave me a tight hug as soon as I walked up to her door. Right¡­ gotta remember that they can still sort of sense me through the companion link... Still, it was different for her to call me ¡®daddy¡¯ instead of ¡®papa¡¯. Maybe this was a result of her not being around me as much lately? She used to always sleep in my bed, until Sharon and Yin took over that job. Now she has a room for herself. Speaking of which¡­ ¡°Hey, Yo. I haven¡¯t had the chance to see your room yet, and thought I¡¯d stop by.¡± Hearing that, Yo puffed her cheeks out slightly, which made me laugh because they actually formed bubbles on the sides of her face. ¡°If I knew daddy was coming by, I would have cleaned up! It¡¯s still a mess!¡± Well, her speech seems to be maturing a bit, so that¡¯s good. ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± I said, reaching up and patting her head. ¡°Can¡¯t be as bad as my room when I was your age.¡± And that was true. When I was only a year old, my room was a royal mess! Or so I have been told. Yo gave a slight nod and stepped out of the way so that I could enter her room. When she said a mess¡­. She really meant a mess.The entire room was covered in¡­ well¡­ Yo. Slime was dripping from the walls, the ceiling, everywhere. If she wasn¡¯t standing right next to me, I would have assumed she exploded in the center of her bedroom. ¡°Okay¡­ maybe I was wrong.¡± After I said that absently, Yo again puffed out her cheeks. However, the frustrated response was entirely lost when the bubbled cheeks refused to hold their shape and popped. ¡°I told you so!¡± She said, grabbing my hand and pulling me back out of her room. ¡°So, how are you today, daddy? Mom said you were starting to feel better?¡± ¡°M-mom?¡± I couldn¡¯t help stuttering that word out. ¡°Uhm¡­ Yo¡­ who is ¡®Mom¡¯?¡± ¡°Mommy is mom, silly! Auntie Celeste told me that mommy was the one that daddy sleeps with. That¡¯s why I¡¯m not allowed to sleep with daddy anymore. I¡¯m lucky, most people only get one mom, but I have two!¡± She said that last part with a small hop and a wide smile. ¡°Uh¡­ right.¡± Okay, so she meant Yin and Sharon¡­ good¡­ was sort of afraid that Celeste would put it in her head that she was the mom. ¡°Anyways, did you like going down to the planet? You seemed to have fun in the reports I read.¡± ¡°Yup! The ¡®dungeons¡¯ were fun! Though¡­ the ghosts hurt.. I didn¡¯t like playing with them. Auntie Celeste also said I shouldn¡¯t, so I only played in the others.¡± I furrowed my brows at that, but Celeste provided me an explanation. The ghosts in the undead dungeon were capable of attacks directly against the target¡¯s soul. That damage would spread back to the main body if it wasn¡¯t treated, and we didn¡¯t have very many people capable of treating it. I¡¯d have to make a note of that next time, only send teams to that dungeon when they are capable of safely handling the second level. ¡°Are you getting along with the crew okay? Making any friends?¡± Okay, I had to at least try to act like a dad to Yo, once in awhile. She was technically my daughter, right? I haven¡¯t been very fatherly to her lately, and I had to admit that I missed her while I was in the time bubble. ¡°Mmmuuu¡­ no¡­¡± Yo slows down her walking speed, pouting slightly. ¡°They are all so serious, and never have any time to play. The only time we get to have fun together was down in the dungeons, but everyone is still so serious down there.¡± I stepped back to match her new pace, rubbing her back lightly. Since her ¡®clothes¡¯ were still made out of slime, I was pretty much rubbing her bare back, and this has absolutely nothing at all to do with what I was saying so let¡¯s move on. ¡°That¡¯s okay. In the next planet, maybe we can find someone for you to play with?¡± To be honest, I suddenly had the idea of testing out what would happen if an item with a soul but no intelligence was eaten by a slime like Yo. Would she be treated as the consciousness of the weapon? Likewise, if she ate a weapon with both a soul and a mind, would the mind coexist with her, or would she override it? While I wanted to know the answers to these questions, I couldn¡¯t ask her to undergo such dangerous experiments. Naturally, that meant I would do them myself. After all, I had Celeste in my head to fight off an invading mind. Would not be the first time it happened, and her AI is far more advanced than anything we would be using for the test. The problem was that I had no buffer. I had an easy, and somewhat cheap method to make one, but I wasn¡¯t sure if it¡¯d work. ¡°I¡¯d like that.¡± Yo smiled at me, leaning over and hugging me tight. And when I say tight, I meant she was starting to mold around me before she let go. So, mental note. Ask Sharon if she has uncovered any monster combinations with her summoning magic. If not, use Celeste¡¯s data to create monsters, and farm them for experience. Slow, but effective. ¡°Noted.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice chimed up in my head after that thought. Thank you mental notepad. ¡°Okay, that¡¯s settled then! So, what do you usually do around here for fun?¡± I was somewhat hesitant about asking that question after seeing what her room looked like, but I figured this was part of the father thing. ¡°Hmm¡­ usually I just play games. But sometimes when I get bored I¡¯ll bounce around¡­¡± As she said that, she actually changed her body into a ball, about one meter in diameter, and bounced a few feet in the air. So that¡¯s where the slime came from¡­ ¡°Ah¡­ We really need to get you some playmates.¡± I smiled slightly to her, and we spoke a bit longer before parting ways. My next stop had to be Yang. I had spoken to her a few times briefly since I came back from Hydra, unlike Yo, but I hadn¡¯t had a proper conversation with her yet. Naturally, when looking for Yang, my first stop was the hydroponics lab. I expected to find her singing under a tree like she usually is, but to my surprise she was nowhere to be seen. I asked the elf in charge of the lab, and it seemed like Yang hadn¡¯t been there all day. As such, I could only call Yin and ask her where her sister was. It turns out that Yang was in the cargo bay, working on her nature crafting. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Making my way there, I found the angelic woman kneeling on the floor, her four wings spread out around her as she leaned forward. From the entrance, I could hear her singing soft, sad notes to herself. Yin was sitting on a bench against the wall, near the door that I came in at. ¡°She¡¯s been spending most of her time in here since the dungeons.¡± She spoke quietly, not wanting to disturb Yang. I nodded my head to the human-shaped stormbird, and made my way to Yang. ¡°You okay, there?¡± I heard a low sniffle, before she turned her head to face me. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m fine, Master. I¡¯m just working on my skills.¡± Looking in front of her, I did see a wide assortment of materials. Bones that seemed to have shaped themselves into daggers, swords, or shields. Wooden armor, leather, even a large bone axe. And more than a few rings made of plants, hide, and bone. Sitting down next to her, I reached out and gently stroked one of her wings. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s wrong? Are you upset about having to go down to the dungeons?¡± I asked softly, trying my best to console her. Her response was a slight nod, so I continued. ¡°You didn¡¯t like seeing all the fighting, right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­ well¡­ not entirely that, but yes. It¡¯s just¡­ Master, everyone is so willing to die¡­ Even¡­ even if they are fake bodies¡­ they are still life. It¡¯s like they don¡¯t care¡­ I just¡­ I don¡¯t understand it.¡± From this, it seemed like Yang was starting to mature mentally as well. At least her conversation skills were getting better. Thinking about what she said, though¡­ she does have a point. Once we get in those clone bodies, we recklessly endanger ourselves. I should know better than anyone that being in a clone does not mean you are necessarily safe. There are any number of ways to kill someone from a clone body. Soul attacks, mental domination, or heaven forbid time control. Any one of these could completely kill or incapacitate someone through a clone, without giving them a second chance. ¡°I see¡­¡± I said, still petting her wing. It seemed to calm her a bit to do that. I can¡¯t really say that we¡¯ll stop doing that, seeing as how I¡¯m the chief offender, and have already made plans for another reckless experiment in the near future. ¡°Your clone hasn¡¯t died yet, has it? If I remember right, you never actually entered the fights.¡± Yang nodded her head, so I continued. ¡°It¡¯s not so much that they are willing to die. You still feel every bit of pain you normally would when your clone is killed, if you don¡¯t manage to log out in time. Naturally, people will do their best to avoid that pain.¡± I myself was likely an exception to this. Not because I had some incredible tolerance to pain¡­ but more because I¡¯m a gamer. I¡¯ve been recklessly endangering my life since I was a teenager. Going into high level dungeons alone, and dying repeatedly just to get one good item to sell, even if the game had a high pain setting. To me, I guess that death just doesn¡¯t mean the same thing when I know it isn¡¯t final. I can see myself panicking if my main body is put in that kind of danger, but if it¡¯s a clone I will calmly do insanely dangerous things for almost no reason at all. ¡°Then¡­ then what is it?¡± She asked, her voice shaking as she set down the misshapen bone ring she was working on. ¡°It¡¯s more that they want to do whatever it takes to get stronger. Before we went to Hydra, this crew was a joke in terms of strength. Most of them barely had levels higher than ten, and some hadn¡¯t even gotten their class yet. They were chosen to be part of this crew based on their loyalty and their skill. Just one of Sharon¡¯s wolves would have been enough to tear through this entire ship before.¡± ¡°But, because they were willing to endure the pain, they were able to grow stronger. We¡¯re out here because we want to save other worlds. But the elves¡­ they are out here because they want to save their families.¡± I looked back towards Yin. ¡°Tell me, if Yin or I were in danger, and you were the only one that could help, wouldn¡¯t you be willing to put up with any level of pain to save us?¡± I saw Yin smile to me as I asked that question, and Yang slightly nodded her head. ¡°Yes, Master¡­ Of course¡­ whatever it took. You two¡­ are too special. I don¡¯t want to lose you.¡± For the first time since I entered the cargo bay, Yang made a large movement. The wing I had been petting extended slightly, moving to wrap around my body and pull me closer to her. Reaching over, I slid my arm around her waist and gave her a hug. ¡°We all have something we can do to help. For us, it is to fight and grow stronger so that we can protect you. But for you, it is to make the items and equipment that will be protecting us.¡± Yang lifted her head, looking at me with her bloodshot eyes. Likely, she¡¯s been dealing with this for a while. I had expected Yin to give her the pep talk, but that might be hard for the taciturn bird girl. Yang, however, nodded her head with resolution and stood up, bringing her hands up to wipe the tears from her face. ¡°Yes¡­ I¡­ I¡¯ll protect you, Master.¡± The angelic woman smiled after saying that, her wings stretching out to their full lengths as she brought her hands up together at her chest. When she sang this time, they were no longer sad notes, but light, determined ones. Her voice echoed through the cargo bay as if she were her own choir, a soft and sweet voice that lingered on. The items in front of her began to shift slowly in response to her new tune. The bone rings became more smoothe, the swords sharper. Vines wove together in the wood armor like muscles to support their frames. Even the staffs seemed to become more firm and solid under her direction. I wasn¡¯t quite sure how she was using her voice to convey her magic, and was especially curious how she was doing so with so many items at the same time. Using my Aura Sight, I saw Yang as a beacon of light, which pulsed with every sound she made. This light wove through the air all around her, but ultimately sent itself into the many items laid out before her. This was the power of a Nature Craftsman, and it seemed like Yang was finally willing to accept that. Looking back at Yin, she was closing her eyes and nodding her head in time with the rhythm, her legs swaying softly. I wasn¡¯t able to understand the words that Yang was speaking, since they seemed more like exaggerated humming to me, but it seemed her sister knew. When I moved over to sit next to her, Yin spoke up without opening her eyes. ¡°She¡¯s singing about you.¡± Her hand moved over to my own, grabbing it lightly as we listened to Yang¡¯s song. Chapter 116: Bokken Author¡¯s Corner: Imagine that there is a witty remark here. Go on, do it. Good, now enjoy the chapter.
Yin and I sat there listening to Yang¡¯s song until it was over. When it was done, she turned back to us and lightly smiled. The equipment that she had been working on seemed much more powerful than before, even without any of the enchantments on them yet. ¡°I¡¯m done, Master.¡± She then stepped aside to let me collect and inspect the gear. As I had expected, this looked like higher level equipment you would normally find in a game wielded by nature-oriented classes. Although I knew their true power was fairly weak right now because of the materials, each one had been strengthened to the limits of Yang¡¯s ability. In particular, a wooden sword seemed interesting to me. Its shape was like that of a katana, which made it a bokken. However, the wooden blade actually seemed sharp. It wouldn¡¯t match up to a steel sword, but it definitely had some power behind it. Picking up the bokken, I looked over to Yang. ¡°Do you mind if I keep this one for myself?¡± The girl immediately brightened up, smiling and nodding her head quickly. ¡°Yes, please do!¡± She seemed incredibly happy that I would be taking one of her weapons for my own use. ¡°Thanks, Yang. They look great.¡± With a thought, I spread out my mana and absorbed all of the other items into the grove, aside from one other bokken which did not seem quite as powerful as this one. It would be my testing item, to make sure I was able to do some of the things I wanted. From there, I left to go back to my crafting room, knowing that this place would provide me with the most privacy for my experiment. ¡°Be careful, John. This shouldn¡¯t be a life threatening experiment, so I won¡¯t suggest you use your clone, but still.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice rang out in my head as I decided on my course of action. First, the ¡®practice¡¯ bokken. I set the other one aside while I worked so that nothing would happen to it, and then shifted into a slime person body. I had only been in this form a small number of times, so it took me a moment to stabilize my form. Afterwards, I changed my arm to surround this wooden sword, and directly consumed it with my new body.
Equipment Form Unlocked
Bokken Durability: 15/15 Hardness: 10/10 Sharpness: 10 Special Effects: None
After devouring the sword, I suddenly knew everything about it, and knew that I could change into it. Briefly, I let my instincts take over, and my entire body shifted, growing smaller and more narrow, until I fell to the floor as a slime replica of the wooden sword. When I changed back, I instead turned only my hand into the sword. It was weird seeing a long slime blade sticking out from my wrist, but yet it felt completely natural. Slowly, I reformed my hand around the hilt of the sword, until I was holding it. Finally, I tried to sever that connection between myself and the bokken, so that it would be an entirely separate entity. At this point, the slime sword in my hand fell down to the ground in a puddle of goo. ¡°Okay¡­ so I have to maintain the connection. I can¡¯t drop it. Wonder how they handle projectiles.¡± I shrugged my shoulders at that discovery, before moving on. The next step had me shifting back to my elf form, and trying again. Naturally, I couldn¡¯t access my slime powers while I was an elf, so nothing happened. But, after I applied the slime aura to the palm of my hand, I was able to instantly form the sword in it. Giving it a test swing, I snapped the sword in half against the table I would normally sit at.
Broke your hand. More or less.
-5 HP
No, I didn¡¯t actually break my hand. The only thing that broke was the sword. However, a tinge of pain rang back through it and into me. When I did this, the sword essentially became a part of my body. I had to invest myself into its creation, so when the sword was broken, I suffered a backlash. However, the bright side of this is that I was able to immediately summon the sword again. No matter how many times it broke, I would always be able to use it now. All in all, I¡¯d call this experiment a resounding success. The next part¡­ well for that I had to go hop into my clone. I won¡¯t go too deeply into detail because it took a while, but the next couple of weeks I spent in the hangar, spawning monsters and then killing them. At first it was just slimes, because they are easy to make and destroy. But eventually, I started practicing with other things as well. Although she didn¡¯t take part in the fights, Sharon was at the hangar with me to watch my progress. When I asked if she had discovered any new monster combinations, she said that the only thing she managed to create on her own was a goblin. Still, that was a rather impressive feat. But that was before she had the information from Celeste¡¯s scanners. Now we knew how to make goblins, trolls, even ettins. I didn¡¯t want to make any demons because they were unpredictable, so I stuck with those three. After making each monster, with Celeste¡¯s guidance to ensure the accurate usage of mana, I then immediately turned around and killed it. From there, I waited for my mana to recover and then repeated the process. In two weeks, I had earned a total of five levels. It would have been more if I was creating stronger monsters, but this was the best I could do right now. And out of those five levels, I already had plans for one to be sacrificed so that I could have my very own intelligent weapon. Stolen novel; please report. Speaking of the bokken, I had been working on it ever since that first experiment. Because I found that I could enchant an item after absorbing it, I had upgraded the ¡®practice¡¯ bokken with increased hardness and cutting power. This had brought its hardness, durability, and sharpness attributes each up by ten points. The real one had also been given the same enchantments, but on top of that I gave it another ability. I wanted to give it a fire magic, but being a wooden sword and all that would likely end poorly. Instead, I enchanted it with a wind blade which further enhanced its cutting power, and extended the blade a couple inches beyond the visible portion. If this experiment worked right, that would be the base power that I built up with the weapon leveling. Now, after I got my five levels, it was time for the final procedure. Unlike with what Celeste did, I was not going to wait until an AI was put into the sword before imbuing it with a soul. If I needed to, I could add the AI in as an enchantment after I absorbed it, but from my tests I discovered that I could not add the soul to an absorbed item. This was likely because the item was a part of me, so it already had my soul in it to some degree. So first, I placed the bokken in front of me, and began using my Soul Arts to focus on my buffer area. I kept pulling that buffer aura out while watching my experience drop, until it had reached the bottom of level 54. From there, I began slowly infusing the soul into the sword, which seemed to soak it up like a sponge. This sounds quick, but it took me a total of five minutes to fully infuse the sword with my buffer aura. And when I was done, there was no real change in the sword itself. If not for my Soul Arts confirming that the soul was present, I might have thought that I failed. However, as it was I just had to continue. The next step was, of course, changing back into my slime body and consuming this new sword. When I did so, a rather interesting window appeared.
Equipment Form Unlocked
Bokken(Enchanted) Durability: 50/50 Hardness: 60/60 Sharpness: 80 Special Effects: Wind Blade, Growth Item
No, not that one. Though the higher stats on this sword were interesting. It was the next window that appeared.
Please select an upgrade.
Points available: 8
Base EnchantmentSharpness, Hardness, Wind Blade
After selecting the Wind Blade option, another list appeared. This one allowed me to either choose between a preset power, upgrade the wind blade, or design my own enchantment. My first instinct was to check out the list of preset powers, and there were a lot of them. Most were grayed out because they required more than eight points, but there were options like wind blasts, projectile wind blades, or even a ¡®vacuum¡¯ blade that sucks the air out after a swing. After looking through those, I went to design my own power, where there were a bunch of options to allocate points for things like range and special effects. Eventually I just went back and selected the ranged wind blade from the preset window. I would try to design my own stuff later, but for now this was fine. Besides, there was another part of this that I hadn¡¯t even considered until now. I could make the sword appear by ¡®sliming¡¯ the palm of my hand. But if I did so to a different part of my body, wouldn¡¯t I still be able to do it, at least partially? To test that, I slimed up the side of my hand and focused. The slime quickly reshaped into an edge, and when I swung it a light ripple appeared in the air, which launched itself to a nearby wall. I had to quickly use my Wind Manipulation to erase the wind blade, just in case it might have been strong enough to damage the wall. Would not want to get spaced because I was stupid. Anyways, now that I had this taken care of, I no longer had to worry about needing a physical weapon. Rather than going back to farming newborn monsters, I decided to go to the bridge. It had been a while since I had been there, and I needed to be all captain-y. We were already well on our way to visiting the psychic planet, so there wasn¡¯t really much to do on the bridge. However, being there was important, so I was there. Of course, that didn¡¯t mean I was focusing on being there. My mind was still busy learning the language for the planet we were visiting, while I idly practiced summoning my psychic power and weaving it together to form basic shapes. My goal was to be able to form a psychic shield by the time we reached the Ha¡¯vosh! Yeah, that probably wasn¡¯t happening. But at least I had my nights to look forward to, as Sharon had been filling Yin¡¯s head with all kinds of things for women to do for a birthday boy. I have to admit, she can get pretty creative. Compared to before we arrived at Hydra, the crew seemed to have undergone a drastic change. People were using magic much more easily, going so far as to use it to help in their day to day lives, such as using fire magic for cooking, water magic for cleaning, and so on. The hunters would be seen playing with their beasts, the fighters sparring with each other in practice rooms. Even the craftsmen were hard at work exploring their new abilities. And like that, we continued our journey to the Ha¡¯vosh, with a crew that had adapted to this new way of life. What would this world hold for us? Will we get new and awesome companions? I hope so, but since when does anything go exactly as I want? Chapter 117: The Havosh Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the no chap yesterday. As I said after the break ended, every now and then I will be taking a day or two off so that I don¡¯t burn myself out like I almost had last month. But fear not, for there are things planned for this chapter!
For the most part, the rest of our journey passed without much excitement. There was only one conversation I had that was actually important(in the grand scheme of things to come). That was when my parents called and said that the first ships were getting ready to leave. They needed to know which ship to board in order to meet up with me later. After some questioning, I learned that there weren¡¯t any ships close to being complete that were heading for the Ha¡¯vosh homeworld. So instead, I told them to head for the elven worlds, because I knew that they would be cared for there and I could meet up with them after leaving the Ha¡¯vosh. They seemed to like that idea, so I made a plan to return there after I finished up with this. Anyways, you¡¯re all probably wanting to hear more about the Ha¡¯vosh right now, right? So let¡¯s get to that. ¡°Captain, we¡¯re roughly ten minutes out from Alkrax. I¡¯ve got the planet on long range scanners.¡± I nodded at Matt Scrown, the scanning officer on duty. He had a very human sounding name for an elf, so I imagine that would be like a human being named Alraune. Really rare, but not unheard of¡­ ¡°Thanks. Prepare to drop out of subspace as soon as we are in range to broadcast.¡± ¡°Understood, Captain.¡± Seeing this as a chance to make an important announcement, I hit the intercom button for the ship. ¡°Attention, crew of the Ariadne. We will be dropping out of subspace in roughly ten minutes. If everything goes to plan, this will be our first significant contact with an alien race.¡± I was totally not counting the robots here, because that was not a very significant contact with how brief our stay was. ¡°The Ha¡¯vosh will also likely wish to join the crew of the Ariadne, by the time we are ready to leave.¡± Most races would want a chance to go out and explore the stars, I imagine. ¡°If so, we will be receiving additional crew members. For the purpose of this expedition, I will be proceeding with Officer Sharon Bradbury for initial contact. Once the area is deemed safe, I will allow other crew members to proceed to the surface to interact as well. So put on your best behavior people, it¡¯s time to meet the neighbors.¡± I stopped the broadcast there, and waited for our ship to drop out of subspace. As expected, Sharon arrived on the bridge a few moments later, smiling to me. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time to get you back on a planet, John.¡± I chuckled dryly, nodding my head. ¡°Yeah, I could do with stretching my legs.¡± ¡°Captain, we are dropping out in three¡­ two¡­ one. Exiting subspace now.¡± Matt spoke up while watching his terminal. Just as he finished, the flying lights drifting by the outside windows stopped, and we were suddenly near a large planet. It was hard to tell, given our situation, but¡­ ¡°Planet Alkrax on screen. Gravity estimated to be twice normal.¡± Yup, it really was a big planet. I had a hard time making out the surface of the planet, because a white fog covered almost the entire area. Every now and then there were patches of green or blue, but for the most part the surface was hidden. ¡°Well, this is going to be interesting¡­ What can you tell me?¡± ¡°Thick fog covers 95% of the planet¡¯s surface. Readings show it is a mixture of water and an unknown chemical, but does not appear harmful to the indigenous life. No notable difference in population between the exposed areas and the ones in the fog. Monster readings¡­ Numerous small monster readings, but only one boss-class monster detected. There also appears to be a dungeon at the location of the boss monster.¡± Listening to the report, at least they had it better than the elves did. ¡°Celeste, are you able to tap into their network, see if you can pick up any news?¡± The Deus Ex shook her head. ¡°I¡¯m not picking up a network that I can access. Given that their entire race is psychic, it is likely that their network is built for only psychics to access.¡± And of course, because of my ¡®episode¡¯ at Hydra, I had forgotten about making the crew psychic. So there was likely nobody on board that could tap into it. ¡°Well, this will be interesting, then. Let¡¯s go, Sharon.¡± Sharon nodded as I got up, and we both headed for the medbay so that we could get in our clones. ¡°Captain.¡± Matt said as we were just leaving the medbay to head for the teleport room. Thankfully, comms made talking across the ship easy. ¡°I¡¯m picking up another ship in orbit on the far side of the planet. Scans show no life forms on board, and the ship appears to simply be idling.¡± ¡­ Well, that would be interesting. ¡°Have Yin and Celeste investigate while we make contact with the planet.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± And with that, we resumed our course towards the surface, teleporting straight into the center of a dense fog. Immediately, we were able to feel the effects of the increased gravity, though it seemed to be hitting me worse than Sharon. On this world, my 15 strength was enough for me to stand up straight and walk around, but running naturally would be difficult. One of the crew members spoke up in our ears over the comms. ¡°I put you at the edge of the most densely populated area of the planet. This should be an important location, so finding someone to negotiate with should be easy.¡± I nodded my head, and stuck close to Sharon. With this fog, I could see no more than ten meters in any direction. However, if I used my Cybernetic Eye and changed vision modes, I saw people walking about like normal for a city. Except that the people were seven feet tall, green, had two rows of two eyes, and had long, spindly arms. One of them seemed to notice us through the thick fog, before looking left and right anxiously. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. A moment later, over a dozen sets of eyes were on us, and I tensed my hand slightly in Sharon¡¯s grip. ¡°Here goes¡­¡± I said, in English before doing my best to speak in the Ha¡¯vosh language. ¡°Hello, we come in peace.¡± ¡°Greeeellloo.¡± The nearest alien spoke, but not in the language I had spent weeks learning. ¡°Howr yao din?¡± It spoke sloppily, as if it was trying to speak a language it did not know. It kept looking at us expectantly, before Celeste spoke in my head. ¡°John, we¡¯re at the ship now. According to its systems, it¡¯s been in orbit for three weeks, and was originally from Earth. There is nobody on board, and the ship¡¯s AI said that their last activity was to go to the planet below¡­ Be careful.¡± No sooner had she finished her warning than I felt a stabbing pain in my head. Reaching my hand up, I found a trail of blood coming out of my nose. The alien that had tried to speak furrowed its brow slightly, and then everything went black.
You have died.
I woke up back on the ship suddenly, jolting forward. ¡°What the¡­ did they attack?¡± Looking over, I saw that Sharon had not yet come out of her clone. Wait, nevermind, she just took a bit longer than me. When she got back in her main body, she was clutching her head in pain. ¡°What was that¡­¡± ¡°Celeste?¡± I called out to the Deus Ex, hoping that she had some ideas. ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ According to my records, the language I gave you was appropriate, and they should not be a violent race. But judging by the conditions you experienced before your death, the cause was likely an overload of psychic energy.¡± I nodded my head slightly. ¡°Alright¡­¡± I looked over to Sharon, explaining what Celeste had told me, since she doesn¡¯t have the benefit of the Deus Ex being in her head. ¡°So¡­ maybe they use telepathy to communicate?¡± She thought as she still clutched her head in one hand. ¡°What do we do now?¡± ¡°Well¡­ The best thing I can think of is to go back down when we have our clone bodies ready, but change our races to human. Humans are naturally better at handling psychic energy than elves. Then, maybe your Wild Voice can communicate with them?¡± She listened for a moment and nodded her head. However, I was starting to feel a nagging headache building again at the back of my skull. ¡°Get the ship away from the planet, right now!¡± I called out over the comms, afraid that the Ha¡¯vosh were trying to combine their abilities to reach out and speak with us. Even if they were just trying to apologize, it was likely that it would kill most of the crew. As we moved away, I felt that pain fade away again. ¡°Okay¡­ that was not fun.¡± I groaned as I got out of the chair, and made my way to the bridge. ¡°Are we still in range to receive Celeste and Yin?¡± ¡°Barely, Captain. However, the Vice-Captain has requested time to study the ship.¡± ¡°Tell her to just fly it here if she can. Otherwise, bring her out. Yin¡¯s with her right now, and only one of them is immune to a telepathic attack.¡± Probably not the best way I could phrase that, but that was essentially what this was. Not an intentional attack, but it was lethal nonetheless. ¡°Understood, Captain.¡± The comms went quiet for a minute, and just as I got back to the bridge, there was a communication appearing on the screen from Celeste. ¡°John, I managed to get control of this ship. It seems this was one of the people who left before us. But, since they didn¡¯t have any cloning tech, they were killed when they went down to the planet.¡± I nodded slightly, a little unsettled how a simple greeting from the Ha¡¯vosh has become a lethal attack. ¡°Did you manage to understand anything from what they said before trying to use telepathy on us?¡± She chuckled wryly at that. ¡°Well¡­ From what I can tell, they were trying to mimic what the owner of this ship had said to them. ¡®Hello, how are you doing?¡¯ They likely understand that it is some form of greeting, so when they saw you their first response was to try and imitate it. When that didn¡¯t work, they had to see if they could communicate with you using their normal methods. After all, you aren¡¯t the same race as the person who owned this ship.¡± ¡°I¡­ see¡­ Can you build a device to help us defend against psychic attacks like that? Maybe turn down the volume on their telepathy?¡± Celeste thought about it for a moment. ¡°I can try. It should take me a while, but that will give you time for your clone bodies to regrow.¡± ¡°Understood¡­ in the meantime¡­¡± I looked around the bridge. ¡°Well, this is unsettling to say¡­ But keep an eye on the life sign scans. If a Ha¡¯vosh dies, I want it teleported up to the ship.¡± Matt¡¯s face paled a bit when I said that. ¡°Uhm¡­ may I ask why, Captain?¡± ¡°Back up plan. If using Sharon to talk to them doesn¡¯t work, then I¡¯ll need to turn into a Ha¡¯vosh myself. And to do that, I need to study one. If I become a Ha¡¯vosh, their telepathy should no longer pose a risk to me.¡± ¡°Ah! Understood, Captain. I¡¯ll continue doing a detailed scan of one of their cities, and wait for one to pass away.¡± Matt nodded his head before returning to his terminal. I have to admit that I really didn¡¯t want to have to give an order like that. I mean come on, I was abducting a dead alien to study it. This feels like the ultimate role reversal. Chapter 118: A John Moment Author¡¯s Corner: I can¡¯t think of anything to put here today, so I¡¯m just going to tell you that I can¡¯t think of anything to put here today, so I¡¯m just going to tell you that I can¡¯t think of anything to put here today, so I¡¯m just going to tell you to stop looking at this part and read the chapter already.
Over the course of the next few days, I decided to go ahead and awaken the psychic potential of a few key members of the crew. Specifically, the senior officers. Each of them was given the same warnings by Celeste, to make sure not to overuse their powers, and each one had to agree before I would do the ¡®operation¡¯ to give them an ability. To my surprise, there was one person who completely did not show any signs of a psychic ability, even after I modified his aura to release his latent potential. ¡°What does this mean?¡± Ackbar sits up, asking after the failed surgery. Celeste simply shrugged her shoulders, still holding the device that was meant to scan and identify his ability. ¡°Not everyone has the potential to become a psychic. The lower the ability of the race, the more like that is to happen. I¡¯d say with elves¡­ at least a third of them should have no psychic ability at all. The fact that the others all had them were surprising enough, and I was beginning to think that my data had been wrong.¡± I nodded slightly, curious. ¡°What about humans?¡± ¡°Only one percent or so of humans would have no psychic potential. As for the Ha¡¯vosh¡­ I doubt there is any that do not have it. After all, it is a natural trait for them.¡± The Deus Ex explained with a light shrug. Ackbar, however, was simply listening to this. ¡°Suppose this means I will not be gaining an ability then. No matter.¡± He stood up and promptly left the room.¡± Looking back at Celeste, I couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°How has the work with the new ship and device been going?¡± Celeste frowned lightly after I mentioned that. It had been a couple days yet, so the next clone body for Sharon should be nearly completed. I had also acquired a Ha¡¯vosh body and studied it. Though, the cause of death seemed to be from a long blade or claw. What was weird was, when I asked them to check, there were no monster readings near where the Ha¡¯vosh was taken from. Though, I suppose that there could be a Ha¡¯vosh serial killer or something like that. Either way, I had managed to properly acquire the aura from the dead body, and then had it sent back down where we found it. I could only hope that there wouldn¡¯t be any diplomatic problems, and that the disappearance would not be discovered. ¡°The ship is going well. Its systems are all compatible with what I know of Earth technology. However, since it was crewed by only the captain, it did not qualify for the regular upgrades that the Ariadne has been getting. This puts it well behind our standards, and with it being too big for our hangar bay it has practically no value to us.¡± ¡°As for the telepathic inhibitor¡­ That one is more difficult. I was able to design a prototype, but it has to be placed on the one using the power, not the target. Aside from that, any of the plans I have been able to come up with have either been all or nothing.¡± Listening to Celeste¡¯s explanation, I nodded my head. ¡°Alright. Have someone get in a clone body. I¡¯m going to see if my telepathy is weak enough as a Ha¡¯vosh to talk to them.¡± Celeste nodded, and soon one of the engineers walked into the medbay. ¡°Officer Ariol reporting, sir.¡± The elf spoke, giving us a salute. We could see her already plugged into the clone controllers, so it was likely that she chose to stay in it most of the time to reduce the possible risks of her position. ¡°Thank you for volunteering for this, Ariol.¡± I smiled to the woman, who simply nodded in return. I had spoken to this individual a few times so far, and knew that she was committed to the mission of helping people, and that she had almost no sense of humor. Closing my eyes, I began the shift into a Ha¡¯vosh. Thankfully, this time I made sure that everything I was wearing had the adaptive enchantment, so my clothes weren¡¯t being violently ripped off. At the same time, Celeste began ushering everyone else out of the medbay, to ensure that I didn¡¯t accidentally send a telepathic signal to someone I didn¡¯t mean to. When I opened my eyes, Ariol looked so much smaller. The brunette elf was already somewhat petite, but the increased size from this body made her seem even more so. ¡°Okay¡­ now how to do this. Sorry if it gets you killed.¡± I spoke verbally, not at all surprised to find that I was able to do so. After all, the Ha¡¯vosh we had encountered previously was able to imitate speech, so it was just that they did not have a verbal language¡­ yet. ¡°Understood, Captain.¡± Ariol spoke, still with determination. I was surprised to find this kind of personality as an engineer, rather than a security personnel. She seems much more like a fighter. However, in her own words, ¡®My skills with a wrench are superior to my skills with a weapon, so I chose the most effective position.¡¯ Focusing, I tried to concentrate on Ariol, projecting some psychic power to her. Hello, can you hear me? I waited for a few moments, and got no response. I debated condensing the psychic power to increase the effect, but that was just as likely to surround her head with a Toybox portal. So, I simply tried thinking louder. There was a slight twitch in Ariol¡¯s eyes, but she still did not say anything. ¡°Is something wrong, officer?¡± Hearing my question, she looked up at me. ¡°I believe that I received your ¡®signal¡¯, but I was unable to hear anything.¡± I thought about that, and nodded again. ¡°Perhaps there is a trick to it, or elf minds are just bad at receiving telepathy in the first place.¡± Or I might just be an insanely rare Ha¡¯vosh without telepathy. Either way, this was not a very successful experiment. I¡¯d have to save this as a last resort if Celeste¡¯s device did not work. Since the experiment was over, I went ahead and changed back to my elf form, and dismissed Ariol. She gave me a brief salute and then went back to her duties. ¡°So¡­¡± I mused to myself. ¡°Looks like we need Sharon to convince one of the Ha¡¯vosh to wear the inhibitor before we can establish proper communications¡­¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The next day, when the clones were ready, that¡¯s exactly what we did. Once again, I was accompanying Sharon as the two of us went down to the Ha¡¯vosh world. Perhaps because we appeared in roughly the same area that we had gone to last time, the large green people seemed surprised by our appearance. Before any of them had a chance to ¡®speak¡¯, Sharon¡¯s voice called out, no doubt empowered by her ability. ¡°Be at ease. We mean no harm. However, your normal method of communication is far too powerful for our bodies to handle.¡± As she spoke, she pulled the inhibitor, a large circlet looking device, out of her inventory. ¡°This is something our people made in order to weaken your powers enough for us to communicate.¡± She held the item out, so that the aliens a bit over fifteen meters away could approach. However, they seemed to be looking at each other and silently conversing. Glancing at that, I couldn¡¯t help but say under my breath, ¡°I really hope this works.¡± If we aren¡¯t able to establish communications this time, then we are basically out of options, and will have to give up on this planet. Their deliberation lasted roughly six minutes, before a Ha¡¯vosh wearing a long black cloak came out of the crowd. What you thought that all aliens that didn¡¯t resemble humans would be nudists? No, they all wear clothes, some even having similar styles to Earth fashion. The black robed Ha¡¯vosh accepted the device, looking it over curiously. Seeing that, Sharon spoke up. ¡°Place it on your head, and it will automatically activate.¡± The Ha¡¯vosh shook his head, making me think he was going to decline. However, he did indeed put the circlet device on his head. Maybe nods and head shakes are reversed on this planet? Can the both of you understand me now? A roaring voice sounded in both mine and Sharon¡¯s heads, making us grab our skulls. ¡°Not so loud.¡± She says, her eyes closed tight. Apologies. This time the voice came over more as a whisper. Looks like we have our communications method¡­ though right now it is entirely reliant on how long Sharon can continue using the Wild Voice. ¡­.I just had a great idea that I was now beating myself up over for having not thought of it sooner. Closing my own eyes, I searched my soul for a set of information, and copied it over to my buffer area, then sent it off to this representative Ha¡¯vosh. Thankfully, languages use up only a very small amount of the soul, so I did not experience much of a loss. The Ha¡¯vosh blinked its four eyes in an uneven rhythm, looking between us. ¡°Can¡­ you¡­ understand?¡±
New Ability Unlocked
Share Language - Soul Arts -¡ï¡î By isolating a language within your aura, you are able to share it with another sentient creature. So long as they are physically capable, they will then be able to speak it as you do.
Sharon turned to look at me. ¡°...Why didn¡¯t you think of doing that before¡­?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ reasons?¡± I looked away, unable to provide a good reason. It seemed so obvious now, okay? ¡°Anyways¡­ with this, we can talk, right?¡± I asked, looking at the Ha¡¯vosh. ¡°Yes¡­ We can¡­ talk.¡± He seemed to be putting in great effort to make the words right. Likely, the mouths of the Ha¡¯vosh were typically used for just consuming the necessities, or shouting out warnings. The fact that they did not evolve above the need for vocal chords yet is incredibly lucky for us. ¡°Good¡­ though, we¡¯d still prefer if you wear the device. That way, you don¡¯t accidentally kill us¡­ again.¡± I sighed slightly as I remembered the previous, entirely avoidable death. New ship policy when making first contact, immediately share language. ¡°Agreed. That would be¡­. Unfortunate?¡± ¡°Yes, very unfortunate. Now¡­ to the official greetings.¡± I cleared my throat before speaking. ¡°We are the crew of the Ariadne, and we come here to--¡± ¡°To inform us of the changes¡­ and help us adapt¡­ correct?¡± ...Was I just mind scanned? Or am I that predictable? Those both seem entirely possible! ¡°Uhm¡­ right¡­ how?¡± I was beginning to sound like the Ha¡¯vosh with how I talked¡­ ¡°With language¡­ more information. Ariadne.. Elves.. Humans? Strange¡­¡± Oh great¡­ so I accidentally sent more information than I planned to. ¡°Okay¡­ well¡­ you weren¡¯t supposed to know all that yet, but yeah. There goes the fun of gradual exposition.¡± Sharon chuckled lightly, before talking. ¡°Anyways. I¡¯m guessing he didn¡¯t accidentally send everything. And more than likely you have yet to learn how to get classes, right?¡± ¡°Information¡­ incomplete. Knowledge there¡­ but not entirely.¡± The Ha¡¯vosh says with a shake of his head. ¡°Okay then¡­ we¡¯ll be designing a temple for you guys so that you can change classes. Oh, what is your level right now?¡± ¡°Thirty¡­¡± ¡­ I heard that right, right? ¡°Uhm.. thirty¡­¡± Wow, their psychic skills must have helped them level quite a lot, even without hunting monsters. ¡°Wow. This¡¯ll make things easier. You know about the monsters right?¡± At that, his eyes shot open, all four of them. ¡°The mist walkers.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ not exactly what I meant, but are there things in the mist?¡± I looked out at the thick fog, curiously. The Ha¡¯vosh shook his head. ¡°The mist¡­ covers the world¡­ when the ¡®system¡¯ appeared, it became¡­ dangerous. People¡­ animals¡­ suddenly dead. No sign of attacker¡­ Cannot sense¡­ cannot see. Shapes reported, in the dark¡­ moving, but not there.¡± Piecing broken sentences together¡­ compiling information¡­ ¡°So when this all happened, monsters began appearing in this fog, which you can¡¯t detect with your abilities. These creatures are incredibly hostile, and kill anything that they come across.¡± ¡°Correct.¡± Well, that explains the Ha¡¯vosh we found dead. They can even hide from our ship¡¯s scanners. How the hell are we supposed to find them?! ¡°We can help.. I hope. But first, the temple. It will make it easier to keep out monsters. As for the ones already here¡­ we¡¯ll come up with something.¡± Chapter 119: What lies beyond Author¡¯s Corner: I¡¯ve said it once I¡¯ll say it again. I HATE SINUSES.
Over the course of the next several minutes, I began asking the Ha¡¯vosh for everything they knew in regards to these ¡®mist walkers¡¯. Celeste didn¡¯t have any information on them, as they were likely not considered a major threat in the future. Also¡­ I named this Ha¡¯vosh representative Bob. When I tried asking for his name, he said that their kind had no such thing. They simply knew who people were when communicating telepathically, so names were unnecessary. The information they had on the mist walkers was fairly limited, despite them having been present for half a solar cycle(which Celeste confirmed would be equal to a full year for us, due to the difference in orbits). All that they really knew for sure was that they would live in the fog, and attacks seemed to be conducted completely at random. Since the creature was capable of perfectly hiding itself within this fog, they were unable to detect it. I thought that there might be an elemental at work here, but a mist elemental shouldn¡¯t be attacking with blades or claws, and we would be able to detect it with the ship¡¯s scanners. So far, there were only vague reports of what the creature looked like, a small humanoid shape with a blade for an arm. This image was seen when a group were attacked all at once, and one managed to get away. However, even that one never saw a distinct shape. Hearing this, it seemed pretty clear that this was a creature specialized at living and hunting within heavy fogs. With its stealth ability, it could hide its aura, appearance, even its mind. But, this also gave me an easy way to deal with it. Mist is just air and water, plus that random element we couldn¡¯t identify, but I didn¡¯t need to worry too much about that right now. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try this.¡± I said as I lifted my hand up, focusing my Wind and Water Manipulation to disperse the fog in the immediate area. Yin might be better suited for this, as her specialty is weather control, but for now this would do. As if a large breeze had spread outwards from my position, the fog pulled backwards, creating a bubble of clean air about fifty meters wide. Within this bubble was me, Sharon, the Ha¡¯vosh¡­ and no monster. ¡°Looks like it wasn¡¯t nearby.¡± This was the limit of the area I could create with my Wind and Water manipulation abilities, and I could only hold it for roughly two minutes before exhausting my mana. I looked nearby to Sharon, who nodded and summoned out twenty rabbits. ¡°These are all cultivating rabbits.¡± She then looked to the rabbits and had them spread out. Around each one, a five meter wide bubble appeared that the fog would not penetrate. Meanwhile, the Ha¡¯vosh were looking at us in what I had to assume was shock. Bob, being the only one that could speak with us, looked to the others and asked. ¡°Is that¡­ magic?¡± I nodded my head in response to that. ¡°Yeah. Doing it this way, we should be able to find a mist walker if we get close to one.¡± The problem was that we had to get close to one, and this was the only method I could think of to draw them out. Hopefully, they were only able to hide within the fog, and not in clear air as well. Naturally, this meant that we wouldn¡¯t be able to cover the entire planet, but if we set up the temple then other people can become druids and do this. Of course, we still had to determine just how strong the mist walkers were once they are exposed. If they have an overpowered defense, then that will just make things too complicated. At that point, it¡¯d be easier to just slowly evacuate the planet. The rabbits all spread out, running down the streets and in between the Ha¡¯vosh. If they were to find the mist walkers, they would likely attack. Then we would see if one of Sharon¡¯s improved rabbits were enough to kill one. The answer, surprisingly, came in less than five minutes from Celeste. She radioed down from the ship to both myself and Sharon. ¡°Monster sighted two hundred meters north of your position. The rabbit was able to quickly take care of it, and we managed to record the event. John, I¡¯ll send you the feed now.¡± Before I could respond, my vision was flooded with the scene of a lone horned rabbit running through the fog, blazing an uneven pattern that made it hard to predict where its next leap would take it. Soon, right in front of it, a five foot tall humanoid appeared. Its body looked almost ethereal, the mist clinging to it even as the rabbit¡¯s magic tried to force it away. When the mist vanished from the monster completely, its skin was shown to be entirely white, with its right arm in the shape of a giant blade. Its body was almost entirely smooth and featureless, with only two glowing yellow dots to show the face. These creatures are experts of stealth and assassination, but now we¡¯ve removed that little trick. And if you are comparing its reaction speed to a rabbit that has fought who knows how many battles in Sharon¡¯s grove, it was easy to determine who would get the first blood. The little rabbit shot up like an arrow, embedding its horn directly into the chest of the mist walker. This did not seem to kill it, but its next action was more than enough. Before the mist walker could raise its left arm to pull the rabbit off, its entire body began glowing and spasming, sparks flying off it in random directions. It would seem that the rabbit has used its horn as a medium to shoot lightning directly into the mist walker¡¯s body, and it was super effective. The mist walker fell to the ground as the rabbit pulled off of its chest, before the furry little creature ran back towards us. As the vision faded, I nodded towards Sharon. ¡°Looks like their physical defense isn¡¯t that great. Though, the fight was too fast to see if they have any other tricks.¡± Sharon nodded with a slight smile. She then turned and spoke to Bob. ¡°We¡¯ve killed one of the mist walkers now.¡± Just as she finished talking, the little fluff ball of doom arrived like a blur in front of her, and sat obediently by her feet. The blood coating its horn reminded me of my own unfortunate encounter with these creatures early on in my adventure. ¡°Ah¡­ thank you.¡± Bob shook his head. ¡°Is it fine to... inspect the... body?¡± I could imagine that it would be hard to trust the words of a total stranger, no matter how hard the times were that your people were in. So naturally, I nodded my head and led the way to where the battle had taken place, with Celeste¡¯s help. As we approached, it seemed that the creature had vanished. However, the smell of blood was still in the air, so I used a little bit of mana to disperse the mist around the body, revealing it for the others to see. So it is a passive skill, and it works even when they are dead. I was starting to get interested in the abilities of these mist walkers. If I could study one, and figure out how they worked, I should be able to add their stealth power to my arsenal. Maybe even adjust it like I did with the mana leech and mana breath aspects, if that is possible. So, while Bob knelt down to inspect the body, I casually sent my Mana Sense through it to study its aura. After a few moments, I could hear them talking to each other, but I felt it was more important to take care of this right now, so I let Sharon handle the talking. Within five minutes, I had completely memorized the aura of this mist walker. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. ¡°John?¡± Sharon glanced over at me, snapping me out of my focus. ¡°Hmm?¡± I looked over to her curiously. ¡°We just got a report that two more mist walkers were found and attacked not far away.¡± Sharon sighed and explained, realizing that I had not been paying attention at all to what they were talking about. ¡°One of the rabbits died. Looks like they aren¡¯t all so easy to kill.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Celeste, how did it manage to kill one of Sharon¡¯s rabbits? The AI responded after a fraction of a second. ¡°Mostly a lucky shot. The rabbit was in the middle of a big jump and leapt right into its blade arm. Given their speed¡­. It pretty much cut itself in half.¡± I winced a bit as I heard that. Death by running too fast. Well, at least it was quick? Okay, even I¡¯m cringing at how bad that pun was. ¡°Alright.¡± I turned to look at Bob. ¡°Do you have any way to teach the languages to your people? Psychic transfer or anything like that?¡± Man, that would be convenient. ¡°Yes. We have¡­ something that can¡­ take care of it.¡± Bob shook his head again. Man, it was starting to get really annoying trying to remember that shaking his head meant yes. ¡°Good. I¡¯m going to set up a temple for you guys. That way, you can start working on getting your classes.¡± I looked around, seeing the fog on all sides. ¡°Where would be a good place to put it?¡± ¡°You¡­ are standing in the street. So¡­ not there. Back where you appeared¡­. Two kilometers south. Outside the city. Out of the way.¡± He took his time to slowly answer, of course. ¡°Understood. We¡¯ll go get started on that.¡± I nodded, and then headed off to the south with Sharon, leaving the Ha¡¯vosh to communicate telepathically behind us. ¡°Well¡­ that went better than planned.¡± Sharon gave me a small smile, expanding her own anti-mist area. Hers was only roughly ten meters wide, but that was plenty to hold the two of us. ¡°True¡­ By the way, I¡¯ve been meaning to ask something. And since we¡¯re walking for about a mile, I¡¯ve got time now.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± She raised a curious brow, leaning in to listen to what I wanted to ask her. ¡°Well¡­ it¡¯s been a year now, at least. You¡¯ve had your animal companions just as long as I have, pretty much. And both of mine already evolved to humanoid forms. I was wondering why yours haven¡¯t seemed to have gotten that far yet?¡± ¡°Ahh..¡± Sharon grinned playfully, grabbing my arm. ¡°They have. I¡¯ve got a couple of dozen that can go humanoid by now.¡± The number made my eye twitch slightly. ¡°A couple¡­ dozen¡­? How come you never told us?¡± She had only ever called out animals in the earlier evolution stages, so I was sure that she had been stopping them from evolving to a human form or something. ¡°Nobody ever asked.¡± She shrugged slightly. ¡°They stay in my grove to serve as elders for their races. Some even started families, though we haven¡¯t seen the results of that yet.¡± I nodded my head. What she said made sense, as the evolved animals are part of a ¡®clan¡¯, so would want to stick around and help their own people. ¡°Still, thought about introducing some to serve on the Ariadne?¡± Sharon seemed to think about it for a moment. ¡°I think some of the rabbitkin would be good for the tavern. Bunny girl maids, you know?¡± She winked teasingly at me as she said that. Though I had to admit, she was right. ¡°As for other positions, they don¡¯t really have any training. Maybe I¡¯ll send some over to Celeste when we get back so that they can be trained for the easier positions?¡± I nodded again. ¡°Alright. I think it¡¯d be good for Yo and Yang to meet them too. Did any of yours become demi, or did they all take the long path?¡± ¡°Hmm..¡± She closed her eyes and focused. ¡°I¡¯ve got three demis. Two from the rabbit tribe, and one from the wolves. If I¡¯m measuring them right, I should be getting another one soon from the snakes. I planned to train all of the demis as druids, since they already have Nature Magic, and most of them can already cultivate.¡± ¡°That works. It¡¯d be good to see new faces around the ship every now and then. And you haven¡¯t gotten any new species in a while, have you? Not since we did your divine quest.¡± ¡°I know¡­ I really want some fish, now. I¡¯ve got birds, wolves, snakes, but no fish. I¡¯ve even got a whole water planetoid waiting for if I come across any good ones.¡± Well, that seemed pretty random to me. I mean, even if she gets fish, when will she use them? Land and air animals are easy to use for combat, tracking, or a variety of other purposes. But unless we arrive on a mermaid planet, there really won¡¯t be much use for fish. ¡°You¡¯re thinking that fish are useless as animal companions, aren¡¯t you?¡± Sharon looked to me with a wry smirk. ¡°Uh¡­ maybe?¡± Guess there¡¯s a reason that I don¡¯t have poker face or bluff as one of my skills. ¡°Well¡­ you¡¯re right. I don¡¯t really want them for combat potential or anything like that. Though it would be cool if I happened to evolve a water dragon from a little fish. But actually¡­ I¡¯ve had this quest for ages now. Get a species for every climate. I¡¯ve gotten forest covered in spades. Mountain was covered by the boulder lizards. Giant armadillos live underground, so I got caves. Wolves kind of count for plains as well, so that one is covered. Some of my wolves evolved along an ice path, so I have tundra. A couple of rabbits went fire, so I have desert. All I¡¯m really missing is a water animal.¡± ¡°Huh.. what¡¯s the reward for your quest?¡± I glanced over to her curiously. I can understand why she never brought it up. It¡¯s basically just a quest to do in the background while you do other things. ¡°Supposedly, a Colony Druid special ability. He was a bit vague about it.¡± Sharon shrugged her shoulders as we continued walking. ¡°Said it¡¯d be a special ability that would be more effective the wider variety of creatures I had in my grove.¡± ¡°He as in¡­ our original druid trainer?¡± I asked, and Sharon nodded her head. ¡°Wow, you¡¯ve had this quest a while.¡± ¡°I know, right? I want to finally get rid of it. At this rate, I¡¯d be happy to just have a pair of goldfish.¡± She chuckled under her breath as we approached the site where we¡¯d be building the Ha¡¯vosh¡¯s first temple. In front of us, there was a slight disturbance in the mist, and I quickly shot out a stone spike with Earth Manipulation. As we got closer, I saw the body of another mist walker that had apparently not gotten out of our way fast enough. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll see if they have any interesting aquatic wildlife on this planet. Maybe we can catch you something before we go back.¡± Sharon grinned teasingly again. ¡°You mean before we go back and you introduce both of your girlfriends and your daughter to your parents?¡± ¡°Please.. Please no¡­ Don¡¯t say it like that¡­ it¡¯s totally accurate, but still¡­¡± I could feel a headache already forming, and it wasn¡¯t because of a psychic broadcast. Chapter 120: The Shadow Realm Author¡¯s Corner: Before I start this chapter, I want to throw a thank you to the anonymous donor that proved to me that the button works. I will not assume whether or not they want to be named, but you know who you are!
Building the temple this time was a rather simple procedure. The building itself came up pretty quickly, and the only part that actually took some effort was the creation of the three statues. There was only one god in Celeste¡¯s data that actually looked like a Ha¡¯vosh, and that was Krom, the god of the Ha¡¯vosh. But¡­ we needed three, so two other gods were also represented. The second god l chose to depict was the god of psychics. This one was¡­ interesting. I had never even heard of a race like this. According to Celeste, they were called the Balorul, and are very rare among most inhabited worlds because they require a vastly different atmosphere in order to live. The ones that do co-exist with others do so with the use of large glass tanks that they move around with. Anyways, Krylor was a creature that looked like a giant brain, with tentacles coming out of the bottom. At the bottom of the brain, between the left and right hemispheres, it was able to open up and reveal a large mouth full of teeth. From Celeste¡¯s information, the Balorul were a parasitic race that latched on to the heads of other creatures and devoured their brains. The last god for this temple was Narlom, the god of time. Celeste didn¡¯t actually know what race he belonged to, as there were not many references to his origins in NeoLife. However, his appearance seemed mostly human, aside from having only three fingers and a thumb on each hand. A popular theory with this god was that he was from a long extinct race, thus it was impossible to trace what he was. Out of all three of them, Krylor undoubtedly took the longest to complete. Not only because of his unusual shape, but because I had to try to get his tentacles arranged in such a way that they would support the weight of his body. I probably could have done a spell array to make him perpetually float¡­. But I wasn¡¯t confident in taking that cheat method.
You have my thanks, druid. Also, Malthan says to pray more often.
I wasn¡¯t quite sure who that came from, but from the positioning of the window, I will assume it came from Krom. I gave a slight nod to the statue, and then walked out of the building. Outside, Sharon had the perimeter surrounded. I had somehow thought that the twenty cultivator rabbits she showed earlier were all of the ones that she had from that species, but now I saw over sixty surrounding the temple, each with their own little bubble repelling the fog. ¡°Ah, you¡¯re done now, John?¡± Sharon looked back at me with a smile. ¡°Yeah¡­ take it you had quite the reserve of rabbits left.¡± I took a glance around and the fluffy defensive line. Sharon giggled, nodding her head. ¡°I had Priscilla mobilize her forces, and promised her a juicy carrot once we got back to the ship.¡± ¡°Uh huh.. And which one is Priscilla?¡± I looked at the rabbits, expecting to find a demi among them. ¡°Ah, she didn¡¯t come out herself, but if you want to meet her¡­¡± Sharon closed her eyes for a moment, and before I could say anything, a blue and white light was shining from her chest. The light then gathered together in front of her, and formed into a young girl. She seemed to be in her late teens, with a petite chest and wide red eyes. Atop her head was a pair of long, fluffy rabbit ears, and an eight inch horn was sprouting from her forehead. However, what surprised me the most was that she was actually wearing maid clothes. Priscilla gave a light bow, smiling to me. ¡°Pleasure to meet you. I¡¯m Priscilla. Mistress has put me in charge of her magic rabbit squadrons.¡± I raised an eyebrow curiously at that, and looked to Sharon, who gave a tired sigh. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, she refuses to call me anything else. Then again, Yang does call you Master, after all. Maybe it¡¯s a companion thing?¡± ¡°True¡­ but where did you get the maid uniform?¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± Sharon smiled, looking away slightly. ¡°I¡­ kinda made it myself? I couldn¡¯t help it, they are all so fluffy and cute. I picked up the Fur Affinity, and have been using it to make different outfits for them¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle at that. I had expected that she would simply ask one of the crew members to make the outfits. Turns out that Sharon¡¯s been making costumes out of rabbit and wolf fur. ¡°Well, it was nice to finally meet you, Priscilla. I¡¯m John. And thank you for looking after Sharon¡¯s rabbits until now.¡± ¡°Of course.¡± The rabbit girl gave another small bow, smiling a little wider. ¡°It is my pleasure to care for my brothers and sisters.¡± She then turned back to look at Sharon. ¡°Mistress, if that is all..?¡± ¡°Right.¡± Sharon nodded, sending Priscilla back into the grove, followed by the other rabbits. ¡°She¡¯s maturing pretty well, the other evolved are all helping each other learn. Back when I first saw she had turned into a humanoid, I called her out to chat and she wouldn¡¯t stop cuddling for over an hour.¡± ¡°And she¡¯s a druid now, right?¡± I asked curious. since Sharon had said previously that she is trying to lead most of her animal companions down that path. ¡°Right. She was one of the first druid animals I trained. I don¡¯t let them form their own grove until after they are able to take on a humanoid shape. That way, they can keep helping my grove expand to make space for the others. Also, by that time they don¡¯t find it very difficult to create element seeds and merge them like we did.¡± I nodded at that. It made sense, because by that time they would have considerably more practice with the elements than we had when we made our own groves. ¡°So, back to the ship, or do you want to do some more stuff down here first?¡± She seemed to be thinking about that for a little while. ¡°Well¡­ they said there was a dungeon on this planet. Want to go see what type it is before we head back up?¡± I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°Okay. They know where we are putting the temple, so they can find it when they want to. Tomorrow we can give them some more necessary information, and see if there are any other problems that we can help out with.¡± I put my hand on my ear, activating my comm. ¡°Celeste, Yin, Yo, feel like going for a dungeon dive together?¡± ¡°I¡¯m still busy working on this ship. I want to salvage any parts from it I can before we have to go. Will save some materials from future projects.¡± Celeste quickly replied, surprising me by denying the invitation. However, both Yin and Yo gladly accepted. They went to get in their own clone bodies, while the two of us were teleported to the dungeon entrance. Well¡­ where the entrance will be. It appeared that this dungeon did not have a tunnel connecting to its surface yet. ¡°Captain, be advised. The boss monster appears to be in one of the upper floors of the dungeon. Due to interference from the dungeon¡¯s mana, we can¡¯t pinpoint its exact location.¡± My handy dandy scanning officer on duty sent me a warning, to which I nodded. ¡°Thanks. Now¡­ I want to see what a dungeon is like!¡± I grinned broadly, and crouched down to put my hand on the ground. Instantly, I began absorbing all of the dirt and stone around me, making a slanted tunnel that should lead down to some part of the dungeon below. By the time I was done, and my makeshift tunnel connected to an opening, Yin and Yo were already standing behind us. Yin had already changed into her stormbird form, ready for battle, while Yo¡¯s outer layer of slime had formed into a set of leather armor, a large skull helmet covering her face. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Let¡¯s go, daddy!¡± She said as she charged first into the dungeon. In her right hand, a spear began forming out of slime. I knew what that spear represented, as it was something I had made for her after my own experiment with slime weapons. This was her evolving weapon, one which she would never lose. Unlike my bokken, her spear started off with the water element. The initial power was a simple water blast, but she may have upgraded it by now. Sharon and Yin also had intelligent weapons, but they kept them on their main bodies, as we did not have the resources needed to bind the weapons to them in a similar manner as Yo¡¯s spear or my bokken. According to Celeste, it would take a special ritual to do so, and cost quite a lot of mana.
Welcome to the Shadow Realm Dungeon of Alkrax!
After Yo charged into the dungeon, the rest of us quickly followed behind. I was a bit worried that this would turn out to be another undead dungeon, where the creatures posed an actual danger to us even if we were in our clone bodies. However, I felt like I didn¡¯t have to really worry about that once I saw the actual monsters inside the dungeon. In the first room, we were completely unable to see anything with normal vision methods. Thankfully, none of us really relied on normal vision methods. Activating my Cybernetic Eye to look at the cave in night vision mode, I still failed to see anything in the room. ¡°Get down here!¡± Yo called out unhappily, pointing her staff up at the ceiling. Confused, I turned my gaze up as well, and saw two glowing dots. Then four, then six, then twelve¡­ more and more pairs of eyes opened up, before a dreadful screech attacked our ears. They were bats. Hundreds of bats. Now, bats are not an uncommon enemy in most games. And most games agree upon the same strategy for fighting them. Area attacks, always use area attacks. Bats are notorious for fighting in swarms, unless they are weird, giant bats. And this held true here as well, as dozens of bats descended on us all at once. I felt a few of the scratching at me as I began summoning fire to burn at them. Next to me, Yin opened her mouth and shot a bolt of lightning at the ceiling, frying several bats in a single breath. Yo was¡­ not able to do much. Unlike the rest of us, she did not really have any area attacks. Even Sharon could summon fire, or summon other creatures that could. However, the bats¡¯ attacks did not really seem to focus on those small attacks they inflicted on us. Within moments, they had completely vanished. I quickly turned around, still with a ball of flame hovering above my head. However, all I could see around me was the thick shadow cast by the flames. ¡°Did they¡­ fly out of the dungeon?¡± I asked curiously, unable to tell where they went. ¡°No, daddy, they¡¯re under your feet.¡± Yo says with a light smile, before stabbing her spear at her own shadow. There was a loud shriek as several bats flew out of her shadow, slashing ineffectively at her body. Great, so these bats have shadow powers. Well, that makes this easy--man, I hate it when I take too long to think.
Is that a spike in your leg, or are you just happy to see me?
-100 HP
¡°Gaah!¡± I shouted out as I felt like multiple lances were stabbed into my legs. Looking down, I saw spikes coming out of my shadow, piercing straight through my lower body. What¡¯s worse, my feet were starting to become cold, gradually being pulled into the shadow. I felt a chill down my back as I remembered what had happened when I had done the darkness breath attack on the pair of giant bugs. I really did not want to experience what that kind of shadow prison would be like. Hastily, I called up my Light Manipulation, and pushed bright beams of light into and through the shadow spikes, hoping to cancel them out. Another pained scream came from my shadows, as the spikes actually turned into the bats and flew off. Of course, this led to me screaming more because a few of the bats materialized inside the holes through my legs, and I felt them wriggling and clawing their way out so they could fly away. Nearby, Sharon looked at me, and her face paled slightly. She had been able to deal with her own infested shadow easily somehow, but seeing what happened to me made her scowl. Clapping her hands together, I watched as she summoned up two creatures from her grove. No¡­ these weren¡¯t creatures. One was an overly muscular man with grey hair, wearing a martial art¡¯s robe. The other was a lean woman with black hair, wearing a dark robe. ¡°Kill the bats.¡± She told the two, venom in her voice. ¡°Yes, Mistress.¡± They spoke in unison, before changing their bodies. The man had light flashing around him, before he turned into a three foot tall rabbit with two horns and a sparkling body. The woman had darkness swirl around her, before she turned into a large black wolf, inky shadows dripping down her body. The rabbit was the first to act, jumping into the air and seeming to fly around however it pleased. My eyes, even using my Spatial Comprehension and removing my limiter, could just barely follow along. With each step, a platform of solid light appeared below the rabbit¡¯s feet, which it would use to propel itself further in the direction it wanted to go. With each jump, it would pierce through at least one bat on its horns, before shaking them off and moving on to the next. The shadow wolf, and that was really all I could describe it as, was the exact opposite. It didn¡¯t seem to move at all, but the air around as grew darker. The light from my fireball seemed to dim, and even the bats began moving more sluggishly. The only one that did not seem affected by this was the light rabbit. After the air seemed to thicken, tendrils began rising up from the ground, each one wrapping around a bat. Once a tendril latched on, it squeezed tight until the bat exploded in a cloud of gore. The bats¡¯ own darkness powers seemed entirely suppressed by this pair of beasts from Sharon¡¯s grove, and she had no problems letting the two of them massacre the former occupants of this room. Most likely, these were two of Sharon¡¯s strongest fully evolved creatures. Or at least, the two most suited for fighting here. In under a minute, all of the hundreds of bats had become bodies on the ground, not even a single one being spared. When their work was done, the two beasts returned to Sharon in their human form and knelt in front of her. ¡°Thank you.¡± She said simply, before sending the two back to her grove. Then, turning to me, she hastily ran over and looked at my leg. ¡°Are you alright, John? Can you heal it? Does it still hurt?¡± She asked, obviously worried about me. I knew Yin was too, but she was just staring open-mouthed¡­ or well, open-beaked at Sharon. I chuckled lightly, nodding my head. My legs still hurt like hell, but it was not the worst injury I¡¯ve had. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine.¡± As I said that, I began applying healing spells to myself, in order to fix my legs. ¡°That¡­ was¡­ awesome!¡± Yo spoke out happily and skipped over to Sharon. ¡°Who were those two?! How did they do that?! Can I meet them?¡± As she spoke, her eyes had literally turned into star shapes, as if to show how impressed she was. I had a feeling Celeste was to blame for teaching her how to do that. Chapter 121: Lost my Marbles Author¡¯s Corner: That feeling when you get the urge to write at four in the morning and can¡¯t sleep till you take care of it.
You have leveled up.
That message was waiting for me after we had defeated the swarm of bats in the first room. While I can¡¯t exactly say that the battle was difficult once Sharon brought out her big monsters, it was still a pain for me. Once my legs were recovered, I stood up and took a look at my status.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame20,000
Level 548%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health350/350Health Regen0.58
Mana1400/1400Mana Regen8.38
Strength15Wisdom200
Agility26Intelligence140
Dexterity37Charisma35
Vitality35Luck20
Points Remaining5
Earth 24%Fire 23%Wind 24%Water 24%
Lightning 23%Light 23%Dark 24%Plant 23%
Void 23%Metal 23%Magnetism 23%Plasma 22%
Time 5%
Although my affinities had been able to slowly increase thanks to creating and then refining elemental seeds, it was still fairly slow since it had taken a few weeks just to increase everything by 2-4%. Maybe after we get back to Hydra, there will be enough seeds waiting for me to go all the way to 40% affinities. Well, I could hope for that anyways. For now, I simply deposited these five points into my Vitality, since I was rather desperate for health. Feeling the rush of my stats increasing, I decided that I was ready to move on to the next room. However, my first action was to activate my combat aspects, and set my breath weapon to the light attribute. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s move.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Sharon looked at me in concern, even though Yo was happy to hear me say I was ready, and almost left without us again. ¡°Injured fast¡­ not turn back?¡± Yin asked, looking to me while still in her bird form. ¡°We know what we¡¯re dealing with now. If it¡¯s monsters of this level, then they won¡¯t pose a problem now that we can anticipate them.¡± I spoke with a smile, moving up to Yo. ¡°As for you, try not to leave us behind again. If they are dark monsters, they might have tricks that can hurt you.¡± Yo pouted for a moment, but nodded her head. ¡°Okay, daddy¡­¡± Yin and Sharon seemed to talk about something at the back for a minute, but I didn¡¯t pay attention. Instead, I activated my Aura Sight and Mana Sense in order to scout the next room. I was tempted to use my Spatial Comprehension skill again, but disabling the limiter¡­ did not sound good to me. It wasn¡¯t so bad when I did it in the last fight, because Sharon¡¯s rabbit was moving so fast that things did not look frozen anymore. But if I did it casually, it would come too close to what I felt on Hydra. Even just thinking about it made my hand shake slightly. ¡°Let¡¯s go¡­¡± I said again, determining that the next room had a heavy aura of dark mana as well. Though actually, there were two passageways out from this room, aside from the one we made. It would have been way too coincidental to come in right at the beginning of the dungeon, right? Most likely, we were somewhere between the beginning of this floor and the boss room. The problem was that we didn¡¯t know which way led where, and we could end up going the wrong way when the boss is just a room or two behind us. Since these creatures were attuned to the Dark Affinity, I decided to see if they would respond to an attempt at communication. In the same way I had spoken with Tessa when she was a wind elemental, or Arianne when I was on Hydra the first time in the future, I sent my thoughts out with a small surge of dark mana. Is anyone there? It was a long shot, but it would be good to find out early on if there was an intelligent monster in this dungeon. If there was, then it would be possible to befriend it. However, I received no response, so either there was no such thing, or it was not within range of my communication. In the next room, we once again found bats. This time, I did not even give them the chance to swoop down at us. Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth and looked at the ceiling, releasing my light breath. So far, the only other time I had used this attack had been against the cliff tigers back in NeoLife. And at that point, I had determined this to be an overpowered attack. I didn¡¯t want to take any chances, so I poured a full thousand points into this one breath attack. However, like the first time I used it, there was no visual effect. Merely, the bats began falling down from the ceiling one by one, smoke rising from their bodies. If you can¡¯t remember, the light breath is an invisible laser attack, and although I spread it to cover almost the entire ceiling, it still had considerable destructive power since I poured so much of my energy into it. After my breath finished, the smell of burnt flesh was evident throughout the room. Of the over a hundred bats that were camped on the ceiling, less than twenty remained along the edges of my attack. These bats were quickly rounded up by Sharon and Yin, with Yo not having the chance to do anything in this room. ¡°Sharon¡­ want?¡± Yin asked as she held a pair of bats in her talons, occasionally sending an electric shock into them to prevent them from using their magic abilities. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She thought about it for a moment. ¡°Sure. Thanks, Yin.¡± She smiled brightly and walked over to the large bird, crouching down and talking to the bats. ¡°You two, you have two choices. Come with me, or be killed. Choose.¡± Hearing her words, and seeming to understand them, the bats that had been struggling in Yin¡¯s grip suddenly let out a horrified shriek as they stared at Sharon. Afterwards, they turned into streams of light that flew into her chest, being added to her grove inhabitants. ¡°Hmm¡­ what¡¯s this¡­?¡± I heard Yo¡¯s voice coming from the corner of the room, and turned to look at what she was asking about. On the ground, there was a pair of pitch black gloves. With my Aura Sight, I could see that they were magical items. Likely, they were something created by this dungeon. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Let me see.¡± Sharon said as she walked over. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting an excuse to try this spell.¡± After she leaned down and picked up the gloves, I saw a surge of mana flowing from Sharon into the gloves, and then back to her. She furrowed her brow, apparently not getting the answer she wanted, and tried again. This time, the mana lingered on the gloves a bit longer, before returning to her slightly changed. ¡°Aha. Shadetouch gloves. They let you interact with shadows and other incorporeal creatures as if they were tangible.¡± She smiled as her spell seemed to work. ¡°An identify spell?¡± I asked curiously, and she nodded. ¡°It¡¯s the reason I asked for Divination magic. If I can use this to identify items, then we won¡¯t be left unsure when we pick up something.¡± Suddenly, I thought back to the marbles that I had gotten from the Toy Chest quest, and pulled them out of my grove to hand to her. ¡°Can you identify these?¡±
Cheater
Oh hush, mad god. Sharon took the bag, and pulled out one of the marbles, doing the same spell she had used on the gloves. ¡°Huh¡­ They¡¯re called Newton¡¯s Marbles, according to this. If you throw them at someone, they will be thrown back as if they had been struck by an object of equal size and weight to them. However, each marble is consumed after use, and there are a limited number.¡±
Get it? Newton''s Marbles? Come on, this is gold!
I sighed, ignoring the god that was trying to get a reaction out of me. ¡°Well, at least they sound useful.¡± I collected the marbles, and put them back in my grove. ¡°Though it figures that they are the only items we got from that quest with a usage limit.¡± Sharon nodded her head. ¡°Just think, you could throw one of those at a dragon and still get the full effect.¡± I chuckled slightly. ¡°Now we need a slingshot, or a marble cannon to shoot them out of.¡± She smiled at the idea, and the discussion had given me time to replenish my mana. As such, we continued. Once again, I unleashed a laser breath at the bats clinging to the ceiling of the next room. However, there were less of them this time, not even a hundred. Seeing that the numbers were going down, we decided to turn around, and headed back in the direction we came. From all of the dungeon reports I read, monsters grew greater in numbers or power as you got closer to the boss room. Since that was not happening here, it could only mean that we were going the wrong way. And sure enough, after we got into the next room from where we first entered, there was a new type of monster waiting for us among the two hundred shadow bats. This one was¡­ a slime. That¡¯s really it, just a shadow slime. I took care of the majority of the bats with a laser breath, Yin blasted the slime, and Sharon shot down the remaining bats with her magic. ¡°Shadow slime¡­ Wonder if there are elementals on the lower floors?¡± Sharon thought curiously, but I shook my head. ¡°If there are, we¡¯ll leave immediately. Even if it is a low level elemental, its control over shadows would be practically absolute. With our abilities, I¡¯m not confident we can counter one.¡± Unlike most races that began at level one, elementals were born at level twenty, and weren¡¯t even considered to be ¡®fully grown¡¯ until level fifty. With monsters tending to be born in their adult state, I could only assume that elementals would be created by that standard. Yin nodded her head slightly, but Sharon frowned at the thought. I smiled and comforted her the best I could. ¡°You might be able to take one on with your animals, but can you guarantee that they wouldn¡¯t die fighting? Unlike us, your animals won¡¯t come back. If we can¡¯t handle it on our own, we should turn back.¡± Hearing that, Sharon let out a long sigh, nodding her head. ¡°Fine¡­ But I at least want to see what the boss of this floor is.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll get the chance.¡± I chuckled lightly, waiting until my mana was restored before we moved on to the next room. I could still remember back when I first started in NeoLife, when it would take over an hour just for my mana to come back. If that were still the case, I would be doomed. In the next room, there was no slime, but among the bats was a large one, about three feet tall hanging from the ceiling. Thankfully, that put it within the range of my laser attack. Although it didn¡¯t die outright, it was screaming in pain from the invisible attack, and was quickly killed by Sharon and Yin.
You have leveled up.
I smiled as I got that message, figuring that these individual bats had to be extremely low level. Although there were four of us, we still had to kill over five hundred bats for me to level up. At most, they should be level ten creatures. From there on, the dungeon crawl proceeded normally. In each room, there were countless small shadow bats, between one and five large bats, and sometimes a shadow slime. We also picked up three more items. One was a staff that amplified shadow magic, one was a ring that stored dark mana, and the final one was a dagger that was able to paralyze a creature by stabbing its shadow. After every other room, I sent out my mental call through the dark mana, curious to see if there would be anything. Maybe a vampire, given the number of bats here? That would certainly be interesting. However, before I got a response, I received a call from the ship. ¡°Captain, be advised, there is a high chance that the boss monster is within your immediate vicinity. I would suggest proceeding with extreme caution.¡± Another warning. Most likely, even though they couldn¡¯t tell exactly where it was, they were able to tell when we were getting close. That, or our presence and killing so many monsters somehow made it easier for them to scan. I wasn¡¯t sure, but the next thing worried me. Help, somebody please help me! Is anyone out there? A young boy¡¯s cry could be heard in my mind, and it was answered by a series of high pitched shrieks that made me put my hand over my ears to try and block out the noise. So, there was someone here¡­ And this was not how I wanted to find them. Was the boss monster attacking the little boy, or was the scared little boy a boss monster...? I honestly wasn''t sure which one scared me more. Chapter 122: Tag, youre it. ¡°There¡¯s someone up ahead!¡± I called back as I hurried forwards, wanting to reach the source of the voice as soon as possible. ¡°What are you talking about?¡± Sharon looked at me curiously, having apparently not heard it. I wonder if she hasn¡¯t tried to talk to elemental creatures using mana yet? Either way, I know what I had heard. Yin and Yo simply followed along silently, and in the next room, I found the source of the noise. It was the boss room for this dungeon floor, as expected. However, aside from a swarm of shadow bats, there was also a black flame blazing against the back of the room. In the center of the room, on the floor was a thin boy with pitch black skin, and a circular halo resting vertically behind his head. His body was doubled over, using his arms to protect his head as two identical boys were kicking at him. ¡°What the¡­¡± Sharon was the first to speak up here, as she was right behind me when I started running. Celeste, what am I looking at? The AI quickly responded in my head. ¡°The boy should be a type of Shade, I think. Not sure if he¡¯s a pure one or not until we ask him to check his status. But the other two¡­ Their auras perfectly match his, and yet they are hostile to him. Most likely, they are--¡± Before she could finish telling me what was going on, a black spear flew at me from the side. Turning to look, I saw Yo¡­ or what looked like Yo, but with an entirely black body. I was worried that something was controlling her, but then I saw the slime girl running up behind Yin and just entering the room. ¡°Dopplegangers¡­¡± I groaned, watching as a second Yo formed, followed by two each of myself, Sharon and Yin. ¡°I¡­ really hope they can¡¯t copy everything.¡± ¡°We can work on that later.¡± Sharon said, taking a fighting stance. ¡°You want to save that boy, right?¡± When I nodded, she smiled slightly. ¡°Good, then all we have to do is kick some ass and grab him.¡± I nodded again, looking at my own clones. ¡°Sounds like a plan.¡± Opening my mouth, I did a concentrated two hundred point laser breath on the closest John clone. However, both of my clones opened their mouths, and black bursts of energy shot out, crashing together in midair, likely fighting back my own mana breath. With my Aura Sight, I saw that what they were using was pure dark mana, so I tried going with fire next. Using my Fire Manipulation, I created a small fireball and flinged it at the target clone. Instead of copying me, this time the other clone jumped in front of the fireball, and erected a black wall of energy around them. Unfortunately, the fireball was harmlessly absorbed by that black wall. ¡°I...I¡¯m not liking our odds here.¡± I tested again with a stone spike, but again they used a shadow ball to negate it. Although these things were not able to wield all of the elements like I could, it seemed like their elemental aptitude was poured entirely into Dark Affinity. Sharon nodded beside me, taking a deep breath and looking towards the clone army. Her voice was forceful, and held an air of command about it as she spoke. ¡°Stop!¡± The clones, which had been getting ready to charge up, momentarily froze. However, the black flame in the back of the room surged brighter, and they were soon moving again. The two Yo clones, as well as the Sharon clones all rushed in to engage in melee, while the John and Yin clones stepped back, apparently preparing to use their magic. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m out of ideas!¡± Sharon called out, having apparently tried to use the advanced form of her Wild Voice to control the creatures. ¡°Yin, telekinesis!¡± I looked over to the storm bird. These things were shadow constructs, and obviously not perfect ones. If they were, they¡¯d be using other elements on us. Heaven forbid, my clones might have decided to use time against us, then we would be in trouble. My hope here was that they did not have physical brains, and thus were unable to reproduce psychic abilities. Pretty ironic since this was the psychic planet. If the Ha¡¯vosh came down here, this boss would be useless. Yin nodded, her body changing in a shower of sparks to take on her human form. Surprisingly, her two clones immediately reshaped themselves into her human body as well. ¡°Sharon, don¡¯t use your animals. Groves are undetectable, so it can¡¯t copy your animals until you bring them out.¡± She nodded her head slightly at that, while I looked towards the black flame in the back of the room. ¡°What about me, daddy?¡± Yo called out happily, and I looked over to see that she was currently being impaled by one of her own clones, and being punched by one of Sharon¡¯s. ¡°Uhm¡­ see if you can eat them?¡± I really didn¡¯t know what else to say about that. If these things hit her core, she¡¯d be in trouble, but she seemed to be protecting it well. ¡°Mmm¡­ Alright!¡± She turned to look towards her own clone. ¡°You look yummy~!¡± Suddenly, Yo¡¯s body seemed to explode outwards, wrapping her clone as it struggled to get free. I had to admit, this was unnerving to watch, but her clone was gradually dissolved inside of herself. Meanwhile, the other Sharon clone reached Yin, and the other Yo clone reached Sharon. Yin, having gotten into her human form to use telekinesis, held out her hands and focused as the barehanded shadow elf charged her. I could see her furrowing her brows in frustration while the clone¡¯s body seemed to slow down. I had to quickly raise a wall of stone between them and my own clones as balls of shadow were thrown at her to try to prevent her from doing the next part. The next part being to rip the clone in half, literally. The Sharon Clone had her upper body completely ripped off of her lower one, both halves falling to the ground while Yin also collapsed from overusing her psychic power. I rushed over to the human-form bird, and gave her a psychic stress relief pill. ¡°Take that. You did a good job there.¡± I smiled to her, and she nodded back with a relieved expression. It seemed that as long as she was in her human form, her clones were rendered essentially useless in the fight. Although they shot black lightning bolts at my earth wall from their hands, the magic was not strong enough to penetrate. Yin¡¯s only real offensive power in this form is telekinesis, after all. Soon, however, my wall was smashed down by a series of thick black spheres that my own clones had shot out. One of the balls smashed against me, throwing me back into the wall.
Quit hitting yourself.
-30 HP
I groaned at the message, looking as my clones had switched targets to the girls. I gripped the wall in frustration, and pulled myself off of it just as I remembered an old ability I haven¡¯t played with in a while. Hopefully, they have no way to copy this, and even if they do there¡¯s no way to stop what I want to do with their abilities. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Closing my eyes for a second, I adjusted my aura to give myself the special ability of the cliff tigers. The special ability that let me swim within the rocks as if they were water. Gradually, my body fell down beneath the floor, and a three dimensional map opened up in my mind, courtesy of Celeste. As I ¡®swam¡¯ through the floor of the cave, towards that black flame, the AI sent me an update. ¡°The girls just called in, your clones vanished after you went into the floor. However, the one Yin finished off is starting to pull itself back together, and the two from the Shade have started to join the fight.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that, trying to increase my speed. Right now, I was just holding my breath, waiting until I was where I needed to be. Then, after swimming up the wall behind the black flame, I poked my head out from the ceiling. ¡°Peekaboo, ass.¡± I grinned, my head sticking out as I used over half of my mana to create a stone wall that blocked off the flame from the rest of the room. ¡°I¡¯ve been needing to do this for decades.¡± I chuckled, and took a deep breath before sinking back into the wall. This next part¡­ I don¡¯t regret doing in the slightest. My grove had over a hundred years of human waste in it that I had not had the chance to properly dispose of. And now, I had the perfect target. So, I filled up the little room I made for the black flame with as much of that waste as would fit, before moving back to the rest of the group with a much happier expression. ¡°Daddy¡­ the other me didn¡¯t taste very good.¡± Yo said with a pout when she saw me rising up from the floor. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Yo.¡± I walked over and pat her on the head, which made her smile. Looking around the room, there did not seem to be any enemies left. When I closed off the black flame, it appeared to have cancelled its ability to copy us. Wonder if that is going to kill it, eventually. ¡°So¡­ what did you do?¡± Sharon looked at me suspiciously, and then the wall I had made. ¡°...Let¡¯s just say that you really don¡¯t want to go see.¡± I smiled to her, and Yin just tilted her head confused. ¡°Fight¡­ over?¡± She asked cautiously, still holding her head in one hand. ¡°Yeah, looks like it. Try not to shift into your bird form until your headache goes away. Don¡¯t know if there would be any side effects.¡± She simply nodded her head at that, while I turned towards the shivering shadow boy in the center of the room. Surprisingly, throughout all of this, the black bats in the ceiling had not attacked. In fact, when I got out from taking the world¡¯s largest dump on the boss, they had vanished. I was starting to think that the ones in this room might have been creations of that black flame, and it was the only real opponent. You¡¯re safe now. I sent to the boy with my dark mana. His head looked up at me, still shaking slightly. He took a moment to look around, before his eyes rested on me again. Did¡­ did you make them go away..? I nodded my head, and saw as he relaxed slightly. Can you tell me your name, or how you got here? What happened to you? I¡­ name? What is that? Where am I? I appeared below, and have been walking¡­ everyone ignored me¡­ until those two¡­ why did they want to hurt me? I saw his eyes watering with an inky black substance. I don¡¯t know¡­ but I want you to do me a favor, okay? Think the word ¡®status¡¯ with your mind, and tell me what it says. I did my best reassuring smile, while Sharon walked over closer to me, looking down at the boy. Status¡­ ¡°How are you talking to him?¡± She asked as she watched us. ¡°I can¡¯t hear anything¡­¡± ¡°You have to attune your mana to the Dark Affinity, and send out your thoughts with mana. It¡¯s a trick I learned the first time I was on Hydra.¡± I answered as I waited for the shadow boy to finish. Name¡­ Kismet. Race¡­ Shadowborn¡­ Titles¡­ Dungeon Lord¡­ Fame¡­ zero¡­ Level one two four¡­ Sharon apparently worked out how to listen in on the conversation, because her mouth was suddenly hanging open. ¡°Wait, what?¡± I was shocked at that as well, though more by the title. Though, after having him say it again, it seemed like it was all correct. What was really shocking to me, even more than his level, was that his stats were all at ten. When he got to his points remaining, apparently he had over six hundred points waiting to be spent. Celeste, explanation? I sent to the AI in my head, not letting that bit leak out with my mana. ¡°Well¡­ a Dungeon Lord is a rare title given to a sapient monster that spawns as a final dungeon boss. They don¡¯t actually have any control over the dungeon itself, and lose the title when they leave. Basically, this little guy was supposed to be the final boss of the dungeon.¡± Then why are his stats so abysmal? ¡°Probably because he is a sapient, they weren¡¯t automatically allocated for him. So, he had to make the choice to do it himself. Since he hasn¡¯t, he is almost no different than a level one character, aside from his innate skills. As for the Shadowborn¡­ They are a sapient race, so I have some information on them. Like the slimes, they began as monsters, but unlike Shades they are not fully shadow elementals. They are born with a physical form, sort of halfway in between human and Shade.¡± I nodded my head, then spoke to the boy again. Do you want to come with us? He smiled wide when I offered that, nodding his head. Yes¡­ yes¡­ can I? I don¡¯t like this place¡­ Okay, but I¡¯m going to do something to let you talk like we do, alright? That way you¡¯ll be able to speak with everyone. After getting a nod of acceptance, I closed my eyes and used Share Language to teach him the elven language. It cost a small amount of experience, but that was vastly overshadowed by the message that came next.
You have killed the Shadowflame Mimic.
You have leveled up.
Most unconventional way to kill a dungeon boss ever¡­. ¡°I¡­ Hi¡­ I¡¯m¡­ Kismet.¡± The boy spoke in a soft voice after the language transfer had been completed. Sharon, being the lover of all things small and adorable, immediately bent down and picked him up in a tight hug. ¡°Nice to meet you, Kismet.¡± She said with a large smile. ¡°We¡¯re going to take you to meet a bunch of new friends!¡± Chapter 123: Bobs Boss Now that we had killed the shadowflame mimic, we took Kismet up out of the dungeon. There was no benefit to keeping him here, and we needed to get him out. Though, I was a bit concerned about how to deal with a superpowered child. Even Yo can get out of hand some time, but she sees me as a father figure, so I can keep her in line. How am I supposed to do that with Kismet? Sharon, as if seeing my conflicted emotions, smiles to me. ¡°Let me take care of him. He¡¯ll probably be more comfortable if I get him used to interacting with people in my grove, and I can set up a darkness area for him if he needs it.¡± She said as she gave Kismet a piggyback ride. ¡°I¡¯ll let him slowly power up and spend his stat points as he gets used to his ability.¡± I nodded my head, agreeing that it was the best plan at the time. Until he can control his power, he is a possible danger to the crew, whether he wants to be or not. If he is contained in a grove, then that danger is minimized. Even an elemental should only have a limited ability to resist a druid inside their grove. ¡°Okay¡­ just be careful.¡± She gave me a quick nod, and we soon made it out of the dungeon. ¡°Will do, Captain! Now, why don¡¯t you go check on the Ha¡¯vosh? I¡¯ll take care of things here.¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± I looked to Yin. ¡°Want to come with me this time? Might not be much fun, and hopefully we won¡¯t get into any fights, but would be glad for the company.¡± Yin looked at me in surprise, but quickly nodded her head. ¡°Sure, John.¡± She smiled, reaching out and taking my hand. Thankfully, she was still in her human form, so this became easier. Closing my eyes, I used my Earth Manipulation to close up the tunnel to the dungeon. The last thing we need is either the dungeon monsters running wild across the planet or the mist walkers going into the dungeon to level up. ¡°Celeste, send me and Yin back to the Ha¡¯vosh. Time to speak to Bob again.¡± While I waited for Celeste to process that request, I began thinking about the fight that we had just been through. That shadowflame mimic boss is ridiculously powerful by normal standards. Without using psychics, or tricks that block line of sight, it is basically impossible to defeat it. After all, who can say they would be able to take on two people with the same power as themselves at once? From Celeste¡¯s information, floor bosses are supposed to represent the type of creature that lives on the floor below. However, Kismet said that he had wandered around unimpeded until he met that boss. That means that the second floor can¡¯t be filled with more mimics. Was it a rare variant or something? I¡¯d have to do more research into the dungeons once I got back to Hydra. My only concern now was whether or not the boss that spawned there would be another shadowflame mimic, or if something else would appear. Though, I wouldn¡¯t really be around by then to find out. I could always just leave a message with the Ha¡¯vosh to warn them about the dungeon, and tell them not to enter it until they level up a bit more. By the time I was done thinking about this, we had already been teleported elsewhere, with a few Ha¡¯vosh standing in front of us. If not for the tech circlet on the head of one, I would never have been able to recognize my good friend Bob. ¡°Greetings.¡± He said as he noticed that I was now paying attention. I wonder if that happens a lot with their people, just randomly spacing out in thought. ¡°Hello. Got the temple built for you.¡± I pointed back in the direction that the temple was. And then changed to point in the direction it actually was, after Celeste corrected me. ¡°Many thanks. That was¡­ far faster than we had anticipated.¡± I decided not to tell them that I actually already went to the dungeon after finishing the temple. ¡°If you send someone over to become a priest, they can set up a barrier to stop the spawning of monsters. Then we can begin training people as they get new classes.¡± Bob shook his head at that. ¡°Again, many thanks. The language is¡­ going slower than expected. It will likely take¡­ two days, in order to get it fully transmitted.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Celeste quickly let me know that, despite their years being twice as long, their days only last twelve hours, so two days for them was only one for us. ¡°My ship will stay in orbit until then, and once it¡¯s taken care of we¡¯ll come back down to begin teaching.¡± Honestly, I wanted off this planet as quickly as I could get off, because the higher gravity was starting to get to me. ¡°Understood. If all goes well¡­ I hope to see you in two days.¡± Bob shook his head again, and turned back to the others. Shrugging my shoulders, I turned to look at Yin. ¡°See? Not really that fun.¡± She just smiled gently, leaning in to give me a hug with one arm. ¡°Still¡­ happy to come.¡± After that, we had Celeste beam us up to the Ariadne.There was still the chance that they would be sending people to join us after the training period was over, so I had Celeste start mass producing the psychic inhibitors. As long as they don¡¯t send up more than two hundred and fifty people like the elves did, then we should have plenty. Hopefully. For the next couple of days, Sharon began learning what Kismet¡¯s powers were. She wasn¡¯t having him practice them, unless she wasn¡¯t able to understand something. After all, someone with level one stats should not be able to use level one hundred abilities. I¡¯ll summarize his powers a bit now. First of all, he has Dark Affinity at 75%, and naturally has Darkness Manipulation to go with it. He also has Magic Manipulation, though it is only at the beginner levels. No doubt its level will skyrocket once he actually starts practicing. Next, he has Shadow Magic, also at the beginner level. According to Sharon, the skill description for it says that he is able to use it for even more than the manipulation ability. If I¡¯m right, once he trains a bit, making copies of people like the shadowflame mimic did should be entirely possible for him. He also has two different skills, each of which I considered very overpowered. The first was called Shadow Armory. With this skill, he is able to create weapons made of shadows. Now, you may think that this is just like the Dark Affinity ability to do basically the same thing. However, there is a key difference. The Shadow Armory weapons he makes can be enchanted with any power he has, or any that he has ¡®absorbed¡¯. The second power, the one that compliments the Shadow Armory, is the Shadow Arsenal. With this, he can create a shadow area that absorbs magic attacks thrown at it, and gives him instinctive knowledge on how to replicate that effect with either Shadow Magic or Darkness Manipulation. To test it out, Sharon had him dump a few points into intelligence to up his mana, and then had one of her animals send a weak poison spell at him. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. The result, he learned how to make a curse spell with his Shadow Magic that mimics the effects of the poison. Now, between that and the Shadow Armory, he can potentially make unbelievably strong weapons. The limiting factors of these two skills are that they can¡¯t create/absorb an effect higher than the strength of the skill being used. So, he can absorb a very weak poison spell, but not a fireball spell one level higher. Still¡­ that is a terrifying combo. According to Celeste, that¡¯s not even something that shadowborn typically have. They are born with a high Dark Affinity, but don¡¯t usually have inherent Shadow Magic, or any of his other skills. Those were probably his special boss skills. And fighting a boss able to do that¡­ probably more scary than fighting the shadowflame mimic. Moving on, though. As I suggested to Sharon, she has started to bring out some of the fully evolved animals from her grove to work various areas of the ship. In total, ten came out, while the rest chose to stay in her grove for now. I¡¯m sure that, in time, more will come out as they evolve. But until then, we have ten new crew members. Like with Yin, I gave each of them the psychic power surgery. The only power that emerged which was truly unusual was Demona, the wolf shade. She was the one that Sharon brought out when the bats did quite a bit of damage to me in the dungeon. Her psychic power was called Domain. Quite simply, she is able to establish an area around herself, where she has a high degree of control. Telekinesis, teleportation, pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, from what I understand, it is all possible within her domain. However, right now her domain only extends an inch from her body, which severely limits the use for the power until she trains it. For now, she is learning from Celeste about piloting, and hopes to be the go-to pilot for small craft like shuttles and fighters. I had expected there to be some opposition from the crew when it came to evolved animals suddenly being added to the roster, but they handled it surprisingly well. Maybe they were already used to it thanks to Yin and Yang, or maybe they had just expected it to happen sooner or later. Either way, the sooner that we got the rest of the facilities of the ship crewed, the faster that we could see what other cool things we could add. I know I was looking forward to being able to put in a hologram room or a fighter bay. On to the new ship that we found in orbit. By the next day, Celeste had already downloaded all of the information from its computer, and had begun disassembling it with her construction drones. Although most of them were busy making the gadgets for the Ha¡¯vosh, she was able to spare a couple for this. During these two days(local time, still only one day by our standards), I was focusing on training my elemental affinities by creating element seeds and then absorbing them.Tis a long and painfully boring process, but one that offers much benefit in the long run. For now, I was focusing on my Plant Affinity, while messing around with some of the unique plants that Celeste had brought me while we were at Hydra. I won¡¯t go into detail about them now, but I¡¯ll bring them up when they are relevant later. After the two days were up, Sharon and Yin both joined me as we went back down to the planet. I felt a bit bad for not sticking around and helping rid them of the mist walkers for good, but that was not really possible. I don¡¯t have the ability to stop monsters on a global scale, and even if I did they could just spawn again anyways. The best I could do was to show them how to take care of it themselves. When we got down to the planet, Bob was waiting at the temple with a group of Ha¡¯vosh. Most notably was one wearing a fine purple suit. Why purple, who knows¡­ Anyways, what surprised me was that it was this new Ha¡¯vosh that did the talking. ¡°Greetings¡­ I am leader.¡± I could tell that he hadn¡¯t had much practice speaking verbally yet. ¡°You have helped Ha¡¯vosh. Why? You do not¡­ know Ha¡¯vosh.¡± I tilted my head curiously. I really shouldn¡¯t be surprised that the leadership of the planet had these questions. It is pretty basic stuff. ¡°Why not? We come from a distant planet where we had advanced warning of these changes, so we thought we would go to other planets in order to help them.¡± It seemed like the leader guy didn¡¯t really understand what I meant, but locally Bob seemed to do some psychic translating. ¡°I see¡­ Charity, is it?¡± Well¡­ I never really thought about it like that, but maybe? ¡°Sort of? You¡¯re in trouble, we can help. Seems like common sense for us to do what we can.¡± And again, he needed translation assistance. Most likely, he had no idea what ¡®common sense¡¯ meant. That tends to be the case with leader types, I think. ¡°Ahh. This one you call ¡®Bob¡¯ tells me of the ¡®noblesse oblige¡¯.¡± Okay¡­ did not think Bob got that bit of info, but sure. ¡°It is¡­ unusual concept. Still, we would¡­ appreciate, any assistance you could give us.¡± ¡°The assistance will be fairly limited right now. Normally, we would upload the information we have to your computers. However, the systems you use, if any, do not seem to be compatible with ours. Unless we get the chance to study your system and figure out how to translate it over, we¡¯ll only be able to give you the most basic training.¡± Thankfully, it was Sharon that pointed this out in my stead. I should let her come down here to do the talking more often. Maybe make her my diplomatic ambassador? That would be a cool title for her. ¡°That¡­ is a problem. We will need time to¡­ come up with a solution.¡± The Ha¡¯vosh rested his chin on his hand in thought, his four eyes blinking rapidly. ¡°It would be¡­ helpful if you could¡­ begin the training in the¡­ meantime.¡± I nodded my head, agreeing to that. That¡¯s what we¡¯re here for, after all. ¡°I¡¯ll need any Ha¡¯vosh that go through with the training to wear the inhibitor like Bob is wearing, to ensure the safety of my people.¡± He didn¡¯t seem to have any problems with that, so now for training a species, round two! That reminds me, we should probably check in on the robots after we leave here on our way back to the elves. See if they¡¯ve become less tyrannical. Chapter 124: The Beginning? Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the delayed chapter, all! Had some RL things to take care of the last couple days!
So, you¡¯re probably wondering if anything special happened while we were doing the training this time around, right? Well¡­ as much as I would love to say that it did, and there was some epic battle, honestly it was really boring. I did learn a few things about the Ha¡¯vosh though, which were quite interesting. First of all, their ¡®network¡¯ was an organic computer that projected a psychic link over the planet. Anyone that knew how could access it, and once inside it worked somewhat similar to the VR internet on Earth, navigated by thought. I even learned how to tap into it myself, and turned into a Ha¡¯vosh to do so. Once inside their network, I was able to gradually ¡®upload¡¯ the information that we had been unable to simply give them due to the compatibility issues. Unsurprisingly, my psychic powers were not strong enough to maintain the link for too long, even after I shapeshifted. The Ha¡¯vosh essentially train their abilities every day of their lives, so even if I transform into one and get the racial boost, I won¡¯t be able to match up in terms of actual ability. Since I could only connect for about ten minutes at a time, and then have to take a break for an hour, it took me about a week to upload the necessary information. According to Jimmy, my name for the leader of the Ha¡¯vosh, the organic computer had been showing problems ever since the system was put in place. Several people believed that it was going to crash, which would cause the psychic network to fall. However, the problems were mostly just slowing down the speed of information transfers. I asked Celeste if she could investigate it, but since she doesn¡¯t have the equipment to interface with an organic computer that is based on psychic input, she was only able to do preliminary scans. Of course, these scans didn¡¯t reveal anything structurally wrong with the device. I was tempted to do my own scan of the organic computer, to add it to my list of reckless brain surgeries. Doing so might even give me a major boost to my psychic ability. However¡­ it was just too alien. Since I did not know how the technology worked, I could not isolate the parts that I would need for the surgery. I could only take comfort in knowing that my repeated connections to the network had strengthened my control to some degree. In total, we stayed at the Ha¡¯vosh planet for one month, during which time we trained them as best as we could. Thankfully, our ¡®training crew¡¯ this time was more than just Sharon and myself, since we had representatives from the other classes in the crew. The only real downside was that we still had to use our clones to do the training. At one point, one of the ¡®classes¡¯ had been interrupted by a curious Ha¡¯vosh that wasn¡¯t wearing an inhibitor, and it killed the teacher. So, as I was saying, we spent a month training them to get them to understand the basics, and helped them construct three more temples on the planet. Given that we were busy, we didn¡¯t bother going back to the Shadow Realm dungeon while we were here, but we did let the Ha¡¯vosh know of its existence. They seemed to appreciate the information, as the dungeon offered an easy way for them to level up. Or it would, once they trained a bit more. Right now, they would be useless against anything that was immune to psychic attacks, and a darkness dungeon might just have something like that. After that month passed, we were finally ready to leave and head back towards the elven worlds to meet up with my parents. Jimmy told us that a few of the Ha¡¯vosh had indeed decided to join us, so we had brought down the shuttle to ferry them up. We probably could have just teleported them, but this way they get to see their world as they leave it for the first, and possibly last, time. Unfortunately¡­ there were not nearly as many Ha¡¯vosh as I had been expecting. I had thought that there might be a hundred, maybe even two hundred or more Ha¡¯vosh. I was prepared to ferry them in small batches so that they could enjoy their first trip to space. But¡­ when we brought the shuttle down to the designated location, there were¡­ only five Ha¡¯vosh waiting there for us. Demona was our shuttle pilot, as she had become quite adept at flying the small craft, and when she saw the small number of people she cast a suspicious glance in my direction. ¡°You got the right coordinates, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I did¡­ I think.¡± I got out of the shuttle after it landed, and looked at the five Ha¡¯vosh. Each one was wearing nametags, something that we had to insist on because there were almost no distinguishing characteristics between them aside from height. Every now and then one would have different eye colors, but otherwise they all looked the same. The five Ha¡¯vosh lined up in front of me were Bob, Mark, Greg, Sam, and Alex. Yes, they were all ones I had met personally and named over these last few months. Greg, the only priest of the group, stepped forward and spoke. ¡°Hello, Captain.¡± His speech, as well as everyone else¡¯s, have gotten quite better over the last month. And yes, they were all wearing inhibitors. ¡°Sir Jimmy has told us that we would be able to travel with you if we waited here.¡± Thankfully, they had recently taken up the habit of adding ¡®Sir¡¯, ¡®Miss¡¯, or so on in front of names to help distinguish them for us, since they could tell we had problems. I nodded my head at that. ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯ll be taking anyone interested up to my ship, and then we¡¯ll be leaving.¡± Just like with Talia, I had added Jimmy to my friends list, but I had not been asked to give regular updates with him. ¡°Understood.¡± Greg shook his head and looked to the others. ¡°We can get on now, it seems.¡± At his words, the other four Ha¡¯vosh all proceeded forward to board the shuttle, aside from Bob who just kept staring at it. ¡°Sister Bob, is there a problem?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Bob looked at Greg, before nodding. ¡°I am alright.¡± Bob then proceeded to head onto the ship as--wait, sister? Did I accidentally stick a female with a definitively male name? And how confusing was this going to get in the long run? Though.. I guess it didn¡¯t matter much. Maybe from now on, Bob would be a female name for the Ha¡¯vosh¡­ I¡¯m sorry in advance. ¡°Right¡­ well, let¡¯s get going, then.¡± I said with a slight sigh. ¡°I guess that there won¡¯t be any others coming?¡± Greg nodded his head at that. We were really going to have to work on that. ¡°Only us, Captain. Ha¡¯vosh have never left Alkrax. Many do not wish to do so. Others do not wish to leave their families without knowing that they can return.¡± Well¡­ I guess that is understandable¡­ Still, surprised they haven¡¯t even gone to their moon yet. I suppose that they just didn¡¯t have much interest in leaving their world. Kind of ironic to me that the elves had already left their homeworld and colonized multiple planets in their system by the time we show up, but the psychic race hasn¡¯t even been to the moon yet. ¡°Alright¡­ Well, sit down and strap in. Demona, take us back.¡± I shook my head slightly, sitting down in the front of the shuttle. This was kind of a disappointment. Even if it was just for political reasons, I had expected that they would send no less than fifty Ha¡¯vosh. To only get five¡­ well, it¡¯s not like I was helping people just to get a bigger crew. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Hearing my instruction, Demona quickly launched the shuttle, moving to take us back up to the Ariadne. I looked back towards Alkrax, somewhat regretful. During this month, I had taken the chance to train a new element almost exclusively. Originally, I had planned to train Dural next, as it was a good conductor for mana, so that would make it a valuable resource. However¡­ arriving on a planet with a higher gravity, I couldn¡¯t help myself from taking the Gravity Affinity. I even went ahead and added it to my grove after getting the required 5%. After putting this new element inside my grove, a series of changes began taking place. The different planetoids inside the grove, which had all been immobile, began moving. The sun that had occupied the center of the daytime sky gained a large gravitational pull, and the other planetoids began to orbit it. Of course, when this happened I had to make some changes in order for the planets to not crash into each other. Now, each of my grove planets were orbiting the sun within my grove. There was no longer a ¡®night¡¯ and ¡®day¡¯ side for me to play around with, as the light was emitted solely from this sun. At the same time, the void area increased explosively, as if feeding off some relationship between itself and the gravity mana to expand. I was not sure exactly how far it had reached, but I was confident in saying that the total radius of my grove, including the void area, was at least several hundred miles. At the same time, this message appeared for me.
Stellar Grove Unlocked
Due to possessing the Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Light, Dark, Plasma, Gravity, and Void affinities within your grove, it has upgraded from ''Primal'' status to ''Stellar'' status. Stellar groves follow a system similar to solar systems. While passing through areas that have dense mana of a type within your grove, it is possible for an ''asteroid'' of the element to emerge within your grove. This will not impact your cultivation speed, but will increase the rate at which your grove increases in size.
That was¡­ not something I had expected. I mean, the message didn¡¯t really have much impact, as the only thing it really meant was that I would randomly get a boost to the elements inside my grove. I had to wonder if adding in other elements would upgrade it again. Or maybe I just needed to expand it wide enough. If I make a few dozen other areas like the small solar system, it might upgrade to a ¡®Nebula¡¯ or something? Then, train gravity high enough and put a black hole in the center, maybe that would upgrade it to ¡®Galaxy¡¯? I honestly had no idea, but I figured I would find out eventually. For now, I was simply absorbing mana passively while training my new affinity, hoping to get it to match with the others. Maybe Sharon would be able to unlock different combinations and upgrade her grove down a different path? Given the affinities I¡¯ve seen her practice, maybe her grove would eventually become a living being with a mind of its own? Anyways, once we got onto the ship, we immediately left the system. Unlock when we acquired the elves, these five Ha¡¯vosh had no prior training that would grant them an immediate position on board the ship. As such, I had to assign them to different trainers in order to prepare them for to take on a post. ¡°That¡¯s really all of them?¡± Sharon looked at me doubtfully. ¡°You didn¡¯t just forget to make a second trip, or something?¡± ¡°Nope.. that was everyone that wanted to leave their planet.¡± I shook my head, sighing again. ¡°Apparently, the Ha¡¯vosh aren¡¯t that big on space travel right now. Maybe, if we hadn¡¯t shown up, they might have never considered the possibility.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that sucks. But, at least this way there won¡¯t be too many running around that could potentially harm the crew, right?¡± I nodded at that, agreeing. ¡°Speaking of which, how¡¯s Kismet doing?¡± Sharon¡¯s brows furrowed slightly at the question. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ going slowly. He is not maturing as rapidly as Yang or Yo did at first, according to Celeste¡¯s estimates. It might be because he didn¡¯t evolve into this form, or because he¡¯s always been alone, but he is honestly just a little kid.¡± ¡°A little kid with the power of a final dungeon boss¡­¡± I reminded her with a slight smile. That earned me a laugh. ¡°Right, how could I forget that part? I¡¯ve started training his skills a bit, but mostly I am having him learn common sense, right and wrong and all that. Priscilla and the others are helping a lot with that, and he¡¯s been making friends with them.¡± I smiled, thanking her. Kismet could potentially be an extremely powerful ally if he was raised properly. I also took the time to tell her about my grove being upgraded from ¡®Primal¡¯ to ¡®Stellar¡¯, and how it happened. ¡°Huh¡­ Maybe different systems get added to the groves based on the elements in them? Evolution might not be possible inside the grove without the Animal Affinity, for instance¡­ I wouldn¡¯t really know since I didn¡¯t get a message, and I had that affinity before any of my animals were strong enough to evolve in the first place.¡± I thought about that, and then suggested my own theory. ¡°Maybe there are different paths of advancement for groves? Like, someone making a World Tree in theirs instead of a standard solar system.¡± However, Sharon brought up a completely valid point that negated that theory. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you have already gotten something like that since you had the Plant Affinity from ages ago? I¡¯m sure people can probably make stuff like that if they want to, but it wouldn¡¯t be how the grove evolves. Most likely the grove evolves strictly along the expansion of space, but more systems can be added in with different affinities.¡± Thinking about it for a few moments longer, Sharon seemed to have an idea. ¡°For example, what if you added the time element to your grove. Then, condense everything into one spot and make your own personal big bang. After that, accelerate time inside the grove until planets and stars begin to form. Worst case scenario, your grove collapses and you just have to make it again. But it might also be the secret to an endless grove.¡± ¡°Huh¡­¡± I never really thought about it like that. If I did it that way, there was also the possibility of various species evolving inside the grove. But before I even thought about doing that, I would need more of the advanced elements like Animal, otherwise the new ¡®universe grove¡¯ wouldn¡¯t get very far. Though, this is for far in the future. Right now, even if I added the Animal Affinity, I don¡¯t have enough mass in the grove to cause the kind of explosion I would need for a big bang. And even if I did, my Time Affinity is nowhere near strong enough to accelerate by the several billion times it would need in order for the universe to settle. Though, maybe this was the start of a greater path? It would be ridiculous if we all just turned out to be living in a grove shared by a pantheon of ¡®gods¡¯. Chapter 125: You Monster Author¡¯s Corner: Chapters may be a bit more infrequent this week, because of family matters in real life. Nevertheless, I shall do my best to write when the mood strikes! Today¡¯s chapter is sponsored by a pizza, because mmm¡­ pepperoni.
After leaving Alkrax behind, I decided that it was time to finish creating my own set of magic armor. I already had a few ideas for what I wanted, but I hadn¡¯t had the materials to make them. Now, with Sharon and Yang working together, I just might be able to make it possible. Calling the two of them together, I met them in the cargo bay. ¡°Okay¡­ I wanted your help with something, and before now I wasn¡¯t sure it was possible with what we had. But now¡­ it might be.¡± ¡°What is it, Master?¡± Yang looked at me curiously. Naturally, Yin was sitting on the bench near the door, watching over her ¡®younger sister¡¯. ¡°I want to make myself a set of armor. I want it to be made out of strong leathers if possible. Preferably, there should be enough for sets for Yin and Sharon as well, if they are interested.¡± I glanced back towards the distant Yin, who shook her head. ¡°I do not require armor.¡± Although she was a good distance back, her voice carried over splendidly. ¡°Well, I do.¡± Sharon said with a grin. ¡°As for the leathers¡­ I might be able to help with that.¡± After saying so, Sharon closed her eyes and focused for several minutes, before a light emanated from her chest. In front of her, the light began to coalesce into ten strips of deep brown hide. Each strip was roughly ten feet wide and ten feet long, making the entire collection more than enough for what we would need. ¡°I haven¡¯t tested their strength yet, but these are from the bodies of shield beasts, the evolved form of a giant armadillo. Only a few of them die in the generation battles, but it was enough for me to collect and improve the hides.¡± I nodded my head, thinking about something. With a thought, I altered the palm of my hand into slime, and created my bokken. ¡°This should be a good way to test their sharpness.¡± I smiled, cutting down at the edge of the leather. The first strip was cleanly cut through as the wind blade tore into it. However, the second layer withstood the wind blade, before finally succumbing to the actual blade of the bokken itself. By that time, the force behind the swing was pretty much negated, so the blade was unable to cut through the third layer. Going by that, the defense of this leather should be quite high. By usual standards in games I had played, leather armor would be able to stop a sword of the same level once or twice before it was cut through. Sharon shook her head with a slight smile, reaching down and touching the pile of leathers. I felt a small surge of mana, before the skins began mending themselves. Did she have the Skin Affinity or something? I thought about it for a moment. Although these leathers were strong, they probably wouldn¡¯t match up to my scales in terms of resistance to cutting attacks. If I was able to meet a shield beast myself, or even higher evolved forms, that would be perfect. Thinking so, I looked to my girlfriend. ¡°When we¡¯re done with this, could I make a trip into your grove? Would like to meet some of your animals, and see if there were any with special traits I can copy.¡± Sharon blinked at the question, as if confused. After a moment, she seemed to understand. ¡°Ah, right. No problem.¡± She closed her eyes for a moment. ¡°I just sent the message in, so anyone that is willing should be gathered by the time we¡¯re done. Just don¡¯t expect too much. Most of them evolved by improving their magic, so there would only be a few that have strong physical traits.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle lightly. ¡°I¡¯m more looking for magic ones, anyways. Though if you get a dragon, I would be more than happy to study it.¡± ¡°Noted.¡± She said with a knowing smile. Meanwhile, Yang had just been watching us. When she saw that we were done talking, she nodded her head. ¡°Master, I think I¡¯ll be able to use this to create armor sets for the both of you. Do you have any preferences on what you would like it to look like?¡± I thought about that, and finally had the rare ability to use one of my oldest skills. Grabbing a notebook I kept in my grove, I began sketching the idea I had for the leather armor. It wasn¡¯t much really, just a basic set of leather armor with two layers of leather covering areas like the torso, back, and legs. I decided not to include a helmet, because I did not want to obstruct my vision. In total, the set included greaves, bracers, a jacket, boots and gloves. Although that would leave some exposed areas on my arms and legs, those would be covered by my snake scales. This armor was mainly for the enchantments and a secondary defense. And before you ask, I did check the leather¡¯s aura, but it had been too long since the creature died, so I was unable to copy it down. Yang looked at the drawing I made, and furrowed her brows. Then, she turned to look at Sharon. The other girl shook her head. ¡°I can¡¯t draw. Just make it like his, but give me a skirt.¡± Yang nodded at that, and looked to the leather. ¡°I should be able to get it all done within a couple of hours, I think.¡± ¡°Alright, that gives me time to plan the enchantments.¡± I smiled as I moved away to let her work. There was also one other item that I wanted made, but I already had access to the materials for that, since it was a simple medallion. Gathering the metal ore from my grove, I quickly began refining it with my fire manipulation, and began shaping it while I waited for it to cool. The medallion came in two pieces, each shaped like a curved, flat tear drop. On each one, I put a single small circle on the broader side of the piece, so that they could combine to form the Yin Yang symbol. Although they weren¡¯t painted yet, I went ahead and began enchanting them. I was not positive that I would be able to put all four enchantments I wanted on a single piece, so I instead was enchanting the individual pieces before fusing them. Although this will likely result in overall weaker effects, it should be safer. On the first side, the Yin side, I gathered darkness mana to enchant it with resistance to darkness. To my surprise, after receiving this enchantment, the silver color shifted to black. I had expected to need to paint the two halves in order to get the look I wanted for them, but this made it easier. Assuming that the next part worked right. For the second enchantment on the Yin side, I gathered light mana, and imbued the amulet piece with the ability to project a blast of light. The power of the blast should be directly proportionate to the amount of mana I use to activate it. In other words, I¡¯d have to use quite a lot to get more than a flashlight. As for the coloring from this enchantment, I did my best to attach it to the small circular area, hiding it inside the aura of the object. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Unfortunately, that failed, the amulet piece shattering, and I had to try again. And again¡­ and again. After five attempts of modifying the enchantment slightly and shrinking it down, I was finally able to squeeze the aura of the enchantment into the aura of the item without causing it to break. As I had suspected, the small dot in the black piece slowly began to turn white, making it look fully like the Yin symbol. Now that I had this first one out of the way, the second was naturally easier. This was because the second one had almost the exact same enchantments, just with the opposite elements. So, it brought a resistance to light magic and contained a dark blast. Although I still failed on the first attempt, I managed to place both enchantments within the item on the second try. Like before, the light enchantment turned the object white, while the dark enchantment made the small dot black. Next came fusing the two pieces. This was actually a fairly simple step with my abilities. All I had to do was place the two of them together, and use both my Metal Manipulation and Fire Manipulation to weld them. Once that was done with, I had my yin yang amulet. All I needed was to make a small hoop at the top to run a cord through. During this time, Yang was still working on shaping the stacks of leather with her magic. From what I could see, she already had both of the jackets done, and was getting started on the rest of it. That shouldn¡¯t take too long, given her current speed. So¡­ what exactly do I want to enchant my set with? Naturally, I want a defense enchantment for extra protection, and adaptive shape. However, I also needed something to increase my abilities with magic. Although, from what I saw when I checked the aura of the leather, it does not seem like the best suited for increasing mana control. It¡¯s not terrible for it, but I won¡¯t get the best results like I will with the defense enchantment. It would also be good to have some extra physical strength, given my low stats. However, I don¡¯t want to take up the entire set enchanting that¡­ Maybe I could enchant just the set with defense, adapting, and magic control, and then enchant each individual piece with something else¡­ On that note, it would also be good to get an intelligent item. I was debating between doing so with this set, or simply absorbing it with my slime to treat it like my bokken. On the one hand, I can never lose items I copy with my slime powers. However, I hadn¡¯t tested what the rules are for leveling an item like that. I might need to give it my experience instead of accumulating it automatically. Dividing my experience by six times to cover all the equipment seemed a bit much. Then a thought occurred to me. I could enchant an entire set at a time. Wouldn¡¯t it be possible for me to enchant an entire set with a consciousness at once? I wasn¡¯t quite sure how that¡¯d work¡­ ¡°I¡¯m not giving you one of my babies to test that on, John.¡± Celeste said strictly, in my head. ¡°You can have a blank slate AI for it, but not one of the developed ones. Those are off limits if you aren¡¯t certain.¡± I nodded my head slightly. I could understand her unwillingness, and really I didn¡¯t need a developed AI for this. If anything, the simpler it was the better. Can you set up a protocol for the AI so that it optimizes its upgrades? If she could do that, I wouldn¡¯t need to add in the hearing and voice enchantments, because the AI would choose on its own what to get when it had the option. There was a brief pause before Celeste replied to that. ¡°Give me a couple of days to work it out. Keep in mind that you won¡¯t be able to track its new abilities if it gets any active ones. You¡¯ll have to use an identify spell like Sharon has in order to get that information.¡± That was fine with me. I¡¯d probably need to get a couple more levels by creating and farming monsters, just so I could use my Awakening ability to grant a soul to the armor. You know, since I can create monsters with souls using mana, it would be so much easier if I could skip straight to the step of creating the soul energy.
No can do, Johnny boy. Souls aren¡¯t made by the mana, we give them to the creatures. By the way, that makes it a real pain when you keep making them just to destroy them a second later! There¡¯s already one cute little goddess pulling her own hair because she doesn¡¯t like having to grant souls to something that people like you will just kill instantly. Do you want to make a loli goddess cry?! DO YOU!?
¡­.And random Malthan intervention is random. You know, I¡¯m still going to do that anyways right? If you dislike it that much, give me a way to skip that step. After saying that, another screen appeared. This one had a picture of a small, blue skinned girl with large, solid green eyes folding her hands together in front of her chest. Her eyes were watering, and I could see traces of tears starting to form. Below the picture was the message, ¡®You made the loli cry.¡¯ I sighed at that, shaking my head. Like I said, if you don¡¯t like it, give me an alternative! It¡¯s not like I can just meditate to increase the strength of my soul, right?
...
I can¡¯t¡­ right? It can¡¯t be that easy, can it?!
Nope. Well, not really. Sure, you could eventually. But, unless you feel like sticking yourself inside another one of those time formations, you won¡¯t be seeing any real results any time soon. If you want easy experience, do your quest!
Creating a monster that has never existed in all of time and space¡­ in what way does that count as easy experience?! Again, the window appeared in front of me with the image of the little crying goddess, though this time the tears were halfway down her cheeks. The text this time simply said ¡®You monster.¡¯ I shook my head, giving up on trying to squeeze information out of Malthan. I had my plan set, and it seemed like the best choice for right now. Time to start farming ettins, I guess... Chapter 126: Sharons Grove Before my farming spree, I had a date with a group of animals. At least, I hoped I did. When Sharon saw me walk up to her, she smiled slightly. ¡°Ready to go, John? It¡¯s been a while since you were in there, right?¡± I nodded my head. The last time I had been in her grove was¡­ I can¡¯t even remember anymore. It was quite a while ago! ¡°Yeah. Got anyone interesting waiting for me?¡± She laughed brightly for a moment, before nodding. ¡°Priscilla agreed to handle the introductions, since they aren¡¯t all fully evolved yet. Just remember that most of them are evolved to handle magic, so try not to be disappointed.¡± I nodded again, smiling to her. Soon, there was a ray of light shining from me as she wrapped me in her mana, and I was transported into her grove. The area I appeared in seemed much larger than what I was used to. If I had to guess, this one planetoid was about the size of all of the objects from my grove pushed together. Behind me was a large stone monolith, upon which was a single sentence inscribed. ¡®John wants to come visit and study anyone willing.¡¯ This must be how she can communicate with the creatures in her grove without the need to bring them out. Just teach one how to read, and then they can relay any of the information to the others. I was a bit curious how she had the information spread between the different grove planets, but I would probably find that out soon. ¡°Welcome, sir.¡± I heard a familiar female voice speaking up behind me. Turning, I found Priscilla, the maid I had met in Hascion. From what Sharon had told me, she was an evolved rabbit that was in charge of the magical rabbits, but I did not know her exact race. She had the horns and ears, so I thought that she might be a demi. ¡°Ah¡­ hey, Priscilla. How¡¯re you?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± She gave a tired sigh, crossing her arms in front of her chest. ¡°I was expecting this to be a normal day, until we got that message. Don¡¯t get me wrong, it¡¯s nice to have you around, but this added some extra workload.¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°Sorry, but I needed to pay a visit sooner or later. Part of my class, and all that.¡± She nodded her head, her ears flopping back and forth. ¡°I know, I know. Mistress told me about it before. I¡¯ve gathered the ones willing nearby. Before I take you to them, I want to make sure. This study you do, it isn¡¯t dangerous or anything, right? Even if she¡¯s alright with it, I wouldn¡¯t feel comfortable putting them in needless danger.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. Nobody¡¯s been hurt yet by these scans, so unless something really weird happens, it shouldn¡¯t be possible. I just basically have to stare at them for a little while. There¡¯s more danger from them being shy than anything else.¡± She nodded again. ¡°Alright then¡­ you can start with me.¡± After saying that, she suddenly shifted, her body becoming smaller. Since her clothes weren¡¯t enchanted, they did not follow her, and she ended up as a tiny white rabbit sitting in the neck of a maid outfit. Her nose twitched cutely, and her horn shone with a prismatic light. ¡°I¡¯m a mirage rabbit. I have the ability to create illusions by manipulating the light.¡± I smiled a bit wider at that. I hadn¡¯t studied many active abilities yet, so this would be a good chance to do so. ¡°Alright¡­ in order to study your ability, I need you to use it while I¡¯m studying your aura. Would that be alright?¡± The little rabbit gave a brief, twitchy nod. As soon as I extended my Mana Sense over her to study her aura, she seemed to feel it, because that was when she started using her power. Her horn shone with a purple light for a moment, blinding me before I saw that there were now five identical rabbits standing in front of me. If I wasn¡¯t concentrating on studying her aura, I might not be able to tell which is which. ¡°This is my mirage clone.¡± The one on the furthest left says, and the one on the right continues. ¡°I can make up to ten copies like this, but it is only an illusion. Do you need me to keep going?¡± I was studying the slight changes in her aura when she spoke and had them move, but I nodded nonetheless. I needed more information to be able to determine what exactly caused the ability to activate. Well, if I wanted I could just copy the whole aura, and then experiment myself like I did with the cliff tigers. But this way was a bit easier for the lazy me. Next, there was another brief flash, and she seemed to have grown ten feet tall. Thankfully, there was now only one rabbit. ¡°This is my size mirage, I can make myself appear to be as big or small as I like.¡± It was at this point that I had noticed something in the shifts from her aura, so I decided to ask. ¡°Are these spells that you are using, or are they innate abilities?¡± The giant rabbit tilted its head, before slowly shrinking down to normal size. ¡°These are spells, why.¡± I nodded my head in understanding at that. ¡°Was figuring out how it worked.¡± Her horn was acting as a focus for spellcasting, like a wand would. She injects a spell into it, and the horn activates it. Doing this probably either reduces the strain on the horn, or increases the effect. ¡°And this only works with illusion magic?¡± She nodded her head again. ¡°That¡¯s right. Sharon had me try other types of magic, but when I used Nature Magic this way, nothing happened.¡± That made sense, since it would mean her horn was attuned specifically for one school of magic. ¡°Just curious, but do you know what were the requirements for this evolution?¡± She tilted her head again. ¡°I think it had something to do with the Water and Light affinities. They were my highest before I had my final evolution. Is there anything else?¡± When I shook my head, she shifted slightly. ¡°Then, can you turn around?¡± It took me a moment to realize what she meant, but when I did, I immediately turned around. Again, her outfit was not adaptive, so when she changed back into her humanoid form, she would appear naked. ¡°Just curious, again¡­ but why do you look like that? I thought you would be a demi, since you still have some animal traits.¡± ¡°I was given a choice of what I wanted my humanoid form to look like. We all were, when we got our last evolution. The only ones that didn¡¯t were those that turned into a demi. Otherwise, everyone was allowed to choose for themselves.¡± I could almost hear the shrug as she finished changing. ¡°Alright, I¡¯m done. Let¡¯s head over to meet the others.¡± You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Following behind her, we went and found a group of about fifteen creatures waiting for us. None of them were in their human forms, so it was quite easy to tell the difference between them. Among them were six rabbits, four wolves, two snakes, two birds, and a creature that looked like it came out of an old video game. It reminded me of the turtle rex animals we found on one of the planets where Sharon did her quest, but its skin was thicker, and it had spikes coming out of its back. Because introductions would take way too long, and most of them couldn¡¯t speak anyways, I¡¯ll just say that there was quite the lineup of abilities. After studying them all, I made sure to try each one out. Doing so gave me the following messages.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Mage - Nature Magic -¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï By studying a magic-aligned creature, you have discovered a means of creating a natural focus for a school of magic.
I got this from both Priscilla, and two other creatures. The other creatures were a rabbit and wolf that had their foci set for Nature Magic and Divination respectively. The wolf¡¯s focus was actually his right eye, which let me study the changes between normal body parts and ones that had been converted into a focus. Though, I still wasn¡¯t able to tell what part designated what field of magic the focus applied to.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of the Attuned - Nature Magic -¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï By studying an elementally-aligned creature, you have discovered a means of temporarily altering your own affinities. Doing so will reduce all affinities except the chosen one.
I got this from studying several of the creatures, and was a bit surprised by it. If I understood it right, then eventually I should be able to use this aspect to become an elemental. But unfortunately, the downside means that I will only be able to easily use one element at a time when I did this. When I tried it out, it took me over ten seconds to complete the shift, raising my Light Affinity up to 40%, while all of my others dropped below 15%. Time Affinity became completely unusable in that form. I also received an upgrade to other aspects, including Bird, Hunter, Tracker, Armored Beast, Magic Breath, even Mana Leech. The Magic Breath upgrade surprisingly came from the spiked giant turtle, who was capable of breathing out torrents of water and fire. When I studied his ability, I found that it was stronger and more efficient than the one I had learned from the Lesser Orthrus in NeoLife. Unfortunately, while the turtle¡¯s shell was far stronger than the snake scales, it did not cover my entire body. However, one of the snakes that were present was surprisingly a Great Boa, just like the one I had hunted in the future. Using it, I was able to get the full aura, which also gave me an upgrade to the hunter aspect that gave me increased strength. Out of the other creatures, the most interesting one was definitely¡­ one of the rabbits. It was the creature that gave me the Mana Leech upgrade. This was a form of vampire rabbit, who sucked out mana through tiny little claws it had on its paws. After scratching someone with them, it injected a sort of magic poison into the victim¡¯s body that began transferring magic to the rabbit. From what Priscilla said, this worked up to a distance of twenty meters. However, unlike the Mana Leech ability I had, it could only steal from living things. It was unable to absorb from the environment. Though, the two together compliment each other rather well. Out of curiosity, I formed my slime bokken, and tried to apply some of the abilities I had learned to that slime. Naturally, things like increased strength wouldn¡¯t work on something without muscles. However, it was surprisingly able to accept the magical abilities, such as Mana Leech, Magic Breath, and the Aspect of the Mage. Although it only accepted one aspect at a time, that still gave it a lot of extra possibility as a weapon. ¡°Is there anything else, sir?¡± Priscilla asked me after I finished scanning the last animal. Even though only a small number of her animals chose to participate in this gathering, I was still able to make a large improvement in my shifting abilities. Thinking about it, I nodded my head. ¡°There is one more thing, if you¡¯re interested in it.¡± Priscilla raised a curious brow. ¡°I was told to tell you that if you tried to ¡®make a move on me¡¯, that Mistress would throw you through a wall.¡± I shivered slightly at that. ¡°No, no, nothing like that, don¡¯t worry.¡± I shook my head quickly. ¡°I was going to see if you were willing to learn Enchanting from me. Sharon doesn¡¯t have enough plants for me to teach Alchemy, but if it¡¯s Enchanting, that is still pretty easy.¡± ¡°Enchanting¡­ what is that?¡± I wasn¡¯t surprised that she hadn¡¯t heard about it. After all, Sharon was not an enchanter, and Celeste likely hadn¡¯t had the time to come in and teach them. ¡°It¡¯s a skill that lets you give magic to items. For instance, my clothes are enchanted so that they adapt whenever I change shape. You can also enchant things to unleash spells, and so on.¡± By the time I was done explaining, Priscilla¡¯s sceptic expression was gone, and her eyes were practically shining. Wait, no, they were shining. That¡¯s a blatant abuse of your powers! ¡°Please, teach me. I¡¯ll do my best to learn.¡± She nodded her head rapidly. ¡°Alright¡­ but, we don¡¯t really have the time to do this the normal way.¡± I sighed slightly, getting ready for what I was about to do. ¡°Try not to resist this.¡± I said as I focused on my aura, isolating and copying the elements containing knowledge on runes and enchanting, then transferred them over to Priscilla. Doing this took practically my entire buffer, but I was able to use my Soul Arts to grant her my skill with Enchanting. As she received the skill, she blinked rapidly. Then, looking over to me, she gave a deep bow. ¡°Thank you very much, Master!¡± ¡­.Master?! Did I just get another Yang?! Chapter 127: The Graft Author¡¯s Corner: Not going to really put anything special up here, because people will think it¡¯s an April Fool¡¯s joke. I don¡¯t do dat stuff.
¡°Wha-what? No, why are you calling me Master all of a sudden?¡± Priscilla tilted her head at me cutely. ¡°Because you gave me a large gift. It is only natural that I show some loyalty to you. Is there a problem?¡± I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°Let¡¯s just say I already have one person too many calling me Master. Just stick to calling me John, alright?¡± She thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. ¡°Alright, John. Again, thank you for the gift. With this, the abilities offered by those of us living here should increase by a considerable degree.¡± I thought about it, furrowing my brow. ¡°If it was possible to make a bridge between groves, I could show you guys how to perform Alchemy as well.¡± Priscilla nodded, thinking again. ¡°Well then, I will begin researching that subject.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± I asked curiously, not sure how they would go about that. But then, I remembered that Sharon¡¯s grove had a larger collection of element cultivators than my entire crew. They would definitely be better equipped to handle this. ¡°You helped us with this new skill, so we shall see if we can find an answer for you. In a grove, it is impossible to create something new from scratch. The elements that exist are only those that the Mistress has cultivated, and those that can be derived from them. With this Enchanting, we will be able to create things of our own, and provide a greater service to our Mistress.¡± Seeing as it worked so well when I asked her to stop addressing me that way.. ¡°Why do you call her Mistress, anyways? She said that she didn¡¯t particularly like it.¡± Priscilla giggled lightly, covering her mouth with her hand. ¡°Although I was going to call you Master because you provided a great service, the Mistress has raised us since we were young. Our children and our children¡¯s children were born in her care, and have lived in peace without worry of disease or disaster. There is no measure of service that we can offer to repay her kindness, so we will devote ourselves to her. This is the unanimous decision of the grove.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I see.¡± I wasn¡¯t really sure how to respond to that. I might understand more if I had my own beast horde, but that wasn¡¯t really my thing. ¡°By the way, how do you get from one planetoid to the other here?¡± I looked off into the sky, and though there were a dozen large landmasses, none of them were within easy travel distance. I might be able to fly there, but I wasn¡¯t sure if the atmosphere extended between the areas. ¡°Ah, we naturally have a way to handle that.¡± She spoke with her ever-present smile, and waved her hand as a rock lifted up from the ground in front of her. ¡°Borrowing the elements of the grove makes it easy to travel. And the grove is constantly expanding, so there is never a shortage of space.¡± ¡°Always expanding? It shouldn¡¯t expand that much, with only Sharon¡¯s passive cultivation. And you can only add to it when you are outside the grove, right?¡± I was a bit upset that I was learning more from an evolved animal companion than I had known previously about how a grove functioned. ¡°That is not quite correct, John.¡± She shook her head as she spoke. ¡°At first, it is natural for us to absorb more of the elements than we can replace when we train our cultivation. However, after we pass the first hurdle, it then becomes possible for us to add to the grove without ever leaving. We merely have to replace more mana than we take in, and the grove will accept it. Although doing it this way slows our training by making us take breaks to recover mana, we all believe that it is worth it to improve our home.¡± I thought about what she was saying, and really it made sense. One of the first things I learned about cultivating affinities was that before 5%, you would spend more mana trying to pull the element into you than you would be able to take in. But that made me confused about something else. ¡°But.. after you reach a certain point, your body begins naturally drawing in the elements you train. Wouldn¡¯t that cause the grove to shrink instead?¡± At that, Priscilla nodded her head. ¡°That¡¯s right. However, we choose not to allow our bodies to take in the elements like that. Otherwise, our home might collapse. Those of us that possess groves of our own are very careful in how we choose to create them. Typically, we would only make a home large enough for our personal families, so that they do not take part in the ritual hunts.¡± ¡°That makes sense¡­ Sorry to take up so much of your time. Is there a way to get Sharon¡¯s attention to let her know that I¡¯m ready to leave?¡± ¡°There is. Mistress has chosen to leave a portion of her awareness focused on the communication tablet at all times, so that whenever we need something we may call her.¡± Priscilla led me back towards the stone monolith that I had appeared next to. ¡°Simply inscribe a message there with your magic, and she will receive it.¡± I nodded, reaching out and connecting to the structure with my Earth Manipulation, before inscribing the words ¡®All done¡¯. Within moments, I felt a familiar energy wrapping around me, pulling me out of this world and into my own. Back on the ship, in the cargo bay with the girls, Sharon smiled at me. ¡°So, what did you think?¡± I pulled her in for a quick hug, kissing her on the forehead. ¡°Your animals are totally cheating with the grove. But before I left, I taught Priscilla Enchanting. I¡¯m curious to see what they will be able to do with that.¡± ¡°Oh, did you now?¡± Sharon asked with a raised brow. Closing her eyes for a second, I imagined that she was likely leaving another message for the creatures in her grove. ¡°I¡¯ll have to make sure that she doesn¡¯t try to keep it for just the rabbits. I don¡¯t like power struggles¡­¡± ¡°How¡¯s the progress coming out here?¡± I asked, smiling to Sharon before I looked over to see Yang. Surprisingly, she was sitting on the bench, leaning against Yin who was happily petting her wing. ¡°She finished up about fifteen minutes ago. I wanted to wait for you to come out before we tried them on.¡± With that, Sharon walked over to the two outfits laying side by side on the floor. ¡°Do you want to start enchanting now, or wait until later?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± I told her about my plan to make my armor an intelligent set item, and she seemed surprised by the possibility. She even offered to let me use her buffer, as she had done a lot more farming than I had on Hydra. After thinking it over, I decided to accept her offer, but only for her own set. I didn¡¯t want to take too much of her experience, and I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what would happen. Although I had her permission, we still had to wait a couple of days for Celeste to finish the AI program that we would be ¡®uploading¡¯ into the armor sets. Sharon also volunteered to be the first test subject for this armor set, because she would be able to use her psychic power to communicate with her own armor. Using that, she would have an easier time discovering its limits. After the two days were over, we gathered in my workroom, with Sharon¡¯s armor neatly assorted on the floor inside a large circle. Naturally, this circle was created by me with the purpose of restraining leaking mana. For the first part of this process, I started setting the initial enchantments. Like with my own planned armor, I put in extra defense, and form adaptability. Although Sharon was not a shapeshifter, I believed that this was something that any armor should have, just in case. Unlike my own armor, Sharon had asked for her entire set to receive a strength boost. After each enchantment, I had to wait about three minutes to allow my mana to fully recover, because a single usage took my full 1500 mana. That was likely the cost of enchanting so many items as a set. Next, when I asked what special options Sharon wanted for her armor, she asked me if I could give it the ability to harden into metal on command. With that, she would have a better defense against attacks, and it opens up a path for her armor to potentially evolve the ability to create weapons. Naturally, this was possible, but I had to refine a medium grade Seed of Metal to help me with it. Otherwise, the mana cost would have been more than I had to supply. With that taken care of, I had Sharon move over and sit inside the circle with her armor. When I asked how much of her buffer she wanted me to use for this set, I was greatly surprised by her answer. ¡°All of it.¡± She said with a confident smile. ¡°I need to train my skills up, and it would be good to see what level I am actually at with them.¡± Although I didn¡¯t quite agree to using the entire buffer for this when we weren¡¯t sure what the results would be, I went along with her wishes. Once I began examining her soul with my Soul Arts, I was again surprised to discover just how much of a buffer there was. Maybe it was because she wasn¡¯t like me, and didn¡¯t send her excess buffer out for random things like teaching people languages or skills, but she had about fifteen levels worth. At least, that was my rough estimate. The process of spreading the soul out between the armor pieces was longer than any ¡®soul surgery¡¯ I had done to date, due to the size of what I was working with, as well as the complexity. Even after I spread the soul out to all of the pieces of the set, they still felt¡­ disconnected. It felt like I was looking at six different items, rather than one full suit of armor. However, I found a way to remedy that. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. By taking the soul of two different items, and gently pulling them away from the item in question, I was able to tie the soul auras together. Once the link was established, the rest began flowing more smoothly. Before I considered myself done, I linked all of the pieces to the chest armor. This was the first set enchantment that I could remember doing, but somehow I had a feeling of knowing its effects. Each item separately had roughly the same power as an item that had normally received its enchantments. However, with each additional piece of the set brought together, the effects increased by 10%. Thus, a six piece set would have each item with a 50% increase in its set enchantments. Naturally, this would not apply to enchantments placed on the individual items, such as if I gave the boots a speed enchantment. I also did not get such a feeling with regards to the linked souls of the items. But that brings me to the next step. With the soul transfer taken care of, Sharon moved out of the circle while Celeste handed me a soft stick, embedded with the template AI we were going to be putting into the armor. This was the part I worried about the most, because if I did this wrong, the entire set could be torn to shreds with the backlash. Not to mention Celeste probably wouldn¡¯t take too kindly to me destroying an AI like that, even a newborn one accidentally. So, I took a deep breath, and began my work. With the soft stick between my hands, I very carefully removed the AI, holding it in the air above the set. Very gently, I pressed it down into the aura of the chest-piece, which I had designed to be the central part of the armor set. However, that is where things started to get weird. Shortly after the AI¡¯s aura touched the edge of the armor¡¯s, it began leaking out of my bubble of control. This wasn¡¯t like when I enchanted the other intelligent items, where they obediently waited for me to finish. This time, the aura of consciousness actively struggled to break out of my grasp, and I had to use more and more effort to hold it in place. But the more energy I used, the more solid I made my control, the harder it fought. I barely even noticed when Celeste put her hand on my shoulder. ¡°Let it go.¡± She said in a low voice, as if she was seeing something I wasn¡¯t. Surprised by the contact, my control over the AI¡¯s aura slipped, and it spilled entirely out of my grasp. What happen next surprised everyone, except perhaps the Deus Ex who was now smiling like a proud mother. The aura of the AI wove itself through the set, borrowing the linked soul connections to transmit itself throughout the various pieces. Meanwhile, in the chest armor, the aura began shifting, until a small consciousness arose within it. This consciousness appeared faintly similar to the ones that I had been working with until now, albeit more simple. The primary difference was that it had connections spread out like a web leading through the aura of the entire set of armor. ¡°What just happened¡­¡± I asked, looking back to the only person in the room that seemed to understand. However, before Celeste had the chance to answer the armor began changing again. This time, the changes appearing were physical, allowing everyone in the room to fully see what was going on, even without the use of Aura Sight or Mana Sense. First, the bracers of the armor shrank down into thin bracelets. Next, metal studs began appearing at even intervals along the chest and leg armors. From what I could see of the interior, metal chain links were beginning to form beneath the leather exterior, adding a double layer of protection. On both the gloves and boots, a line of metal appeared, either on the back of the hand or the top of the foot. Finally, as the changes settled down, Celeste spoke. ¡°I noticed while you were holding the AI. The parts of it that slipped away didn¡¯t vanish, but instead soaked into the armor. It might be a special quality of set items, or the method that you combined their soul auras, but it was like a magnet to pull the consciousness in.¡± Next, she turned to look at Sharon. ¡°You should identify it now, see what new abilities it gained.¡± Sharon snapped out of her confusion, and hastily nodded her head before performing the spell. From her report, aside from the increase in defense that could be explained both by the enchantments and the modifications the AI made, it had also added new abilities. Like Sharon had hoped, one of them was the ability to create blades from the hands and feet. Another was that items could be reshaped at will to look like other armors or pieces of clothing. This is what happened with the bracers, as they had been shrunken down to a less obstructive size. Along with this ability, it was able to alter the material of the armor, between either steel or leather. After putting on the armor, Sharon demonstrated by having the set turn into a full suit of steel plate armor. Surprisingly, even a helmet was made, with the chest armor rising up to compensate the lack of a headpiece. Naturally, the abilities were not for free, and she had to pay mana for any of them to stay active, with one exception. If she chose to alter the item¡¯s appearance, she only had to pay a cost to activate the ability, and then it remained in its new form until it was changed again. Still, these all added up to be pretty powerful, considering that we were without almost any kind of armor before. Next, and this was potentially the most important part of the entire process. Binding it to her. Although her armor was already powerful as it was, it meant nothing if she lost it when she died, and we weren¡¯t able to retrieve it. Thankfully, Celeste had a solution to this. It was a costly method, but one that was possible for us. ¡°In essence, this will make the armor a part of her soul, just like her grove is. She¡¯ll need to practice calling it out, but as a druid it should be a bit easier for her. Since I know the method, it will be faster for me to show you, rather than trying to explain it and let John do it.¡± Celeste had Sharon take the armor off, and then lay it out on the ground. Next, she was instructed to lie down next to it. ¡°This technique is known as a soul graft. However, from the information I received, it is very rarely used. That¡¯s because once it is done, it takes a very powerful Soul Artist to remove it. Anyone less than the Master rank is likely completely incapable of reversing a soul graft. There are other methods to bind items¡­ but this is the easiest one with our current abilities.¡± After explaining, Celeste held her arms out while sitting next to Sharon¡¯s head. One arm was placed above Sharon, while the other was placed above her armor. I wanted to go in and inspect what was happening with my Mana Sense, but doing so might interfere with the process. Considering that this was Sharon¡¯s soul being messed with, I was not willing to risk it. The only reason I was letting Celeste do it at all is because she would not have suggested it without complete confidence. I actually suspected that she had already done this with her own intelligent items. As I thought that, I noticed that the metal bracelet, her intelligent cannon, was actually not on her arm in its usual place. Knowing that gave me some measure of assurance, since it meant she had already performed this procedure before. Or at least, I had never seen her without the cannon on her arm before now. While I watched the process, the armor began to emit a faint red light, which gradually seemed to consume the armor itself. Then, that red light moved at a slow pace towards Sharon, whose brows were furrowed as if uncomfortable. She wasn¡¯t able to relax until Celeste¡¯s voice came in. ¡°Don¡¯t resist. I need to form a connection between yourself and the armor. If you resist, the armor will be destroyed, and you will lose a large portion of your memories.¡± Sharon¡¯s body froze at that, but she forced herself to relax and accept the red light into her body. After three minutes of her body being bathed in the red light, that glow started fading away. All that was left on the floor now was Sharon, the armor nowhere to be seen. ¡°Did.. did it work?¡± I asked, worried that the process might have failed like Celeste said. Slowly, Sharon sat up and looked around. Then, she turned to look at me and asked something in a curious voice that nearly made my heart stop. ¡°Where am I?¡± However, as soon as the words were out of her mouth, Celeste smacked her on the back of the head. ¡°Oww¡­ sorry¡­ What did you do that for?¡± She turned and pouted at Celeste, who nodded in satisfaction. ¡°That was a terrible joke, and you deserved it.¡± She then began to smile. ¡°And I totally approve. But still, you don¡¯t know how much he was starting to panic if I hadn¡¯t done that.¡± As she said that, she pointed to me, and I realized that what Sharon had done was merely a joke. I released my clenched fists, and wiped at my eyes, which I hadn¡¯t even noticed had begun to water. ¡°Gah, sorry John.¡± Sharon stood up with a quick jump, giving me a tight hug. ¡°Was just a little prank.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s okay.¡± I squeezed out a small smile. She truly did mean the world to me, so having her lose large chunks of her memory could potentially make her forget who she was, who I was. I wasn¡¯t quite sure I¡¯d have been able to take that so easily. Sharon looked up to me, and gave me a sweet smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll make it up to you. Still plenty of time before we reach the elf worlds.¡± And with that completely indecent smile, I was convinced that my Sharon was still entirely here. Chapter 128: The Journey Home Author¡¯s Corner: Please vote in the poll above. I understand that some people are getting bored of this story arc, so if people want, I can skim over the next few bits and only worry about the important parts(the time monster and the final planet) before starting the next arc.
After Sharon thoroughly earned my forgiveness for her earlier prank, I began the process of grinding up my own levels in order to make my armor set. Over the course of the next few weeks, I spent at least four hours a day in the cargo hold. Every five minutes, I would gather mana to create an ettin, and then immediately kill it. Then, I wait for my mana to recharge and repeat the cycle. This was an incredibly repetitive process, but ettins were the strongest monster whose summon conditions I were familiar with. After the first few days, I actually set up a rune circle to automate the process. I would just pour in the mana, and then it creates the ettin. Then, the second feature of the circle activates and it kills the ettin with blades of wind. Thankfully, I found that I was still getting experience for doing it this way, since I was technically the one operating the spell circles, and not doing so from a distance. Also¡­ I found out that Malthan is a lazy bastard! After a few days of this ¡®training¡¯, I finally leveled up to 60, and got this message.
You have reached Level 60!
Normally, this happens at level 50, but you keep giving away your levels so I got bored and lost track. Inventory space increased to 5x10 I know, it''s not like it means much to you, since you cheat with your grove all the time. But it''s the principal of things! Also, this is a one time increase, and it is not farmable by just dropping your level and raising it back up. Don''t even bother!
He has all the time he wants to mess with me, but forgets to give me my level upgrades? Well, he is right, I use my grove as my inventory most of the time, because the limit does not apply there. I asked Sharon about it, and she said that she got the upgrade at level 50 as well, but just didn¡¯t say anything to me about it because I was ahead of her in levels, so she assumed I would have already gotten it. We made a few brief stops on our way back to meet up with the people waiting for us in the elven worlds. The first stop was Hydra, where we picked up a large shipment of elemental seeds that had been piling up. I also took the time to add in more spell formations, so that the ¡®seed factory¡¯ would begin producing Seeds of Time and Seeds of Gravity. Before we left, I decided to stay just long enough for the formation to make a single Seed of Time. Unlike the other formations, which made two seeds a day, this one actually only made one seed every two days. But it was safer than having me make it myself, for now at least. Once I used this seed to add time mana to my grove, I found that I had the ability to alter the flow of time in certain areas. From what I could tell, the change in the flow of time, as well as the size of the area affected were both determined by how much time mana I had in my grove. I still decided against personally cultivating the element, until I had more safety measures in place. I had been through a time bubble once already, and did not want to go for a second time, thank you. But adding the element to my grove would at least give me a measure of control, should I need it. Now, one of the other stops we made along the way was to the robot homeworld. That was a bit interesting, but a very brief stop. So, I¡¯ll just sum up what we saw. Rather than exiting subspace, and risking the ship being blown up in an instant by the machine overlords, we hovered around the area while we took scans. On these scans, we saw¡­ conflict. A small number of ships had engaged in battle with a much larger force. I couldn¡¯t be sure what that meant, except that the robots had begun fighting each other. It was still too early for earth ships to be out this far. The robot world was a hundred and fifty parsecs from the elven world. The Ha¡¯vosh world was an additional sixty parsecs away from the robot world. At our original speed in the Seraglio, it would take us seven months to travel that distance. However, now that I had the chance to look at the ship¡¯s specs, we were traveling roughly 40% faster than we had when we were in our original ship. That meant the seven month trip became shortened by two full months. So¡­ I had five months of grinding, four hours a day in the cargo hold. But it wasn¡¯t just me. Sharon, and even Yin visited the ¡®experience farm¡¯ I set up, and used it to increase their levels. By the time we left the robot world, I had already reached level 70, and the experience gained from the ettins was becoming wholly insufficient for me to make progress leveling. Once we get back to Hydra, I was going to have to dive deeper into some of the dungeons and get the readings for stronger monsters. By the time I reached 75, we were already just two months out from Gerin, and Talia knew to expect us soon. Apparently, she had been helping the High Queens mediate with the humans in order to offer them areas to live and cohabitate. Since the elves already had a good impression of us, and I vouched for some of the people on that ship, they did not make things hard for them. Especially when I told Talia that my parents were among the people there. Now, I did also make my own intelligent armor, which was the entire reason for the magic circle of repetitive grinding. However, there were a few things different about it compared to Sharon¡¯s. Rather than strength and metal enchantments, I gave it increased mana control, and magic defense. I also gave the individual pieces different abilities. For the gloves, I gave the left one a flame shot, and the right one a water shot. In the boots, I gave them the ability to make shockwaves by displacing the earth with my magic. The jacket had a darkness enchantment, which should allow me to meld into shadows if it works right. I¡¯m still practicing with that. For the other pieces, I focused on increasing my defense to the limit. After testing the equipment, I learned that while wearing the full set, I could use any of the set¡¯s enchantments through any piece, such as a fire blast from my feet. However, if a piece was missing from the set, I could not use that power. And if the jacket was missing, then I could only use the powers from their original item. I¡¯m still practicing the Identify spell, and I haven¡¯t quite gotten to the point where I am able to get all of my gear¡¯s abilities listed. Otherwise, I¡¯d talk about the abilities that evolved from the initial enchantments. What I can say is that summoning and killing ettins only seemed to take about half the work once I was wearing the set. I can safely say that I¡¯ve made a considerable amount of progress towards my levels, and my elements have been growing steadily with my new supply of seeds. As of now, my stats look something like this.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame25,000
Level 750%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health460/460Health Regen0.77
Mana2000/2000Mana Regen13.73
Strength20Wisdom200
Agility26Intelligence200
Dexterity33Charisma35
Vitality46Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 31%Fire 28%Wind 27%Water 28%
Lightning 25%Light 25%Dark 28%Plant 25%
Void 25%Metal 25%Magnetism 25%Plasma 25%
Gravity 25%Time 5%
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Advanced Level 8: 43%
Nature Magic - Advanced Level 4: 49%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 8: 33%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Novice Level 6: 1%
Gathering - Beginner Level 9: 6%
Alchemy - Intermediate Level 3: 13%
Mana Signatures - Advanced Level 5: 12%
Cooking - Basic Level 4: 10%
Flight - Basic Level 4: 0%
Aura Sight - Intermediate Level 7: 23%
Technomancy - Intermediate Level 6: 13%
Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%
Enchanting - Novice Level 5: 3%
Engineering - Novice Level 2: 18%
Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 24%
Dodge - Beginner Level 5: 24%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 5: 29%
Marksmanship - Basic Level 3: 59%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 9: 42%
Soul Arts - Novice Level 7: 34%
Psychic Power: Toybox - Intermediate Level 3: 31%
Piloting - Beginner Level 5: 3%
Navigation - Beginner Level 2: 12%
Weapons Systems - Basic Level 1: 13%
Shield Systems - Basic Level 1: 0%
Spatial Comprehension - Basic Level 9: 91%
Barrier Magic - Beginner Level 5: 15%
Divination - Beginner Level 6: 10%
Now, it may seem like I¡¯ve gotten quite a lot, but remember that I¡¯ve been training for seven months, alright? I¡¯m actually troubled that I didn¡¯t pick up a new ultimate technique. Though I could probably use the element burst reliably in combat now. Sharon and Yin actually made the most progress, if I am to be honest. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. With Sharon, she won¡¯t tell me exactly what she got, because she said she wanted it to be a surprise. However, she did say she would show me the next time that we got into a fight. Apparently, the new power she learned for being a Colony Druid with creatures from so many ecosystems would be quite the upgrade for her. She even goes off to practice it alone sometimes. Yes, I tried spying on her to figure it out, but apparently she got Celeste to cooperate with her and help keep it a secret until she¡¯s ready to show me. As for Yin¡­ well, let¡¯s say that she has improved considerably in her control, for both her magic and her telekinesis. She¡¯s learned how to use her various abilities to increase the accuracy of her lightning attacks, and can borrow the power of her ring to make much more powerful storms than she had before. We learned this when we made a quick stop at one of the uninhabited worlds where Sharon did her quest before so that she could pick up some fish. The storm that Yin created this time was easily double the diameter of the one she did before, and since she created it over the ocean, its power did not decrease after she stopped focusing. For her telekinesis, her relevant strength has increased to the point where she can easily pick me up, while only suffering from a small headache if she holds me in the air for too long. Considering that her telekinesis would be an excellent mid-range attack method against targets engaged in melee with friends, it turned into a perfect combination with her wide area magic. The other girls did not progress as much. Yo spent most of her time playing, so I doubt she even gained a single level in these last five months. Yang ran out of materials to craft with, so there wasn¡¯t much chance for her to gather experience. Anything Yang made, aside from our personal gear, was given to Sharon to send to her grove so that her evolved companions could train their Enchanting skills. Kismet¡­ well, he made quite a lot of progress. He¡¯s actually living outside of the grove now, with the rest of the crew. After spending about three weeks inside Sharon¡¯s grove, learning from its inhabitants, she deemed him safe enough to live with the general population. That means that she also let him spend all of his points. It was odd to see him running through the halls while playing with Yo, moving at a speed I couldn¡¯t follow unless I used my cybernetic eye. Anyways, as I was saying, it¡¯s been five months since we left the Ha¡¯vosh, and we were just preparing to drop out of subspace. Since this was the end of our trip, I was naturally seated in the captain¡¯s chair. Pushing the intercom button, I addressed the ship. ¡°Attention everyone. In five minutes, we should be arriving in the Gerin system. I¡¯ve already alerted Queen Talia, so our arrival is expected. For those of you who consider these worlds your home, you are free to take a leave of absence and spend this time with your families. I am not clear on how long we will be staying in the system, but it is not likely to be very long.¡± ¡°For those of you that wish to end your service aboard the Ariadne, you are free to speak with your local superior. For everyone else, I¡¯ll send out an alert when I know when we will be leaving. That is all.¡± With that, I ended the transmission, and looked to the two girls standing beside me. I was still not quite sure how I¡¯d explain Yin and Sharon to my parents¡­ or Yo¡­ or Kismet¡­ But at least Kismet doesn¡¯t think I¡¯m his father. ¡°Captain, we are ready to exit subspace. No abnormalities detected.¡± Ever since our first run-in with the abstracts, I made sure that we checked each time we exited subspace. I did not want an extra hitchhiker that could start randomly attacking. ¡°Alright. Take us home.¡± I nodded, and soon we were in orbit around Gerin. But this time, we weren¡¯t alone. Although it was expected, since my parents had told me, but the colony ship that they came in was there as well. Except, it had been reconfigured into an orbital space station upon arrival. The ship itself, before the transformation, would have been massive. Right now, it made me feel like I was back in the Seraglio, looking at the Ariadne for the first time. The orbital station was constructed as an elongated pyramid, with four equally spaced sections coming out of the base. The sections extended roughly half as long as the station was tall, and were each connected to their neighbors with semi-circular pathways. Upon our arrival, we were met with a transmission from the station. ¡°Attention, traveler. You are entering protected space. Please state your point of origin and reason for arrival.¡± Apparently, news of our arrival did not reach whoever this was, so I had my communications officer open up a channel. ¡°I am John Hullet, originally of Earth. This ship is the Ariadne, originally of Gerin. The High Queen is expecting us.¡± ¡°Please hold.¡± I could hear the voice on the other end, likely an AI, processing the information. ¡°Confirmed, you have been cleared.¡± After that transmission cut off, we immediately received another one, from both Talia and Maeve. ¡°Welcome back, hero.¡± The mature High Queen said with a mostly expressionless face, her lips only having the slightest bit of an upwards curve. ¡°Your arrival was sooner than we originally expected, but still fortunate. And we appear to be in your debt again.¡± She nodded towards something offscreen, and an information packet was relayed. Celeste, being the fastest to respond to that, blinked rapidly before giving a knowing smile. Mentally, she transmitted to me what she was sent. ¡°Seems like the humans didn¡¯t quite have good intentions when they came here. Since they had more experience with the system, and stronger weapons, they tried to annex the elves as a part of the ¡®New Earth Empire¡¯. But thanks to the orbital cannon we left¡­ and their own biological weapons, they were able to ¡®convince¡¯ the humans to treat them as equals. Though that stunt did delay negotiations by a fair amount.¡± I nodded my head in understanding. ¡°Apologies.¡± I looked towards the two queens. ¡°I am glad everything has worked out so far. Were you able to receive my parents?¡± I was a bit hopeful as I asked this. Although I had spoken to them a few times since my episode on Hydra, it had effectively been nearly two hundred years since I saw them in person. This time, it was Talia that answered, still in her new queen¡¯s dress that I was guessing Aria would not let her get rid of yet. ¡°That¡¯s right. They¡¯re staying with us right now. It was something they insisted upon, and that you go to see them at your earliest convenience.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± I gave a relieved smile when I heard that, letting out a breath I didn¡¯t know I was holding. ¡°We¡¯re going to set up a geostationary orbit around your kingdom, and then head down. I¡¯ve cleared my crew so that any that wish to visit may do so, and those that wish to stay behind when we leave need only talk to their local superiors.¡± Maeve¡¯s expression stiffened slightly at that, but soon became just as playful as I was used to. Of course, that too faded away to her ¡®business smile¡¯ before too long. ¡°Very well. We will of course arrange for the crew to be reunited with their families. In the meantime, we believe that you should hurry and meet your parents. From our understanding, there is¡­ much to catch up on.¡± There was a trace of pity in her voice, so likely Talia had told her about my accident with the time bubble. ¡°Will do.¡± I nodded my head, ending the call and getting up. ¡°You heard the ladies, people. Put us in orbit, then whoever wants to get off for a bit can head to the teleport bay.¡± I smiled to everyone before grabbing Yin and Sharon¡¯s hands gently, the three of us taking the lead and heading there. Since we already knew the layout of the planet, it was easy for us to pinpoint the location of Talia¡¯s forest kingdom. However, there appeared to have been some changes since we left. The area of the forest expanded a bit wider than it had in the past, and if the scan data was true, the trees had grown taller as well. I could only imagine what kind of upgrades Talia had been doing to her kingdom to get these results. Those gathered in the teleport bay for the first trip were myself, Yin, Yang, Sharon, Yo, and Celeste. Since Kismet didn¡¯t know anyone where we were going, he asked to stay in Sharon¡¯s grove for a little while. Once we beamed down into Talia¡¯s throne room, the forest queen nodded her head to me. ¡°Well timed, John.¡± She said, just as a nearby door opened up, and a vaguely familiar little girl ran out. ¡°Mr. Hulett!¡± She said as she immediately ran straight towards me, not seeming to have any of the trouble recognizing me that I had with her. She was human, roughly seven or eight years old, with long hair and wide, blue eyes. Before I had the chance to react, she was jumping at me and holding onto my waist. Wait¡­ isn¡¯t that¡­ ¡°Tessa?¡± When I asked that, she nodded her head happily, though quickly hid behind me when another voice spoke up from the open door. ¡°Tessa Isabel Montgomery, what have I told you about running in the castle?¡± A mature woman¡¯s voice rang out, before Tessa¡¯s mom appeared in the doorway. ¡°O-oh, you¡¯re back already.¡± She suddenly smiled, but then caught sight of Tessa hiding behind me. ¡°Come on, Tessa, Mr. Hulett just got back and needs to meet his parents.¡± She shook her head rapidly, tightening her grip on my waist. ¡°Nuh uh!¡± She spoke the most sound argument a seven year old could manage. Apparently, she had become quite attached after our first meeting, and had missed me. Smirking slightly, I turned around and looked at the little girl. ¡°You know, there¡¯s someone here that might like to play with you.¡± As I said that, I gave an obvious glance towards Yo, who was staring at Tessa with a wide-eyed smile. ¡°This is Yo, and believe it or not she¡¯s around your age.¡± Tessa blinked, looking at the slime girl, and then back to me. ¡°Really..?¡± Yo nodded her head quickly. ¡°Yeah! We can have fun together!¡± She seemed a bit too excited at the idea of a new playmate. ¡°Hmm¡­ okay!¡± She let go of my waist, and ran over to Yo, thoroughly distracted by the promise of a new playmate. ¡°Just be careful with her, Yo. She¡¯s fragile.¡± I made sure to give that warning, otherwise who knew what would happen. She was used to playing with someone that had boss-class stats, after all. ¡°Alright~!¡± She shouted back as she picked Tessa up and lightly tossed her in the air, before catching her in a big hug. ¡°Well, this is certainly not what I expected to see.¡± I heard a familiar, albeit more mechanical voice coming from the doorway, and couldn¡¯t help but grin slightly. Of course, that grin lasted all of two seconds before I remembered that I didn¡¯t have a ¡®good¡¯ way of explaining all of this to my dad. Chapter 129: Catching Up Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the unannounced break, health issues and all that. Spent all day yesterday hiding from any light or sound because of a migraine. Also, be sure to check out the poll above! Its deadline will be until I get the next chapter pushed out.
¡°How¡¯ve you been, John?¡± One of the two robots in mass produced bodies walked up. Although the voice gave it away that he was my dad, both of them looked identical. Five foot ten, with a slender, genderless body, and a grey face capable of basic expressions. ¡°I¡¯ve been good, for the most part. How about you?¡± ¡°Oh, you know, the usual. The world ended, so we became robots. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, leaving aside the slime girl that just ran off to play with a little kid, you going to do introductions?¡± He asked, giving what must have been a meaningful look at Sharon, Yin, Yang, and Celeste. ¡°Ah! Sorry, sorry.¡± I looked to the girls, and offered a weak smile. Well, no time like the present¡­ ¡°This is Celeste, my companion AI from NeoLife. She¡¯s now a race called the Deus Ex.¡± Celeste waved at the introduction, offering a wide grin to my parents. ¡°Your son¡¯s a real treat, you know that?¡± She snickered a bit when she added that comment, before letting me continue. ¡°These are Sharon and Yin, my¡­ my girlfriends.¡± As I said that, the two girls in question stepped forward and grabbed my hands. ¡°Your¡­ girlfriends.¡± This time it was the other robot, my mother, that spoke in a doubtful voice. ¡°Our son, who rarely leaves the house, who earns his money playing video games for a living¡­ has multiple girlfriends.¡± Although she said it like that, her voice quickly turned into one of amusement. ¡°And a slime girl daughter.¡± Celeste spoke up, as if offering helpful advice. ¡°A daughter, too?¡± They both asked in surprise, and I sent a mild glare to the Deus Ex. Real delicate, Celeste¡­ ¡°By a technicality¡­¡± I said with a sigh, and then began explaining how I had created Yo with my mana, and a drop of my blood. Then, I took her with me until she evolved, and she ended up taking that kind of mindset. ¡°What about this one?¡± My dad asked, looking towards Yang. ¡°Is she also a daughter?¡± There was a hint of amusement in his synthesized voice. ¡°Ah¡­ no, that¡¯s Yang. She can be considered as Yin¡¯s sister¡­¡± And of course, that led to me having to explain why they were two completely different species, including the fact that Yin was really a bird that was simply capable of taking on a human shape. ¡°John¡­¡± My dad looked at me for a long moment. ¡°Your life became really weird lately, didn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ you could say that. I think the god of madness had a say in it.¡±
No, this one is all you.
I blinked in surprise as I saw the message, but did not bring it up. Naturally, Celeste saw it through my eyes, and smirked in my direction. My dad just shook his head, letting out a robotic sigh. ¡°Well¡­ I guess we really can¡¯t be too surprised at this point. The little queen already told us some of your adventures, and how you¡¯ve been helping people. I guess it¡¯s time for us to tell you a bit about what¡¯s been going on since you left?¡± He looked over to my mom thoughtfully, who nodded her head. ¡°After you left, the race to create the first colony ships was started. Each ship was built to hold up to three million people, ninety percent of which would enter cryo-sleep to save resources during travel. Now¡­ I¡¯m guessing you saw how big the ship was in orbit when you arrived.¡± After I nodded my head, he continued. ¡°From our projections, Earth¡¯s resources can¡¯t handle the creation of more than fifty of those ships. That¡¯s taking into account metals respawning over time. After that point, the rest of the people on Earth, assuming there would be any left, would have nowhere to go, because the monsters would become too rampant to mine and build.¡± I did some quick math with those numbers. The Earth¡¯s population was a little over four billion before NeoLife, with the population becoming more manageable than in the past due to people being able to virtualize. But fifty ships, carrying three million each, that only totals up to a hundred and fifty million people. Not even ten percent of the world population would be able to get a ticket. My dad seemed to notice the thoughts running through my head, because he nodded slightly. ¡°I know, druids are able to store people in their groves, and that option was explored as well. There are only a few ways to guarantee yourself a place on a ship, and one of them is to be a druid with a grove capable of sustaining life. But even then, at most one in five people became a druid, and most groves can only hold around thirty people. With the best case scenario, that¡¯s an extra eighteen million people on each ship. Realistically, about ten million.¡± ¡°Either way, most of the population has to be left behind. There¡¯s just no way around it. We only got a free pass because we helped in the construction crews, and you were someone that helped out before you left by giving cloning technology and an accurate star map. When we heard the conditions for how to pick passengers, we found the Montgomery¡¯s. We heard about how you helped little Tessa before, so we didn¡¯t want that to go to waste. Thankfully, Beth hadn¡¯t played NeoLife yet, so we urged her to do so, and become a druid.¡± At this point, Tessa¡¯s mom stepped forward and took over. She looked the same as before, and even still wore the bracelet I gave her to cultivate the Wind Affinity while Tessa was an elemental. She traced her fingers over the bracelet, showing a gentle smile. ¡°Maybe because of this, I was easily able to become a druid, and bring my little girl away from that place. Thank you, John.¡± She gave a deep bow, her eyes starting to water before she stepped back. ¡°Ah.. no, it¡¯s nothing.. I just wanted to help.¡± I said awkwardly, still not used to scenes like this. ¡°Well, anyways,¡± My dad continued with a chuckle. ¡°Since the star map was made public, everyone knew that the closest two worlds to Earth were the elf planets and the halfling ones. Since we are closer in appearance to the elves, the first ship was scheduled to come here. By now, they should have also already arrived at the halfling planet.¡± I nodded my head, looking curiously at my dad. ¡°I heard that there were some¡­ problems when the ship first arrived?¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. At that, he chuckled awkwardly, looking away. ¡°There may have been a bit of a measuring contest. The officials weren¡¯t too happy to learn that they didn¡¯t necessarily have the biggest stick. Apparently, there were some people, that we¡¯re calling human supremacists, that believe it is our right to subdue other races because we had the benefit of the Seeds. They preach about a new empire for humanity built by the ¡®unification¡¯ of other races under our rule. And unfortunately¡­ one of them was on our ship.¡± ¡°They saw a little ship in orbit, and had it destroyed as a show of power. But then, three battleships arrived with laser cannons aimed at us, and the threat of poisoning their atmosphere to selectively eliminate humans if we did not stand down.¡± ¡°And that¡¯s why the ship is still in orbit, and most of the people haven¡¯t come down yet.¡± I nodded in understanding. Though, I was a bit surprised that the elves had so many preparations. Not only had they adapted the technology from the orbital cannon to some of their battleships, but they also made preparations to make their planets uninhabitable to humans if they still dared to make a move. I could only attribute this to Maeve, who likely understood that not all humans would be helpful to their people. ¡°Exactly. Actually, there is no restriction on who can or can not come down to the planet. It¡¯s just that most of them are too fearful of what the elves said to risk it. There are quite a few that were more than happy to come down. After all, unless a war breaks out, this could be one of our new homes in the near future.¡± As he spoke, he seemed to remember something. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s right. There were even a few people that showed an interest in joining up with a traveling crew, though so far not many people have the skills to build a ship. Since we¡¯ve gotten here, there was only one other ship that was completed and launched, but contact was lost with it soon after. People who were on the friends list of the ones that left said that they died, so they likely ran into a monster or something.¡± I shivered as I remembered the abstracts. If the ship that launched from here was unlucky enough to run across a small patch of them, then it was no wonder that they didn¡¯t survive. ¡°Yeah¡­ not exactly friendly out there in some areas, if you don¡¯t know what to look for.¡± Still, this meant it was possible that we would be obtaining a few human crew members! Or, we would at least be getting people that were originally human. What they were now was anyone¡¯s guess. All of a sudden, my dad looked over towards Sharon, seeming to be inspecting her. ¡°So¡­ back to you, John. Bird girls, slime girl, robot girl¡­ is she evolved from something we should know about?¡± Sharon grinned wickedly, and before I could assure my dad that she had started out as a pure bred, 100% human, I felt a surge of magic from her. Closing her eyes, a horn grew out of her head, with an all too familiar spiral shape to it. Her ears gradually shifted, moving to the top of her head and elongating, before her entire body began to sprout white fur. How¡­ what¡­ why¡­ Is everything I know a lie!? Sharon looked at me, still grinning, and winked playfully. However, my dad let out a sigh of resignation. ¡°And add a bunny girl to the list. John, is there something we should know about?¡± ¡°I.. I don¡¯t even¡­ Sharon?¡± ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry, Mr Hullet. I¡¯m just your average, run of the mill elf.¡± She giggled lightly, bringing a paw up to her mouth. ¡°Well, pardon me, Sharon. But, you don¡¯t really look like one right now.¡± ¡°Oh? Whatever could you mean?¡± Feigning ignorance, Sharon looked around, turning to look at herself, displaying a fluffy white tail that appeared when she transformed. However, soon she was turning back into an elf. Looking to me, I finally understood what was going on when she said ¡°Surprise.¡± There was only one surprise that I had been waiting to get from her¡­ ¡°Your new class ability?¡± She nodded with her mischievous smile. ¡°Beast possession. I can temporarily merge with any of my animal companions, and gain their abilities as they would be at my level.¡± ¡°That¡­¡± I thought about all of the different animals in her grove, all of which counted as her companions. ¡°That is an overpowered ability.¡± She raised an eyebrow at me accusingly. ¡°Says the man that can copy any ability of a race he studies. At least I have to go all or nothing.¡± ¡°...Touche.¡± Watching us, my dad decided now was a good time to clear his throat. Or he would have if he had an organic throat. ¡°So¡­ she really is just an elf?¡± When I nodded my head, he seemed a bit relieved at that. I swear, dad, I¡¯m not just some pervert that likes monster girls. ¡°Anyways, like she said, I¡¯m a shifter as well.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if I had told them about that before, but he only nodded in response. ¡°And I can shapeshift other people as well. If you¡¯d like, I can even make you human again, or a Deus Ex like Celeste.¡± I waved a hand towards the girl in question, who smiled. ¡°Either way, you¡¯d be able to gain abilities and levels again, so I¡¯d strongly recommend it. I could even make you an elf if you wanted.¡± My parents both seemed to be thinking about that, but it was my dad that answered first again. ¡°Well, I¡¯d like to be a psychic human again, to be honest. If I manage to keep my old psychic ability I had before, that would be best.¡± I honestly didn¡¯t know what to tell him about that. I do a lot of shapeshifting, and my Toybox power never goes away, but I¡¯ve never been downloaded into an entirely new body to try it out with before! ¡°I can¡¯t make any promises about that, but I can turn you back into a psychic human and we can see what you get.¡± I once again realized how important it was to have someone like Celeste around. Doing random experiments to try and confirm your psychic power could be disastrous. Imagine trying to tap into someone¡¯s head with telepathy, only to crush their brains with telekinesis. Or trying to use farsight to project your vision across the room, only to teleport your eyes out of your head. That¡¯s not even taking into account accidental discoveries by people who release their power in a fit of rage, and can destroy their surroundings. My dad nodded at that, and then turned to my mom with a small smile on his robotic face. ¡°What about you, Mary? Shade wasn¡¯t an option, so you probably can¡¯t turn back into your old NeoLife character¡­¡± Chapter 130: I Know the Feeling Author¡¯s Corner: Dear god¡­ the poll from the last chapter. At the time of writing this, the results are so close. 247 for Deus Ex, and 246 for Elf. If it was possible to do both, I would xD
¡°I think I¡¯ll try a Deus Ex for a while. If I decide in the future I want something else, I can let you know, right?¡± My mom looked at me with a slight smile on her robotic face. I nodded, and looked to the others. ¡°I¡¯m going to go ahead and do the transformations for them, then.¡± Suddenly, Talia cleared her throat. Had¡­ we forgotten about the fact that we were still in the throne room? I think we had¡­ ¡°If it¡¯s all the same with you, could you do so somewhere else? We¡¯ve got an important meeting coming up.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ right.. Sorry.¡± I said with a dry chuckle, leading my parents away. I wasn¡¯t sure where the girls were going to go, but this area is safe enough for now. There shouldn¡¯t be any danger to them, even though we aren¡¯t in our clone bodies. Once we got to another room, I went ahead and began the procedure. Really, although I gave them the choice, I had to make them both Deus Ex anyways as a transition point, before other races became an option. The room we arrived at appeared to be their temporary bedroom, so it was not likely that we would be disturbed. First, I started with my mom, since she was going to need just one transformation. Thankfully I farmed quite a bit on the way here, so it wasn¡¯t hard for me to sacrifice a level in order to Awaken her. All I had to do was grab roughly a level¡¯s worth of aura, and merge it with her own inert aura. With that done, the process was complete and she was now a Deus Ex. After changing her race, my mother seemed a bit surprised by something, likely a window appearing in front of her. I know that they had to have been able to see the system windows before, because otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been able to call me on the friends list, but maybe it had been restricted in some ways? ¡°Did it work, dear?¡± My dad looked over, not seeing any obvious visual changes on my mom. However, she simply nodded her head, still using that same small smile. ¡°It worked, Jordan. John, do you need to take a rest before we do the next one?¡± I shook my head before answering. ¡°It doesn¡¯t take a lot of energy to make you a Deus Ex. Changing dad into a human afterwards will be more draining.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± The manbot in question looked to me, before nodding. ¡°Alright, then I guess we can start whenever you are ready.¡± Just like with my mom, I took another level from my buffer aura and used it to turn my dad into a Deus Ex. However, I didn¡¯t stop there, and almost immediately activated a mix of Technomancy and Nature Magic, slowly reshaping his aura into what was stored in my memory for psychic humans. I think, without using memory implants or some kind of external recording system, it would normally be impossible for a Xeno-Shifter to record a large number of races. I know it had been a while since I saw my father as a human, but I was still fairly sure that this was not what he used to look like¡­ I mean, before he was a man in his forties. Now, he looked to be the same age as me, physically. From appearances, he was a twenty year old male with short blonde hair(it used to be brown), and a completely different face than he had before. Well, I guess that was the result of transforming him into a human from a new body? I could at least be thankful that both of them had been wearing clothes in their robot bodies, especially when my mom started buying the upgrades that made her look more human. I mean, seeing people naked is nothing really new. But seeing your parents naked is something nobody wants to experience. Seeing that the two of them were safely transformed into their new bodies, I gave a small smile of relief and left the room. No doubt they would have many things to do now that they were like this. While walking around the castle, I began to think about what I wanted to do next. Naturally, I wanted to see about recruiting some of the people from the humans that wanted to join a crew, but I had to be careful about it. There would need to be some kind of screening process¡­ I didn¡¯t want to bring in any of the supremacists. If I did, they were more likely to try and start a mutiny. Maybe I could have one of the Ha¡¯vosh sit in and serve as a lie detector to make sure that it all worked out? I nodded to myself at that idea, and sent the plan to Celeste so that she could transmit it up to the ship. In the meantime, I walked around the castle, using my Cybernetic eye to peer through the walls, trying to find someone. When I found Tessa¡¯s mom, I saw that she was watching Tessa and Yo playing together in the courtyard. To my surprise, there appeared to be a small unicorn running around the little girl¡¯s feet as she spoke, a trail of sparkling light following behind it. Making my way to their location, I kept an eye on the developments. Soon, a miniature dragon came in and did battle with the palm-sized unicorn, who shot out beams of light in response. Meanwhile, Tessa just continued happily talking while Yo watched in awe. It didn¡¯t take long before I arrived where they were at, and as soon as I did, Tessa whipped her head in my direction. Now that she had stopped talking, the battling creatures vanished into thin air, much to the dismay of a certain slime girl. ¡°And? What happened? Did the unicorn princess slay the evil dragon? Did they all live happily ever after?¡± Yo held her hands together, looking at Tessa in desperation, wanting to know what came next in the story. However, the little girl didn¡¯t seem to pay attention to her. ¡°Hello, Mr. Hulett!¡± She said with a wide smile while giving a big wave in my direction. I could only chuckle and nod, waving back to her as I walked over towards her mother. ¡°Do you have a minute to talk?¡± I asked curiously, wanting to fill her in on my plan. She nodded, and I told her what I had come up with. I was including her for this part because I needed someone that came with the colony ship to spread the word, and my parents were a bit busy at the moment. Thankfully, she accepted, on the condition that her and Tessa be allowed to go with us. ¡°Our daughters seem to have grown quite fond of one another.¡± She smirked as she looked towards the two of them, where Yo was tossing Tessa into the air, and using her own body as a trampoline so that the other girl could bounce on top of her. ¡°And I don¡¯t think she¡¯d forgive me so easily if I didn¡¯t ask.¡± I nodded my head again. I really had no reason not to accept them. After all, I knew that she was not a supremacist, so what harm would having an extra druid do for me? ¡°Out of curiosity, have you gotten your advanced class yet?¡± Beth looked at me for a moment, before shaking her head. ¡°I haven¡¯t. I managed to get a sub-class before we had to get ready to leave, and my instructor told me how I should train, but I haven¡¯t had many chances to do so yet.¡± ¡°What sub-class did you get?¡± Given that we were talking about druids, I naturally became more interested. Her class might hold a secret for future development after all! ¡°Element Druid. It¡¯s the Sub-class of the Element Avatar path. According to my trainer, after I get 25% in all of the base elements, I¡¯ll have the chance to advance. I¡¯m still a bit away from that, though.¡± I furrowed my brows slightly, not knowing anything about this class. When I asked her, she said that the Element Avatar was a master of manipulating the elements. Just like how a Xeno-Shifter focuses on transforming, or a Colony Druid focuses on gathering animal companions, an Element Avatar gathers affinities. Honestly, this was sounding like it matched my current abilities fairly well. Especially when she said that communicating with elemental entities was a typical class ability of the Element Avatar. Does that make me a cross between a Xeno-Shifter and that class? Though really, I¡¯ve been neglecting my own class abilities a bit in favor of that. Would be nice to have a guide I could reference at times like this! Apparently, Beth chose this path because she believed it would be the easiest one to advance her grove enough to allow more people inside of it. And with that being the case, it would improve her chances of being able to choose the colony ship she wanted to get on. If she knew about the Colony Druid¡¯s abilities to have their animal companions expand their grove, no doubt she would have chosen that one instead. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Anyways, with her agreement we would begin the recruitment process! The interviews were scheduled to start after three days, and last one week. After that, we would be leaving Gerin again to return to Hydra. That gave us ten days to enjoy this planet. Also, I would never have enough time to interview all those people by myself, so Celeste and Sharon are also each taking a Ha¡¯vosh to run some interviews. Between the three of us, we should be able to get plenty of people. Or so I hoped. ¡°Nya, what is it that your crew does?¡± In one of my first interviews, a woman with cat ears, fur, and a long tail was sitting on a chair across from me. Though, rather than sitting, she was more crouched down on top of it. She said that she gained a few habits after changing her race. ¡°In short, we explore other worlds, and help races adapt to the new system for now.¡± I had prepared a list of responses to questions people might have, and that was naturally on the list. Maybe I could print this out as a brochure, and pass it to people as they come in? ¡°Eh? But what about after all that? You can¡¯t get to every world before they either learn to take care of themselves or die, right?¡± She tilted her head curiously as she asked that. ¡°Well¡­ I¡¯m hoping that those who manage to persevere would begin to grow outside of their own world and help others. Once that starts, we will be able to focus on exploration more.¡± I nodded my head to the catgirl. ¡°But anyways, what is your specialty?¡± ¡°I¡¯m a hunter, level thirty eight.¡± She said, puffing out her flat chest in pride. ¡°Strong, nya? I fight with my beasts all the time so that we can improve our abilities. I¡¯d be great as a bodyguard or tracker.¡± I nodded again, satisfied with the answer. Honestly, a level approaching forty was pretty average, since people from Earth had access to NeoLife, giving them five times the ability to level up. ¡°And what¡¯s your view on other races, aside from humans?¡± ¡°They¡¯re neat!¡± She said with a wide grin. ¡°I mean, we thought we were alone for so long, and then boom, here¡¯s the neighbors!¡± As she said that last part, she punched the palm of her hand with a fist. ¡°And being like this is fun.¡± She looked down at herself, and let out a happy purr. I glanced back to Bob, the Ha¡¯vosh I brought with me. She nodded towards me, indicating that Delilah, the catgirl, was being honest. ¡°One last question. Do you have any training that would be of benefit on the ship, or will you be requiring some.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­ I wasn¡¯t on any ships in the future, and they wouldn¡¯t let civilians look at the controls on the way here. Does it work like in other games?¡± When she tilted her head curiously, I had to shake my head. Naturally, there would be differences between things that were only games and reality. ¡°Then I¡¯ll need some training, nya. I could be a security officer or something.¡± Seeing her give a confident nod, I smiled slightly. Well, at least she was someone who matched what we wanted. After dismissing her, the next person came in. This one was a human male, who looked roughly fifty years old, with the color of his hair just starting to fade. When he came in, he looked at Bob behind me, and snarled slightly. ¡°What¡¯s that thing doing here?¡± ¡°You can leave now.¡± I said with a sigh, catching the man off guard. ¡°What? I came here for an interview, dammit.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± I replied, nodding my head. ¡°And you failed. Get out.¡± Before he could say anything else, I ¡®nudged¡¯ him with a gust of wind, throwing him head first out of the small tent we had set up for these interviews. Unfortunately, responses like his were not uncommon. About half of the people I interviewed on the first day seemed to hold either myself or Bob in contempt. Each one was asked just as politely to leave, before being helped to do so. Starting on the second day, less people began showing up. Thankfully, that also meant less racist remarks, so I was not bothered. There was one interview, on the third day, which was particularly interesting. ¡°So what¡¯s your specialty?¡± I asked the same question I had dozens of times to the man across from me. He was thin, wearing glasses on his head that seemed to radiate some kind of magic. No doubt that meant he was some kind of enchanter, or knew someone that was. ¡°Ah¡­ well¡­ it¡¯d be easier to show you.¡± He said, before closing his eyes and holding up a hand. I watched as mana began condensing, to the point where it was visible with the naked eye. It wove together above his fingers, becoming a sheet of white paper. ¡°I¡¯m a talisman caster. Though my class is actually Rune Scholar, I prefer that instead.¡± To demonstrate, he pulled out a thick, leather bound book and opened it up. To my surprise, there was actually not a single trace of magic from the book. I had expected his ¡®grimoire¡¯ to be heavily warded. ¡°Hmm, here we go.¡± He began drawing patterns on the paper, using his book as a reference. After that, he handed it to me. The slip of paper was about four inches wide, and a foot long. At the top and bottom were circles, each one broken in four different places. Within the circles were runes, and by reading the runes I was able to tell that they were the design for a gust of wind. ¡°Just put some mana into that to activate it.¡± Following his instruction, I put in some mana, causing the ink on the paper to glow brightly. In an instant, the paper crumbled to dust, while a strong burst of wind spread out in front of me, nearly toppling the other person over. ¡°Hah¡­ stronger than I expected¡­¡± He said with an awkward smile. ¡°I use Origin Magic to make the paper and ink, specialty materials that are highly mana-conductive. Though they are one-use items, I can put almost any spell I want on them¡­ within reason, of course.¡± As he said that, he patted the leather book with a proud smile. I had to admit, it was impressive. It only took a small amount of mana to activate the talisman, as if I were working with a scroll. That could have also been because the effect was weaker, but still.. ¡°What other kinds of talismans have you experimented with?¡± I could see him joining the main team, with this level of ability. ¡°Hmm¡­ I¡¯ve done some barriers and sealing talismans, but most of them are one-use attack spells. I actually got the skill ¡®Throwing Weapon Mastery¡¯ because of them.¡± As if to demonstrate, he pulled out four more pieces of paper from his inventory, and placed them on the corners of the table. Activating them with some mana, the table was covered by a blue, cubic barrier that was being emitted from the four talismans. Though, as the barrier faded, so did the talismans. I¡¯d have to talk with Sharon and the others, but I could definitely see this guy being a useful addition in an advanced party. ¡°Just curious¡­ but what is the book for?¡± I asked as I looked towards his book. It was definitely not small, and had at least a thousand pages. ¡°Ah, this?¡± He smiled wide again, opening the book up and showing me. ¡°This is my rune guide. I basically spent the entire time in NeoLife trying to memorize these runes, so that I could add them to my journal. I even had to make sure that the journal was made out of a material that blocked out mana so that they don¡¯t activate by mistake.¡± Indeed, in the book, written in a small font, were runes, followed by their meaning. This¡­ suddenly, I had a strange feeling. Is this what people feel like when I do something that has a much easier answer? I mean¡­ he can¡¯t even have half of the rune language here, and it already took him so much time to get it. ¡°Uhm¡­ you never considered getting an implant, or buying the language from the Skill Master¡¯s Guild or something?¡± ¡°The who?¡± He looked at me, obviously having no idea what I meant. ¡°Ah¡­ in NeoLife, there was a group of people that sold skills. You should have been able to buy the whole language from them, and they would give it to you in a way that you would directly be able to understand everything.¡± ¡°....But¡­ wait¡­ seriously?! I spent months going back and forth to make this guide!¡± He dejectedly slammed his head into the table, covering it with his hands. ¡°I could have learned it all myself and just had to pay some gold? Why didn¡¯t anyone tell me that before we left?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ sorry?¡± I chuckled, knowing exactly how he felt. Chapter 131: A Date and a Discovery Author¡¯s Corner: Hey all, sorry for the slowness of releases. Been a lot of RL issues cropping up lately, health-wise. Good news is, I am going to try to do at least two chapters today!
After five days, I had managed to acquire twenty people from the interviews that would be joining the crew. From what Sharon and Celeste said, the two of them together had gotten another fifty. It was not really a surprise that more people went to get interviewed by the girls. Anyways, right now I wasn¡¯t doing the interviews. Why? Well¡­ this is pretty much what happened. ¡°John.¡± A familiar voice called out to me from outside the tent door, before Sharon made her way inside. ¡°Come on, we¡¯re stopping early today.¡± Though she said so in a way that left no room for argument, she seemed somewhat happy. ¡°Uhm¡­ what for?¡± It had been about ten minutes since my last interview, since people weren¡¯t exactly lining up for it anymore. ¡°We¡¯re going on a date.¡± And with that, she left the tent. Thus, right now I am in one of the high elf cities, accompanied by Sharon. When she said we were going on a date, I had half expected Yin to be coming with us. However, Sharon told me that they had worked it out, and Yin would have her turn tomorrow. At the moment, we were sitting at a large restaurant, having a frosted dessert in the shape of a pyramid. It was surprisingly sweet, and tasted like a mix between apples and strawberries. ¡°Are we doing the right thing?¡± Sharon finally asked. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Was she talking about the date? We had pretty much come straight here after arriving in the city, so I didn¡¯t exactly see what could be right or wrong about it yet. ¡°With what we do. On the ship, I mean.¡± She had a conflicted expression on her face as she clarified. ¡°We¡¯re saving worlds, aren¡¯t we? Not really sure how that could be considered wrong.¡± ¡°We¡¯re saving some, yeah. But how many are we missing? So far, we¡¯ve been at this for over a year, and we¡¯ve managed to actually save only two races. I¡¯m not counting the robots, since they might destroy themselves with what we gave them. But in that time, how many races might have been wiped out because we weren¡¯t there?¡± I reached over, putting a hand on top of hers. ¡°Sharon, we can¡¯t be everywhere at once. You know that, so what¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°I just¡­¡± She looked up at me, with a somewhat sad expression. ¡°I want to do more. I know I came with you as more of an impulse decision, but being out here, saving people¡­ I want to do more to help. I know it probably seems silly, right? I mean, what more could there be than saving entire races from extinction¡­¡± I shook my head, smiling slightly to her. ¡°You¡¯re right, it is a bit silly. Come on, you help me out all the time. I¡¯m not sure where I¡¯d be right now if not for you.¡± At that, Sharon could only grin. ¡°Probably sleeping with Yin, Yang, and Celeste. But seriously, John. I want to be able to help more¡­ But I just don¡¯t know how. No matter what we do, it feels like it¡¯s not enough, knowing that for every race we save, five die because we couldn¡¯t be there.¡± I nodded, thinking about her words. ¡°I understand. But again, there¡¯s not much we can do about it that we aren¡¯t already. The technology to travel faster doesn¡¯t even exist yet. The materials to make it don¡¯t even exist.¡± She sighed, understanding but obviously not happy that I was right. ¡°I know¡­ hopefully we aren¡¯t the only ones doing this.¡± Suddenly, she lightly slapped herself in the face. ¡°Sorry, I invited you out here for a date, then went all mopey on you. This is supposed to be a happy day, so let¡¯s be more happy about it. We can worry about that other stuff some other time.¡± Saying that, she quickly got up and dragged me out of the store. As for the bill¡­ well, Maeve told us that she¡¯d take care of any expenses we had while here, since there was no way we¡¯d have their currency. Our next stop surprised me, because I soon found out that Gerin had a facility similar to old movie theaters of Earth. Though they weren¡¯t using holographic videos, it was still rather enjoyable. Unfortunately¡­ the movie itself left me somewhat depressed. It was a dramatic retelling of our adventures to save Gerin. In it, I was portrayed by a particularly muscular elf, and several facts were¡­ altered. For instance, rather than cautiously destroying the monsters from orbit, in the movie I bravely fought toe to toe with a dragon. Dragons are scary, you know? After the movie, we continued to wander around for a little while without running into anyone we knew. Sharon was back to her cheerful self in almost no time at all, making it seem like the talk from before had never happened. To finish off our date, she even told me something that surprised me quite a lot. ¡°Hey John, Priscilla told me that you asked her to look into making it possible for travel between groves?¡± She looked at me curiously, but with a tinge of excitement in her eye. ¡°Yeah, was she able to come up with anything?¡± She¡¯d been looking into it for about half a year¡­ even though it didn¡¯t really feel that long. ¡°Actually, she did. I told you that I let them make their own groves after they fully evolve, right?¡± When I nodded, she continued. ¡°Well, Priscilla put together a research group to solve this problem, and they think they¡¯ve got something worked out. After we leave in a couple days, she wants me to pull her out to talk about it with us.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ alright.¡± I was expecting her to do so right now, but I could wait a couple of days. From there, we decided to head back early, since we had already spent several hours in the city for our date. My date with Yin was¡­ well, I can¡¯t really sum it up too easily. It was honestly the happiest I had ever seen her, even though all we did was walk around one of the other wood elf forests and get dinner. When I asked her what she wanted to do, she said it was fine to let me decide. Well¡­ she didn¡¯t say it in that many words. Nonetheless, it was good to see her so happy. Unlike Sharon, she didn¡¯t get depressed halfway through, though I did ask if there was anything important that she wanted to do in life. The answer I got back from her was, honestly, not that surprising. ¡°I want¡­ to take care of Yang.¡± She smiled as she said that. I knew that Yin would probably want something like that. I mean, she watches after Yang almost all the time as it is, like a big sister. She didn¡¯t have a complex emotional issue like wanting to save the galaxy, she just wanted to take care of her little sister. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. While walking through the forest, we gathered several new and interesting fruits, but most surprising was that we found a green, heart shaped apple. Although it was quite a long time ago, I remembered what this fruit was. It certainly didn¡¯t hurt that Yin¡¯s eyes practically sparkled when she saw it. ¡°I never thought that the lovebird¡¯s favorite fruit would be from the Gerin system¡­ though I guess it makes a bit of sense, since it was elf territory where I first found it.¡± I still had a couple trees in my grove growing these fruits, so we didn¡¯t really need to gather any. Though, Yin still plucked one and ate it happily, loving the familiar taste. Like that, the last days on Gerin passed pretty peacefully. In total, counting my parents, Tessa, and Beth we recruited just under a hundred people from Earth. Naturally, most did not have any useful skills for running the ship, but there were a few mechanics. The rest could be slowly trained up. At the very least, with this the last of the facilities on the Ariadne finally had crew assigned to them!
All facilities aboard the Ariadne filled. Conditions needed for further upgrades have been met.
Additional Features option enabled.
Reading that, I happily opened up the new menu I had for the ship upgrades, to see what the options were. There was one to design a custom room, but I¡¯d need Celeste and my tech people to work on designs for that. Maybe a better hologram room or something. However, there was one option that caught my eye immediately.
Matter ConverterCreates an additional cargo hold where stored matter can be broken down into its base materials, and altered to create new materials. To create mana-rich materials, it is necessary to supply the facility with the needed mana.
Time for completion: 1:11:24:3:12:19
Seconds, minutes, hours, days, months¡­. It would take nearly two full years to get this upgrade!? Well, going from the description, I had no doubts that it would be worth it eventually. But right now, I wasn¡¯t ready to just jump in for it yet. The important thing was still strengthening the combat power of the ship itself, so I bought an upgrade for our main cannon instead. Lately, Celeste has been working quite a lot with the new ¡®Upgrades Department¡¯ to continuously research new levels of tech to put in with the upgrades. Anyways, I had an important meeting to take care of, once we left. But first¡­ ¡°Everyone, our next stop is a planet we set up for training purposes. I have a mission I need to take care of while we are there, and I don¡¯t know how long it will take. So, until we are ready to leave that planet, I want everyone to begin working together and becoming acquainted with each other¡¯s skills and abilities. If anyone is able to completely conquer one of the dungeons on the planet, that would be best.¡± After leaving the message, I went to meet up with Sharon and Priscilla in my room. I was a bit excited to learn of the possibility to travel between groves, and wondered just what it would take to achieve. When I got there, Sharon was already sitting on my bed, talking with the bunny girl maid who was on a chair across the room. Hearing the door open when I came in, they looked at me. Sharon smiled, being the first to react. ¡°Nice going with the broadcast. Wonder if any of the people from Earth have even fought in a dungeon before.¡± I shrugged my shoulders. ¡°Don¡¯t know, but they¡¯re going to start eventually. Only a few of them were crafters, so most of them need actual combat to level up.¡± She nodded her head at that, and then looked over to Priscilla. ¡°I guess we¡¯re ready, Pris.¡± She fidgeted a bit awkwardly at the nickname. ¡°Yes, Mistress. As I told you before, John asked me to do research into groves when he taught me Enchanting. Since then, my group has devoted themselves to this task, specifically how to move from one grove to another.¡± ¡°As you should know, a grove can be considered a tiny universe contained within our souls. However, each grove is separate from any other, so travel between them is normally impossible. We even attempted to have two people establish their groves together while circulating their mana through each others¡¯ bodies. However, the result was just the failure of a grove being established for either of them. In the end, we managed to come up with something, and it has shown some¡­ limited success.¡± Seeing that we were both patiently listening to her, she continued with a bit more confidence. ¡°As you know, a grove is established with the use of an item known as an Essence of Nature. This essence is created with the fusion of multiple elemental seeds, from the light, fire, water, wind, and earth elements. For our experiment, we made a somewhat modified version of the Essence of Nature, which we are calling the Essence of the World.¡± ¡°This new essence instead uses all seven primary elements. However¡­ we found that doing it this way, the Essence of the World was not able to help a druid establish their grove. Actually¡­ the person that tried it was killed, his body exploding with the raw power.¡± She looked regretful as she said that. ¡°After that, we abandoned the idea of refining the essence internally, and that was when we hit our breakthrough. We discovered that, by having two or more people simultaneously refine a single Essence of the World while they already have their grove, a link will be formed between them. The owner of the grove can use this link to see into the grove of the other parties, though he cannot influence the other grove. He can also create a physical structure within his own grove, and pass the link through it. With this method, we formed a gateway between two groves.¡± She then took a deep breath and explained one last thing. ¡°However¡­ this can only be used effectively once. Each time a new essence is used to set up more connections, the new connections are unstable, and materials that try to pass through them are lost. Furthermore, there is a range limitation. The bridge will only function when the owners of the two groves are within a kilometer of each other.¡± Chapter 132: All that we See or Seem Author¡¯s Corner: Second chapter, as promised!
Sharon and I looked at each other. Honestly, there didn¡¯t seem to be any downside to this. While it might not have been as big of a solution as I had initially hoped for, wasn¡¯t this still pretty good? ¡°Is there anything else we need to know?¡± I looked at Priscilla and asked, curious about this. ¡°Yes. The Essence of the World has to be made using medium grade seeds. The process would always fail if we tried with one made using low quality element seeds.¡± Listening to her explanation, I nodded my head. Although it would still take me a few hours to refine all seven elemental seeds if I did it normally, I was able to do so in just a few moments using the mana from my grove. One by one, small pellets of different colors dropped down onto my hand. Each was a medium quality seed of the various primary elements. Although it burned up a bit of my grove to make them, it should still be worth it. Sharon, seeing that I had instantly decided to do this, smiled gently at me. This was a decision that could only be made once, so it was probably reassuring to her that I didn¡¯t hesitate. Instead, she simply waited for me to sit down next to her, and the two of us began making the essence together. Once the essence was formed, Priscilla walked us through the combined refining process. For this, both of us had to carefully control our Nature Magic, and balance the amount of energy we used. Though this wasn¡¯t exactly easy, it wasn¡¯t really that hard either. Since we could each sense the amount of power the other was using, balancing it wasn¡¯t a problem. After about five minutes of refining, the small essence faded away into nothing. In its place, I felt a strange energy flowing into my grove. Similar to the feeling of adding a new type of mana, this experience let me know that the procedure was a success. Immediately, I closed my eyes and sent my mind into the grove, feeling the strange energy. Inside the grove, I noticed that there were actually three small planetoids that did not used to be there. Going by their rough, cracked appearance, they were likely formed by multiple meteors colliding together after they flew into my grove. But that wasn¡¯t important right now. What was important was finding the new energy. It seemed to be everywhere at once, and something I could move around as I would any other mana. However, once I focused on it, I was able to clearly see the dozens of large land masses within another isolated space. Recognizing a few of the creatures on those floating bodies of rock, I understood that I was seeing directly into Sharon¡¯s grove. Next¡­ I pulled my mind back to my grove, and gathered all of the strange energy together. Raising up a large arch on my largest planet, I condensed the energy inside of it. Surprisingly, the invisible energy actually turned into a purple swirl of light within the arch. After pulling out from my grove, I let the two of them know that I made it. ¡°Alright, my turn then.¡± Sharon nodded with a smile, closing her own eyes as well. This time, I was not able to feel anything different while I waited. However, a few moments later she opened her eyes, and nodded. ¡°My side¡¯s set up too, now. How do you want to test it?¡± Shrugging my shoulders, I went into my grove and wrote a message on a small stone, saying ¡®It works¡¯. Then, I just tossed the stone into the portal. ¡°Did you get that?¡± Sharon blinked in surprise, before checking what I meant. Then, she began laughing. ¡°Okay¡­ yes, it works. Still, what is the point of connecting our groves like this? It¡¯s not like our power is directly related to how large our groves are.¡± ¡°True¡­¡± I nodded my head, before I explained. ¡°However, I wanted to let your people have access to my grove so that they could learn Alchemy. At the same time, they could cultivate in my grove to learn elements that don¡¯t exist in yours, while also expanding my grove. Since I¡¯m in the Stellar stage, I want to see how far I can take it.¡± Priscilla nodded, smiling happily. ¡°We will be more than happy to help you expand your grove, in exchange for that knowledge. We have already started making progress with Enchanting, so the addition of a new skill would be quite nice for us.¡± Hearing this, Sharon just sighed, shaking her head. ¡°Well, I guess it doesn¡¯t really matter. Just watch out. If they start mining up your grove, and I end up with an army of armored beasts¡­ I¡¯m blaming you in advance.¡± ¡°Oh, it won¡¯t be that bad¡­ I think.¡± I tried to smile reassuringly at her, but I could see how excited Priscilla had gotten when Sharon mentioned that. Well, at least if they mine my grove, they¡¯ll replace whatever they take. ¡°By the way, you have the metal affinity too. Why don¡¯t they mine in yours?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I don¡¯t let them.¡± Sharon said as she looked to the side. ¡°I want to save the metal, in case we need it again for an emergency.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure why she would think we¡¯d need that much metal for an emergency so soon, but it wasn¡¯t really hurting anything so I didn¡¯t question it. Instead, I was looking forward to the possibility of my grove expanding. I wanted to add in more solar systems, see if I could upgrade it again from Stellar by doing so. But that would take a lot of mana, especially the plasma mana I needed in order to establish the second star. Anyways, with this, Sharon¡¯s animals began visiting my grove, slowly learning more about alchemy, and the medicinal plants I had scattered around. Some of them even took plants back to Sharon¡¯s grove to plant there, so that they would be able to grow their own. Though, the plants would not grow as well in her grove, since she lacked the affinity. On the way back to Hydra, I took the chance to get to know the people that we had brought on board this time. Of them, there were five people I found particularly interesting, and decided to assign them as the ¡®backup¡¯ assault team. The first was Clara the Nekotane. She was one of my first interviews, a catgirl hunter that loved adventure. Among her pets were a sabertooth tiger and a three eyed lion. I really didn¡¯t see why the lion needed three eyes, but apparently it did. Next was Nathan, the talisman caster. With his Origin Magic, he could create small objects with relative ease, as long as he studied them enough. Then, with his knowledge of runes he would inscribe the talismans with various spells. I could see him as a good support character for this group, whereas Clara would be one of the attackers. Third, was Brian, a mage from an orc race. His schools of magic were Fire and Life, giving him quite a bit of potential in both offense and healing. He was a tall, seven foot man with dark green skin. I had a hard time calling someone that looked so unusual by such a mundane name as ¡®Brian¡¯, but still¡­ Behold, the great and terrible orc, the lord of life and flame, the infamous Brian! It just doesn¡¯t work, does it? You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. Anyways, the fourth person on the list was Sam, and he was¡­ well¡­ he was a skeleton. A living(figuratively), breathing(again, figuratively), skeleton. His race was Bone Knight, and he was a fairly strong vanguard. I even tested his defense myself, and was quite impressed. Although he¡¯d be weak against blunt attacks, his class abilities helped to cover that weakness with armor. Finally, we had Amy, a halfling who was perhaps a bit too excited about¡­ everything. Her and Sam seemed to know each other, so he explained that it was a halfling trait. Basically ADHD on steroids. Halflings were terrible at staying still for more than two minutes, and were always looking for something to do. Her class was a rogue, and although she had not unlocked her advanced class yet, she was still extremely capable at stealth. Even using my Cybernetic eye and ears, I could easily lose track of her. This team seemed to have the perfect combination, in my eyes. There was a healer, a support caster, a vanguard, a melee fighter, and a rogue. Even my own team wasn¡¯t that well balanced. I was the only healer, and my healing spells were not quite as good as Brian¡¯s. Then again, he specializes in that department, so it¡¯s no wonder. And I still have the monopoly on resurrection. I kind of wanted to see how good they would do together in an actual fight, but I wouldn¡¯t get that chance until after I was done with my time monster quest. Well, I made sure to tell them that people were expected to give reports for significant events. That way, even if I can¡¯t see it myself, I should be able to read what happens. About halfway through the trip to Hydra, I had a¡­ rather strange dream. In it, I found myself completely aware, sitting within a pure white world at a small table. Across from me, sipping some tea was a blue skinned man about four feet tall, with a black gem embedded in his forehead. Looking at me, the man gave a cheeky grin, and waved with one hand. ¡°Yo, John.¡± The man was wearing a white suit with a striped black and white bowtie. ¡°Okay¡­ not used to my dreams talking to me. Can I wake up now?¡± I looked around the room curiously, though I really would like to wake up before things get weird. I¡¯ve read enough stories to know that dream sequences like this never end well. ¡°Nah, maybe in a bit. It took me quite a bit to set up this meeting.¡± The blue man waved off my question as if it was nothing. ¡°Come on, John. Don¡¯t you recognize me? I mean, we haven¡¯t really met face to face, yet, but you should know my award winning personality by now, right?¡± I swear, if he turns out to be my subconscious alter ego, awakened by some misfire with my psychic abilities¡­ ¡°Afraid not..¡± He set down his cup of tea, covering his face with one small hand. ¡°Fine, fine.¡± He waved a hand, and a nametag appeared on his shirt. On it was written ¡®Hello, my name is¡­¡¯ I felt my breath catch in my throat as I read the last word. ¡°M-Malthan?¡± ¡°T-that¡¯s right.¡± He replied, somewhat jokingly imitating my stutter. ¡°Look on the bright side. I¡¯m not your alter ego trying to take over your body. I¡¯m just your lord and savior, who came by for a sip of dream tea and a chat.¡± I tried to force myself to calm down, quickly discovering that simply shouting ¡®wake up¡¯ in my head did not help anything. ¡°And¡­ what do you want?¡± Gods don¡¯t show up in dreams just to chat, do they? ¡°I want you to give me your body.¡± He said, winking to me. Suddenly, I felt chills running down my spine before he started laughing. ¡°I¡¯m kidding. I¡¯m not into guys. I just wanted to let you know that I have another mission for you coming up. There¡¯s a particular planet I want you to do your ¡®hero routine¡¯ at. From what I can tell, if you don¡¯t visit them within the next three years, they¡¯ll be wiped out.¡± I stared blankly at him, not sure what to think of this sudden request. ¡°And¡­ why are you telling me this? There have to be dozens of planets out there that could be destroyed even sooner than that.¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± The blue god of chaos looked to me, and shrugged. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just say that they¡¯re a fun race. You definitely won¡¯t regret it.¡±
New Quest Accepted
Save the Qu''Lopti Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Rescue The great god Malthan has bestowed upon you a quest to save a species of his choice, the Qu''Lopti. For reasons unknown, their survival could change the very fate of the galaxy. Time Limit: Three years Reward: Depends on my mood Failure: Do you really want to know?
¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t even know where the¡­ Qu¡¯Lopti? Where they are. I mean, I could ask Celeste, she might know.¡± Without even saying anything, Malthan just pointed at my head. Suddenly, information rushed into my mind, and I immediately knew exactly where the Qu¡¯Lopti homeworld was. But there was a bit of a problem¡­ I only had three years to complete this quest, and the planet was over five hundred parsecs away! ¡°Do I need to stop the other quest to do this, then?¡± I asked, somewhat worriedly. I mean, I could make that journey in a year and a half, maybe just one year if I focused on upgrading my engines. ¡°Nah, you can stick with that one first. I¡¯m really looking forward to what you end up making. Once you¡¯re done, you should still have time to make it to that planet. Don¡¯t disappoint me now, Johnny boy. I¡¯ve placed a good amount of trust in you for this. You don¡¯t know how hard it is to convince the goddess of dreams to do this kind of thing. Usually, she just ignores people and sleeps all the time. I even had to promise to invent a new kind of super soft pillow just for her.¡± Suddenly, as he was talking, the table began to shake. Large, black cracks began appearing in the air around us. ¡°Ah¡­ speak of the devil, and she wakes up. Looks like that¡¯s all the time we have here. Be seeing you, Johnny boy.¡± Before I had the chance to respond, the world shattered around us, and I found myself in my bed, covered in a cold sweat. Just what did I get myself into this time. Chapter 133: Arriving at Hydra When I woke up, the room was entirely silent for a moment. An eery silence that made my hands twitch in nervousness. However, soon I heard the background noise from the bamboo fountain, the low hum of the ship¡¯s engines. That helped me to calm down before Celeste¡¯s voice was projected into my mind. ¡°John, what the hell was that?¡± You mean that dream¡­? Her voice was shaking slightly, showing how worried she was. ¡°That was no dream, John. I see your dreams. This¡­ I don¡¯t know what this was.¡± Ah¡­ so a god really did contact me¡­ Just to confirm it, I opened up my quest window. Sure enough, the quest I had gotten from Malthan in the ¡®dream¡¯ was listed there. So¡­ what can you tell me about the Qu¡¯Lopti? She hesitated for a bit, as if checking her own records. ¡°Nothing. I thought I had gotten information on all of the sapient races, at least basic descriptions and planet coordinates, but I don¡¯t have anything on this race. If what Malthan told you is true, and that you have three years to save them from destruction¡­ Then most likely, by the time of NeoLife, they were a long forgotten, extinct race.¡± I let out a long sigh at that, shaking my head. Seems the god of chaos really wants us to mess with the timeline. Hope we don¡¯t piss anyone off with that¡­ I could hear the AI in my head giggle lightly at that, but she didn¡¯t say anything else. Instead, I allowed myself to go back to sleep. There was still a long journey ahead of us. About a week after my meeting with Malthan, my dad unlocked his new class. Unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t able to regain his former psychic power, the Blind Spot. Instead, he received a different power, known as ¡®Recall Steps¡¯. This new power allowed him to teleport to locations that he had previously travelled to. Unlike my own teleport ability, his had a hint of clairvoyance to it, enabling him to travel virtually any distance within the limit of his power. His new class, which he trained to utilize this ability, is a fighter class known as Blink Fighter. Surprisingly, his class seems to specialize in hand to hand combat rather than weapons, but at the same time he is able to dominate opponents by constantly changing his position. All he really needs to do is run around the battlefield once, and he is able to disorient enemies by striking from all sides. As for my mom, she was still working to get her class. She wanted something similar to her previous Shade abilities, but was finding it to be extremely difficult. Celeste explained to her that, due to a vast difference in their bodies, a Deus Ex will not be able to cultivate their affinities quite the same as an organic race. While it was possible to do it without a special upgrade, it would take roughly ten times the effort to cultivate the Dark Affinity. So instead, she had my mom buy an upgrade to enhance the cultivation process. Right now, she seemed to be finally at the point where she was able to wield dark mana. It was another week later when she unlocked her class, which was the same Shadow Stalker class that she had originally possessed. Her class seemed to specialize in hiding inside of shadows before attacking, or controlling the enemy¡¯s shadow to attack. Still, she seemed pretty happy to have her old class back. I asked if she would eventually want to return to being a Shade eventually, but she declined. ¡°Sorry, John, but I really wouldn¡¯t want to live like that all the time. The senses of Shades are¡­ disorienting for people not used to them. Even after I gained a physical body, I still had the shadow sense. I¡¯d rather be a physical race that just uses darkness abilities like I am now.¡± That was her answer. And, I could understand it. Especially considering the training that I did during the trip. For my personal training, I decided to expand on my Element Avatar abilities. As for why¡­ I can train this at any time, but for my Xeno-Shifter powers, I need to find new species to copy from. Even if I can project my senses into Sharon¡¯s grove, I don¡¯t want to study her animals without their permission. That would be no better than the government putting cameras in your house to monitor you just because they wanted to. Anyways, for my training I wanted to copy the elemental senses. This was something basic that every elemental possessed. I want to say that it was a simple thing to do, and it kind of was¡­ but in order to get it to work, I had to activate my Aspect of the Attuned. Apparently, it took a rather high affinity to gather sense input from the elements. However, when I activated that sense¡­ I could see why people would be disoriented. The first element I activated was water. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel a very thin mist all around me. I could feel my blood vessels, and the blood vessels of the people nearby. It was¡­ almost like seeing, but not. The information didn¡¯t present itself to me visually, it was just there. How do you explain sight to a blind man, or sound to the deaf? I continued alternating through my different elements, to get a feel for what each sense felt like. Naturally, I couldn¡¯t work with the Time Affinity, since it was so low. However, the others each yielded different results. For fire, I could feel the heat of everything around me. For light, it was actually like having a map in my head of the surroundings, complete with color. This was the closest to actual sight out of all of them. For wind, I could feel the air currents, and make out objects by how they obstructed the air. It was sort of like tremorsense, but airborne. The others all follow along that pattern, with me able to sense the element, and make out my surroundings by how it interacts with that element. After I experimented with my new elemental senses, I decided that I¡¯d save them for special situations. Yes, they are very useful, but I can only use one at a time. And it makes me a bit dizzy if I try to use one for too long, really. With that taken care of¡­ I began cultivating the Time Affinity. Although I didn¡¯t really want to touch this affinity yet, I would need it if I wanted to make a monster using it. Just to be safe, I had Celeste, Yin, and Sharon with me when I did the cultivation, and even chose to do so with the use of my clone. If it didn¡¯t look like I¡¯d be able to make advancements without another situation like the time bubble from before¡­ I¡¯d scrap the affinity, and find another way to control time mana for making the monster. Thankfully, I did not require the use of a formation this time, as I could clearly since time mana now if I focused. Gradually, I began pulling the mana into my body, while circulating it and releasing my own time mana. Opening my eyes, I saw the girls watching me, almost perfectly still. I was about to panic, until I saw the bamboo fountain at the corner of the room. It was still moving, albeit at a little less than half speed, so I knew that they were just not moving very much. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
New Ability Unlocked
Fast Time - Time Affinity - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï The most basic aspect of Time Manipulation. By gathering mana on yourself or others, you are able to accelerate their personal time, making them perceive their surroundings in slow motion.
I had to admit I was pleasantly surprised. My Time Affinity wasn¡¯t even near 10% yet, and I already had a six star ability for it. Out of curiosity, I stopped my cultivation briefly, and tried to do the reverse on the bamboo fountain, preventing time mana from interacting with it. Although it wasn¡¯t perfect, the bamboo fountain still appeared frozen.
New Ability Unlocked
Slow Time - Time Affinity - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï By blocking the time mana from a certain point, or controlling its flow, you are able to greatly slow a creature or object''s time. This makes them see the world as if it had been accelerated.
¡°John?¡± Sharon looked at me with some concern, having not noticed what I did to the fountain. ¡°Is everything okay?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sorry, yeah. I was just testing something.¡± I relaxed my control on the time mana, and the bamboo fountain returned to normal. It took roughly four hundred mana to hold the bamboo fountain in ¡®stasis¡¯ for ten seconds, so I still needed quite a lot of training before it was ready for practical use. Returning to my cultivation, I continued to focus on improving my control over this mana type, though I was only able to make myself do so for an hour at a time. After that hour, I began to feel a sense of panic rising in me, causing my hands to shake and cold sweat to appear all over me. A few moments later, I felt a hand placed over mine, and when I opened my eyes, I saw Yin smiling gently at me. Seeing her smile¡­ seemed to calm me down a bit. My hands stopped shaking, at least. But I wasn¡¯t going to push it. It would take me time to get used to time mana again, and I still had plenty of that. Regardless, I kept my training. For an hour, I would cultivate the Time Affinity, and then I would take a break for a little while to cool down. Sometimes I would play with the girls, sometimes I would talk with the crew, sometimes I would just sit around and bang my head on the wall. Okay, that last one was only because the girls were all busy, and I got really bored. It only happened once, I swear! But, this was roughly what my stats looked like by the time I got back to Hydra. Thankfully, I had been able to regain my lost levels by farming ettins in my spare time.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame25,000
Level 750%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health460/460Health Regen0.77
Mana2000/2000Mana Regen13.73
Strength20Wisdom200
Agility26Intelligence200
Dexterity37Charisma35
Vitality46Luck20
Points Remaining0
Earth 31%Fire 28%Wind 27%Water 28%
Lightning 25%Light 25%Dark 28%Plant 25%
Void 25%Metal 25%Magnetism 25%Plasma 25%
Gravity 25%Time 9%
When we got to Hydra, I had the crew run a scan to see if anything had changed while we were gone. We could still be considered fairly close to Earth, so it was better to be careful. And the caution paid off. ¡°Captain, I¡¯m picking up multiple boss-class readings. Most appear to be dungeon bosses, but there also seems to be a single roaming boss.¡± I nodded my head at the report. ¡°Put it on screen.¡± After saying that, a holographic screen appeared at the front of the bridge. Displayed on it, was a giant, six tailed wolf with white fur and four eyes. It appeared to be running along the surface, the nearby trees coming halfway up its legs. A white haze was emitted from its breath every now and then, but something gave me a bad feeling. ¡°What is its location?¡± A few moments later, I found out what was worrying me¡­ The scenery on the screen seemed just a little too familiar. ¡°It¡¯s about ten miles to the north of your lab, Captain¡­ heading south.¡± ¡°Celeste, can you use the scan information to identify its level?¡± I hastily asked while standing up, making my way towards the medbay before getting her answer. ¡°Not accurately. I can tell you that it should be in a little lower than level two hundred, but not by much. Your orders?¡± Her voice was serious, and I was suddenly glad we made it here when we did. If the boss monster managed to attack my lab, and eat all of the elemental seeds that had accumulated there, it might be able to undergo a considerable power-up. Especially since this one seemed drawn to that location, judging by how it moved. ¡°Assemble both teams. I want Sharon, Yin, Yo, you, Amy, Nathan, Clara, Sam, and Brian assembled in clone bodies. We¡¯re going to do a boss fight.¡± I knew that Celeste herself couldn¡¯t get a clone body, but in the worst case scenario I could get her a new Deus Ex body, so long as her AI consciousness was still safe in my head. There wasn¡¯t enough time to charge and launch an orbital strike to kill the boss, and I couldn¡¯t guarantee that I wouldn¡¯t hit the lab. I was not sure what would happen if a bunch of element seeds exploded at once, but I doubted it would be anything good. ¡°And tell the crew to charge the main cannon. If we can¡¯t defeat the boss, blast it from space.¡± At least with us delaying it, it buys time for the charging of the cannon, and with it staying still, the lab is less likely to be hit. Chapter 134: The Frozen Scourge Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the delayed chapter, but I wanted to get this boss fight done right! Or as right as I could.
The area I was teleported down to was roughly five miles from my lab, but even from here I could see the rapidly approaching giant wolf over the horizon. A few moments after my arrival, nine other beams of light appeared around me, the rest of the hunting group appearing together. ¡°Okay, guys, let¡¯s see just how good we are. Celeste, how long is needed for the cannon to charge?¡± I looked to the Deus Ex, wanting to do a very brief strategy meeting. No time like right before the boss arrives, right? ¡°It should only take a minute to charge and lock onto a creature of that size, but the longer we give it, the more accurate the lock will be, and they can try to narrow the beam.¡± I nodded my head, looking to the secondary team. ¡°Nathan¡¯s in charge of your group. Do your best.¡± I hadn¡¯t had the chance to get to know their powers well enough to make a good plan, but since I had assigned them to get used to each other¡¯s abilities, Nathan should be able to lead fairly easily. As for our team¡­ ¡°Celeste, try to stay up as high as possible and fight with your cannon or other ranged attacks. You have the most to lose here if you get killed, so let¡¯s try to avoid that. Sharon, same thing, don¡¯t pull out your fully evolved creatures. Yin¡­ give him hell.¡± I really did try to think of something better to tell the stormbird, but really¡­ that was the best answer I could come up with. Yin and Celeste both nodded their heads to me, the former shifting into her bird form before both took flight. Yo, having been the only one that didn¡¯t receive an order, shrugged and charged towards the direction of the giant wolf. All of us summoned out our bonded items, while I also quickly activated various combat aspects. My skin hardened and covered with green scales. Four large wings sprouted from my back. I had a breath weapon prepared for the fire attribute. And finally, the feathers on my wings began shining as I used them to pull in light mana while flying into the air. As for Sharon, she hunched over as her armor shifted. Brown wings began sprouting from her back, while her hands and feet turned into large talons. Like with most of our group, she took to the air as well. That left only Yo and the secondary team on the ground. From what I could see, Nathan was pulling out various talismans, while Sam was charging alongside Yo, wielding a large bone shield. Clara was charging behind them on all fours, having not summoned her pets. Brian was staying at the back, and had pulled out a strange staff. As for Amy¡­ I had already lost sight of her. By now, the giant wolf was nearly upon us. Its frame was truly massive, being over fifty meters tall. Its speed was great as well, having traveled over from the horizon in the time it took us to prepare. In order to keep track of the battle, I quickly turned up my Cybernetic ears so that I could hear everything from the surroundings. ¡°Selective barrier!¡± Nathan shouted out as he tossed four talismans around himself and Brian, a yellow bubble rising around them. ¡°Fireball!¡± This time, it was Brian that called out, aiming his staff forward. A small fireball formed at the tip of his staff and shot towards the wolf, passing through the barrier and slowly growing in size as it traveled. Not surprisingly, the other three of that group didn¡¯t call out anything. Sam merely lifted a bone sword bigger than himself and threw it at the wolf that was now just ten meters away from him, while Clara lunged into the air to latch onto its body. As for Amy¡­. I still couldn¡¯t find her. Not to be outdone, our group also launched attacks, though we did not call them out like they did. From me, it was a barrage of plasma bolts aimed at the monster¡¯s head. From Yo, she formed a thick lance with her slime and struck heavily at the falling paw of the wolf. Celeste and Yin continued flying higher, while Celeste shot out a few laser blasts from her arm cannon. Of our flying group, Sharon was the only one that dove forward to engage the enemy directly. Her leather gloves each sprouted a meter long sword as she spun her body in midair to swipe at the wolf¡¯s legs. Naturally, the wolf was not idle through all of this. The first attack that landed had been Brian¡¯s fireball, which collided against its front legs. While it did not seem to cause a lot of damage, it had stopped the wolf during its run, causing it to slide to a stop while the ground crew launched the rest of their attacks. It yipped slightly as the large sword embedded itself in the thick hide of the boss monster, but did not seem too disturbed. As for Clara, it did not seem to even notice her latching onto it. Surprisingly, my plasma shots did not seem to do anything to the wolf, aside from singing its fur, while Sharon¡¯s attacks actually produced a little blood. When it was shot on the nose by Celeste¡¯s arm cannon, it roared out in anger, finally deciding that we were not just a bunch of passing insects. Yo¡¯s lance attack slid its foot back a few meters, but it almost immediately regained its stance, white breath condensing in its mouth. ¡°It¡¯s launching a breath attack, everyone be careful!¡± Nathan shouted to the others, holding another talisman in his hand. ¡°Brian, be ready for a quick heal.¡± The orc nodded his head, readying himself as the white mist began spreading out from the wolf¡¯s mouth, before it was blasted down at the ground. As soon as it came into contact with the grass, a layer of ice appeared. The same thing happened to Sam, whose skeleton body was immediately coated in ice. Thankfully, due to his body makeup, that did not impede him heavily, as his body did not consist of any flexible or moving parts. He was merely made of bones that moved as he commanded. However, he did slip and fall due to the ground and his feet both being covered in ice. ¡°Thaw¡­¡± Brian said with a sigh, a red ray of light shooting out at Sam, before steam rose around him, the ice slowly vanishing from his bones. ¡°Thanks¡­¡± By now, Yin was just arriving in the clouds, and gave a loud shriek as her magic spread out. While she was calling the clouds to herself, she sent down a bolt of lightning at the giant wolf, not needing to fear missing such a large target. The wolf recoiled at the attack, but then glared up at her just in time to receive the second barrage of attacks from our groups. ¡°Novaball!¡± ¡°Fire Chains!¡± The two casters within the protective bubble called out in unison, and two spells launched from their hands. From Brian, a thin chain of fire soared through the air, while Nathan produced a large fireball by sacrificing three of his talismans. The two spells impacted simultaneously, with the chains attempting to wrap around the wolf¡¯s mouth, and the fireball striking its neck. From below, Yo continued striking with her lance, while Sam jumped up onto the wolf, grabbing onto his large sword. With a sideways thrust, the sword cut through the flesh it had embedded in, and he landed back on the ground. Meanwhile, Clara continued to climb up its leg like a cat climbing a tree. From above, I decided to change my means of attack. This creature seemed to have some resistance to plasma, but was at least annoyed by fire. So fire it is! In front of me, I began gathering as much fire as I could while my wings continued absorbing light mana, wanting to launch my biggest attack yet. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. For a moment, I thought such an attack might be unnecessary, though. A thick beam of light appeared from Celeste¡¯s arm cannon, likely one of its biggest attacks, and struck directly at the head of the wolf. This caused it to howl out in pain while taking a step back, a large portion of the skin on its face melted. This how also made it break through the fire chains as if they were nothing, though really chains of that size didn¡¯t pose a danger in the first place. However, the six tails of the wolf began glowing, one of the tails dissolving into particles of light. All of the injuries it had received, from the melting of its face, the burns on its neck, or the minor cuts on its body, rapidly healed until it was returned to its peak condition. ¡°Oh, that is just not fair.¡± We had to heavily injure this thing at least five more times before it died? Or did we just have to kill it before it had the chance to heal itself? Either way, it was mad now, and looked down to the people below it. Raising up one paw, it slammed it down heavily on top of Yo, causing cracks to spread out in the ground from the impact, and slime to spray everywhere. Even with her near immunity to physical attacks, that only applied as long as her core wasn¡¯t damaged. With this¡­ Yo had been taken out of the game. Another angry shriek came from the skies above, and five condensed lightning bolts shot down from the clouds at the wolf, a light rain beginning to fall. Naturally¡­ this rain was not too kind to the growing fireball in front of me, but it was unable to do too much to slow its growth as well. Sharon, seeming to understand that she can¡¯t do as much as she wanted like this, dropped to the ground and changed forms. Her wings receded into her body, her hands and feet returning to normal, before she was covered in a white fur, and took on her bunny girl appearance. As soon as her transformation was completed, she disappeared in a burst of speed. From several parts along the boss¡¯s body, there was a flash of light, followed by a small spurt of blood. Sam seemed to find that he couldn¡¯t do much either, except for once again throwing his sword out to embed it in the wolf¡¯s flank. Brian didn¡¯t do anything for now, while Nathan grabbed a new item from his inventory, a throwing knife carved with runes. ¡°Lightning Throw!¡± When he threw the knife out of the barrier, it began glowing with crackling energy, before changing into a lightning bolt that shot at the boss monster. At the same time, I decided to release my fireball, throwing it for the wolf¡¯s head. At the very least, it would be an annoyance. Altogether, six lightning bolts struck the boss monster almost at the same time, causing it to let out another pained roar. By the time the other attacks had all landed, and the smoke cleared, another of its tails had vanished, as had its injuries. This time, it looked even more mad than before, turning its head towards the sky. The white mist that had been leaking out was pulled back into its mouth, before it condensed into a beam of blue light that shot into the clouds Yin was controlling. Almost immediately, the rain stopped. And then the sky began falling. The cloud that had been struck had been condensed almost entirely into ice, breaking apart and falling in massive chunks. I had to duck, weave, and use my Water Manipulation while flying in order to make sure that none of the pieces hit me. However, soon I saw Yin¡¯s body inside one of the frozen chunks as well, unable to move. When that chunk smashed into the ground, it shattered. And with it, Yin¡¯s body shattered as well. Even though I knew it was a clone, I felt anger rising in my chest at seeing her body broken apart. Flying to the ground, I landed and fully extended my wings, turning my mana absorption to the limit while glaring at the wolf. ¡°This looks important~.¡± I heard a small voice coming from the wolf¡¯s back, before it let out a yelp of intense pain. One of the tails had been cut off, blood spraying out over a small figure standing on its back holding a pair of twin knives. So that¡¯s where she ran off to¡­ With this, it only had three tails left. Before we could gather for another round of attacks, the wolf dropped to the ground, rolling over twice. This¡­ well, it wasn¡¯t a good move for us. Sam, having been standing directly below the wolf, was crushed under its weight. Amy, being on its back, was flattened when it rolled over, unable to jump far enough away in time. And Clara, having just finished climbing up its side, was likewise smashed under its weight. ¡°Ouch¡­¡± I heard Nathan say with a small voice, before he pulled out a series of talismans and began laying them out on the ground outside the barrier. ¡°Five elements barrage!¡± He finished the attack by throwing another dagger at the wolf, while the five talismans he placed on the ground lit up. Fire, water, and lightning all shot towards that dagger, followed by shards of metal and stone. Though, against a boss so many levels higher, the smaller attacks did not do more than annoy it. They did, however, distract it from the second thick laser that shot down from above, which took off its face¡­ again. Immediately after the laser ended, there were dozens more flashes of light all along its body, and it cried out miserably. Several places had been cut open, including its four eyes. ¡°Sharon, clear!¡± I called out, feeling that this was my best shot. Activating the Aspect of the Attuned, I made light my primary element, and poured my entire mana capacity into filling my wings with light mana, making the grow brighter and brighter. ¡°Element¡­ Burst!¡± I condensed the light in my wings as far as possible, before directing it towards the wolf. At the same time, one of its last remaining tails began dissolving. This was the biggest blast I had ever launched, even bigger than the one I had used back in NeoLife. Since I had been able to gather mana faster, and my light affinity was higher, the results were clear. A ten meter wide blast of prismatic light shot up at the wolf, just as its healing was starting to kick in. But how could light be the slower of the two forces? Without the protection of its thick fur and hide, the rainbow blast was able to tear through its skull, attacking the brain directly. When my light had faded, I dropped to the ground from exhausting so much mana in one attack, panting wildly. The next moment, there was a crash that felt like a small earthquake, as the wolf¡¯s body also fell. The last two tails began to glow with a blue light, making me fear that this was still not over, and then shattered into nothingness.
You have killed the Frozen Scourge Wolf
You have leveled up x20 Luck has increased by 5 Malthan gives you a thumbs-up.
Sweet¡­ it died. And it¡¯s even staying dead¡­ even better. Opening up my friends list, I sent a call to Yin and Yo, making sure they were okay. Thankfully, they were. Everyone that died had safely gone back to their original bodies, though that meant they were left out of the experience from the kill. Next, I used my comms to send a message to the ship. ¡°Battle is over, power down the cannon.¡± All in all, only losing half of our attack group and managing to kill a world boss isn¡¯t that bad, right? But now¡­ there is a really big boss monster body in front of me¡­ and it has lots of cool things for me to study! Chapter 135: After-Battle Rewards Author¡¯s Corner: Finally, our MC has defeated a boss without cheating! Using numbers to overpower it isn¡¯t considered cheating, right? Well, no matter! He has stuff to do now!
Immediately after the death of the boss monster, I went and began studying its aura. Out of its displayed abilities, what I wanted most was obviously the healing power. Although its ice breath might be powerful, that could have simply come from its monstrous mana. The other significant feature of the boss that had been displayed was its size, but there was no way I¡¯d be able to mimic such a size with my available mana. Anyways, while studying its aura, I ran into a small complication. That was, my last attack had all but destroyed its brain, so I couldn¡¯t study that. I wasn¡¯t too worried, though, because I could probably substitute the brain of a regular wolf and just gradually make adjustments until it worked right. Now I just needed a test subject¡­ What, you thought I was going to do this to myself this time? No, I learned my lesson, no brain surgery experiments without absolute confidence. To my surprise, the tail that Amy had severed during the fight had not dissolved like the others, leading me to believe that the wolf only had one true tail, and that it was likely the source of the regeneration power. As such, I focused my attention on the tail, and how it connected with the rest of the aura. The result¡­ actually made me think that I was getting better at the whole aura reading thing. Since I had studied similar tails before, albeit on a smaller scale, I was able to mentally discard the physical components of the aura, such as the tail¡¯s shape, color, and structure. Instead, I was able to focus directly on the magical component, which helped me greatly. After all, I wasn¡¯t too fond of the idea of running around with a half dozen tails behind me at all times. So¡­ my real bounty from this fight, rather than the boss¡¯s full aura, was the message that came after I understood the aura of the tail. Even if I had to experiment to see just how it worked.
New Spell Unlocked!
Aspect of Health - Nature Magic - ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï By studying the aura of certain creatures, you are able to copy health related abilities, such as enhanced natural healing.
One thing that I did understand about this new Aspect¡­ was that I needed to attach it to a physical modification. For this experiment, I chose to attach it to a scale I created on my forehead with Aspect of the Armored Beast. The result¡­ well, it¡¯ll be easier to show you my status as of now. Keep in mind I haven¡¯t spent the points I got from leveling up, yet.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame25,000
Level 9521%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health460/460Health Regen0
Mana2000/2000Mana Regen13.73
Strength20Wisdom200
Agility26Intelligence200
Dexterity37Charisma35
Vitality46Luck25
Points Remaining100
Earth 31%Fire 28%Wind 27%Water 28%
Lightning 25%Light 25%Dark 28%Plant 25%
Void 25%Metal 25%Magnetism 25%Plasma 25%
Gravity 25%Time 9%
As you can see, my health regeneration completely disappeared. That by itself was quite an alarming change, but ultimately I decided to wait and see what happened next. While I continued studying the rest of the aura, I felt a slight change in my head. Naturally, I could not look at my own forehead normally, so I called out a bit of water from my grove, and froze it to form an ice mirror. Beside the scale I had created on my forehead, a second identical one had been formed. Thinking back, the entire process had taken¡­ ten minutes? That was also the amount of time it took a health pool to completely regenerate, so I was able to reach a simple conclusion thanks to that. This new aspect alters the way health regeneration works, so that instead of gradually healing over time, it gave a reusable burst healing factor. Given that the wolf only had six tails, and that the first one isn¡¯t usable for this purpose, five seems to be the limit. Unless the wolf just happened to only be an hour old, which I found unlikely. Still, five ¡®full heals¡¯ before it ran out once fully charged, and the ability to automatically grow a charge every ten minutes¡­ that seemed to be more than worth trading away a slow recovery speed. Even if, for some reason, I needed more than five lives within a ten minute period, I could supplement my recovery with potions and spells. Speaking of which¡­ I should probably make sure that they still work. After a quick test, I was pleased to discover that recovery potions, pills, and spells all still worked as normal. The only thing that was affected was my automatic recovery rate. There was still the question of whether enchanted items that boost that amount would give me a natural recovery speed again, or increase the rate I grew my life saving scales. I would have to test that later, when I didn¡¯t have other stuff to worry about. ¡°Yang, can you come down here and get this body? You should be able to finally finish your divine quest with this, I think.¡± I spoke into the intercom, calling down the girl in question. ¡°Yes, Master.¡± Soon after she answered, both her and Yin appeared nearby. As Yin looked at the massive corpse, she scoffed lightly and looked away. No doubt she still held a grudge for it freezing her like that¡­ ¡°Uhm.. Master, this will take a while.¡± Yang spoke after she pulled out a skinning knife I had Celeste make for her. Yeah¡­ skinning a beast this big¡­ Would probably take most of a day. Then there¡¯s the matter of its bones, which can also be used for weapons. We should probably save the meat as well, since it might be good to cook¡­ This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°I¡¯ll leave first, then.¡± I nodded to Yang, before turning and flying into the air. Now that there wasn¡¯t a whole lot to do here, I could head to my lab. Celeste, make a note that I need to find a critter to experiment with later. ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡± The AI replied in my head. While I was flying, I went ahead and did a test, making two more of the scales for the Aspect of Health on the back of my hands. I wanted to see if five was a hard limit, or if I could potentially stock up on them. Since I wouldn¡¯t be able to tell the results right away, I decided to check up on them again later. When I arrived at my lab, I smiled at the large pile of element seeds that sat there waiting for me, before depositing them all in my inventory. Next, I went over and checked the information on the terminal that Celeste had set up after my¡­ unfortunate episode last time. On it were recordings of monsters being created, as well as sensor readings listing the amount of mana it took to create them. This would be useful for my upcoming monster making marathon! Though, I should have them go deeper into the dungeons so that they can place more scanners and get a larger sample size. Anyways, where was I? ¡°John, you in there?¡± Okay, scratch that. ¡°I¡¯m here, Sharon.¡± I called out from the basement, looking at the walls and figuring out how I would expand this room to conduct my research. Soon, Sharon was down to join me, back in her normal elf body. I had no doubt she just ran over here from the scene of the fight, because she was breathing a bit heavily. ¡°What are you up to?¡± She asked curiously, looking over the terminal. ¡°About to get started on my monster mayhem. Care to join me? Could use an extra pair of hands, and someone to talk with.¡± She thought about it for a minute, before nodding. ¡°Sure. Any ideas what you¡¯re making first.¡± ¡°...Absolutely none.¡± I sighed, looking at the terminal. ¡°From the information that thing gave me, I can determine a few patterns in monster spawns. For instance, skeletons never spawn with blood mana, and lizards never spawn with fur mana. However, the ratios seem completely random. I was thinking about having Celeste compile a program to assess the creatures and the mana requirements to spawn them, in order to reverse engineer the conditions for custom monsters. But right now, we don¡¯t have enough samples.¡± Sharon raised an eyebrow curiously. ¡°If stuff like blood and skin mana is necessary, then how have you been spawning ettins until now? I am pretty sure that you don¡¯t train either of those affinities. Even I only trained them to a basic level.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ well, actually they aren¡¯t needed. Monsters are formed in two steps. The first step is the catalyst, where elemental mana comes together in certain quantities and patterns, then triggers the gathering and formation of other mana types to fill in the body. But that makes it even harder, because I can¡¯t tell what the reactions to base mana types interacting will be. Goblins and trolls only differ by about a hundred mana, but that mana changes their size, intellect, and strength by a large amount.¡± Sharon nodded her head, seeming to understand. ¡°So the problem is figuring out how the first and second steps interact, right?¡± When I agreed, she continued. ¡°Would it be impossible to skip straight to the second step? If you had enough of the different mana types, I mean.¡± I thought about it, but shook my head. ¡°No¡­ even if I set up a machine able to refine every type of mana, which I can¡¯t, the first step is crucial. Without it, then the gathering of mana wouldn¡¯t have a physical anchor.¡± Sharon nodded again. ¡°Well¡­ what about an artificial grove? You could use it for simulation practice, maybe? Make a machine without an AI, give it a soul, and then make it a grove. If you can command it with user input, you could conduct your tests there, in a safe environment without worry.¡± I.. actually really liked that idea. I was just about to agree to give it a try, when Celeste spoke up in my head. ¡°Do you have any idea how hard it would be to program an interface capable of manipulating every mana type in a three dimensional world? Give it a hundred years, and the tech I¡¯d need to build something like that might be available. For now, though, you can forget about it.¡± I chuckled dryly after hearing her response. ¡°Celeste says that¡¯s a no go.¡± ¡°Hmm¡­¡± She thought about it again, before sighing. ¡°I got nothing. Looks like you really need to get more information, first?¡± I nodded again at that. ¡°Seems like the only option. But, that means we¡¯ll be dungeon diving again.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but grin at that. ¡°And it¡¯s got to be us, because the others aren¡¯t high enough levels yet.¡± Though, the secondary team would be able to go too, since Brian and Nathan received the same huge level increase that we had. Speaking of which, I decided to spend my entire 100 stat points on intelligence, boosting my available mana to three thousand, and my recovery rate to twenty mana a second. With this, I should have more than enough mana to work with for a while, and can begin focusing my future points on my physical stats. And since I was approaching the level 100 benchmark, I was quite interested to see what I would be getting. ¡°Basically, an--¡± No spoilers! ¡°Fine, fine¡­¡± Celeste replied wryly in my head when I stopped her from spoiling the level rewards. I wanted to work towards it myself and earn those rewards. It¡¯s like spoiling a Christmas present, you just don¡¯t do it, you know? Anyways, with this, we made plans to try and conquer the demon dungeon in a week. Why the demon dungeon? Because the elemental ones and the plant ones would be too easy for me, and the undead one is too risky. We could do the goblin one, but the demons seemed so much more interesting. ¡°You just want to see if you can find a sexy succubus, don¡¯t you?¡± Celeste had to get the last word in to tease me. I swear, that¡¯s not it! Chapter 136: The Seven Circles Author¡¯s Corner: Here¡¯s another chapter for you guys! Sorry for those that were looking forward to immediately doing the time baby experiments, but right now he doesn¡¯t have enough information to even get started on that!
So, our group was currently at the entrance to the demon dungeon. With me was Sharon, Celeste, Yin, and Yo, all equipped with their best gear, and ready to conquer this series of caves. Well, that was the plan at least, and we knew that the first two floors would be easy for us. During this last week, Nathan and his group had gone into the dungeon twice, and the reports from it gave us quite a bit of information about the dungeon, even though they were stopped at the third floor.
Now entering the Seven Circles of Sin
That was the name of this dungeon, and it had some unique characteristics. The dungeon itself was arranged in a complex spiral leading down, and each layer had a theme. For the first layer, the enemies were berserk imps, who seemed to grow stronger the more of their kind were killed. This was referred to as the ¡®Wrath¡¯ circle. The second layer was a bit more complicated, because the enemies used magic attacks to drain stamina, earning it the title of the ¡®Sloth¡¯ circle. Nathan¡¯s group easily passed through this one because of Sam¡¯s inexhaustible stamina. Being a skeleton did have some advantages. The third layer, which was the deepest layer we had information on, was more troublesome for Nathan¡¯s group. This was the ¡®Greed¡¯ circle, where enemies would steal directly from your inventory and use what was in there against you. For Nathan, that rendered him practically useless, but it shouldn¡¯t be so much of a problem for us. ¡°We going to do this, or just sit around all day?¡± Celeste asked with a wide grin as she walked into the first circle. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Yo ran in behind her happily, while the rest of us followed. In order to train her telekinesis, Yin chose to remain in her human form inside this dungeon. After all, there was only limited room to fly in a cave, and she could not use weather magic to help in there. In her hands, she held a long leather whip that seemed to crackle with static energy every time it moved. Celeste, getting ready for the battles ahead, called out her mechanical cat minions. It had been a long time since I had seen these, but I knew they would likely be enough for the first few floors. Like Sam, Celeste and her minions wouldn¡¯t have to worry about stamina being an issue. She countered the second floor perfectly, while we could counter the first due to overwhelming power. For now, Sharon did not call out any of her companions, nor did she use her transformation power. ¡°Let¡¯s use our area attacks on this floor. Kill the imps before they have the chance to power up.¡± I nodded at the suggestion, getting ready to use my magic. From the information we had obtained, demons have a decent resistance to both fire and darkness, so I won¡¯t be using those elements much. Instead, I planned to use mostly the Gravity element, as I had not had a chance to test it in battle yet. Our first encounter occurred roughly five minutes after we had entered the red caves. Ten humanoids were flying in a dense swarm ahead, each one red skinned and no more than two feet tall. Upon seeing us, they let out a chittering screech and flew at us in a fury. Sending out a ripple of mana, I controlled the gravity around the imps to increase, sending them crashing into the ground. Their tiny wings could no longer support their weight, so when Yin grabbed them with her mind and ripped them in half, there was almost no resistance. ¡°That was easy.¡± I then looked over at Yin, making sure that she was okay from the telekinetic exertion. These were only small creatures, so the amount of force her mind was using was less than normal, at least. ¡°Yeah, well, they start coming in groups of over fifty before the end of the level, according to the reports.¡± Celeste said with a shrug, continuing on past the bodies of the imps. And sure enough, she was right. We already had the map of this floor, so we were able to quickly make it through. The only real surprise was that every now and then, there would be a second type of demon mixed in with the imps. This second type appeared to command the imps, standing at seven feet tall with a muscular build. In their hands they would either wield a sword or spear made of a black material. Unlike the imps, these demons seemed to have a language that they spoke in, although it was not one I understood. It seemed like Celeste didn¡¯t know the language either, so it may have been one they themselves created. The second demons, which I¡¯ll call ¡®demon captains¡¯ because of their ability to command the imps, were actually pretty strong. The first time we fought one, it commanded a group of twenty imps. Like the previous battles, I intended to simply end the fight by increasing the gravity and letting the others deal with them. However¡­ the demon captain was not fazed at all, even when his weight tripled. With my effort focused on restraining the imp horde, I could do little to stop the demon¡¯s advance. And as it saw that I was the one behind its minions being held down, it charged at me with its black sword. In response, Yin whipped at it with her own weapon, which shot lightning at the demon¡¯s chest when it struck. Still, it refused to go down. It wasn¡¯t until Sharon intercepted it with her armor¡¯s blades and stabbed its neck that it finally died. ¡°What are those things, and why don¡¯t we have any information about them?¡± I glanced to the fallen demon captain. If it spawned on this floor, or even the floor below, then we should have information on it with the terminal in my lab. However, this type of demon was not listed there. ¡°Well, they were mentioned in Team B¡¯s reports, but my guess is that they spawn on a lower floor.¡± Celeste spoke up, though she hadn¡¯t had the chance to attack. Just one of those things was able to resist my gravity effects and Yin¡¯s lightning, so I was a bit worried about what would happen if we fought a whole group of them. However, my fears were unfounded, as this type of demon never appeared in the same group twice, at least on this floor. The one exception was the floor¡¯s boss, which had two of them. However, unlike the reports we had read, there was not a giant swarm of imps to accompany the boss, only the two demon captains. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The boss of the first floor was¡­ well, there¡¯s really no way around saying it. It was a cerberus. Not THE Cerberus, just a three headed hellhound. The strange thing was that the demon captains were treating it like a pet, rather than being its minions. Well, that made fighting it easy enough. ¡°Yo, would you mind?¡± I stepped back to let the slime girl go. Although the cerberus was bigger than we were, it was not necessarily stronger. From what we heard, its level was just a bit under fifty, so it wasn¡¯t hard for Yo to deal with it in a physical confrontation. ¡°Alright, dad.¡± Yo spoke with a smile, taking large steps forward and forming her spear with her slime. She eyed the three headed dog for a long moment as it approached her, before turning back to me. ¡°Can I eat it?¡± ¡°....Uhm¡­ okay?¡± I had nearly forgotten about her ability to consume and copy other creatures, as she had only used it shortly after she evolved. But, hearing my answer, she happily returned to the fight. Seeing that she was charging it, the three heads of the hellhound all released a black flame breath, a move which the reports had taken to calling balefire. The balefire wasn¡¯t a true flame, but a magical construct that ate away at the soul of the person it hit. That¡¯s why I chose for Yo to fight it, because as a fighter class she has the most buffer aura out of any of us. Even if it decreases her experience, it won¡¯t hurt her skills to be hit by it. The problem with the balefire was that it was not easily put out, and continued to burn whoever was hit by it. To my surprise, Yo actually attempted to dodge the blast, rather than absorb it like she would most other attacks. Though she was not fast enough to dodge all three fire breaths at once, she did reduce the damage to only one side of her body. ¡°Eww¡­ that feels weird.¡± She groaned, before a thick puddle of goo fell off of her, taking the flame with it. That was¡­ one way of getting rid of the balefire, I guess? Though, I probably would not have cut off my own arm to do so. However, Yo took a stance with her spear, pulling it back as if to prepare for a thrust. She was still about ten meters away from the cerberus, so there was no way her spear could normally reach, even with the enchantments I put on it. But again she surprised me. When Yo made the thrust with her spear, her entire body shook from the force, and she even let out a low shout. And following that shout, her spear¡­ grew. The tip of the spear stretched out faster than the hellhound could react, and pierced straight through its middle head. And then, as if that head had become an anchor, Yo¡¯s body launched towards it, being pulled by the spear. ¡°Now¡­ get in my belly!¡± Just before she reached the floor boss, her body seemed to explode, the various fragments all twisting through the air to wrap around the cerberus, earning pitiful wails as it tried to struggle free. Slimes are scary. Seeing that their pet had failed to fight off the intruders, the two demon captains finally took action, charging at us with their swords out. Though, this time Celeste had a turn to take action, and shot each one once with her arm cannon, creating large holes in their bodies. She can be scary, too¡­ Anyways, with that, we were able to charge straight into the second floor. Here, we met the sloth demons. These were thin, black-skinned demons with long arms and legs. Their face had no eyes or ears, just a large mouth that would emit a yawn every time they did their attacks, which were beams of black energy fired from their hands. For this floor, we just had Celeste take care of everything. She was immune to their stamina draining attacks, as were her mechanical pets, so she was able to clear them out without any problem. On this floor, there actually were not any demon captains. ¡°Why do you keep calling them demon captains? Sharon already identified them.¡± Celeste spoke up in my head, interrupting my silent monologue. And I call them that because demon captain totally sounds cooler than lesser devil. ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t.¡± Well, fine. There were no lesser devils on this floor. Happy, Celeste? ¡°Yes.¡± Anyways! Where was I? Oh right, we were able to quickly proceed through this floor with Celeste killing everything, right up until the boss. The boss of this floor changes in shape, but the powers it has been reported using are generally the same. This time, it appeared as a black skinned man in a suit. I¡¯d go into a dramatic reveal of its powers, but really it¡¯s--and Celeste already blew a hole in its chest. Yeah, this boss is pretty weak against people like her. It has practically no defenses, but being in close proximity of it renders living creatures unconscious. Now, for the third layer! This is the one we had to specially prepare for, since having anything in our inventories would just give these demons weapons to use against us. Greed demons are five feet tall, golden skinned with twin tails, and a pair of long horns coming from their foreheads. Their offensive power is not that great, but their ability to steal objects from their enemies, even out of their inventory made them a problem. Well¡­ all of our gear was bound to us with the soul grafts, so they couldn¡¯t be stolen so easily. Or, that¡¯s what I thought anyways. Our first encounter on this floor was a pair of greed demons. They began chittering excitedly upon seeing us, and made grabbing motions with their hands. Yo was obviously not affected because everything she uses is a part of her own body. I would guess that Celeste grafted all of her own equipment onto her soul, since she knows she can upgrade it whenever she needs to. The same thing applies to Sharon and myself. Nonetheless, something appeared in the greed demon¡¯s hands. I wouldn¡¯t call it a weapon, really¡­ However, there were two very angry women all of the sudden. In the left demon¡¯s hands was a long green dress, which had suddenly vanished from Yin¡¯s body. In the other demon¡¯s hands were¡­ Do I really have to say it?
Panty thief demons!
I hate you too, Malthan. But yes, the other demon was holding Sharon¡¯s underwear. The only items not bound to us¡­ our clothes. I could only silently pray for the souls of these demons as they were torn to shreds by the two angry girls. Chapter 137: The Greedy Soul Author''s Corner: Calling all potential song-writers! I''m looking for some help planning a song for later in the arc, and I want to get a headstart on it. If anyone wants to send me a PM on the forum, I would be glad for the help. To avoid spoilers, will only go over the details in PM! Naturally, whoever makes the chosen song will be credited with it in the chapter it appears!
[/hr] It was a short while after our first ¡®panty thief demon¡¯ encounter, that I thought of asking a question to Celeste. ¡°What is it?¡± The Deus Ex looked at me curiously, while Yin and Sharon were pummeling another group of yellow-skinned demons. ¡°What do dungeon monsters eat? I mean, the ones at Alkrax obviously weren¡¯t able to get out and hunt animals or find plants. Do they feed on the dungeon mana or something?¡± This had been bothering me since¡­ well, ever since we made these dungeons. And, upon hearing my question, Celeste made an awkward face. ¡°Well¡­ not exactly. I mean, plant dungeons usually do, unless they have a way to get sunlight. Otherwise¡­ they¡­ eat each other. Dungeon monsters are typically born feral. The only bright side is that the dungeon ¡®reclaims¡¯ the dead bodies. Sometimes, they will turn into new gear for the other dungeon monsters, but usually they just turn into more monsters. Once dungeon monsters start getting intelligent, they learn how to send members out to hunt and bring back food. Sometimes, the monsters will even gather together and kill the dungeon boss if they are starving.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± I suddenly lost any appetite that I might have had before. Basically¡­ they were born cannibals. Shivers ran down my spine, and I no longer felt sorry for the creatures being killed by the angry girls. We quickly made our way through to the floor boss, which.. Was a rather interesting creature. Somehow, there was a giant golden minotaur, in a large throne room, surrounded by mountains of gold and silver coins. In his hand, he held a large, silver axe that was easily as big as he was. Finally, in the corner of the room was a set of golden scales, atop which were cages. That part¡­ gave me a bad feeling. Seeing us enter the room, the minotaur demon waves his hand dramatically, speaking in a language we couldn¡¯t understand. I¡¯m sure this was some monologue about how we had made it to its throne room, and would now relinquish all that we owned to it, blah blah blah. Celeste, would you mind? Celeste¡¯s arm cannon fully expanded, growing to its maximum size as she nodded her head. We didn¡¯t have any information on this boss, since Nathan¡¯s group never made it this far, but we were about to find out just how strong its defenses were. As I finished that thought, Celeste fired a thick beam of light straight at the minotaur. For a moment, nothing happened. However¡­ soon, there was a laugh ringing throughout the room, and the sound of coins raining down from the ceiling. The boss monster had not only been entirely unaffected by the attack, but it had even seemed to absorb it to create more treasures¡­ This is definitely a cheat, right? ¡°Celeste, you said before that thing can shoot metal, right?¡± I asked, glancing around to the mountains of treasure. The Deus Ex seemed to pick up on my thought, because she nodded her head. ¡°I¡¯ll need a minute in order to gather enough for a big shot, though. Until then, it¡¯s up to you to test its weaknesses.¡± After she spoke, Celeste jumped back to the back of the room, and deployed two turrets, while crouching down to the floor. ¡°Sharon, Yin, let¡¯s see what makes it bleed. Yo¡­ keep it busy.¡± After saying that, I stretched out my mana, and used the Wind Manipulation ability to send a pair of thick wind blades at the minotaur, while Sharon followed it up with a water blast, and Yin sent a lightning bolt. Yo, meanwhile, shifted into her newest shape, the three-headed cerberus, and unleashed a balefire breath attack. More coins rang down from the ceiling, as three out of the four attacks seemed to cause no damage at all. However, Yo¡¯s breath attack caused it to roar, striking the base of its axe against the ground. Yo was surrounded by a thick glow of golden light, before she vanished. Looking around, she reappeared almost immediately inside one of the cages on the golden scales. Slowly, the mountains of coins around us began shrinking down, the coins instead appearing in the second cage. With each coin that fell, Yo let out a brief whimper of pain. She tried to slip through the gaps of the cage, but ran into an invisible wall, making escape impossible. ¡°Daddy¡­ help¡­¡± She let out a scared voice as the coins continued piling up. ¡°John, quick! Her soul is fading!¡± Celeste called out from the back. Meanwhile, the minotaur seemed to stand just a bit taller. ¡°Sharon, all or nothing.¡± I turned to rush towards the scales, sending out my psychic energy this time. To my surprise, it proved able to penetrate the barrier around the cage, and I was able to form a portal. Thanks to my practice recently, Yo was able to slip through the portal without me passing out, which I considered a brilliant success. Although I still had a fairly decent headache, and probably couldn¡¯t do that a second time. ¡°Daddy¡­ thanks¡­¡± The slime girl smiled as she appeared next to me, her body unstable and only half-formed. Something about it¡­ I felt myself becoming more and more angry. If the scales had kept going, Yo might have had a true death. She would have been lost just like that, and I almost hadn¡¯t been able to stop it. That¡¯s not going to happen a second time. I heard a dozen different roars from behind me, no doubt from Sharon summoning a small horde of beasts to fight. However, my focus was on the scales. The boss wasn¡¯t likely to have another soul-draining item around, and this one had to go. The question was how to break it. Focusing, I activated my Aura Sight, and removed my limiter to use Spatial Comprehension and analyze the item. Altering through my viewing methods a few times, I found that it did not have any particular defenses, so I went with the old fallback. Smash it until there¡¯s nothing left. Raising my hand, I called to the coins around me with my Metal Manipulation, causing them to fly into the air and join together above me. Sure, I could have used the metal from my grove to do this, but it was easier and more satisfying to do it this way. Next, I channeled my Fire Manipulation through the growing ball of coins, slowly melting them down to form into a single ball of precious metals. From there, I removed the heat to solidify it. By now, half of my mana was gone, but I had a ball of silver and gold at least ten meters thick. And I knew what to do with it. ¡°John! Watch out!¡± I barely had time to process Yin¡¯s shout before a large force crashed into my side, sending me flying into the wall of the room.
Home run! -250 HP
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.I grimaced, shattering one of the scales of health I had saved up. Turns out, I really can only have five charges of the healing ability. When I tried to get more, they just wouldn¡¯t appear. Immediately, my bones reset, my wounds closing, and I pulled myself out of the stone wall just in time to see a golden fist flying at me. ¡°I thought you were distracting him?!¡± I called out to the girls, just before the fist smashed me back into the wall.
Nailed it. -300 HP
With that, I sacrificed another of my healing charges. But this time, I jumped right out of the growing hole in the wall, not waiting around for the next punch. ¡°We were, but he started focusing on you!¡± Sharon shouted back, appearing as a large, black-furred wolf-girl. Flicking her wrist, spears of darkness shot out of her shadow at the minotaur, while other animals launched both elemental and physical attacks. However, none of it seemed to do much, except add to the ever-growing pile of coins. ¡°And, charged.¡± I could barely hear the words, before a loud roar echoed through the room. However, this was not the roar of a beast, but the sound of an artillery cannon being fired. This was what Celeste and I had bet on at the beginning, that the minotaur could be attacked by the gold coins created through its power. Unfortunately¡­ the silver shell slammed into the giant golden bull-man, and vanished. In its place, more and more coins rained down from the skies. This led me to only one conclusion¡­ ¡°Destroy the scales.¡± I began sprinting across the ground, surrounding myself in time mana to increase my speed, surrounding my fist with a magnetic field, and punched with all of my strength at the wrecking ball I had previously made. Further amplifying the effect by launching it with my Metal Manipulation, I watched as the large ball shot out, crashing into the scales and creating a large dent in its base. At the same time, there was a furious roar from behind me, before it was my turn to stand in the cage. ¡°Well¡­ looks like I was right, at least.¡± I groaned, and began feeling as if something was being ripped out of me. In the back of my head, I was able to hear coins falling down in the other cage, and I knew what was coming. But I had something that Yo didn¡¯t have. Sharon and her animals were clashing against the minotaur demon, who was now standing between them and the scales while it slowly drained my soul. Celeste still sat in the back, protecting Yo, who had still not apparently recovered. Finally, Yin was concentrating and extending her hands towards the cage, no doubt trying to use her own psychic powers to help. But as I said, I have something Yo didn¡¯t before. Spreading out my Mana Sense, I could see as my soul was being stolen, channeled into the minotaur. ¡°Hey, bastard. These connections can go both ways, you know?¡± I grinned widely, focusing my Soul Arts skill and grabbing that link between us. Although doing so made me feel as though my head were about to explode, I was able to stop the transfer. More importantly¡­ I was able to reverse it. This time, it was the boss¡¯s turn to roar out in pain from having its soul constantly drained away. But it had no way to stop me, this effect came from the scales, not the boss itself. I watched as the minotaur gradually began to shrink, flailing its arms miserably as my experience soared. Naturally, I would need to purify my soul later to prevent any bad traces, but this is still worth it. Sharon and her pets completely stopped their attacks, watching as the mighty boss became too small to wield its weapon. The giant axe instead dropped to the ground, making a crashing sound as mountains of silver and gold tumbled around it. Further and further the boss shrank, until it had become no more than a normal greed demon. Seeing that the boss was no longer a big threat, Sharon let her animals pile onto it together, finishing the job while she rushed towards me. Slowly, the bars of my cage bent open, but thanks to the barrier I was still unable to leave. But, that wasn¡¯t too hard to solve for Sharon. I felt the mana around me shifting, and suddenly I was standing in front of her. ¡°Was that¡­?¡± ¡°Teleporting magic.¡± She spoke with a grin. ¡°I have been practicing summoning, remember?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sweet.¡± I said, before letting out a groan as my head began filling with various images. Celeste, help! I knew what this meant, and knew that Celeste was the only thing that could stop the soul from exerting control over me. I learned that lesson from Legion, and did not want to learn it again. Slowly, the images faded away, though I had the feeling they were still there, somewhere. Looking to Sharon, I gave a slow nod. ¡°Gather up the gold, we¡¯re resting here for a bit.¡± Without waiting for an answer, I immediately sat down on the floor and began the exorcism.
You have destroyed the Soul Scales, and killed the Golden Bull Demon. Since you monopolized the rewards, like a jerk, you get 15 levels!
You have surpassed level 100
Inventory space increased to 10x10 You now have the right to form an official Guild Guild Interface now available
Well, although I gained fifteen levels from absorbing the soul of the boss monster, I had to sacrifice a third of that in order to purify the rest. So the end result was just a ten level increase. Still, a pretty good harvest for one fight, even if it was a tough one. ¡°How much gold was there?¡± I looked up at Sharon when I was done ridding myself of the tainted aura. She smiled slightly, looking towards Yin. ¡°All in all¡­ one hundred and fifteen thousand gold coins, eighty five thousand, six hundred silver coins, and five hundred and twelve mithril coins. If we ever get to a society that uses gold and silver as a currency, we will be able to be considered rich. There¡¯s also the axe, which is a bit special too.¡± I raised my brow, waiting for her to finish explaining. ¡°Well, it has a strength buff enchantment on it, and links the owner with the Soul Scales. But since those scales are destroyed, it¡¯s only good for the strength buff. Or it would be, if it was small enough to use.¡± Speaking of those scales¡­ I didn¡¯t remember destroying them. However, when I turned around to look, they had been twisted into a pretzel shape, ripped apart, and chopped into pieces. I glanced over, only to see Yin and Sharon both looking away innocently. Well, I did tell them to destroy it, after all. ¡°Well¡­ we can melt it down, then. Doesn¡¯t matter much to us, anyways.¡± Chapter 138: Gotta Catch em All Author¡¯s Corner: As I edited into the author¡¯s corner from the last chapter(before the edit chapter button vanished with the update), I am looking for someone to help me write some song lyrics for later in this arc. For details, send me a PM, no spoilers here! Naturally whoever writes the lyrics will be credited with them.
After resting up and recovering the two scales that I had spent during the boss battle, we moved on towards the next floor. Naturally, just in case we ran into more greed demons, both the axe and the mountains of coins were stored inside either mine or Sharon¡¯s groves. But it was also from this point that we¡¯d be gathering new data. ¡°John, go ahead and pull out one of the sensors.¡± Celeste looked to me and nodded. Since we had to keep them out of inventories for the greed floor, the sensors that we¡¯d be placing had to be stored in the grove until we were ready for them. Nodding my head, I pulled out one of several dozen devices I had stored in my grove, which appeared to be a long metallic spike with a camera on the end. As we left the boss room and moved on to the next floor, I through the spike into the wall to embed it in. We had to put one of those in every room and corridor, in order to make sure that we got all of the spawns from the floor. In the first floor, we saw the demons that we would be fighting on this level. I wasn¡¯t sure whether to be glad that we had a counter for them already¡­ or disgusted because of what they were. ¡°This must be the Gluttony floor¡­¡± I could hear Sharon gagging next to me as she looked into the room, were dozens of baseball-sized flies with the faces of human babies on them. On this floor, the demons had one property, and only one. They consumed, everything. Whether it was a magical attack or a physical one, they would immediately begin eating it to replenish their health. There were only two ways to kill the fly demons¡­ Either hit them with something they couldn¡¯t eat, or hit them hard enough to kill them before they could heal. We went with the first option. Thanks to having Yin here, we could literally crush dozens of fly demons at once. Like regular flies, these demons were both fast, and incredibly fragile. It took hardly any effort for Yin to crush them with her telekinesis. Though, we made sure to take a break if she started building up a headache, so that she could recover. The worst part was when the gluttony demons came out in groups of over a hundred, and Yin couldn¡¯t get them in time. Some of them would latch onto Yo¡¯s body and began drinking her slime, while others tried to attach themselves to the rest of us. But, thankfully there weren¡¯t any lesser devils on this floor, and the only thing we had to take care of were the fly demons. At least, until we hit the boss room. I was expecting many things from the boss of the gluttony floor, but a slime wasn¡¯t one of them. Well¡­ it was sort of a slime. It was giant, at least twenty meters tall, and very slime-like. However, along its edges were wide openings full of teeth, from which long tentacles came out to try and grab us. ¡°Sharon¡­ please tell me your divination can help us here¡­¡± I said after raising a stone wall, using every bit of energy to say nope to that fight. I was just fine standing outside that room, thank you. ¡°Uhm¡­ give me a bit, and I¡¯ll let you know?¡± She said awkwardly, before sitting down beside the wall and focusing. I could feel the fluctuation of mana around her, so no doubt she was working some magic to try to get information about this boss. ¡°Ugh.. well¡­¡± She started speaking again after being quiet for a few moments. ¡°From what my spell said¡­ it¡¯s called a devourer¡­ And¡­ that¡¯s pretty much it. It eats things¡­ Everything.¡± Yin furrowed her brows as she listened. ¡°Too big¡­¡± ¡°Right, it¡¯s too big for Yin to blast it with her telekinesis¡­. And it will probably eat our attacks faster than we can use them¡­ So¡­ Other options?¡± Celeste looked around to us as she asked. It was at this point that the answer came from the most unlikely source. ¡°Why don¡¯t we just avoid it..?¡± Yo asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. Her body was a bit shorter than it had been before, as she hadn¡¯t been able to reproduce enough slime yet to finish rebuilding her body. Suddenly, everyone started looking at me, and I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. Using my Earth Manipulation, I tapped into the stone around the boss room and began making a tunnel to circumvent the room altogether. ¡°This feels like cheating¡­¡±
It is cheating! Good job.
When we got to the next floor¡­ what kind of sin is this supposed to represent? For some reason, there were little snakes slithering around all over the place. However, shortly after we entered the room, the snakes let out a hiss, and we all prepared for a fight. All at once, the snakes in the room jumped into a pile, squirming together to form one mass, which slowly shaped itself until it looked like¡­ Sharon. By the time it was done, its appearance was almost completely indistinguishable from my girlfriend. ¡°Burn¡­¡± The real Sharon glared at her fake, causing a pillar of fire to rise up around it. Pained shrieks rose from within, but then the fake jumped out, sending a punch directly at Sharon. Although its skin was burnt, it was still able to pull out the same strength that Sharon used. ¡°Ah¡­ this must be the Envy floor, then¡­¡± I said, shaking my head as Sharon suddenly transformed, her skin sprouting white fur. In a flash, the fake Sharon was cut to pieces as soon as her transformation into a rabbit girl was completed. ¡°This floor is going to be a problem¡­¡± Celeste spoke while furrowing her brows, looking at the spot where the fake Sharon was dissolving, various snake bodies falling from the corpse. ¡°If groups of these snakes can become us, and we continue to encounter greater numbers¡­ this will be an uphill battle soon.¡± I nodded, understanding that as well. If we were to fight a group of ten, with two of each of us, we¡¯d be doomed. At least if it is a one on one battle, or us against only one or two of them, then we are okay. But¡­ ¡°Is there a chance that the copies can¡¯t use magic?¡± I noticed that Sharon¡¯s fake didn¡¯t seem to use any magic before she was taken out, so there was a chance that they were only physical clones. If that was the case, then we could do this. ¡°Maybe¡­ we¡¯ll have to keep going and see.¡± Celeste seemed to agree with my thinking. If they couldn¡¯t use magic, then we could take out even twenty of them at once, though it¡¯d be hard. In the next room, there were twice as many snakes, as well as one unusual one. While the normal snakes were blue, this one was red. But, once again they joined into two masses. This time, they copied myself and Yin. The red snake joined into the mass that had formed my clone, and gave me a rather bad feeling. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. No, to be more precise, what gave me a bad feeling was when my clone sent a fireball flying at me. I could tell that it was weaker than my own abilities, because I could stop the fire in midair with my Fire Manipulation, and send it right back, but then it changed to throwing water at me. Once again, that was easily countered, but while I was busy throwing the water back at it, it had begun charging at me. Rather than using more magic, it resorted to throwing a straight punch at me. Unfortunately for it, the punch was useless, because Celeste blasted it with her arm cannon. ¡°Sorry, was helping Yin take care of hers.¡± She pointed towards the other side of the room, where Yin had been smashed against a wall, and there were several snakes falling off of another nearby body. ¡°Useful information here, though.¡± She added a grin to that last part. ¡°Well, seeing as how I was preoccupied, mind sharing?¡± I grumbled under my breath. Although it had been a quick fight, it was annoying trying to blast myself with magic. ¡°Ah, right. Well, the blue snakes represent basic form. Speed, strength, and so on. Red snakes represent magic ability. Your clone seemed much weaker than you magically, likely because it only had one red snake in it. Also¡­ the clones always seem to go right after the person they copy. Yin¡¯s¡­ used telekinesis on Yin as soon as it finished forming. So psychic powers are covered under physical transformations, since it is part of the brain.¡± I waited for her to finish the explanation, but did not really like any of it. What would happen if they copied Yo? Was she considered a magical entity or a physical one? I wasn¡¯t entirely sure, but I knew I¡¯d find out soon enough. In the next room, there were three clones. Myself, Sharon, and Celeste. Thankfully, the clone of Celeste did not include a red snake, so she was unable to use her pets, and the snakes weren¡¯t able to copy equipment effects. This made the fight fairly easy, but they were gradually becoming more difficult as we went on. In the fifth room of the Envy floor, we saw our first item after defeating a full team of copies. This item was a large shield with a reflective surface. When Sharon identified it, it was listed as the Shield of Envy, and had a rather powerful effect. When the user activated the shield and aimed it at someone so that they saw their own reflection, the user would then be able to take on the appearance and physical abilities of the target. Of course, this only applied to targets with similar body types, so you couldn¡¯t become a boss monster with it. This shield¡­ I stored it in my grove, so that we could do something with it later. Although it is difficult to store magical items, with my increased stats I am more than capable of it. Plus, I still wasn¡¯t sure that we wouldn¡¯t encounter a greed demon again. I want to say that we kept going through the rooms, until we fought an epic battle against the Envy boss¡­ But that would be a lie. We did make it to the boss room, after fighting a room with fifteen copies. Thankfully, there weren¡¯t very many red snakes in the dungeon, so we were able to clear the floor pretty easily. No, the lie would be the epic battle. When we arrived at the entrance to the boss room, there were already sounds of battle within, a few screams being heard. I couldn¡¯t help but turn to Celeste and ask. ¡°Are you sure that nobody came down here right before us? We should be the first to even make it to this floor¡­¡± Celeste nodded her head. ¡°Right¡­ nobody else has ever been to the gluttony floor before us, let alone the envy one¡­ Maybe there is an internal dispute?¡± We could only shrug, and walk into the room. Inside, we were surprised to find twenty of the red skinned lesser devils fighting a single lesser devil that was double their height. The giant devil let out an evil laugh as it swept a sword covered with black flames across its attackers. With every swing of the sword, at least one or two lesser devils fell, but more and more were slicing at it with their own weapons. This scene inevitably confused us, and I looked towards Celeste for answers. ¡°I got nothing¡­ could be that they turned on him for food?¡± Celeste shrugged her shoulders. ¡°But, we can take advantage of this to use an attack that will wipe them all out together.¡± Sharon smirked slightly. ¡°I might have something. Yin, can you help me with a bit of lightning when it¡¯s ready?¡± When the other girl nodded, Sharon closed her eyes and began transforming again. This transformation was one I hadn¡¯t seen yet, and was quite surprising. Thick shell-like pauldrons formed on her shoulders, followed by a wide shell covering her back. At the top of the shell, two plates opened up to reveal cannons made of bone. After completing her transformation, she took a deep breath and kneeled down on the ground, so that the two cannons were facing forward. Then, I could feel as she began building up a large quantity of water mana within the shell on her back. ¡°Get ready¡­¡± Sharon spoke while focusing, before she apparently reached her limit.
Sharon, use Hydro Pump!
I was momentarily confused by the window, before two highly pressurized streams of water shot out of the cannons on Sharon¡¯s back. Though, shortly after they left her back cannons, they began freezing over, and breaking off into a rain of dense ice shards. ¡°Your turn, Yin!¡± She called out just as the rain of ice began stabbing into the demons. Yin nodded, surrounding herself in lightning as she returned to her stormbird form, and opened her mouth. Streaks of lightning shot out from her mouth and mixed in with the blasts that Sharon was launching, increasing the damage being dealt to the horde. One by one, the demons fell down from either the pressurized blast, the lightning, or the combination of the two. Even the boss, the giant lesser devil, fell down to one knee as it sustained a large amount of damage. ¡°Well¡­ that was¡­. Yeah¡­¡± I looked to Sharon, and then the one remaining enemy in the room. Well¡­ since she already weakened it. Might as well finish the job, right? However, before I could even charge in to take out the boss, it exploded in a cloud of blue and red snakes. Yeah no, not letting them form back up. In order to take care of the snakes all at once before they could recover, I did one very simple thing. I breathed lasers on all of them. All hail the invisible laser breath of death!
Not as good as Hydro Pump.
Chapter 139: The Deadliest Sin Author¡¯s Corner:Still looking for someone to help me come up with a song for later in this story! Help author-sama!
I glanced over to Sharon as she stood up, still in her previous form. ¡°What¡­ was that?¡± ¡°Huh? Ah, I combined with a siege tortoise. They gather water in a special organ in their shell, and fire it off through natural cannons. Was a pretty neat evolution when I saw it. Though, an actual siege tortoise is a lot bigger.¡± She explained with a slight smile as we looked through the room to see if there was anything we could pick up before moving out. Turns out, there was. Though, I would not suggest anyone actually use this item. As a way to practice my skill, I was the one that identified the thin chain bracelet that was hiding in the corner of the room.
Bracelet of Envy This charm bracelet is able to seal enemies within it in order to steal their identity and power. In order to seal someone within the bracelet, you have to be in physical contact with them, and spend more mana than their current health and mana combined.
I¡­ did not like that item. I mean yes, it is really powerful, but it¡¯s dangerous. Using it to steal someone¡¯s identity? I didn¡¯t want to risk this item falling into the wrong hands, and really there were no right hands for it. As such, I immediately melted it down on the spot. ¡°The next floor is Pride, right?¡± I asked, looking to Celeste. Please let the next floor be pride. ¡°Aww, now that wouldn¡¯t be any fun, would it? Why don¡¯t you crank those ears up and answer your own question?¡± She had a wicked grin on her face as she looked back at me. I didn¡¯t want to¡­ I really didn¡¯t want to. But my curiosity got the better of me. Turning the volume on my ears up, I was able to hear the sounds from down the tunnel to the next floor¡­ And judging by the panting, screaming, and moaning noises coming from beyond.... The next floor wasn¡¯t pride¡­ Sharon looked at her hands, and seemed to be counting off the sins to figure out which the next one would be, if not pride. When she figured it out, her face reddened slightly, and she sent a glare at me. It¡¯s not my fault, you know!? ¡°What is it?¡± Yin asked us, completely unaware about the concept of the seven deadly sins. Naturally, she wouldn¡¯t know that the only ones left were pride¡­ and lust. Celeste, being the playful Deus Ex that she was, leaned in and whispered to Yin. The latter simply blinked in mild surprise, before nodding her head. ¡°That could be dangerous¡­ Is it safe to take Yo?¡± When she asked that, she turned to look at the slime girl, who had at last finished recovering to her normal state. ¡°Hmm? What¡¯s the matter, mom?¡± Yo tilted her head cutely as she asked. ¡°Can¡¯t I come too? I¡¯ll be good and protect you!¡± ¡°She¡¯s got to learn sometime.¡± Celeste tilted her head back and laughed, walking towards the next floor. ¡°I shouldn¡¯t be affected by charms, I think. So, I¡¯ll take the lead. Try not to get caught up in the effects when you head in.¡± And like that, Celeste summoned four of the mechanical cats and walked down the tunnel. The rest of us could simply look at each other and shrug helplessly. However, there was one thing I could do to increase our odds. Pulling on my knowledge of runes, I cast a spell by combining the ¡®Reinforce¡¯ and ¡®Mind¡¯ runes on the group. With this, we should be able to resist any mind altering effects for a while, though I wasn¡¯t sure when I would have to recast it. ¡°Well, let¡¯s get going. Hopefully, she hasn¡¯t gotten too far ahead yet.¡± I said to them, and we moved on to the dreaded lust floor. Thankfully, we still had plenty of the sensor spikes to place down, so that wasn¡¯t an issue. ...What was an issue, was when we found Celeste. I don¡¯t want to go into too much detail¡­ but she wasn¡¯t as immune as she expected. On the bright side, she really seemed to be enjoying herself with the impossibly endowed man and a swarm of black tentacles that were rising around her feet. Yo simply looked on in confusion, while I pulled out my plasma pistol and shot the incubus in the head while it was ¡®distracted¡¯. And then again¡­ and again¡­ until it stopped twitching. When the incubus died, the tentacles molesting the perverted Deus Ex vanished, dropping her to the floor in a squirming mess. ¡°Immune, huh?¡± I asked helplessly, as I cast the same mental reinforcement on her that I did the rest of us. ¡°Huh?¡± Celeste suddenly sat up, looking around in confusion. Then, she looked down to her own bare body, and seemed to remember what had happened. ¡°This never happened¡­¡± She glared up at us, trying to look intimidating while covering her body with her arms. We continued through this floor in a relatively safe manner thanks to the early buff, though I ended up having to refresh it every five minutes. Even then, judging by the looks of Sharon and Yin, the spell was not entirely effective¡­ I was starting to get concerned they might try to push me down in the middle of the dungeon. As for Yo¡­ she was surprisingly calm about the whole thing, even when she had half a dozen tentacles swimming around in her body. It was like she couldn¡¯t even feel them, and just fought as if they weren¡¯t there. And she was the one we had been most worried about, originally.. Now, the demons here all had varying body types. The males tended towards athletic builds of various heights, with red skin and forked tails. Meanwhile, the women had a much wider array of appearances, from tall and busty to a small, flat-chested girl with horns. However, none of them displayed the intelligence shown by the lesser devils, and were driven solely by instinct. If we found two or more of them together in a room, they would already be going at each other just as hard as if they were going for us. While the sex demons did not display the intelligence of the lesser devils, the lesser devils themselves were there. Several of the female demons had black collars around their necks, with chains leading back towards a lesser devil that they were currently serving. Sometimes, there would be several succubi for a single lesser devil, and others there would be multiple lesser devils going at a single succubus. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Regardless, we made our way through the dungeon floor carefully, making sure to keep our resistance spells up. This floor was fairly easy to break through, seeing as every encounter was more concerned with themselves than us. Though, as soon as we approached, they tried to ¡®invite¡¯ us to the party. We did not bother looking for loot on this floor¡­ because there was too much of a mess to have noticed anything if it was there in the first place. When we got to the boss room¡­ we were surprised to find it entirely empty. ¡°...Maybe the lesser devils already took care of it, like they were doing for the envy floor?¡± I asked hopefully while we proceeded further in. Celeste giggled lightly. ¡°Oh, they probably took care of it alright. Probably have her down in the next floor.¡± I tried really hard not to think about that, for one simple reason. If the demons from the pride floor were strong enough to take boss monsters as their pets, like they did for the cerberus on the first floor, then this was going to be trouble. Either way, we kept going, making our way to the final floor of the dungeon. When we got there, what we saw were not lesser devils, but a taller, black skinned demon in full obsidian armor. This one was¡­ troublesome. It¡¯s hard to summarize, so I¡¯ll go over the battle in detail for this one. To start, Yo and Celeste¡¯s four mechanical cats all charged up together, aiming to lock the demon down while the rest of us prepared ranged attacks. For me, I pulled out my plasma rifle, and took aim at the demon¡¯s head with Celeste¡¯s help. Sharon condensed a sphere of light in front of her, and fired off a laser while Celeste fired her mounted cannon. Meanwhile, Yin seemed to be focusing to use her telekinesis, since she didn¡¯t have the need to use it on the lust floor. Just after the five melee attackers were in his face, the ranged attacks were arriving as well. However, instead of being obediently hit by our attacks, the demon kicked up at the first mechanical cat, using it as a shield to block Sharon¡¯s laser attack. Then he ducked down behind Yo in a quick, fluid movement, dodging the two plasma blasts that were heading towards his previous position. The demon seemed to utter a word, and slammed its palm into Yo¡¯s slime. A black spot appeared in her slime, and then exploded, scattering her body everywhere. Before any of us could react, he had appeared behind another of the mechanical cats, and kicked it at a certain part of slime on a nearby wall. I didn¡¯t realize in time that that was where Yo¡¯s slime core was, but even if I had there had been no time to act. The next instant, the last two mechanical cats were kicked in our direction, as well as a lunging demon that had no business moving that fast while wearing a full suit of armor. In order to keep up, I had to pull in as much time mana as I could, while disabling the limiter for my perception. Even still, he was moving faster than I was. So, I had to cheat. I urged my psychic power out, weaving it together to form a shield in front of the demon, hoping for him to collide against it and slow him down. But, at the last second, he ducked away from the invisible shield, moving for the closest target. Unfortunately, that target was Celeste. I kept urging my body to move faster, wrapping Celeste in a layer of woven psychic shields. With that, no matter which direction he attacked from, he shouldn¡¯t be able to take out the Deus Ex. Or at least, I had hoped not. Just like he had with Yo, the demon slammed his palm against the psychic shields, and I felt an intense pain surging through my head. Before I could even cry out, I had been rendered unconscious. The last thing I saw was the demon shoving its hand through Celeste¡¯s head.
You have died. Good going!
Soon, I heard new sounds, the sounds of people talking in the background. ¡°Is he going to be wake up today?¡± The voice was familiar¡­ Sharon? ¡°He will.¡± That was definitely Yin, the lovely taciturn. And her confidence was reassuring. ¡°I¡­ will, huh?¡± I forced the words out, my throat feeling unusually dry. Looking down, my arm was hooked up to an IV, which was not filling me with any reassuring feelings. ¡°See?¡± Yin asked with a smile as she walked over next to me. Before I could force out any more words, I had the two beauties wrapped around me in a tight embrace. ¡°Good to see you awake, sleepyhead¡­¡± Sharon spoke with a small grin, apparently relieved to see me up. I must have suffered a backlash from my psychic power, if I had been out long enough for them to worry. ¡°How long?¡± ¡°A week.¡± Sharon shook her head as she answered. ¡°And before you ask, no we didn¡¯t win. Celeste¡¯s new body is waiting for you to put a soul in, she started construction of it right after we got back. Thankfully, it seems like she uploaded a connection to the ship, so she hasn¡¯t been idle.¡± I cringed, remembering that Celeste¡¯s death had been a true one. Or at least, it had destroyed her body and soul. There was no way to bring her back without starting over¡­ and that likely went for her items as well. But then¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I didn¡¯t graft the intelligent items onto my soul.¡± I was both comforted and creeped out as usual when the AI spoke up in my mind. ¡°The graft works for you guys, because your souls can come back after you die, thanks to the clones. Not so easy for me, though I¡¯m working on a fix.¡± I sighed, smiling slightly as I looked up to Sharon. ¡°So.. we made it through six of the seven sins, and got wiped in the first room of the last floor, huh¡­? Guess conquering a dungeon is still too much at our level.¡± Sharon giggled lightly. ¡°We¡¯ll get more chances. Celeste¡¯s already planning on how to wipe out that entire floor from existence. For now, you rest up. Then you can give the tin man a heart again.¡± Chapter 140: Items, all of the items! Author¡¯s Corner: Hi guys. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the chapter. That is all.
After taking a little bit of time to recover, I went ahead and spent all of my stat points from my level-ups in the dungeon, and took a look at my new status. At the very least, I felt somewhat secure in my ability now.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame25,000
Level 11013%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health940/940Health Regen0
Mana3000/3000Mana Regen20.6
Strength30Wisdom200
Agility40Intelligence300
Dexterity40Charisma35
Vitality94Luck25
Points Remaining0
Earth 31%Fire 28%Wind 27%Water 28%
Lightning 25%Light 25%Dark 28%Plant 25%
Void 25%Metal 25%Magnetism 25%Plasma 25%
Gravity 25%Time 9%
Now, my health had nearly doubled, and I could feel as if my body had become lighter as well. Although I doubted that I would be able to keep up with the demon that wiped us out, it should be enough for normal enemies. With that taken care of, I could move on to other matters, namely giving Celeste¡¯s new body a soul. ¡°Hey, John.¡± Celeste called out to me shortly after I went looking. When I found the wandering robot, her appearance looked much the same as my parents had when I first found them on Gerin. Tall, sleek, and bland¡­ channeling my buffer, which I now had in abundance, I poured some of my soul into her. Then, after infusing it throughout her body, she began changing into a Deus Ex. Apparently, she hadn¡¯t been expecting the sudden procedure, and was caught a bit off-guard by it. However, soon her body began shifting. Unlike my parents, who gained completely new looks when they changed races, Celeste seemed to have customized her new look to perfectly match what she had before. She even bought the same flight and weapon upgrades. Well, she wasn¡¯t able to get everything, since the experience I gave her wouldn¡¯t bring her up that high. ¡°Thanks, John.¡± She said with a small grin, now back in the same appearance that she was in before. ¡°I¡¯ll need to spend a couple days to integrate all of my skills again, then I¡¯ve got something to show you. If you need me before then, you know where to find me.¡± She tapped her own head with a smile, before turning and skipping off down the hall. Of course, now I was curious what it was she wanted to show me¡­ Anyways, while I was waiting for my new clone body to be prepared, I read over the reports that had piled up. While I was out, it seemed that Celeste continued to have the crew challenge the dungeons. In the time I was unconscious, the average level of the crew had risen by five, which was a pretty decent increase. One dungeon had even been fully mapped out, thanks to Nathan¡¯s team successfully completing the goblin dungeon. From their report, the goblin dungeon had a much more gradual increase in difficulty than the demon one. On the other hand, the abilities inside did not vary as much. Though, they might not have been able to conquer the dungeon if there was not a rebellion on the final floor, where the minotaurs were attacking the dungeon boss. Next, and something I had been looking forward to hearing about, was Yang. Given that it¡¯s been two weeks since we killed the boss monster near my lab, she has had plenty of time to disassemble it and craft a full set of armor. Sharon even brought out a team of enchanters from her grove in order to add the finishing touches. Below is a full list of the armor set, provided by Sharon after she identified the finished pieces.
Hooded Cape of the Frozen Scourge This cape was crafted from a low-level world boss, and retains some of the properties associated with that monster. It was further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter. Defensive value: 30 Cold resistance: 40 Vitality: +15 Health Regen rate: +0.5 Fire resistance: 20 Piercing resistance: 30 Special skill: Frozen cloud
Hide Armor of the Frozen Scourge This armor was crafted from a low-level world boss, and retains some of the properties associated with that monster. It was further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter. Defensive value: 50 Cold resistance: 60 Vitality: +30 Health Regen rate: +1 Adaptive shape Special skill: Second wind Set skill: Scourge Form
Bracers of the Frozen Scourge These bracers were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter. Defensive value: 20 Cold Resistance: 15 Vitality: +10 Adaptive shape Special skill: Ice Shield(enhanced)
Gloves of the Frozen Scourge These gloves were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Defensive value: 15 Cold Resistance: 10 Vitality: +10 Adaptive shape Special skill: Ice Swords(enhanced)
Armored Pants of the Frozen Scourge These pants were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter. Defensive value: 30 Cold Resistance: 20 Vitality: +20 Health Regen: +0.75 Adaptive shape Slashing Resistance: 15 Piercing Resistance: 20 Fire Resistance: 10
Boots of the Frozen Scourge These boots were crafted from a low-level world boss, and retain some of the properties associated with that monster. They were further refined by a skilled crafter and an enchanter. Defensive value: 20 Cold Resistance: 20 Vitality: +10 Adaptive shape Special skill: Ice Walk(enhanced)
Fang of the Frozen Scourge This fang was taken from the body of a low-level world boss, and fashioned into a deadly spear. The entire weapon is a single piece, and retains the freezing properties of the monster it was taken from. Piercing value: 50 Cold value: 60 Special skill: Frozen Breath Special skill: Ice Domain Special skill: Poisonous Cold
This was the set of armor that she submitted to complete her quest with her patron. And as her reward¡­ She actually spent it on me. Rather than getting herself something to increase her abilities, she exchanged the favor for an item that would more rapidly increase my cultivation speed. Perhaps she realized that I wouldn¡¯t be able to accept the new armor set, so she wanted to give me something special instead.
Archdruid¡¯s Elemental Ring Bestowed by the Goddess of Evolved Beasts, this ring was prepared as a gift for someone precious. By equipping this ring, mana of all types that the user absorbs will be drawn into the ring, condensed, and then fed through the user¡¯s body. Special effect: Removes passive cultivation cap
Needless to say, I was surprised when I looked at the information that came with the ring. Yin had given it to me on Yang¡¯s behalf, because the demi was still busy working on the rest of the materials from the Frozen Scourge. Aside from the main set, there were ten other identical sets of armor that had been crafted, as well as nearly a hundred spears planned. Additionally, there had been twenty-four swords made from its claws that had similar, albeit weaker effects. I could safely say that our security team would not be under-equipped for the foreseeable future. If anything, we had a lot of extra gear. Of course, I was wearing the ring that Yang had exchanged her favor for. Why wouldn¡¯t I, when she went through all the effort to get it for me? I decided to let her continue her work without interruption for now, and thank her when she was done. Out of all the items I had received, this one is very likely the most helpful to me. With it, wouldn¡¯t it be possible to cultivate all the way to 100% affinity if I just waited long enough? After taking care of the reports, I went down to the lab again, and got ready for my mad scientist experiments. We had a lot more information about monster spawns now, so I should finally be able to start making my time monster. But first, I needed to make some things to help. I expanded the basement of my lab so that I would have all of the room I needed to work, and could take care of any monsters that seemed to want to run wild before too much damage was caused. Next, I set up eight spell formation circles. Each one would be set to gather a specific amount of elemental mana, in order for me to accurately measure my results. The types of mana drawn in to these circles were the seven primary elements, as well as time mana. I wanted to try to keep any other type of mana out of the equation for now. Next, a larger spell formation that fully encompassed the other eight, with spiral patterns to draw the mana gathered to a single point. This would be what I ultimately use to create the monster, after I have the mana ready. Although I could do the work myself, this way should be more accurate. In order to test it, I set the configuration in the circles to draw in the amount of mana needed to summon an ettin. Since I had plenty of experience doing this, it should prove as an accurate example. Once all of the settings were complete, I activated the smaller spell formations to begin drawing in the mana. Then, once the runes around the edges began glowing brightly, I used a much larger amount of my own mana to activate the bigger formation. Sure enough, the energy contained within the various circles slowly worked its way through the diagram and joined together in the center. I felt the familiar pull of mana in the area, as a monster began forming. Perhaps because of the way the formation was set up, the monster spawning process was not interfered with by the anti-spawn barrier. I¡¯d have to look into why that was the case later, as it showed a weakness with the method. However, soon a large figure emerged within the center of the spell formation. As expected, it was the familiar two-headed form of an ettin. A small smile formed on my lips as I sent a wind blade out to behead the creature. With this, I could begin my work to create a custom monster. Hopefully¡­. We¡¯ll see. Either way, at least things will get interesting from here! Worst case scenario, I make something that eats me. It can¡¯t get much worse than that, right? Chapter 141: I Made a What? Author¡¯s Corner: Okay! So, I have had no luck so far finding someone to help with the song(one guy offered, but never got back to me)¡­ Sad author is sad. As such, I am using my last resort. Behold, Operation: Fundraiser! From now until the end of the arc, half of any donations made will be given to the person that creates the final song lyrics for the story''s song. To make sure that there is at least something for the pool, adding in 1$ from myself. This way, there is guaranteed to be at least some prize. This way, people who want to help but, like me, are incapable of writing good lyrics, can leave a small donation to be added to the pool. Meanwhile, people who are able to come up with the lyrics can earn a bit of a reward for contributing to the story! As I said before, send me a PM on the forums, and we can discuss the requirements of the song. I don¡¯t want to post anything that could be considered as a spoiler here. With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!
Impressed with the results of the formation circles, I went back to the terminal and began reviewing the information that the scanners had gathered. Thankfully, Celeste had had a full week to get the spawn simulator program set up, while using the additional information gathered from the dungeons as a basis. However, this presented other problems. First, and most importantly, it was impossible to tell how these simulations would interact with time mana, as we don¡¯t have a precedent for it. For all we knew, using a small amount of time mana could turn something that had been small and passive into a large, aggressive monster. The second problem, and only slightly less severe, was that the information seemed somewhat conflicting. There was one monster from the undead dungeon that had the exact same mana requirements as a goblin. The only thing I could come up with for that was that the environment could have an impact on what was spawned. And, from the notes Celeste had made in the program, she seemed to agree with that. So, we were back to the good old, trial and error routine. But, that¡¯s what we¡¯re here for, after all! For this, let¡¯s start small¡­ the smallest and weakest monster that the scanners had recorded, aside from slimes, was a goblin. As such, I memorized the mana requirements for the goblin on the terminal, and went around, filling in the numbers in the formations. Then, in the time mana circle, I set it to gather ten time mana. After setting the formations, and waiting for them to fill up, I waited for my mana to recover. Like my first time here, the time mana circle required a much higher mana cost to activate than any other, but now I also had a much higher pool of mana to pull from. As such, once my mana was fully recovered, I activated the formation, and watched as the mana gathered. Slowly, the mana began condensing at the center of the circle, until it became visible. Small, stubby green legs slowly appeared above the center of the formation, followed by a short, fat body. Sure enough¡­ what emerged was a simple goblin. Upon seeing me, the little monster flew into a rage and charged with its bare hands. Killing it was far easier than killing the ettins I was used to practicing on. Next, I reset the formation, but this time increased the time mana to one hundred. Again, I went through the process. This time¡­ another goblin appeared, but this one seemed old and wrinkled. Another failure¡­ I sighed, killing the goblin as soon as it finished forming. Once more, this time with two hundred time mana, and slightly reduced levels from the other formations to make up the difference. Since I was no longer working with the goblin ¡®code¡¯ as the base, I readied myself for anything.
Ready for anything, huh?
Ah crap¡­ Seeing Malthan taking an interest, I pulled out my plasma pistol and took aim at the center of the circle. A small, golden body began forming. The legs seemed like little more than tiny spikes, while the body was large and circular, with a white front. In total, it was eight inches tall when fully complete, and was¡­ a clock.
Clock-kun!
The clock chirped, but seemed to have no ability to interact with the world. So¡­ I shot it.
Noooo, Clock-kun!
Well, at least I created something. Not exactly what I had in mind, but that should count for my quest, right? RIGHT?
Nope. Someone was already going to experiment with that in about six hundred years and make another Clock-kun. Try again!
Sigh¡­ fine. Taking out another of my spikes, I shoved it into a wall so that it could overlook the formation. At least this way, we can slowly integrate time mana to Celeste¡¯s program. Next, I moved it up a bit. I wanted a small reptile to use as the base. Thankfully, one of the dungeons had plenty of references for that. Going around, resetting the formations, and using three hundred time mana this time, I got ready for my next set of results. This time, when the mana began gathering, there was a low hiss present, even before the body started to form. When the body did form, a pure white snake was sitting there on the ground. However, its skin rapidly became dry, cracking off and molting in seconds. In under a minute, the snake had withered away into nothing. ¡°This.. is not getting me anywhere fast.¡± I shook my head, calling Sharon on the comms. ¡°Hey, Sharon, mind coming down to the lab? Figured I could use your help down here.¡± ¡°Hmm? Oh, sure. Stop that, Tessa. We don¡¯t push that button. Sorry, yeah, I¡¯ll be down in a minute. Let me just grab a babysitter.¡± Her voice came through from the other side of the call, obviously tired and thankful for a reason to escape her current situation. Once Sharon came down, I explained to her what I wanted her help with. Basically, she is the only person aside from me that had any experience creating monsters from mana, thanks to her Summoning Magic. It could even be said that she should be more experienced than me in this regard. Unfortunately¡­ her answer was¡­ ¡°Sorry¡­ I pretty much go by random until I get something that works. If I don¡¯t like it, I¡¯ll just dismiss it and start over.¡± It was a bit too much to hope that she would have some great insight into this, right? The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Well¡­ you can stay to help anyways. Worst case scenario, you¡¯ll be able to help me take down anything that starts running loose.¡± I smiled to her, pulling her in for a hug before I continued with my random experiments. Taking her advice to heart, I began setting the numbers completely by random. Though, I would first input the numbers into the terminal, just to make sure it didn¡¯t predict that I would make some kind of terrifying monster that would instantly eat my face. As long as that wasn¡¯t the case, I would proceed with the experiment. For the record, I learned that doing any less than two hundred of any mana type, including time, would make it so that the mana was ignored during the birth of the monster. I learned that after getting about ten results that had nothing whatsoever to do with time. Eventually, though, I began making progress. Well¡­ I call it progress, but I didn¡¯t create anything new or unique. I did make several variations of monster clocks, though. Also rapidly aging monsters, but Malthan wouldn¡¯t let me count those for the quest. In his words, ¡®they already exist, you¡¯re just killing them faster¡¯. My greatest result came after nearly two full days of trial and error. At first, I thought that this was going to be a failure, one of the cases where nothing would happen. However, that expectation came crashing down soon after. By now, Sharon had gone back to the ship, and Yin was down here instead. They opted to switch out every now and then so that there would always be someone down here with me. So far for the day, she had seen me make lots of completely random creations, and then destroy them within seconds. There were even many times when the mana gathered, and then immediately dispersed. Those were the times when it seemed that the mana was not configured right to create any kind of monster But this time¡­ There was a strong gust of mana surrounding the formation, a bigger reaction than anything I had ever created. Thick hooves began forming along the ground, four of them. As streams of prismatic lights spiraled into the center, muscular legs seemed to be woven in place, with black fur sprouting from them. Next came the body, tall and thick, with a slightly fat underbelly. The pull of mana slowly died down as the head came next, long and narrow, with two large antlers. Each one resembled a large jaw, and gave it a slightly intimidating look. Wait¡­ isn¡¯t that just a moose?! As I thought, looking at the creature again, it really seemed to be just a normal moose. But then, why did it have such a strong reaction? While I was wondering that, the spawning process was completed, and the new moose reared back on its hind legs and let out a terrified noise. There was another brief pull of mana, but this time it was entirely time mana. Afterwards, the moose was simply no longer there. It had vanished as if it had never existed. ¡°Okay, now that HAS to count as a new monster, right?¡± I asked openly, albeit a shortly lived monster.
That¡¯s right! You have created the Time Moose! And what a thing it is. Being the only one of its kind, its only option to reproduce is to find itself at various points in its timeline in order to copulate. Thankfully, this particular Time Moose is hermaphroditic, otherwise that would be an especially awkward first date. Shall I go ahead and register this as your final product, and have you known as the man that made a moose go fuck itself through all of time?
...I really didn¡¯t need to know all of that. But now that I did¡­ I really didn¡¯t want this to be my final submission. If it was a normal moose that just vanished into time, then sure. But this¡­ eww, just no. I will try again! I will make it better, faster, stronger, less gross than it was before! We have the technology! ¡°John, you okay?¡± Yin looked at me cautiously. ¡°Look weird¡­¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sorry. Got some unpleasant information just now. Anyways, looks like we are continuing the experiments.¡± Yin nodded her head at my statement, and we once again started up the endless cycle of monster birth and death. Unfortunately, the next few days yielded no results for my quest. As such, I was more than happy to stop for a little while when Celeste finished integrating her skills with her soul. She did say that she had a surprise for me, and I was more than bored enough to go see what it was. ¡°Alright, Celeste, what¡¯s up?¡± I asked the Deus Ex, sitting at the desk chair in her room while she reclined on her bed. ¡°Well¡­ I hadn¡¯t really wanted to use this method for a while yet, but I figured out a way to give myself the same cloning benefit that you guys enjoy. Actually, I¡¯ve had the idea for a while, it¡¯s just annoying to implement.¡± I thought about it for a minute, and thought I understood. ¡°You¡¯re wanting me to make you organic?¡± Celeste¡¯s head shot up, and she looked panicked for some reason. ¡°Huh, no. Nothing like that! I like my current body a lot, you know? I meant a way to give me the same advantage while staying as a Deus Ex. It¡¯s annoying because it takes a bunch of upgrades to get it working right.¡± ¡°Anyways¡­ I plan on making a grove for myself. No, I¡¯m not becoming a druid. I¡¯m still going the Huntsmen route for training, but this plan requires me to also have a grove. In my grove, I¡¯m going to set up a factory, kind of like the small scale project I made when we were building the Seraglio. The main purpose of this factory will be to build spare robot bodies for me. ¡°With that out of the way, I can buy an upgrade for myself known as a Hive Soul. It works the same as your clone controllers, and lets me place a fragment of my soul inside of a robot that doesn¡¯t have an AI. That way, I can just send my clone robot down to the planets, and leave my main body behind. And whenever one gets scrapped, I can pull a new spare from my factory. Of course, I can only move one body at a time, so it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll become my own army.¡± Taking a deep breath, Celeste finished her explanation. ¡°With this method, unless my main body gets destroyed, I shouldn¡¯t have to go through this whole resetting process again. It¡¯s really annoying to have to take a few days to do nothing but think about all of the skills I¡¯ve learned and seen. And this way, I can also graft my intelligent items onto my soul, so that I won¡¯t have to worry about losing them again. Sharon said I was a bit¡­ erratic when I was telling her how to bring them back this time.¡± As she said that, Celeste awkwardly scratched her cheek. Chapter 142: Baishiro Author¡¯s Corner: I would like to thank those people that have contributed to Operation: Fundraiser so far, both as donators and as potential song-writers. Some people I spoke with seemed worried about the timeframe for this, so I will clarify that now. Although I do not have a set writing schedule, since I just write when the mood hits me, I plan to finish up this arc in roughly 2 weeks or so. Until then, the details of Operation: Fundraiser are still valid, though some awesome people are trying to tell me not to pay them if they win. This is what I have to say to them! Spoiler : Now! With that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!
Having finished my talk with Celeste, I walked around the ship for a few minutes. To be honest, I was just procrastinating the continuation of my quest. But soon, something started to feel¡­ wrong. ¡°Sharon¡­¡± I called out to her on my comm. ¡°Where is Yo? And Kismet, for that matter. They are being surprisingly¡­ quiet. This scares me.¡± There was a low giggle from the comm as she responded. ¡°Yo was pretty upset, you know? She¡¯s been getting hurt a lot recently. So while you were out of it, she started taking Kismet down to the surface to train. Don¡¯t worry, they¡¯re both in clone bodies, and she comes back up every now and then when he accidentally kills her.¡± ¡­ ¡°Ah¡­¡± I was now curious, so I made my way to the bridge. ¡°Captain on the bridge!¡± Someone shouted out before I had the chance to stop them. Yeah, that¡¯s right Ackbar, I¡¯m glaring at you. Suddenly, everyone stood up and turned around. ¡°...At ease¡­¡± I let out a low sigh, sending another glare at the smirking elf. ¡°Can you pull up Yo and Kismet on the screen?¡± As I asked, a large holographic screen appeared at the front of the room. On it, Kismet and Yo were fighting a seemingly fierce battle. The slime girl was already using more complicated strategies, despite it only having been about a week and a half. When it looked like she would throw a punch, her arm would suddenly branch out and form a dozen lances, all striking from different angles. Of course, this was also the first time I had seen Kismet fighting, as well. The area around his feet in a ten foot radius had become pitch black, as if a terribly dark shadow was cast over it. The moment Yo stepped in this area, a spear or a sword would rise up from the ground. When she pulled back, he would pull the black weapon out of the ground and throw it at her. Even when Yo formed a pair of identical swords in her hands, and fought Kismet while dual wielding, it was hard for her to land a solid hit. This was obviously due in part to his high level, but you could also say that Kismet was born for battle. He was originally a dungeon boss, after all. However, he also had trouble dealing real damage to her, as well. At one point, he even picked up a giant rock from the ground to try and crush her. Instead, her body seemed to liquify, and split off in a dozen directions, before her body turned into twenty lances that surrounded him from all angles, each one connected by only a thin stream of slime. When that happened, he grabbed one of his dark spears. Tendrils of black energy shot out from it, before freezing over her entire body. Rather than shattering her, Kismet simply jumped out of the encirclement and waited for her to thaw off before they started another round. I was relieved to see that he hadn¡¯t suddenly become a battle junkie, but I was starting to think that Yo might be heading that way instead. Either way, I was able to tell that neither of them were in any real danger, and Yo was making considerable progress¡­. Does that mean I can¡¯t procrastinate anymore? With a reluctant sigh, I headed for the teleport bay to be sent back down to the lab. Once again, Yin had been chosen as the one to join me, and we got to work on creating Frankenstein¡¯s Time Monster¡­. Frankentime¡¯s monster? Whatever, point is we got back to work. And after a long, boring, whole one attempt we managed to strike big. Seriously? If I had stayed down here for five more minutes I would have already been done with this quest?! Oh, wait, you¡¯re probably wondering what I made, aren¡¯t you? Once again, when I set the formations, I set them arbitrarily. Because I was bored and trying to be funny, I set all eight to gather six hundred and sixty-six mana of the different types. I figured at the worst case scenario, I¡¯d die and lose a level. But what happened, I could have never predicted. Similar to the incident with the time moose, mana began pooling rapidly in the center of the large formation. But, if the reaction from the time moose had caused a swirl of mana, then this one was practically a tornado! I couldn¡¯t even see through the dense mana that had become fully opaque. Soon after the process began, I heard a high pitched scream. Out of fear, I quickly glanced over to Yin, who had been standing right next to me. However, I only found that she was also looking right at me, confused. The voice hadn¡¯t come from either of us¡­ and nobody else was down here. The owner of the voice was not apparent until the mana faded enough for us to see the center of the circle. Inside, crying pitifully was a small girl curled up in a ball. Judging from her physical appearance, she did not seem any older than eight years old. However, she was by no means human. Atop her head were two white, fluffy pointed ears. More importantly, from behind her there was a long, thin tail covered in white fur, with spots of black at its tip.
Congratulations, you have made your very own fox-loli! And she is from a never before seen race, as well! Would you like to use this as your submission for your quest?
I ignored the message and quickly ran over to the shivering, whimpering girl. ¡°Are you alright?¡± I asked, foolishly realizing that she was just born, and naturally has no way to communicate with me. In an attempt to communicate, I tried speaking through various mana types. Surprisingly, it wasn¡¯t until I reached time mana that she showed some reaction. Even if that reaction was just to flinch and curl up into a tighter ball. Sighing, I realized that there was no way I¡¯d be able to communicate with her like this. As such, I used my Soul Arts to grant her the human and elven languages. ¡°Are you okay? Do you hurt anywhere?¡± I asked again once I was done, trying to sound comforting. She flinched again, but I saw her eyes open wide as she realized that she understood my words. Slowly, her mouth opened up and she spoke. ¡°Wh...what¡­ where am..I?¡± Her voice was small and light, and broken up to show her fear. I looked around, not really sure how I should take care of this. ¡°You¡¯re safe.¡± Yin spoke up softly beside me, reaching out to gently stroke her hand along the kitsune¡¯s long silver hair. ¡°You¡¯re safe..¡± She repeated again, even more softly. However, at that moment, I felt a sudden rush of time mana. At the same time, I heard a scream, both verbal and through time mana. When I looked down, she had completely changed her position, but was now clinging to Yin¡¯s hand. ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ don¡¯t go.¡± She pleaded desperately. Yin seemed surprised, and almost pulled her hand back on reflex, but forced herself to calm down. ¡°We¡¯re not going anywhere¡­¡± She continued to speak calmly, apparently not sure what was going on herself. She cast me a look, but I just shook my head. Did she have a panic attack triggered by her sudden birth, or something? ¡°Can you tell us your name?¡± I tried asking, and she looked over to me confused. ¡°Name¡­? I...do I have one?¡± After I explained to her about the status window, in the hopes that she would have a name assigned to her like Kismet did, she furrowed her brows. ¡°Stats¡­ status¡­ it¡¯s¡­ not working¡­ d-did I do it wrong?¡± Her eyes had gone wide, and she seemed on the verge of panic again when Yin resumed petting her head to calm her down. Thankfully, she seemed particularly weak to petting. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
You¡¯ve got to give her a name, man! How can the system recognize something that has never existed before if you don¡¯t at least give it a name?
I furrowed my brows, and tried to think of a name. I admit¡­ I suck at naming. Just look at Yin, Yang, and Yo. ¡°No, John. No more ¡®Y¡¯ names! Not allowed!¡± Celeste called out from my mind, but soon she also appeared in the lab. ¡°Fine¡­ well¡­¡± I began trying to think of a name-- ¡°I¡¯ll call you Tokemi!¡± And suddenly the scared fox girl was embraced by the Deus Ex, trying to squirm her way out of Celeste¡¯s grip while sending desperate expressions towards us. However, a moment later her eyes went wide. ¡°It¡­ worked. Tokemi¡­¡± She gave a small smile, relaxing in Celeste¡¯s grip as she seemed to read over the status window that suddenly appeared. ¡°What does it say for your race?¡± I tried asking, sending a small glare to Celeste, who just stuck her tongue out in response. ¡°It says¡­ ¡®Baishiro¡¯... what does that mean?¡± She looked around, confused. Honestly, none of us knew either, even Celeste, apparently. I mean, it ¡®sounded¡¯ Japanese, but I wasn¡¯t fluent in the language by any means, so I couldn¡¯t be sure. However, Tokemi just kept looking at us, as if waiting for an answer. ¡°It means adorable.¡± Yin spoke with a smile, which caused the newborn monster girl to light up in a wide grin. However, another rush of time mana came surging in, and suddenly she was out of Celeste¡¯s arms, clinging to Yin¡¯s leg while trembling. ¡°That¡­ is a problem¡­¡± I shivered as I realized exactly what was happening. For some reason, Tokemi was randomly pulling in large amounts of time mana into her body. This caused a time stop effect for her¡­ and I knew all too well what that could do to a person. What made it worse was that I had no idea just how much she was stuck in time for at any given period. ¡°Celeste¡­¡± I looked over to the Deus Ex, and she nodded. If this girl was experiencing random time freezes, that was a problem that needed to be handled. Of course¡­ we also needed to handle the issue of the baishiro loli being naked. Celeste, can you start a program to set me to start gathering time mana when it condenses like that? At the very least¡­ she won¡¯t be alone, and I might be able to pull her out. Celeste nodded to me, but spoke into my head instead of verbally. ¡°I need you to gather time mana on your own for a little bit so I can identify the variables.¡± Following her instructions, I focused all of my effort on pulling in time mana, waiting for Celeste to give me the okay to stop. I waited for nearly ten minutes in my own little bubble, though time still seemed to be moving on the outside, at a fairly slow pace. ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± She told me mentally, and I stopped gathering the mana. Though, at the same time, I noticed that Tokemi was suddenly looking at me with wide eyes. Did she notice me pulling in the time mana? I asked myself, smiling to the girl and nodding. In response, she hid herself behind Yin¡¯s legs shyly, barely peeking out to the side to watch me. Yin, having misunderstood the reaction, laughed lightly.
Ahem¡­ now, as sweet as this moment is, you never did give me an answer! Do you want to register the cute loli as your final submission or not?
Huh? Ah¡­ right, forgot about that. Looking down to Tokemi, and seeing that pleading look in her eyes, I can¡¯t help but accept. Why would I want to keep making more monsters now? Now, I¡¯m not a lolicon or anything, but we need to help her get adjusted to the world! Plus, since I¡¯m the only one of us that can do time stuff, I¡¯ve got to stick near her in case she gets one of her episodes.
Yeah yeah. Anyways¡­
You have completed your Quest!
The Miracle of Life Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Creation You did it! You created a completely unique monster, which has never appeared before in all of time and space! Now, originally the reward was based on the size of the monster... and a loli is pretty small. However, you created a sapient creature! The impact of that is much larger, so you get the maximum reward! Yay, you! Reward: Title, Large Favor with Malthan
New Title Acquired!
Creator of Baishiro Increased relationship with Baishiro race. You have created a new sapient species. As such, that species will always retain loyalty to you, even if others manage to create the same species.
I looked at the windows, and almost dismissed them. However, then I looked at Tokemi, and frowned. I should get something to help make her more comfortable around me, at least. Malthan, about that favor¡­ I think I¡¯ve got an idea.
Yeah? Speak up. Or, think up. One or the other..
Can I get something that helps me absorb elemental mana types more easily?
Hmm¡­ I think I can swing something like that. Let me talk to a few gods I know and get back to you. It¡¯s okay if the item isn¡¯t a chatterbox, right?
Huh? Yeah¡­ I wouldn¡¯t really want a talkative item. Already got one voice in my head that¡¯s not mine.
Sweet, hold please.
I swear, I wasn¡¯t annoyed until the elevator music began playing in my head. Thankfully, it only lasted about ten seconds before it was over.
Alright! So, I worked out a deal with the others. However, due to the scope of the item, we¡¯re not giving it intelligence, nor will this item ever be able to obtain intelligence, so get that idea out of your head right now! Now, I present to you the Staff of the Minor World. Cue fanfare.
I did not need actual confetti to suddenly appear around me and fly into the air, shocking everyone in the room. That was totally unhelpful. However, the confetti then all froze in midair and swirled together in my hands to form a two meter long silver staff, with a jewel at the tip the size of my fist. This jewel seemed to radiate every color at once, and I could feel mana overflowing from within it. Not just one or two types, either¡­ every element I could sense seemed to be coming from the gem.
Staff of the Minor World This object was created as a collaborated effort by all of the elemental gods. If you melt it down for scrap, you will have their wrath to deal with. Don¡¯t say you weren¡¯t warned. Special effect: Elemental mana source(All)
Celeste suddenly turned to look at me, her jaw dropping slightly as she saw the information of the staff through my eyes. ¡°You cheat character!¡± She called out in mock rage, while Yin and Tokemi looked on in confusion. Chapter 143: The Fluffiest Fluff Author¡¯s Corner: It amused me to no end that more people were talking about the OP effect combination that¡¯s built up, rather than the traumatized fox loli xD
I glanced at the staff, getting a feel for the amount of mana it generated. As expected, it was pretty sweet, but I¡¯d worry more about it later. For now, I put it in my inventory and reached down for Tokemi. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to the ship, alright? Then we can work on helping you.¡± The loli looked at me, and at my offered hand, before slowly removing herself from Yin and moving towards me. Once she was next to me, she grabbed onto my hand and seemed to refuse to ever let go. I could only smile at that and shake my head, before tapping my comm with my other hand. ¡°Ariadne, this is John. Beam up all lifeforms at my location.¡± I made sure to specify, since Tokemi hadn¡¯t been recognized as part of the crew by the others yet, and I didn¡¯t want to have her left down here. Celeste, as soon as you get that program done, I want it on a soft stick. No time to waste here. The Deus Ex nodded as bright lights surrounded us. The engineer on duty in the teleport bay, a very feminine looking male elf, nodded to us as we appeared, but made a surprised expression when his eyes fell on Tokemi beside me. ¡°Captain, that is?¡± He asked curiously, likely not understanding where the girl could have come from. ¡°I¡¯ll explain later.¡± I shook my head, since there were more important things. Again I tapped my comms. ¡°Sharon, meet me in our room as soon as possible. We¡¯ve got an issue.¡± As I spoke, we left the teleport bay, and each went our separate ways. Celeste went back towards her room so that she could work on the program, and Yin moved towards the cargo bay, likely to resume watching over Yang. After that, we headed towards the medbay, so that I could get out of my clone and into my real body. Naturally, I removed my new staff from my inventory first, and placed it on the lap of my real body. Tokemi seemed confused how there were two of me, but after I gathered time mana in my hand, she believed that it was still me and seemed to relax. Well, until Tessa¡¯s mom suddenly sat up with a gasp not far from me. Likely, she had just been killed in a dungeon. Surprised by the reaction, Tokemi shivered, and seemed to teleport behind me. Time mana surged in the area briefly, and as she appeared behind me I noticed that the rest of the room had slowed down to a great degree. However, that lasted for only a moment before time began flowing like normal again. Looking over at me, Beth chuckled awkwardly. ¡°Sorry about that. Hey, who¡¯s that..?¡± She asked as she looked at the baishiro girl behind me. With a sigh, I repeated the same answer I had given the engineer before, and hurried off to my room. With the staff in one hand, and Tokemi in the other, we quickly arrived to find Sharon nervously waiting just inside the door. ¡°John, what happened, did something go wrong, is Yin okay? Wait, why is there a naked fluffy loli hiding behind you?¡± Sharon¡¯s worried questions slowly faded off as she also noticed Tokemi¡¯s existence. Though, her energetic personality seemed to have startled the girl into hiding behind me again. ¡°It¡¯s okay, I¡¯m the cool mom.¡± Sharon smiled widely to Tokemi before I had the chance to answer her, kneeling down to look at the little girl. ¡°She¡¯s¡­ the result of my quest. Tokemi¡­ say hello.¡± I tried to nudge her forward, but she shook her head desperately, clinging to the leg of my pants. Naturally, this caused Sharon to pout. However, she quickly thought of something. ¡°Well, why are you letting this little cutie walk around naked, John? Come on, come on, let me show you some magic~.¡± She waved us in, though the white fox girl still clung to me for safety. Once we were inside, I got to see Sharon¡¯s tailoring skills in action for the first time. ¡°Let¡¯s see.. I¡¯ve got just the thing for you.¡± She waved her hands forward, and a white light shined from her chest. The light formed into a thin thread, which stretched out and danced in the air. Under Sharon¡¯s control, the thread turned in on itself and began weaving a pattern. Then, a second white thread joined in, and a third. Tokemi watched, her fearful gaze slowly turning into one of awe as she watched the threads dance and spin in the air. Even if she did not understand what was happening, she could appreciate how nice it looked. But slowly, the strands of white came together to form a full shape, that of a short dress, sized specifically for the baishiro girl. Although it was not very extravagant, it was enough to impress her. So, when Sharon grabbed the dress from the air and offered it up to Tokemi, the girl was only too happy to accept it. Though¡­ she didn¡¯t seem to know what to do next and just hugged the dress to her chest. ¡°So soft¡­¡± Sharon giggled, reaching down and petting Tokemi¡¯s silver hair. ¡°It¡¯s called a dress. You¡¯re supposed to wear it. Would you like some help putting it on?¡± Tokemi looked up as Sharon spoke, relaxing into her hand. After a minute, she nodded her head slightly. Sharon smiled, helping Tokemi into the dress. There was even a convenient hole in the back just big enough for her to fit her tail through. When they were done, Tokemi hugged her chest with her hands and made a soft sigh. ¡°Thanks¡­ mom?¡± The other girl seemed to freeze up slightly at that, before a goofy grin spread on her face. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re so cute!¡± She said, reaching down and wrapping her arms around Tokemi. However, this sudden action startled Tokemi again, and she vanished as a rush of time mana flooded into the room. The next thing I knew, she was trembling on the floor, crying into my pants leg. Sharon, surprised by the action, turned and leveled a hard glare at me. ¡°Explain, now.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but gulp slightly, not having expected Sharon to have such a strong reaction to Tokemi. ¡°Like I said¡­ she¡¯s the result of my quest. Her race is known as Baishiro, and from what I can tell¡­ she gathers time mana like a vacuum. You¡­ know what that means.¡± Sharon nodded slowly, though kept her glare on me. ¡°You better have a way to fix this.¡± As if waiting for that moment, there was a knock on the door. ¡°It¡¯s me.¡± Celeste called out from the other side. ¡°Is now a good time?¡± I called her in, gently picking Tokemi up and holding her to my chest. Although she was reluctant to let go of my leg, she latched on to my chest as soon as I was holding her. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Celeste, what¡¯s going on?¡± Sharon looked at the Deus Ex, having none of her usual playfulness. ¡°John wanted me to write a program for him, so that he could help Tokemi with her ¡®issue¡¯.¡± As she answered, she walked over towards me and handed me one of the familiar soft sticks. I wasted no time in downloading the program and applying it to myself with my Technomancy.
New Program Installed
Time Sync This program is constantly active, and cannot be turned off without entirely deleting it. At any point, if time mana levels spike in the vicinity of the owner of this program, they will begin actively drawing that mana in at their greatest speed, or until the flow of time mana ceases to exceed normal limits. When time mana becomes more scarce, they will stop absorbing time mana.
I nodded as I read the window describing the program, handing the soft stick back to her, instead using my hand to gently pet Tokemi¡¯s back. She seemed to relax slightly at the touch. Sharon, seeing this, just let out a sigh. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s try this again. To make sure I understand, the ¡®new species¡¯ you created for your quest became a fox loli with time hiccups and unbelievably soft hair. I got it right so far?¡± When I nodded my head to her, she continued. ¡°And to top it off, these time hiccups happen any time she is even remotely surprised. I¡¯m guessing you don¡¯t know how long they last, either. For her, I mean. Dammit, John, she could have spent a week latched to your leg just now¡­ Now I feel terrible.¡± She sat down on the bed next to me with another sigh. To my surprise, one of the hands that were latched onto my shirt let go, and instead slowly reached over to grab Sharon¡¯s. Evidently, I wasn¡¯t the only one surprised by that, as Sharon herself turned towards Tokemi. A small smile appeared on her face and she reached over to hold Tokemi¡¯s hand. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, munchkin, I¡¯m not upset at you. Mom was just being a big idiot.¡± Tokemi sniffled slightly, but nodded her head. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± ¡°Ohh¡­ you¡¯ve got nothing to be sorry for.¡± Sharon¡¯s smile became a bit wider as she talked with the little fox girl. ¡°You¡¯re the most adorable thing on this whole ship, and I¡¯m happy to have you here.¡± She reached over to give Tokemi a hug, though more slowly this time. Unlike before, the loli did not shy away from it, and even used the arm that wasn¡¯t holding me to return Sharon¡¯s embrace. ¡°Hey, you like soft things too, right?¡± She asked Tokemi, whose eyes widened while she nodded her head. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± ¡°Alright, then watch this.¡± Sharon winked, moving away to get out of the hug and stepped up off the bed. Soon, her body began glowing white, before her body was covered in white fur. Rabbit ears appeared at the top of her head, and a bushy tail appeared behind her. ¡°Now I¡¯m super soft~.¡± Tokemi, watching this, had her eyes opened wide, practically sparkling as she saw Sharon turn into an anthropomorphic rabbit girl. Her other hand let go of my back, and she slowly climbed down to the floor, before walking over towards Sharon. Hesitantly, she reached out and stroked a hand along one of Sharon¡¯s offered arms. ¡°Waa¡­. so soft¡­.¡± Soon, she was latched onto that arm, rubbing her cheek against it with a content smile. Naturally, hers wasn¡¯t the only smile in the room, as Sharon had another one of her goofy grins on her face. Celeste, meanwhile, was laughing in the corner with a hand over her mouth. Seems like, to her, Sharon¡¯s maternal actions were quite funny. ¡°Celeste, can you schedule a meeting for tonight at dinner? I want to introduce Tokemi to the crew, and let them know that we¡¯ll be leaving soon. I had planned for this to take longer, but¡­ what ever goes according to plan?¡± Celeste smirked knowingly, nodding her head. ¡°How long do you want to stay here before we head to our next stop?¡± I thought about it, looking down towards Tokemi. ¡°Let¡¯s give it two weeks. That should give more than enough time for everyone to prepare, and take care of any unforeseen issues.¡± ¡°That works.¡± Celeste nodded again. ¡°I was going to have to go dungeon diving myself to get some of my levels back, once I have my grove made. Two weeks¡­ I should be able to squeeze in a couple days of diving at the end, as long as you provide me with the essence to make the grove. That¡¯ll save a good chunk of time.¡± I didn¡¯t have a problem with that, and agreed to her request. Then, while Sharon and Tokemi were busy rubbing their cheeks against each other, I decided to check out my other gains. Specifically, I sent my mind into my grove to see how it has changed. This was the first time in a while that I had actually, truly taken a good look at it. Normally, I would just give my grove a passing glance and place or take what I needed from it. Inside my grove, I looked around as a disembodied energy. If I had brows, they¡¯d be furrowed right now. This level of growth is a bit too much, isn¡¯t it? Not only did I have twice as many planetoids, half of which were barren rocks with lakes on them, but the planetoids I had also gained a good bit of size. The radius of each one seemed to have increased by at least a third. And then there was the void area. To call its growth explosive would be an understatement. Based on my understanding, its reach had actually tripled since evolving to the Stellar stage! The furthest rock from the star was a full five thousand miles away, and it was only halfway to the edge of the void area. Five thousand miles may not sound like much, but consider the scale. The largest planet in the grove had a radius of five miles, and the sun had a total radius of twenty miles. If this keeps expanding at this rate¡­ I might be able to place my second solar system sooner than I had planned. Before I pulled my mind out of my grove, I located what was likely one of the causes behind my grove growing as fast as it was. On that largest rock, where I had the portal to Sharon¡¯s grove, hundreds of humanoids and beasts were sitting down and cultivating. I could sense elemental mana coming off of them, fueling this period of growth. When I finally exited the grove, I found that Tokemi and Sharon were still giggling happily and cuddling against each other. Behold, I have found two companions in their quests for eternal fluffiness. Chapter 144: Introductions, Summaries, and Stuff! Author¡¯s Corner: Greetings. Salutations. Enjoy.
For the next hour or so until dinner, Sharon and Tokemi were talking with each other. Okay, so Sharon was talking and Tokemi was enjoying the cuddly softness of her fur. I wasn¡¯t getting jealous, I swear! Anyways, when Celeste sent us the message that it was time for the big meeting, Tokemi suddenly seemed worried. Smiling down to her, I picked her up and held her in my arms. ¡°Just stick with me, and there¡¯s nothing to be afraid of, alright?¡± She nodded weakly at that, but Sharon pouted at the sudden loss of fluffy loli. Hah, take that! My turn with her. After leaving the room, I set her down so that she could walk next to me, though she still held on to my hand. And every time we got near someone in the halls, she would flinch slightly. I wasn¡¯t really that concerned, seeing as how she was just born today. If not for my intervention, she likely wouldn¡¯t even be able to speak yet. For a moment, I considered the pros and cons of using my Soul Arts to teach babies. However, I got rid of that idea because of its inherent silliness. Instead, I focused on the agenda for the upcoming meeting. This was¡­ probably not the nicest way I could go about it, but it was something I had to do nonetheless, for her sake. When we arrived at the mess hall, I was¡­ overwhelmed. In all honesty, this was the first time I had seen the entire crew in one room. I didn¡¯t quite realize how many of them there were! The mess hall itself was just barely big enough to accommodate everyone, and it was easy to spot the mix of races. Elves were still vastly more common than any others, but now there were also several from other races as well. I wasn¡¯t the only one that noticed this, because I heard a small whimper from beside me, and the hand I was holding tightened around my own. Shaking my head, I gently pulled her along. Necessary evil¡­ necessary evil¡­ Though thankfully, Tokemi was still walking on her own, just hesitantly. Moving to the front of the mess hall, I cleared my throat to get everyone¡¯s attention, as if it wasn¡¯t already on me and the stranger I was almost dragging along. Then, I began speaking, using my com as a mic to transmit my voice throughout the room. ¡°Everyone, I¡¯m sure you all have heard some news today. I¡¯m here to help clear it all up, and to let everyone know what is happening. First of all, I would like to introduce someone new to the ship.¡± I was planning on bringing my hand up to pat Tokemi¡¯s head, but she refused to let my hand go, so I sighed reluctantly. ¡°This is Tokemi, and she¡¯ll be joining us starting today. I¡¯d like to ask everyone to be kind to her.¡± I gave that a moment to sink in before the outbursts started. Most of it was just ¡®Welcome to the crew¡¯, but there were a few others as well. ¡°She¡¯s so cute¡­¡± ¡°So fluffy looking! Where did you get her?¡± ¡°Tokemi! Let¡¯s be friends!¡± That last one was said by the only other little girl on the ship, who was roughly the same age(physically) as Tokemi herself. Of course, she said that while running at the girl, and jumped into the air to give the girl a big hug. Unfortunately¡­ that was when everything froze.
Time Mana surge detected, synchronizing. Mana flow redirected. Time flow stabilized.
As the window said, there was another rush of time mana towards Tokemi, but there was also a brief scream heard from her. ¡°Not again¡­ not again¡­ no¡­ please¡­¡± She slowly let go of my hand and crouched down onto the floor, curling up into a ball and rocking back and forth. Shaking my head, I knelt down next to her. Though, she seemed not to notice me until I put my hand at her shoulder. At that point, she jumped as if something struck her. ¡°But¡­ but¡­ you stopped¡­ it stopped everything¡­ why¡­?¡± I only smiled to her, patting her head gently. So fluffy! ¡°I told you everything would be okay, didn¡¯t I?¡± She froze for a moment, before nodding weakly. ¡°Now, how about we see if we can¡¯t get back to the party?¡± Her eyes widened, in a strange mix of hope and fear. ¡°We can¡­ un-stop?¡± I nodded my head to her. ¡°That¡¯s what we¡¯re about to find out.¡± I then stood up, and held my hand out for her. ¡°Shall we?¡± She seemed to think about it for a moment, before taking my hand and standing next to me. I then pointed to the girl frozen in midair. ¡°And that¡¯s Tessa. She¡¯s a nice girl. Try to get along with her, okay?¡± At this, Tokemi¡¯s brows furrowed before she hesitantly nodded her head. Though, she did suddenly move to the other side of me. Chuckling as I understood why, I could only put on a knowing smile. ¡°Now, let¡¯s get out of here.¡± I closed my eyes and focused, pulling on my control over Time Mana. This was far more than I was used to dealing with at once, especially considering that the program I had recently installed contradicts what I am doing. Slowly, I grabbed the time mana that had been rushing towards Tokemi, and forcefully spread it out through the room in order to dissipate it. The process was¡­ less than completely successful. Even with all of my focus, I could only return us to half of normal time. However, that seemed to cheer Tokemi up, and that in turn made the rest of the time mana dissipate on its own. Tessa, who had been lined up perfectly to give Tokemi a flying hug, had suddenly lost her target. ¡°Ohnowhere¡¯dshego!?¡± She shouted out in a rapid voice before crashing into the ground where the other girl had stood just moments before. In a panic, she stood up and looked around, before seeing the silver haired foxgirl and walking over to her. ¡°Are you okay? You vanished! That was kind of cool, though.¡± ¡°...Yeah¡­¡± Was the only response that Tokemi offered as she hid herself more on the opposite side of me, which actually put her in front of the rest of the crew. I guess overactive girl warrants more wariness than hundreds of other people combined? ¡°Oh good.¡± Tessa smiled, relieved. ¡°I¡¯m Tessa, by the way! Can we be friends?¡± Tokemi froze at that, looking at something ahead of her, before mumbling under her breath. Tessa then also seemed to read something in front of her. ¡°Yay, a new friend!¡± She then went to hug Tokemi again, but this time the latter visibly restrained herself from panicking, and slowly returned the hug. ¡°Aww¡­¡± ¡°Well, guess we¡¯ve got another kid on the ship now?¡± There were varying responses from the crew at this turn of events, but I cleared my throat again. ¡°Now, with that out of the way, my next announcement. As I said when we arrived at this planet, I wasn¡¯t sure quite how long we would be here. However, I can safely say now that we will be leaving in two more weeks.¡± There looked to be more responses coming to that, so I raised my hand to stop them. ¡°When we leave here, we will start on a long journey. This journey will likely take us over a year to complete, however I have been¡­ assured that it¡¯s worth it.¡± Malthan better not be planning for me to go so far out of my way without suitable compensation! ¡°The purpose of this journey is to meet another race, known as the Qu¡¯Lopti. I have received information that suggests that without our assistance, this race will die out within a few years. And, given the purpose of this ship and crew, I suppose that means we have to do something about it.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. There were a few chuckles from the gathered people at that, but a large grumbling sound from a particular fox-girl shut everyone up for a moment. Only a moment, mind you, before the outbursts of laughing. ¡°Now, let¡¯s eat.¡± I grinned slightly, and led Tokemi to have her first meal in¡­ ever. For the next few days, I spent my time playing with Tokemi. Well, even if I tried to do something else she would latch onto me as soon as I stood up. Even when we all slept, there was now one more body on the bed. My night life suddenly ran away! While I was playing with her, I would occasionally try to teach her about her magic, in order to help her control it. However¡­ she did not seem to grasp the concepts very easily. This couldn¡¯t be helped, considering her actual age. You don¡¯t teach kids math within a week of them learning how to talk, after all. I considered using my Soul Arts to give her the knowledge she needed, but decided against it. If I made her rely on me cheating every time I wanted to teach her something, she¡¯d never properly learn anything on her own! And as long as I was free, there was no risk of her ¡®time hiccups¡¯ as we had taken to calling them. Of course, this was not a good long term solution, so I began laying out plans for a way to stop her time hiccups even when I wasn¡¯t around. By the way, I actually had her go all the way through one of her hiccups in order to figure out how long they were. No, I did not make her go through it alone, I sat with her. I even taught her how to play patty-cake to pass the time and distract her. I didn¡¯t actually want to make her go through it, but I needed to know how long the hiccups lasted. The answer was that the hiccup we waited out lasted for almost two hours, and she seemed to think it was a rather long one. That made me relieved, because it meant that she hadn¡¯t been spending days in them like we had been afraid of. In the meantime, all of this work with time mana brought me up to 10% Time Affinity¡­ which introduced a whole series of problems. Something I hadn¡¯t noticed before, but really should have. When my Time Affinity hit 10%, and I began passively absorbing time mana, time was in a constantly slowed state for me. I had to modify my Limiter program in order to change my perceived time to normal levels. Though now, I had to get used to my body responding faster than I expected it to. As for things that I should have noticed before, I noticed only when I stopped absorbing mana in order to fix my time. My body suddenly became lighter! I hadn¡¯t really noticed due to the constant training, and the fact that I started practicing my Gravity Affinity on the Ha¡¯vosh planet with increased gravity, but I had been constantly placing myself under roughly 50% extra gravity. Well, if I ever need a sudden burst of speed, I can always just reset the Limiter program, and stop absorbing gravity mana. At that point, I should get speed far surpassing my normal. Maybe, it might even be able to approach the speed from that demon in the dungeon. Unlikely, but I would at least not lose so miserably against it. Now, there were other developments over the course of the two weeks that we had left, and I¡¯ll try to go over them real quick. I personally did not do much aside from start practicing a new affinity, the Animal Affinity. I figured that it would be a good idea to learn that one, as maybe it would prove to be a key step for one of my grove upgrades. Thankfully, I could use Tokemi to help me cultivate that affinity. What? You think I¡¯m just using this as an excuse for extra cuddle time? I would never! With Celeste¡­ she went on a rampage through the goblin dungeons. From the reports of other teams, she went in there solo, massacred everything, and then used some technique to cause the monsters to wither quickly. When I confronted her about it, she said that she was using the Soul Arts to return her level to what it had been as quickly as possible. That way, she could get started on her factory before we left. Since I didn¡¯t go back down to the dungeons, Sharon and Yin didn¡¯t seem that interested in it either. Yin spent her days watching Yang, while Sharon alternated between training with her animals and playing with Tokemi. It was funny watching her call out Priscilla, who pulled the little fox girl up into a big hug. The most surprising out of anyone, though, was my parents¡­ When they heard about Tokemi, they came to spoil her a bit. But when they weren¡¯t around, they also challenged the dungeons. Unlike others, however, they only went in a two person team. That did not seem to stop them, as the two of them easily reached the eighth floor of the goblin dungeon by the end of the two weeks. I tried to talk my mom out of going to the dungeons, because Celeste didn¡¯t have the Deus Ex spares ready yet, so one death really would mean the end for her. However, she told me that Celeste uploaded a link between my mom¡¯s mind and a terminal on the ship. That way, even if she died, we could bring her back like we did with Celeste. Though, even taking that into account, my dad completely prioritized her safety while dungeon diving. With their teamwork, she managed not to die once. She had to run away from the battle several times, but between her own growing shadow abilities, and my dad being able to teleport them out, she stayed safe. Let¡¯s see¡­ Nathan¡¯s team actually made quite a bit of progress as well. They managed to fully conquer the goblin dungeon, going all the way to the tenth floor. Apparently, they were the first team to successfully clear a dungeon, and were each granted special items as a reward. I didn¡¯t really find out what all of their items were, but I learned that Nathan¡¯s was a book of infinite pages. He specifically requested it in order to write down all of his runes, because that was apparently easier for him than having me do brain surgery¡­. Okay, I couldn¡¯t blame him. Anyone else¡­? Yo and Kismet kept training, all the way until it was time to leave. I was actually worried that they might forget to come back for a while. Tessa¡­ well, she was spending as much time as possible around Tokemi, and therefor around me as well. I was rather glad to see that the two of them were getting along so well. Now, there are just a couple of days left until it¡¯s time to leave for the Qu¡¯Lopti world¡­ and I can¡¯t help but feel like I¡¯m forgetting something. Eh, I¡¯m sure it¡¯ll come to me eventually! Chapter 145: Holy Sex Tapes, Batman! Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the fairly bland summary from the last chapter, it just didn¡¯t feel like it¡¯d be good to write in two weeks of ¡°I sat there and played with Tokemi while everyone else went off on adventure!¡±. Please forgive author-sama!
¡°Daddy, hurry up!¡± Tokemi called out as she tugged on my arm. It was time for the trip to the Qu¡¯Lopti world, and of course the little loli was ¡®helping¡¯ me get to the bridge with a smile on her face. As for her calling me daddy¡­ I blame you, Sharon. You got her started on calling you and Yin as mommy, and me as daddy! But it¡¯s just so cute¡­ I can¡¯t be upset over it. On the other hand¡­ Yo has really started to mature. She doesn¡¯t seem like the same young girl anymore, mentally, and instead has ¡®grown up¡¯ into a teenage mindset. Now, if she wasn¡¯t such a battle junkie, that would be a good thing. Instead, she keeps trying to convince Kismet, Sharon, Yin, or even me to spar with her. Of course, we can¡¯t do that now because we¡¯re leaving the planet, and any of us fighting on a ship could cause a lot of damage. Soon, the two of us arrived at the bridge, to be greeted by the knowing smiles of the crew members who saw Tokemi dragging me. The little girl could definitely be considered as being dependant on me right now, as I was the only one that could help with her time hiccups. By now, she almost refused to go anywhere without me. I really needed that backup item that would dispel her time hiccups automatically, and I had a plan for it¡­ but there was a problem. Most materials weren¡¯t capable of holding time-related enchantments, because time itself was too powerful. So instead, I had to wait until I had almost ten grams of orichalcum. According to Celeste, this was the best material for enchantments involving time. At least, until the epic materials like godsteel, devilstone, or blood ore were available. Thankfully, with my grove absorbing both time mana and metal mana, I am slowly producing those rare materials. ¡°Ahem.¡± Celeste ¡®cleared her throat¡¯ from next to me to get my attention and snap me out of my thoughts. ¡°Awaiting orders, captain.¡± ¡°Right¡­ Has the navigational data been input?¡± I looked to Celeste, and she nodded her head. ¡°Then¡­¡± I tapped the intercom button in my chair, while Tokemi climbed up onto my lap. ¡°Hey, that tickles. Wait, this thing¡¯s on. Everyone, ignore that, and prepare for FTL. This will be our longest journey yet, and I don¡¯t know when we will return. At the very least, it will not be for a few years. While journeying, I suggest for people to do their ¡®standby¡¯ training, if your skillset possesses one. Otherwise¡­ find a game or something fun to do.¡± Tapping the button again, I turned off the intercom, and looked to the crew on the bridge. ¡°Alright, take us out.¡± I still felt like I was forgetting something, though. Well, if it was anything important, Celeste would have reminded me. After the ship went into subspace, we stayed sitting there for about five minutes before Tokemi began yawning in boredom, laying her head against my chest. Taking that as the universal indicator for nap time, I chuckled slightly, before getting up and moving to my room so that I could lay her in my bed. With Tokemi taken care of, I got to work on my own projects. ¡°Can I come in for a moment?¡± Or I could see what Celeste wants first. Instead of letting her in, I stepped out of the room, so as not to disturb the sleeping fox girl. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± I asked her curiously, but she shook her head. ¡°Nothing major. I just need to visit the Toy Chest for a little while, so that I can cultivate the Dural Affinity. It will make my factory run much more smoothly if I have it set on a dural foundation.¡± She explained with a smile, and I recalled her saying previously that dural was like a super mana-conductive dirt. ¡°Alright. Need any help clearing out monsters that might have spawned?¡± When I asked, she shook her head. ¡°No, I should be fine by myself even if another jack appeared. But leave the portal open so that I can come back when I¡¯m ready.¡± I thought about it, and decided to put the portal in my closet. If she was cultivating a new affinity, then she¡¯d probably be in there for a few days. Can¡¯t just leave a portal lying around in the middle of the hall. Once Celeste was through the portal, and I popped a pill to ease the resulting headache, I then got started on my own projects. ¡°Captain?¡± Or¡­ I can see what Ackbar wants first¡­ ¡°Yes¡­?¡± ¡°I have the final reports from the dungeon teams on Hydra ready to be reviewed.¡± He spoke up from the other side of the door. ¡°Upload them to the system and I¡¯ll go over them later¡­¡± Seriously, we had over a year of travel coming up! I could put off reading reports for a couple hours. ¡°Very well, Captain.¡± I made sure that I could hear his feet walking away before I started once again to work on my projects¡­ ...Anyone else? No¡­? Finally! Opening up the new guild interface, I looked for any explanations. However, the only button available was ¡®Create Guild¡¯... I didn¡¯t want to press that yet in case it was automatic and permanent! Malthan, this is a prayer.
John, this is a window.
Okay, I deserved that. What are the requirements for making a guild?
Oh, is that all? Easy, just gather ten thousand gold coins, and one hundred people willing to join your new guild.
Ten thousand¡­ well, we could afford that pretty easily. But, that raised up another question. What purpose does gold have in the system? It¡¯s used for guilds and rebirth, but there has to be other things you can do with it, if you wanted to make it a galactic currency.
Huh? Oh, I guess most of you guys haven¡¯t figured it out yet. Some people already started using the gold market to buy special gear, and hints at how to improve their skills.
The¡­ gold market? The what? Where and how?
You forgot Who, When, and Why, but whatever. Just go to the temple in your ship with some gold, and pray for the market.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Thankfully, I had been made aware of the temple in the ship a while back, or that might have caused me to freak out even more. Instead, I cast a quick glance back at Tokemi and stepped out of the room. Tapping on my comm, I placed a quick call. ¡°Sharon, I know this is going to be real hard for you, but could you come watch Tokemi for a bit? She¡¯s napping right--¡± I hadn¡¯t even finished asking before Sharon suddenly appeared in front of me, panting for breath and changing from a rabbit girl into her normal appearance. ¡°Now¡­¡± ¡°I¡¯m here.¡± She grinned widely, before looking back into the room. Before I could explain anything else, she pushed me out and went to sit beside the bed. I probably don¡¯t have anything to worry about here¡­ Anyways, I grabbed some of the gold coins that we looted before I left, and made my way to the temple. Once I got there, I was kind of surprised to find that the temple had a dedicated priest¡­ though I didn¡¯t know or ask who his patron was. The priest was a tall human male, dressed in a long white robe. When I got there, he looked at me curiously. ¡°How may I help you, captain?¡± Think, think¡­ ¡°Jeff, right?¡± He nodded his head, yay! Got it right. ¡°Did you know about the gold market?¡± ¡°The what?¡± He asked, apparently not having any idea what I was talking about. Instead of explaining, I tossed one of the coins from my bag to him, and moved in front of the statues. Oh great gold market, appear before me now? I beseech you?
Welcome to the Galactic Market! As this is your first time as a customer, let me take this moment to explain! You may have heard about us from other successful business ventures, but we strive to provide you with a fast and reliable service! If you want it, we got it, as long as you can pay the price! Disclaimer: Some prices may involve substantial payments such as quests, sacrificial offerings, or other binding agreements.
Well¡­ That was¡­ interesting. Next, a window appeared asking me what sort of object or service I was interested in looking for. To start with¡­ let¡¯s look for an elemental seed. After I entered that into the search field, a long list appeared with various elements and degrees of purity. Looking at this.. I was really surprised. A basic Seed of Water cost twenty silver, but a Seed of Time cost half a million gold¡­ Too bad there was no option to sell items to the market, or I would have an unlimited supply of gold. Out of curiosity, I looked up the Staff of the Minor World to see how much it would cost. Ten billion gold¡­ Even a Legend ranked skill in NeoLife would only cost a million. Though, I could tell that prices were inflated on the market, because basic element seeds weren¡¯t that expensive in NeoLife. So¡­ I could completely mark off getting OP equipment from the market. Next, I looked for skills. Malthan said that some people were already using the gold market for hints at skills, so I wanted to see what the price was. If I wanted to buy a complete skill of a certain level¡­ the price seemed to be a hundred times more expensive than it was in NeoLife. That meant I could, at most, buy three Expert level skills. However, just getting hints was far cheaper. When I put in ¡®hints for understanding the structure of auras¡¯, another shopping list appeared. This one had various different topics, such as the physical structure, texture, magic abilities, even different body types. In order to purchase the ¡®full¡¯ information packet, I would need five hundred thousand gold¡­ However, if I got that, then I should be able to pull off any kind of shapeshifting I wanted. I was suddenly tempted to turn around and go farm the greed floor of the demon dungeon a few times, until we had all the gold we could ever need. But then, another thought hit me. The greed demon boss gave gold coins, right? What else could do that? As that thought occurred to me, the list changed again, this time offering just a single item. ¡®Information on gold acquisition¡¯ for fifty gold coins. Well¡­ it seemed like a good deal, and I had plenty of gold to waste. Besides, I wanted to see what this would be like if I bought something. When I hit ¡®accept¡¯ on the listing, I felt the bag I was carrying suddenly grow lighter, while a stream of light poured into my head. In my mind, I saw a businesswoman in a black suit smiling as she stood in front of a whiteboard. From appearances, she seemed to be human, with long dark hair and a curved figure. ¡°Thank you for your purchase.¡± She spoke, and I flinched, afraid that she might be more than a recording. ¡°You have shown an interest in the method of obtaining more system approved currency. There are multiple ways to go about this, which will be covered in this presentation.¡± ¡°First, as you have personally witnessed, it is possible for certain enemies or items to produce currency, which may be obtained by either the owner of the item, or the person who defeats the entity in question. These items and enemies are rare, so it is not advised to use this method.¡± The woman shook her head as she talked, before pointing to the whiteboard. Suddenly, a drawing began to take shape, forming a golden coin much like the one that I had tossed the priest before. ¡°The second method, and most commonly available, is to produce the coins yourself through means of smelting and engraving. As long as the manufactured coin is at least 90% similar to the system designations, it will be registered as an official currency. Details of the various coins are presented with your purchase, and will be uploaded to your mind at the end of the demonstration.¡± ¡°Finally, it is possible to receive currency in exchange for divine favors. However, the amount of currency provided varies based on the level of favor and the god you are exchanging with. That is the end of this presentation, we hope you will continue shopping at our Galactic Market. Where anything is possible, at the right price.¡± And with that, she gave one last smile, before my awareness returned to the temple. ¡°Holy fucking¡­¡± I started to say after the ¡®video¡¯ ended, but quickly stopped because the list instantly changed. ¡°No, I don¡¯t want to see the gods¡¯ sex tapes!¡± I couldn¡¯t help but say that out loud. I mean really, they recorded themselves having sex, just so people could spend money at what can only be a universal gold sink. Chapter 146: The Long Journey Well, that¡¯s interesting¡­ I thought to myself as I continued looking through the shopping interface. There was one thing in particular that caught my eye, though I had no intention of buying it.
Sapient NPCBase Price: 1000 Gold, 10 Gold Upkeep
Robotic NPCBase Price: 10000 Gold
Out of curiosity, I tapped on a button for more information. At least they don¡¯t try to get you to buy things without knowing what you¡¯re getting. From the information, the NPCs were artificial entities created by the system for the cash market. There were various parameters that could increase their cost, such as starting abilities, appearance, and personality. There seemed to be a lot of room for abuse there, but I imagined that having an NPC become stronger would increase their upkeep cost. So gold farming with them might not be profitable, depending how that works. Next, I checked various other items and abilities that were on sale. I was completely unable to think of anything that was not on the market, from the ability to sense the time of day, to guessing how many hairs are on a creature. In total, I only made one purchase, aside from the information presentation about making money. And that was two thousand gold coins for ¡®Information about grove evolution¡¯. I decided it was okay to splurge a little bit, seeing as this was something I had been curious about for a while. I¡¯ll summarize what I learned below. Groves start out at the most basic, ¡®primal¡¯ stage, at which point they are just barely starting to take in the elements. Then, after acquiring certain elements--you should know which ones, as I already did this part--the grove evolves into the Stellar stage. At this stage, the grove experiences its first true growth spurt. After the Stellar stage comes the Nebula stage, which requires at least ten functioning solar systems in the grove. Once again, the grove experiences another growth spurt upon entering this new stage. Unfortunately, this information didn¡¯t include the abilities each stage gave, just how to reach them. After the Nebula stage, when the grove possesses at least a thousand solar systems, the next stage unlocked is Galactic. To get to this one, it is also required to have a high affinity with gravity as well, because a black hole is created at the center. This is the second to last stage, and unlike previously, the grove begins shrinking after reaching this stage. Finally, the last stage is the Universal grove. This one is created only when the black hole of the Galactic stage fully consumes the entire grove, and also requires a high affinity with time, plant, animal, luck, and order. According to the information, the Universal stage is literally the big bang, and creates an entire new universe within the grove. At this point, there is no need to measure the grove in terms of size, because it is constantly expanding on its own. I found this information rather enlightening, as I finally knew how to evolve my grove further. However, at the same time, it made me curious. If I reach the Galactic stage¡­ would Sharon¡¯s grove be pulled into the black hole through the portal we have set up? If so, would the new, Universal grove be shared between us, or would I be completely destroying her grove? I decided that I¡¯d look for answers on that when I was closer to unlocking the Galactic stage. Right now, I still only had one solar system in my grove, though I should be able to set up the second during this journey.
Time Mana surge detected, synchronizing. Mana flow redirected. Time flow stabilized.
Suddenly, I felt someone latching onto me, and heard quiet sobs coming from my side. Unsurprisingly, when I looked down, I found Tokemi clinging to me. ¡°You¡­ you were gone.¡± I shook my head with a small smile, reaching down and petting her head gently. She relaxed slightly at the touch, and I could feel the time mana slowly dispersing. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Tokemi. I just had to come here to look at something. Didn¡¯t I leave Sharon there for you to play with when you woke up?¡± The little fox girl looked up at me with watery eyes, before those eyes widened, and a regretful look appeared on her face. ¡°Sorry¡­ I didn¡¯t notice¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. You can go apologize to her when we get back, okay?¡± When I said that, she nodded her head slowly. Soon, the gathered time mana had dispersed, returning to normal levels. Seconds later, a panicked message came in over the comm. ¡°John?! John, are you there? Tokemi vanished!¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright, Sharon.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle lightly. ¡°She¡¯s here with me.¡± ¡°Aww¡­ and here I was wanting to welcome her with a nice meal¡­¡± She spoke with a pouting voice, and I shook my head again. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll head back that way now. I¡¯ve got something to discuss with you anyways.¡± After saying so, I gently grabbed Tokemi¡¯s hand and left the temple. From what I could see, the priest was still clutching that gold coin and staring at something. Likely he was quite interested in the gold market. Maybe I can use this to give my crew a salary, once I have a reliable method for harvesting gold. I thought about it, then nodded my head. That would be a good way to reward everyone, I think. Maybe get some merchants to set up a trading hall or something to buy items people don¡¯t need anymore. Anyways, when I got back to the room, there really was a hot meal waiting for Tokemi, and she tearfully apologized for leaving Sharon like that. Naturally, Sharon couldn¡¯t stay upset at the little girl, and helped her with her meal. Meanwhile, I explained to Sharon what I learned about the gold market, and she seemed just as surprised as I had been. However, she didn¡¯t seem as eager to go look at what the possibilities were, likely because of a certain fluffy girl that was sitting in her arms. Like this, the day slowly passed, one of many. Soon, I had trained my Animal Affinity to 10%, and got the manipulation ability that went along with it. Like the plant one, this would allow me to change and influence animals, though I did not think Sharon used it often. After a couple of months of passively training, I had acquired the materials I needed to make Tokemi¡¯s ring. This was, quite simply, an item that would disperse time mana whenever it gathered unnaturally. Although it is not a perfect fix, it proved to help with her time hiccup problem. Gradually, she began to play with others more and more, though she would still have more fun when I was around. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. While traveling, I was doing my best to maximize our speed. I would take turns upgrading the engines and FTL shields so that we could arrive at the Qu¡¯Lopti world as soon as possible, though there wasn¡¯t any real problem. Okay, so there was one problem, but we were able to take care of it. During the travel, we caught another abstract hitchhiking on the ship¡¯s hull. Thankfully, this was the statue type, so once we dropped out of FTL to take care of it, the fight was over quick. I couldn¡¯t really call that a problem since it took less than half an hour to resolve. I kept my reports going to Talia back at the elven worlds, as well. Naturally, I told her what I had discovered with the gold market, and she had people set up more mines in her world with Maeve¡¯s permission. Since minerals naturally respawn over time, there wasn¡¯t a need to worry about it drying up like in the past. Let¡¯s see¡­ I would like to say that I did something really productive with my thirteen months of free time¡­ But I would honestly be lying. Although I spent more time interacting with the crew in order to get Tokemi acquainted with more people, most of my time was spent either playing with her, trying to teach her about magic, or enchanting random gear. On the bright side, my passive cultivation had plenty of time to increase while we were heading for the Qu¡¯Lopti world! Roughly a week before we were scheduled to arrive, this is what my stats looked like.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame25,000
Level 1201%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health1000/1000Health Regen0
Mana3000/3000Mana Regen35.8
Strength30Wisdom200
Agility62Intelligence300
Dexterity62Charisma35
Vitality100Luck25
Points Remaining0
Earth 51%Fire 49%Wind 49%Water 49%
Lightning 46%Light 46%Dark 49%Plant 46%
Void 46%Metal 46%Magnetism 46%Plasma 46%
Gravity 46%Time 21%Animal 30%
When I got 50% in the Earth Affinity, I received another ability, labeled Earth Resistance. As the name implies, it gave me a passive resistance against earth related attacks. What that all qualifies as, I¡¯m not sure. However, at the same time, the increase from passive cultivation also slowed down further. Most likely, the higher it got, the slower it would increase, even with the ring and staff combo. However, there was another reason I was using this as a benchmark for showing off my stats. My grove finally got to the size where I could add in a second star without their gravity fields heavily interfering with each other. And I wouldn¡¯t even have to steal away from the current star, as there was plasma just floating around in the empty space. Grabbing that plasma, I pulled it together at the edge of the void area. While doing so, I was able to watch as streams of light merged together to form a new star. Although it could still not be considered on the same scale as the one in the starting area of my grove, it was large enough to become self-sustaining. I¡¯d need to make sure to fuel it with more plasma later to help it grow. Next, I grabbed several of the wandering comets of various elements to begin constructing the first two planets that would orbit this star. On them, I planted several trees from the other area, intending to use this as an experimental ground in the near future. I wanted to test the limits of my abilities far away from anywhere that it could do real damage. Speaking of the starting area, Sharon¡¯s animals had really done a number on it¡­ I actually had to entirely rearrange the planets, because they were getting too big. Right now, the largest one was almost half the size of mars, nearly two thousand miles in diameter. This was the planet where I had placed the portal, so it was the one that all of the animals cultivated on. Naturally, this also meant that it was the one to absorb the most mana to grow. I actually started to see settlements appearing on this planet, where the sapient beings from Sharon¡¯s grove would come together and build small villages. Although they were still Sharon¡¯s animal companions, they would spend a lot of their time in my grove. I was concerned about this, so I went to talk with Sharon when I discovered it. ¡°Sharon?¡± I asked, finding her talking with one of the female crewmembers. ¡°Hmm? What is it?¡± She looked at me curiously, unsure why I was interrupting her conversation. ¡°Uhm¡­ could I have a minute?¡± I glanced at the other woman, who smiled slightly. ¡°It¡¯s alright, Aelsgwynn. I¡¯ll get back to you about it later.¡± Sharon nodded to the woman, who I recognized now as one of the chefs for the crew. After she left, Sharon looked at me. ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°Sorry, did I come at a bad time?¡± When I asked that, she shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s alright. But again, what¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Ah, did you know that the sapient animals from your grove are¡­ well, I guess you could say they are migrating?¡± Sharon, hearing my question, couldn¡¯t help but laugh. ¡°Ah, so that¡¯s what this is about. You worried that I¡¯ll think you are stealing them away or something?¡± When I didn¡¯t respond, she continued with a smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it was my idea. Some of them were tired of living around all of the fighting, so I suggested they move to your area. This way, they can visit their descendants whenever they want, but don¡¯t have to watch the regular battles for food. I was meaning to ask if you could get some livestock from the gold market for them to raise.¡± I thought about it, and nodded my head. She made sense, it just surprised me to find them suddenly making a settlement. And really, there were more benefits to getting livestock for my grove than just feeding the ¡®refugees¡¯. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll see how much they cost.¡± If I could get a reliable source of meat, and maybe even a surplus, I could use them to help with my experiments in the second solar system. Chapter 147: Home of the QuLopti Author¡¯s Corner: We are rapidly approaching the end of the arc! As such, there is not much time for those that still wish to participate in Operation:Fundraiser. With that said, I hope everyone enjoys the chapter!
After I parted with Sharon, I went back to the temple with some of the gold. In my spare time, I would sometimes practice making gold and silver coins of my own from my grove, though in small numbers. Still, only about half of them were close enough to the system specifics that they counted as valid money. Once I got there, I looked up the options for livestock. Normal cows would definitely not work, because of the rapid increase in numbers of Sharon¡¯s animals. Thus, I had to customize the options for them to grow and reproduce rapidly. While a normal heifer would only cost one gold from the market, the modified cows cost one hundred. And then the bulls, they actually cost five hundred each. ¡°I really hope she can teach them how to cultivate the animals properly.¡± I shook my head and ended up buying a total of fifty cattle. Among them, five were bulls while the rest were heifers. After confirming the purchase, seven thousand gold disappeared from my inventory, and light started shining down all around me. Oh crap, this isn¡¯t going to be good. Within moments, the temple was filled to the brim with a herd of cattle, drawing the surprise of several crew members. ¡°Sorry, sorry, will get this cleared right up¡­¡± Wish there was an option to deliver straight to the grove or something. Anyways, I went through one by one and sent them all to my grove. It would be up to Sharon to teach them how to raise them, as they were still her animals. Though, to play it safe, I put one heifer and one bull on the second planet in my second solar system. This way, I would be able to ensure that one herd would survive no matter what. Of course, I also covered that second planet with grass for them to eat. Once their numbers start growing¡­ maybe I¡¯ll be able to start my experiments, even. Mad scientist mode is just waiting to come out! I blame a certain mad god and fox loli for me having a mad scientist mode. Totally their fault. Anyways, like this the days continued to pass by, until we were just about to enter Qu¡¯Lopti space. As a precaution, I had everyone go to their battle stations and prepare for combat. These people are ¡®destined¡¯ to be wiped out within a few short years, so there should be some indicator what is going on. Maybe a monster invasion, maybe a meteor, maybe even a giant volcano exploding or something. ¡°Exitting FTL in five, four, three, two¡­¡± A moment later, and we were back in normal space, a large blue planet in front of us. Orbiting the planet were two moons, one roughly the size of Earth¡¯s moon, while the other was further away and smaller. ¡°We have arrived at the coordinates.¡± ¡°Scans show no hostile activity in the vicinity. Redirecting to the planet. No boss monster signature detected. Wait¡­ there¡¯s hardly any monsters at all?¡± The scanning officer seemed surprised at that, so I furrowed my brow in thought. ¡°Scan for all life signs and display the result.¡± I waited for a moment before a screen appeared at the front of the bridge, showing the planet full of life signs. ¡°Seriously..? It¡¯s almost like everything is normal¡­¡± I shook my head, tapping the comms. ¡°Stand down. Looks like a fight isn¡¯t happening.¡± Afterwards, I looked to the crew on the bridge. ¡°Put us in orbit around the planet, and run a full scan. I want to know their technology levels and the state of affairs on the surface. Celeste, if they have a communications network, I want you to tap into it and learn the language. We need to be able to communicate if we expect to help them.¡± There were various nods from the crew as the ship slowly moved into orbit around the planet. Thankfully, it seemed that they did have a network for Celeste to access, but¡­ ¡°John, you¡¯re going to want to take a look at this.¡± The Deus Ex spoke up in a serious tone, before displaying an image in front of me that made me do a double take. In the image, there were a pair of aliens, presumably the Qu¡¯Lopti. However, what surprised me was their appearance. Both of them were roughly four feet tall, with the male being slightly taller. Their skins were completely blue, and in the middle of their foreheads were black gems. Thankfully, unlike the Ha¡¯vosh, the females had two bulges on their chest to indicate breasts, so it was easy to tell the genders apart. ¡°Celeste¡­ is this?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right, John. These are the Qu¡¯Lopti as recorded in their network.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± I thought back to the blue skinned god of madness. ¡°Well.. I guess we know why he wanted us to save these people now.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but let out a long sigh. So Malthan was a Qu¡¯Lopti, then? Now I really didn¡¯t know what was going on. ¡°Standard procedure. Find one that dies, preferably in a secluded area, and transport the body to the medbay.¡± After saying that, I got up from the captain¡¯s chair and left the bridge. They would alert me when the scans finished. In the meantime, I had a loli that needed cuddles. Or well, I had one that certainly wanted them. Roughly an hour later, the complete scan results were in, and I was called back to the bridge to look over the information. Since there wasn¡¯t any danger, this time Tokemi even came with me. Naturally, that meant Sharon came too. ¡°What are the results?¡± I looked to the crew and asked after arriving at the bridge. ¡°Pulling them up on screen now. The technology of this world does not seem particularly advanced in most aspects. However, in terms of communication, and entertainment they are roughly on par with Earth.¡± It didn¡¯t surprise me that the scanning officer this time knew the humans¡¯ tech levels, since it was one of the extra crew I picked up from the refugees. ¡°They seem to have a focus on holographic technology. The scans picked up image of several holographic weapons, though none of them appeared lethal. Most likely, they are toys. However, there was something more important.¡± The officer pushed a few buttons and a scene began playing out on the screen. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. This was a battle between five of the Qu¡¯Lopti and what looked like a giant snake. Well, giant by normal standards. It wasn¡¯t a boss monster or anything, but it was at least fifteen meters long. And given that it was breathing fire, it was almost certainly a monster. Are they going to die or something? How is this that important? However, my question was answered soon, when the Qu¡¯Lopti began speaking out long chants in a language I couldn¡¯t understand. Suddenly, glowing circles appeared around four of the five combatants, while the fifth stepped forward and clenched its hands with a shout. The fire erupting from the snake stopped in midair, before slowly extinguishing itself. Next, the attacks from the other four finished and were launched. Coils of rock sprang out from the ground, wrapping around the snake to hold it in place. Shards of ice formed in the air and stabbed at its body. What surprised me the most, though, was when two of the Qu¡¯Lopti combined their power to summon a twenty foot tall golem which appeared to be made of iron. This golem grabbed the bound snake and easily tore it in half. ¡°Did¡­ was that¡­ How did they learn magic on their own? Are there any signs that someone has been here before us?¡± This last question was directed at Celeste, who shook her head. Meanwhile, a certain fox girl in my lap was staring with wide, excited eyes at the scene. ¡°I¡¯m still learning their language. Part of it bears semblance to some runes, but so far I can find no instance of another race visiting this world. However, there are references to temples being constructed, and various other parts of the new system. How they managed to learn it on their own.. I¡¯m still not sure.¡± I nodded my head slightly, before turning my attention back to the scan results. ¡°Is there anything else? Did you find the Seeds on the planet or anything?¡± That seemed to be the only possible way that a planet could learn all of this without outside interference. ¡°No, sir. No Seeds detected.¡± Well, there goes that thought. What the hell, seriously! If it was that easy for races to learn magic and stuff on their own, we wouldn¡¯t be here in the first place! Malthan¡­ You got some ¡®splainin to do.
I¡¯m not sure what you mean?
These guys obviously don¡¯t need our help adjusting to the new system! If anything, they could teach us about it!
Ah¡­ well, that¡¯s true. But I didn¡¯t really say that was the reason they needed your help, did I?
Well¡­ no¡­ but what else is there? At this rate, they could leave their own solar system within a few years.
Well¡­ you¡¯ll understand soon enough.
And like that, I was given a disappointing answer by the god of madness¡­ Well, not really sure why I expected him to be more helpful. It¡¯s not like these were his people or anything! ¡°Celeste, what¡¯s the progress on learning the language?¡± Celeste furrowed her brows at the sudden question. ¡°In terms of the written aspect, I have almost finished. However, for the verbal component I will likely need at least a full day. They have a rather comprehensive language.¡± I nodded, leaving that to Celeste. Not like we could really help her out here. If we tried doing this work ourselves, it would take weeks at the very least. ¡°Let us know when you¡¯re done. Is there progress on finding a Qu¡¯Lopti to bring aboard?¡± I asked, but the scanning officer shook his head. ¡°Alright, keep looking.¡± I sighed, and picked Tokemi up off my lap so that we could leave the bridge again. We weren¡¯t going to be needed here for a little while. As such, we went to walk around the ship. On the way, we met Yo, who was walking along and talking with Kismet. ¡°Sis~¡± Tokemi ran forward and jumped into Yo¡¯s arms, while the slime girl grinned excitedly. These two really seemed to hit it off, though maybe Tokemi just liked hugging the squishy slime. ¡°Hey, Mimi~.¡± Yo smiled as she said her nickname for Tokemi. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°We got to the place with all the strange named people. They¡¯re about my size! Do you think they¡¯d be friends? Wait, wait, first! They are so cool! They were using all kinds of neat things! Daddy called it magic! Is that what I¡¯ll be able to do once I learn magic?¡± Yo chuckled lightly, nodding her head and petting Tokemi¡¯s ear. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to do it too, Mimi. Mimi is amazing, after all!¡± Saying so, she lightly tossed Tokemi up into the air, causing the smaller girl to squeal happily. Although she wouldn¡¯t let other people handle her like that, except for me, she loved it when Yo tossed her up like that, because she always landed with a comfortable bounce against the slime girl. Watching the two of them, I couldn¡¯t help but grin happily. Turning to face Kismet, I nodded my head. ¡°How¡¯ve you been.¡± He smiled as he answer. ¡°Pretty good, sir. Just hanging out with Yo. I hear that the people of this world can use magic?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ We¡¯re not sure how, but they definitely seem capable of it.¡± I nodded again, answering the question. ¡°Cool¡­ I¡¯ll have to see what all they can do. Maybe I can learn something from them.¡± He smiled a bit wider at that, though not in the same battle-hungry sense that Yo likely would be if their positions were reversed. ¡°Yeah¡­ we should be able to make first contact tomorrow. After that¡­ we¡¯ll see how things go.¡± Chapter 148: So Thats Why Author¡¯s Corner: Beware, the anticlimax. Enjoy the chapter!
The rest of the day went by incredibly slow. I couldn¡¯t help but feel like there was some looming disaster just waiting to strike. I mean, Malthan sent us a on a journey for a full year to get here. If the Qu¡¯Lopti were as capable as they seemed, then there shouldn¡¯t be anything we can help them with. Thankfully, it is very hard to get a restless night when you have the softest hug pillow ever imagined. The next morning, I found Celeste in her room to check up on her progress learning the language. For some reason, she seemed extremely depressed all of the sudden. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked the Deus Ex, sitting in a nearby chair. Slowly, she looked up to me, but shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ nothing. I learned the language, so I¡¯ll go ahead and pass it on to you.¡± Rather than sitting around and having me ¡®download¡¯ the language for a few days, she waved a hand and sent it directly into my mind with her own Soul Arts. Since she went to this method of sending the language, I automatically understood all of it. She even included both written and verbal language. Nodding my head slightly, I stood up. ¡°Well, if you need to chat, you know where to find me.¡± I tapped my own head while saying that, and she smiled slightly before I left. When I got to the bridge, Ackbar once again beat me to the punch by announcing, ¡°Captain on the bridge!¡± Is there some position I can give him to make him not do that every other time I come here? I quickly raised my hand to stop everyone from the normal salute procedure. Of course, a few people from Earth were looking around confused. ¡°Open up a communication channel with the leader of one of the Qu¡¯Lopti countries.¡± Soon, I would regret my decision¡­ Rather than the normal holographic screen, this time a full three dimensional display appeared in front of me. ¡°You are speaking with Tordaedron, bearer of the chains of chaos, owner of the black hand of death and wielder of the demon''s eye! For what purpose have you contacted me?¡± Displayed in the center of the room was a large figure of a blue man, a thin metal chain wrapped around his shoulder. On his right hand, he wore a black glove, while on his left he wore a white one. His eyes were likewise different colors, one being golden and the other being red. ¡°Uhm¡­ Tordaedron¡­¡± I shook my head, ignoring the weird titles. Thankfully, nobody else on the bridge could understand him. ¡°I am Captain John Hulett of the Ariadne. We are currently in orbit around your planet, and have chosen to make contact with your people.¡± ¡°Are you the promised emissary foretold by the stars, the one that has come to lay claim to our world?!¡± The figure shrank back in an exaggerated pose, as if he had been actually hit in the face or something. ¡°Uh¡­ no. I¡¯m here to help.¡± As if nothing had happened previously, Tordaedron stood proudly on the display. ¡°Ah! So you have come to aid this world against the fiends that wish to ravage it! Together, we shall join hands against the darkness!¡± He proudly lifted up his black gloved hand as he spoke. Must¡­ not¡­ blow up¡­ planet¡­ ¡°Something like that, yes¡­¡± I was starting to get an idea on why these people did not exist in the future¡­ And maybe how they were able to learn magic on their own. ¡°Very well! The people of the third realm shall welcome you with open arms! Let all know that you bear my blessing!¡± He waved his hand towards me in another exaggerated movement, and seemed to be expecting something. ¡°Right¡­ will do.¡± I signalled for the connection to end, and then sighed when the hologram disappeared. ¡°This¡­ is going to take a while.¡± Tapping on my comm, I called Celeste. ¡°Their entire race is like that, isn¡¯t it?¡± I heard a light groan from the other side of the comm. ¡°Unfortunately, yes. The more dramatic, the more popular. It¡¯s a race full of eighth graders.¡± I was a bit surprised, honestly. I mean, Celeste seems like the kind of person that would be all for this. ¡°I can understand why it¡¯s a bad thing for me¡­ but why are you depressed?¡± ¡°Because I¡¯ve been outdone by an entire race!¡± I could practically hear her arms flailing around in the bed. ¡°Even their kids do it better than me! It¡¯s so frustrating.¡± ...Okay then¡­ ¡°Ah¡­ sorry about that? I take it that their government is mainly comprised of each country¡¯s best actors?¡± ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s pretty much the same as Earth in that regard.¡± I¡¯m just going to let that one slide. ¡°But anyways, from what I can tell, some time almost two years ago, a few kids were playing ¡®stop the demon lord¡¯. Naturally, when the kid playing the demon lord actually called out real fire from his hands¡­ everything just snowballed from there.¡± I could picture that easily enough. Suddenly, I was thinking about a bunch of blue skinned midgets running around playing tag, and accidentally throwing a fireball. ¡°So, the relation between their language and runes?¡± ¡°Coincidence, most likely. They¡¯ve been using the language for over a century, so there¡¯s no way they got it from the system. Oh, and there was no ¡®foretold emissary¡¯... He was trying to impress an audience.¡± It was at this moment that my face had a brutal rendezvous with the palm of my hand. Malthan¡­?
I¡¯m sorry, the god you are calling is not available, please leave your message at the end of the universe.
Malthan¡­ if you don¡¯t answer, I¡¯m leaving.
Fine, fine. Can¡¯t even take a joke. What is it?
The reason that the Qu¡¯Lopti were destroyed in the future¡­
You got it. They were just too annoying to let live.
And thus, my face met my hand yet again. You seem sane compared to that guy¡­
Oh? Which one did you talk to? Ah¡­ Tordaedron¡­ You got lucky, he¡¯s only the leader for a small territory. Just wait till you meet Dracomere or Hendrax.
You are not making me want to save these guys any more like that¡­ Thinking that Tordaedron was only a small time leader, and thus more tame than the others, made my head hurt. The rewards better be worth it¡­ ¡°Celeste¡­ Can you--¡± ¡°Already started on it. Figured we¡¯d be here a while.¡± She interrupted me before I could finish asking her to make us a more permanent base. She has a factory grove now, so she has the best methods available to do the building. After all¡­ like she said, we were probably going to be here a while. Well, maybe Yo and the kids will have fun here, at least. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. I sat there for a few minutes trying to think of what I wanted to do next. There were only a few options on how to ¡®save¡¯ the Qu¡¯Lopti at this point, but at least I knew what was going to happen to them. Unfortunately¡­ I doubted I could reform an entire planet¡¯s culture to make them more sane. That left¡­ this was not going to be fun. Calm down¡­ calm down¡­ everything will be fine. Tapping the intercom button, I addressed the crew. ¡°Attention, everyone. It appears that our stay here will be a much longer one than anticipated. The Qu¡¯Lopti are¡­ in dire need of a proper representative. And apparently¡­ I¡¯ve been elected by the god of insanity to do the job. So¡­ I am going to try to build diplomatic relations with this planet. In the meantime, I will be setting up a mining operation to get the metal needed for large scale construction. Any donations from the crew¡¯s druids would be welcome.¡± ¡°Once the construction operation is complete, if there are people who wish to return to another world, we will construct additional small craft that can take the journey. Otherwise, we will become the people that represent this unknown race in the future¡­. May the gods have mercy on our souls.¡± After that, I tapped the button again to end the call. ¡°If anyone needs me¡­ I¡¯m going to be in the cargo bay. Need to grind a bit.¡± Saying so, I left the bridge, and made my way to the cargo bay. ¡°Celeste, can you upload the language to the ship¡¯s computer? I really don¡¯t want to have to save enough experience to teach three hundred people a language.¡± There was a light laugh over the comm as she replied. ¡°Will do.¡± With that taken care of, I went and began killing lots and lots of monsters. Since I was too high level for ettins to give me anything, I was farming a higher level ogre instead. Though, doing so meant I had to adjust the formation so that it would be able to kill the ogre more easily after it was spawned. All in all¡­ well, at least I¡¯ve made plenty of progress with my skills, when I wasn¡¯t playing with Tokemi. That should make things easier from now on.
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Expert Level 2: 1%
Nature Magic - Advanced Level 4: 49%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 8: 33%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Novice Level 2: 1%
Gathering - Beginner Level 9: 6%
Alchemy - Intermediate Level 9: 13%
Mana Signatures - Advanced Level 9: 1%
Cooking - Basic Level 4: 10%
Flight - Basic Level 4: 0%
Aura Sight - Advanced Level 3: 23%
Technomancy - Intermediate Level 5: 89%
Programming - Intermediate Level 4: 5%
Enchanting - Advanced Level 2: 30%
Engineering - Novice Level 2: 18%
Maintenance - Basic Level 9: 24%
Dodge - Beginner Level 5: 24%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 5: 29%
Marksmanship - Basic Level 3: 59%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 9: 42%
Soul Arts - Intermediate Level 2: 34%
Psychic Power: Toybox - Advanced Level 1: 1%
Piloting - Beginner Level 5: 3%
Navigation - Beginner Level 2: 12%
Weapons Systems - Basic Level 1: 13%
Shield Systems - Basic Level 1: 0%
Spatial Comprehension - Intermediate Level 1: 1%
Barrier Magic - Basic Level 3: 20%
Divination - Beginner Level 9: 1%
Like the helpful window says, a lot of my skills have shown improvement. Most notably, my Mana Manipulation and Toybox powers. For the former, I¡¯ve gotten much more used to controlling the mana around me, thanks to pulling Tokemi out of her time hiccups. For the Toybox, I have actually gotten to the level where I can use the Toy Prison¡­ on a small rock. It was really interesting to see it happen. The rock simply vanished from my hand, but I could still feel it in the corner of my mind. It existed, yet it was not on this plane. It was like it was trapped in a pocket universe under my supervision. After letting my head rest for a few minutes, I was able to call the rock back by focusing on it. This power was still nowhere near usable against actual people, and attempting to do so would likely make my head explode. But still, it¡¯s progress. From my other skills, Enchanting was the one that had the most gains. This wasn¡¯t surprising, as I had been practicing enchanting a lot of items such as weapons and armors. If anything.. I wasn¡¯t sure what else there was for me to learn to further improve my Enchanting skills. I¡¯m distracting myself from thinking about having to be the diplomatic representative to a race of overdramatic aliens, aren¡¯t I? I really think I am¡­ The next day, after I vented my frustration at about a hundred ogres, I opened a communication with Tordeadron again. ¡°Who summons me?!¡± The hologram called out as soon as the call was made. ¡°Ah! It is you, Captain of the Ariadne, sailor of the starry seas, the benevolent John!¡± Please, system, do not turn that into a title. I do not want to get official titles from these guys¡­ ¡°Hello¡­ I am calling today because I have an offer of trade that I think you might be interested in.¡± ¡°Oh? And what is it you wish to bestow upon these people?¡± Tordeadron made a sweeping motion with his hands, and I wasn¡¯t sure whether he was talking about his people or ours. ¡°You have some knowledge on magic that we are lacking. At the same time, we possess many technological advancements that your people have not discovered yet.¡± Deep breaths. Don¡¯t shoot the nice hologram. I never realized just how bad my resistance was against annoying people. ¡°Hmm. A trade of knowledge, then? But, what knowledge could compare to the fabric of the universe itself?!¡± ¡°The ability to leave your planet¡¯s atmosphere would be a good start.¡± ¡°Sold.¡± His quick reaction made me do a double take, before he cleared his throat. ¡°I mean, ahem, your offer is very appealing. Allow me to consult with my advisors and I shall send word to you when a decision has been reached!¡± Chapter 149: QuLopti Magic Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the delay. Been dealing with health issues lately. Good news is that I finally seem to be getting back to normal, so our irregularly scheduled chapters may resume!
As we agreed with our previous deal, we began preparing information for the Qu¡¯Lopti. Of course¡­ there were some conditions that I gave Celeste when she was getting the information ready. ¡°We don¡¯t want them leaving the planet too quickly¡­ give them just enough that they can start their own space program, and maybe get out into space on their own in a couple years. Naturally, we want to let them earn it for themselves, right?¡± Celeste just chuckled knowingly, nodding her head in agreement. While I did feel a bit bad for always wanting to cause a disaster of some kind for this species, I quickly got over it as soon as I remembered their personalities. That made it a bit hard to feel too bad, even though I wouldn¡¯t actually go through with it and do anything to them. To be fair, we didn¡¯t actually even need to do the trade in the first place if we didn¡¯t help them out. Yes, they do have knowledge on magic we are lacking, but Celeste could easily have just stolen that information from their network. Once you learn how to decrypt their ¡®drama speech¡¯, they actually keep quite comprehensive reports on things. Also, I soon came to learn that this planet is called Kithorun, which vaguely translates to mean ¡®Almighty¡¯ in their language. Their star was also referred to as ¡®God¡¯s Eye¡¯, though for the purpose of identifying their system, let¡¯s just call it Qu¡¯Lesh. Yes¡­ their race¡¯s name also means ¡®God¡¯s Chosen Sword¡¯. I couldn¡¯t agree with their naming sense¡­ Now, as for their magic knowledge¡­ yes, I went ahead and had Celeste check it out before the meeting. The more I can tune out the Qu¡¯Lopti during the deals, the better. Besides, I didn¡¯t feel like waiting until unnecessarily long diplomatic meetings were over before we actually learned the stuff we could find out at any time. Yes, it¡¯s cheating, and no I don¡¯t care that much. As I was saying¡­ they currently know of only arcane casting, and element manipulation. While a few of their written words have caused magical accidents, they aren¡¯t sure why. However, they label the types of magic differently than most. To them, arcane casting is ¡®concept magic¡¯, where you can do anything with the type of magic you can imagine. On the other hand, manipulation is referred to as ¡®principle magic¡¯, where you have to understand the various truths about a given element in order to properly wield it. And¡­ it seems they really have experimented with it more than I have. Under their ¡®Laws of Darkness¡¯, there existed a realm of shadows directly linked with our own world. The matter in this second world is in a mostly fluid state, but always trapped in darkness. It is only possible to open the gateway between the two worlds using Darkness Manipulation, either by pulling some of the ¡®dark material¡¯ into our world, or by sending creatures into the world of darkness. Recalling the various abilities of Darkness Manipulation I had used, including the shadow prison, this made sense. I had never really considered an entire linked world, but it was apparently true. Furthermore, several of the Qu¡¯Lopti used the darkness in a way I had never imagined. By dropping an item into the world of darkness, anyone else with the Darkness Manipulation skill can find and retrieve that item, as long as there is uninterrupted darkness between them. For instance, if their shadows are connected, or at night when the darkness extends everywhere. Likewise, they could transport themselves through that shadow world in the same way. While this was an interesting concept, it wasn¡¯t particularly useful to me. Maybe if we needed another way to quickly transport items, but that¡¯s not really necessary for us right now. At most, it is nice to learn the basic principle behind the Dark Affinity. It was the one that had been confusing me for the longest, after all. If it followed the same rules as the other affinities, then I would only be able to move shadows around with it, and not be able to use any other effects. From what I can tell, they have focused their research almost entirely on magic, ever since it first appeared after Genesis. Their insights into it are almost approaching what NeoLife had, almost three thousand years in the future¡­ Okay, so apparently there was a reason for them to need to survive. If the Qu¡¯Lopti survive, then magic research can advance even faster, and new possibilities may be unlocked in the future. Now, there was also one section I was particularly interested in, regarding their magical knowledge. And that was how to develop unique abilities. One such ability listed was the ¡®Devil¡¯s Eye¡¯, which was just their name for Aura Sight. This was the most common ¡®unique¡¯ ability. Another was the ¡®Ultimate Protector of Unity¡¯. From what I could tell, this ability was what the Qu¡¯Lopti pair had used in the previous recording to summon an iron golem. In order to call the protector, the two people have to merge their auras together, and form a clear, identical picture of what they want to summon. They have to both imagine its form, its strength, and any special abilities it has. If the two images match, and the combined mana is sufficient, the merged auras will come together to form the protector. This particular ability seemed rather interesting to me. I couldn¡¯t help but consider, what if more than two people formed a protector? What if it was five? Or ten? Or even fifty¡­ All pooling their mana together to imagine a single terrifying creature. Oh¡­ that happens. I saw another ability listed, and was surprised to see that it was labeled a separate ability, even though it had the same concept. ¡®God¡¯s Warriors¡¯, an ability used by large adventuring groups to subdue giant monsters. The suggested configuration is at least twenty people with at least a thousand mana each, and they all have to focus on the same image. With twenty such people, the monster formed has the equivalent of level 150. With fifty, it is a level 300 monster. The strongest ¡®God¡¯s Warrior¡¯ ability ever used was by a hundred people, but it only lasted for ten seconds. During that time, they had no suitable means to judge its level, because the boss monster was defeated after the first two seconds. By my guess, it should have been a level 450 to 500 summon. And, the stronger the monster, the faster it drains the mana from each individual. So, after that ten seconds, all one hundred people were unconscious from severe mana drain. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. According to their information, anyone has the ability to create a new unique ability, if they have sufficient patience and imagination. Each one is essentially a new type of magic. Although this new magic can be powerful, it has to be developed manually, each new aspect to it added one at a time. That is what sets it apart from conceptual magic, where you can easily come up with new spells following the same concept. I sat down for a little while, thinking about this information. Tokemi was currently playing with Kismet and Yo, so I had some time to myself. Should I make my own ability? If so, what should it be? Obviously, I wanted something that could combine all of my major abilities. Nature Magic and my element manipulation would have to be my two biggest magic-related abilities, by far. Toybox doesn¡¯t interact well with magic, and Soul Arts aren¡¯t too good for offense, at least not how I¡¯ve been practicing them. Another question, why were these abilities not widespread in the future, even without the Qu¡¯Lopti? Was it just that there weren¡¯t enough people willing to go outside the norm when they thought there was nothing to be gained? Suddenly, I had an idea for my own unique power, but I wasn¡¯t sure how I would create it. Well, actually there were two ideas¡­ and I wasn¡¯t sure which was cooler. Either way, I¡¯d have to practice for a while to get them right. The first ability combined my affinities with my marksmanship. My idea was to make a gun with my magic that could shoot out condensed elemental mana, which I could ¡®solidify¡¯ at will. So, for example, if I used it with metal mana, and waited until the mana impacted against the target before solidifying it, the target would be locked in a metal cage. Alternatively, I could solidify it in midair before reaching the target, and they would be struck by a metal bullet. This power would continue to grow with my Mana Manipulation and my affinities. The second ability combined Nature Magic with my affinities. The idea behind this was living elemental pets. I actually had an idea on how to practice this one, though I wasn¡¯t sure it¡¯d work. Basically, I would form an animal or monster¡¯s aura with elemental mana, and use Nature Magic to make it real. If my theory worked, it could create a monster made out of the element. So, a fire goblin for instance. There was a major flaw behind this ability, though. It was unlikely that monsters I made in this way would be loyal to me by default. Although I should be able to forcibly control their bodies like a puppet, it would likely take too much of my concentration. Out of the two ideas, I decided to focus on the former. While elemental guns might not seem as cool as elemental minions, it is more reliable in the long run. So, I took another look through their information about creating new abilities. From their information, you need to be completely familiar with the physical form of the object you are creating when your ability involves that. For the Qu¡¯Lopti, they generally use their VR devices to create a test world, and create the physical form they want to mimic in there. Then, they slowly study it, take it apart, put it back together, and so on. Once they completely knew the form of their object, to the point where they could imagine it in its entirety in a split second, then they would be able to create it with their mana. The exact process to do so¡­ is vague. I¡¯d have to figure that one out on my own. I was starting to think that maybe we should get some VR devices of our own. If nothing else, there would be a good entertainment value with them. Though¡­ I really wasn¡¯t looking to play any new games. It¡¯s hard to get excited for a game when the real world itself has become one, you know? Well¡­ maybe not that hard for the Qu¡¯Lopti. Speaking of¡­ I noticed something that was missing from their knowledge on magic. And that was the knowledge about groves. They hadn¡¯t yet discovered how to properly merge the five elements necessary to create a basic grove, so they are completely lacking in that area. However, they have created their own alternative among the unique abilities, ¡®Perfect World¡¯. Perfect World is the ability to create your own personal pocket dimension, complete with any plants or animals you can think of. However, the things created by the pocket dimension aren¡¯t real, and can¡¯t be taken outside. They only exist while they are in that dimension. This was probably the most powerful ability listed in the information I received. After all, you could create medicines while in the Perfect World, and as long as you wait until they have finished their work on your body, you would be able to receive the full effect. Though, thankfully it¡¯s not as easy as imagining up a potion to double your strength, and you actually have to understand how to make what you want. ¡°You¡¯re procrastinating again.¡± Suddenly, a voice spoke up from beside me, Celeste standing there with her arms crossed, looking at me with an amused smile. ¡°I¡¯ve already prepared the data to send down. We can contact them at any time to conclude the trade. And before you try to think of a way out of it, I already scheduled the mining operation, and contacted the druids on the crew to see who would be willing to donate for the station.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ but¡­ do I have to?¡± I let out a soft groan as I got up, not looking forward to the meeting. ¡°Yup~! Tell ya what. If you can go through the whole meeting without wanting to blow up the planet, I¡¯ll let you see my own unique ability, once I finish making it.¡± She grinned a bit at that, before turning to walk for the door. ¡°Dammit¡­ well, I guess it was inevitable that you saw me looking at it. Let¡¯s get this over with.¡± I said with a sigh as we made our way to the bridge. For the record, I failed to restrain myself from wanting to blow up the planet. One Qu¡¯Lopti is bad, but manageable. Two or more¡­ and they just fuel each other. Ten in one hologram call¡­ I had to struggle very hard not to press any big red buttons.
Author¡¯s Basement: Sorry for the chapter being a bit shorter today, wrote as much as I could manage while still under the weather xD Chapter 150: The End of an Arc Author¡¯s Corner: Hey guys! Finally the last chapter of this annoyingly long arc! Yes, that¡¯s right, it was annoying long for me as well! However, it was necessary to show him doing these things in order to establish the setting for the next arc. Now, a small announcement. As many of you might have read if you read my Author¡¯s Corner notes, I recently had a long battle with sickness. This has, unfortunately, temporarily withered my imagination. As such, I plan to take a brief hiatus from World Seed so that I can make plans for the next arc and get my creativity back! Hopefully this hiatus will not be a long one, but after the last chapter, I think we can all agree that it is needed.
Well, at least the meeting was not a complete waste of my time, since I managed to learn some more about the Qu¡¯Lopti world. Though, most of this was done by using Celeste to search their internet while they yelled back and forth. So, I¡¯ll summarize a bit here. ¡°You peons of the fifteenth realm, you think you have the capital to sit at the same table as I, Dareon, wielder of the pale flame and master of the shadows?¡± One of the Qu¡¯Lopti diplomats yelled at another as they conducted their ¡®play¡¯. According to Celeste¡¯s information, each realm was a different country, and there were almost two hundred countries in all. Though, the number of the realm was inconsequential, as each realm also had a name. They just often prefered calling the countries by their number in which they were established. ¡°Like a mere eighth realm has the right to question me. Why are you even here? Aren¡¯t you said to be working on your new ultimate skill?¡± Another one questioned the first. ¡°Hah! As if I would have any difficulties with that. My Eyes of True Desolation have already reached their perfect stage.¡± The first yelled out proudly. Surprisingly, the other nine all clapped approvingly when he said this. ¡°Ahem, excuse me, but could we get back on track with why we are all here?¡± I shook my head with a sigh as I was forced to speak up. ¡°My crew is interested in establishing a¡­ mutually¡­ beneficial¡­ relationship¡­¡± The words, they felt like I had to force each one out. I was really starting to hate Malthan for making me do this. ¡°Ah, yes, the people of the Outer Realm.¡± One of the Qu¡¯Lopti, who had previously been part of the play from before, spoke up. ¡°We have heard your offer from Tordaedron. You offer information that would help us reach the Outer Realm ourselves, in exchange for our knowledge on magic.¡± Several others nodded at that, but their faces froze when he continued. ¡°However, my Network Integration has revealed a foreign presence on the net. After tracing it back, I found it originated from the Outer Realm. So, I ask of you, what is it you truly wish to gain from us?¡± Wait¡­ Celeste, you were caught? ¡°Uhm¡­ maybe? I don¡¯t know!¡± I heard the AI answer in my head, so I shook my head again. ¡°It is true, I have already learned much from accessing your net. As I said, my crew wishes to set up a lasting relationship, so even if we do not learn much from this meeting, there is still a benefit to be gained. I plan to have a base constructed in orbit around your planet to use in the near future, as well.¡± As they heard me, a few of them frowned slightly. ¡°You seem to be willing to give, but not take. Is there truly nothing else you are attempting to acquire from the Qu¡¯Lopti people?¡± I thought about whether I should answer that honestly, but knowing this race, one of them was likely to have a means of telling whether or not I was lying. So, I could only respond with a sigh before telling them. ¡°I have been sent by a god known as Malthan, for the purpose of acting as a diplomatic liaison between the Qu¡¯Lopti and¡­ pretty much everyone else.¡± When I said that, the holograms suddenly jumped to their face, looks of excitement spread across all ten faces. ¡°The father of chaos has sent you?!¡± The one that had just been questioning me¡­ I think he introduced himself as being from the second realm. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say so before!? You appeared to simply be a boring man of no talent, but this changes everything! If the father of chaos has personally spoken to you, then of course we shall abide by his wish.¡± ¡°...¡± I have never spoken in ellipses before, but I felt like that is the only way to describe my reaction. Seriously, all I had to do was drop Malthan¡¯s name? ¡°Yes¡­ he speaks to me¡­ You could definitely say that.¡± Nine of the people looked towards the tenth, who had introduced himself as being of the one hundred and ninth realm. ¡°My Eye of True Discernment can¡¯t detect any falsehood in his statement.¡± The made the other nine even more excited, and they even seemed like they might be on the verge of dropping their overly dramatic performance. ¡°We of the first realm support Captain Hulett¡¯s offer to become diplomatic envoy to the Qu¡¯Lopti!¡± ¡°The fifteenth realm supports as well!¡± One by one, the ten Qu¡¯Lopti voiced their support, leaving me truly surprised. Celeste¡­ they have an almost fanatical worship of Malthan, don¡¯t they? ¡°Yes.¡± She answered in my mind. ¡°There is a religion dedicated entirely to him, which has spread over the last two years to over half the planet. Though¡­ I didn¡¯t think they were this serious about it.¡± ¡°Well¡­ that will make this easier.¡± I spoke quietly to myself while the representatives of the Qu¡¯Lopti all sat down and resumed their former play. Though, this time their topics were not about who belonged at the negotiations, but who I would be reporting to. ¡°Or not.¡± They did not even seem to notice when I left the call, and continued to debate among themselves. ¡°You can go ahead and send the information down, Celeste.¡± The Deus Ex chuckled knowingly, before nodding and doing just that. ¡°Captain, if you don¡¯t mind, I would like to begin work on the station as soon as possible.¡± Naturally, I agreed, and she left the bridge. I stayed behind just in case one of the Qu¡¯Lopti called again, since only myself and Celeste could speak their language right now. However, that turned out not to be an issue, as there was no more contact from the planet for several hours. What was even more surprising was, when the leader of third realm, Tordaedron, called me again, he was speaking in elven. Broken elven, admittedly, but it was elven nonetheless. Were they just naturally better at learning languages, because they would often invent their own for their play acting? Or had they used another means to quickly learn an alien tongue. I wasn¡¯t sure either way, but he informed me that he would be my primary contact with the Qu¡¯Lopti. That had apparently been decided because he was the one I had first called when arriving here. With that taken care of, the next few days were rather interesting. Sometimes, I would receive a call from one of the leaders wishing to meet me. Other times, someone would call hoping to receive a divine message from Malthan. Did he not talk to other people as often as he did me?
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.If I did that, would I have any time to myself? You¡¯re just interesting, is all.
Well.. that is true, too. Anyways, my days continued like this for a while, and I even kept track of their space program. To my surprise, rather than using purely technology for their prototypes, they would mix in both magic and science. Although, they still did not have knowledge of runes, so they were more limited in their usage of magic with this. Within two weeks, they had a design laid out for their first orbital launch, though the construction of it would take at least two months. Normally, it would be far longer, but they had magic capable of speeding up construction by directly controlling the materials. At the same time, Celeste had released a swarm of station construction drones into an area of space around the Qu¡¯Lopti world. According to her, within two months, if they can gather enough metal, she should have the station at a level where it can function. Of course, she can¡¯t complete the entire thing in two months, but she designed it so that she could add on to it over time until it was finished. So, until then, we began our mining operation on Qu¡¯Lopti¡¯s moon. Every time we made a trip back and deposited the metal we had acquired with the drones. And every time, they quickly got to work, flying around and building wide rooms and halls that floated in orbit around the planet. When they weren¡¯t busy building, they would latch onto the sides of the current construction in order to perform any orbit corrections to keep it in place. As promised, the station gradually grew, until Celeste had to release more drones inside of it to handle the machinery construction for things such as life support and power. At the end of the two months, the station was almost as big as the Ariadne, but it was still far from done. However, this was the day when we could officially open it, and we had planned a grand event for this occasion. For this event, the shuttle had been running all day to ferry groups of people up to the station, in order to have a sufficient audience. And with that audience standing in front of me, I found myself in on a stage in one of the largest rooms of the station, easily able to hold over a thousand people. ¡°Thank you all for coming today. For some of you, this has been a long journey, and for others the journey is still just beginning. But for everyone, today is an important day. Today, I am announcing the opening of the space station X-1, the first official space station in Qu¡¯Lopti territory. At the same time, I am announcing the start of the new guild which will be stationed here.¡± Taking a deep breath, I tried my best to keep a straight face as I said the next part. Really, I just couldn¡¯t come up with a good name, so I went with one of the names for an old gaming guild. ¡°As of today, the LEET NEETs will be acting as diplomatic envoys of the Qu¡¯Lopti.¡± Silently, I navigated the game menus, and chose to establish my guild with that name.
Are you SURE you wish to establish a guild with this name? Y/N
I shook my head, selecting yes, and streams of golden light shot out from my body, flowing through the entire room. Everyone looked on in shock as windows appeared in front of them asking to join the LEET NEETs. By the time the scene was over, a screen appeared in front of me as well.
The LEET NEETs guild has been established by John Hulett, and 1,337 members have chosen to join the guild. New Guild Options are now available.
I decided to check those options later, and continued speaking. ¡°I would like to thank everyone that joined. And now, I would like to welcome two special guests up to the stage for their own little celebration. Two girls that I¡¯ve known since the very beginning. Please give a hand for Celeste and Yang.¡± I smiled back to the stage before walking off the side. The Qu¡¯Lopti, not knowing what to do, all raised one hand in the air, while the rest of the audience clapped. Meanwhile, the two girls walked out on stage. Celeste was wearing her magical girl outfit, with her metal wings fully extended and her microphone in hand. Yang had apparently been dressed to match her, with a similar tight fitting green outfit on her own body. In her hand was another microphone. ¡°Alright, Chelsea, let¡¯s get this started!¡± Celeste called out, lifting her microphone to the sky. Suddenly, a soothing music began to play out of it, while the lights dimmed around the room. Two spotlights appeared on the stage, one focused on each girl. Celeste stepped up to the front of the stage, bringing the microphone to her mouth. As she sang, her light voice resounded throughout the entire room. ¡°Moving on, is the hardest thing. Is the hardest choice, you¡¯ll ever make.¡± Looking over, she winked at me, then turned back to Yang, holding an arm out for her. ¡°Keep yourself in line, find a cause to live¡­ Find a reason to stay, and a reason to leave.¡± As Celeste sang, Yang walked up next to her with a smile, before singing her own part. ¡°Looking past the loss, looking past the sorrow. Find yourself an answer to your biggest doubts.¡± The two girls took each other¡¯s hand and began singing in unison. ¡°Healing all the shock, all the pain. Making yourself whole again. Have you ever wondered, why am I the one? Why am I the one to suffer this.¡± Their voices harmonized as the lights gently spun around them. ¡°Just look right around you, look at every face. They¡¯re all standing, ready to help you.¡± ¡°Fight your way right through all the doubt, thought, and fear as you carve a path of your own, towards your happiness.¡± The two girls separated, one walking to either end of the stage, before turning to look at each other again. This time, it was Yang that sang the next part first. ¡°Make it so that you make use of everything you got from this, as you build a dream, of your own today.¡± After singing those lines, she extended an arm out for Celeste, who picked up the next part. ¡°Move along, make sure to live your life like a song. Call upon your friends, and we¡¯re here for you.¡± Now, the two girls began slowly walking towards each other at the center of the stage, both singing the final parts of the song. ¡°Walk your path, just never forget. You¡¯re not alone, and those beside you, walk with you every day.¡± When they reached the center, they stood side by side, leaning against each other and wrapping an arm around the other¡¯s waist. The music slowed down as the last lines were sung. ¡°We walk with you every day. We stand with you every day. We stand with you¡­ every day.¡±
Author¡¯s Basement: I would like to thank PKill for the song lyrics, and composing the associated music below. [soundcloud]264113358[/soundcloud] Chapter 151: The Return Author¡¯s Corner: Not entirely back from the break yet, but the mood to write has been biting away at me(when I didn¡¯t have crushing headaches or computer problems). So, say hello to the first chapter of the new arc. Go ahead, say hello! Also, sorry for the shortness of the chapter, the rest of it was lost after it ran off the cliff at the end.
¡°Daddy, come on~! We¡¯re going to be late.¡± Tokemi tugged on my hand as we walked through the halls of the X-1 station. She was still the same size as she had been back when we first met her. A couple years ago, I discovered that her body isn¡¯t actually aging at all. It was likely an effect of her race, but she didn¡¯t seem to mind. Worst case scenario, I could artificially age her with my Nature Magic. ¡°I¡¯m coming, I¡¯m coming.¡± I chuckled as I followed behind Tokemi. It¡¯s been nearly five years now since we arrived at this world, and honestly¡­ It only recently became busy. The day that my quest was completed, the end of the three year timer, was the same time that the first alien ship arrived in Qu¡¯Lopti space. By that time, the Qu¡¯Lopti had already created their Magitek ships. And yes, that was what they called their new branch of technology. Since we had agreed to let me handle the majority of contact with other races, I was the one that ended up talking to the traveler. After that, there was no more contact for nearly a year before people began steadily appearing in Qu¡¯Lopti space. Each time, I would make sure to warn people of the ¡®eccentric¡¯ nature of the native race, so as to prevent misunderstandings. However, it seemed that quite a few people were interested in the race not recorded in the future¡¯s information. Naturally, I¡¯ve also been keeping track of the development of other races through Talia. Even though most of the elves chose to return home after the X-1 station was completed, we stayed in contact. By now, the elven ¡®empire¡¯ had officially begun. The first of their newly terraformed worlds were being completed outside of their own system, and their population spreading. They had even managed to develop the Void Elf race, through their own studies of auras and genetic manipulation. Speaking of¡­ I had made considerable progress of my own in that field. If it was just a physical change, I was at least eighty percent confident in being able to assume a new form. Special properties, however, were not quite as easy to produce. Now, back to the present. Today is Tokemi¡¯s sixth birthday, so we decided to get together and host a picnic down on the planet¡¯s surface. Right now, Yin, Yang, Tokemi, and myself were all headed down to get things ready. Celeste had planned to come early as well, but her and Sharon were still working on their presents. I was rather proud of Tokemi over the last few years. Once I was able to have her understand the basics of magic, she was able to quickly pick up the rest. Maybe it was the influence of the Qu¡¯Lopti, though I had to ¡®save¡¯ her from them a few times, but she was able to easily grasp her own magic after staying here for a while. She even unlocked her own class, likely the only one of its kind in existence, the Time Lord. This was basically a druid class that focused almost exclusively on the Time Affinity. Ever since she acquired that class, she has not had one of her time hiccups, which made both of us happy. Now¡­ as for the other girls? Well, I¡¯ll get to them later. ¡°There you are, master!¡± I was broken out of my thoughts by the angelic Yang walking over. ¡°You almost missed the shuttle.¡± She said in a reprimanding tone. Yang has taken the time here to learn, even going to schools to interact and develop herself. She¡¯s no longer just a simple-minded pet at heart. Though¡­ she still insists on calling me master. I swear, I tried to break her out of that habit, but she always just shakes her head with a smile. ¡°Sorry, had a last minute call to take care of. Yin already on board?¡± ¡°Yup!¡± She nodded her head quickly. ¡°And your parents said they¡¯ll take the next one down with everyone else. So we¡¯ve got just enough time to get everything set up.¡± With that, she grabbed my free hand and, together with Tokemi, dragged me to the shuttle. When we arrived at the shuttle, Yin was sitting down, smiling at us happily. Like the rest of the girls, she had become quite used to being a mother figure for Tokemi, so she made sure to help out whenever the little fox girl was involved. Naturally, that included setting up a birthday party. Seeing Yin, Tokemi happily ran to her side, sitting next to her. Grinning slightly, I sat down on the other side of Tokemi, and she leaned back in her seat with a smile. After reaching over and petting her head, everyone in the shuttle got ready for it to take off. Aside from us, there were about ten other people aboard. Most of them were Qu¡¯Lopti going back home from a visit to the station, but there were also a couple of other aliens as well. As the shuttle took off, I glanced at my status window. Although I haven¡¯t spent most of my time learning and training new affinities, I did pick up a few. Most of the time, though, I was busy schooling Tokemi, or doing diplomatic work for the Qu¡¯Lopti, or practicing my skills and abilities.
NameJohn HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesVengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship CaptainFame100,000
Level 20028%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassXeno-ShifterDeityMalthan
Health2000/2000Health Regen0
Mana4500/4500Mana Regen122.4
Strength80Wisdom300
Agility62Intelligence450
Dexterity62Charisma35
Vitality200Luck25
Points Remaining0
Earth 89%Fire 88%Wind 88%Water 88%
Lightning 87%Light 87%Dark 87%Plant 87%
Void 87%Metal 87%Magnetism 87%Plasma 87%
Gravity 87%Time 59%Animal 75%Gem 67%
Gold 80%Luck 25%Order 21%Bone 69%
If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Thanks to cultivating the Gold Affinity, I had eventually managed to obtain elemental seeds for Luck and Order from the gold market. Although the two hardly had any effect, due to cancelling each other out in most cases, these were two elements I would eventually need. Once my grove was at the Galactic stage, it would just be a matter of time until the big bang hit. I might be able to speed up the process of pouring everything into the black hole, but making it advance to the next stage still needs Luck and Order. Speaking of the grove, I managed to advance to the Nebula stage after being here for about two years. From there, my grove grew explosively. For a couple of days, I was like a magnet for all of the elemental mana I could absorb. It was to the point that I had to go down to the planet, because the metal of the station was starting to erode around me. Once I fully settled into the Nebula stage, I learned the special effect of this level. In short, my grove was now fueling its own growth. Before, I had to absorb any material lost from my grove manually, but now the planets and stars in my grove all emit their own mana types. That means that my grove is cultivating itself now. In the three years since then, my grove has gone from ten stars to roughly five hundred, each with their own planets. The more my grove expanded, the more mana it would generate to fuel the expansion, creating an exponential growth rate. Oh, you guys probably want to know about my new skills and abilities too, right? Well¡­ I¡¯ll go into more detail on how my skills progressed later. But, I will mention the unique ability I settled on, since it is relevant to a few things I¡¯ve mentioned so far. I ended up scrapping the idea of making a gun, because it was overly complicated and unnecessary. In the end, I went with the elemental aura creatures. The ability itself is different from my first imagination. I am capable of recreating auras with purely elemental mana, making an elemental version of the represented creature appear. But, instead of it having free will and being its own person, like I originally suspected, it linked directly with my mind. This let me experiment with altering auras for the last five years, giving me my current confidence. Now, again, back to the present. I need to stop getting sidetracked. It¡¯s surprisingly easy when the days start blending together. Back when we were constantly moving around-- gah, it happened again! Anyways, after the shuttle landed, we walked out of the city, Tokemi swinging playfully while holding onto mine and Yin¡¯s hands. Our location for the party was about twenty miles outside of town, in one of the quieter plains. I had already come down here repeatedly the last few days to lay down an anti-spawn barrier, and ensure that the spot was safe for the party. Now it was just a matter of getting things ready. Once we arrived, Yang and I got to work using our Nature Magic, while Tokemi played with Yin. While Yang sang, and caused bushes to thicken and shed their thorns, reshaping to form comfortable chairs, I tapped into the wood from the roots below and caused them to rise up to form tables. Next, I began grabbing the food prepared from my inventory, and laying it out on the tables while Yang went off to play with Yin and Tokemi. They seemed to be rather engaged in a game of tag once Yang joined them. Once I was all done setting things up, I connected to the elements to do something special, wanting to make a small statue of Tokemi. But¡­ for some reason, the elements weren¡¯t responding. I furrowed my brow, and tried again, even using my own mana in place of the ambient elemental mana, but there was still no response. Suddenly, a feeling of weakness came over me, and I could feel a strange mana rushing into my body. As I fell to the ground, I heard a pair of screams from behind me. Using what little strength I could muster to turn my head, I saw Tokemi and Yang holding onto each other, while Yin hovered just a few inches off the floor. I could tell why the screams came after only a moment, thanks to the bloody hole in the center of Yin¡¯s chest, an invisible blade protruding out smeared in her blood. The light in her eyes gradually faded away, and through our connection¡­ I could feel as her life faded away. Yin was dead¡­ Her body was pushed off the invisible blade, and she fell to the ground in a limp mess, her eyes open and looking ahead. I could hear a voice talking from the space behind where she had stood, but I couldn¡¯t register the words. My eyes were simply locked on Yin¡¯s body. This place was supposed to be safe. We didn¡¯t use clones because there shouldn¡¯t have been any dangers, and this was Tokemi¡¯s party. But now¡­ Yin was dead¡­
Author¡¯s Basement: All power to forward shields! Commence evasive maneuvers! Rage comments imminent! Impact in 10... Chapter 152: To War Author¡¯s Corner: Captain, shields are failing! The comments, they¡¯re coming in too fast! We have to fire off another chapter!
¡°John Hulett.¡± The figure above Yin¡¯s body spoke, finally registering. ¡°For the crimes of treason against the New Human Empire, you have been sentenced to death.¡± After he finished speaking, his body faded into view. The person standing there was a regular human, carrying a sword in one hand. I tried to muster up the strength to fight back, to attack the person that killed Yin. However, my body wouldn¡¯t respond to my commands. ¡°John!¡± I heard Celeste¡¯s voice calling into my head. ¡°I¡¯m on my way! The area was shielded against teleports, so I have to fly there, just hold on!¡± I tried to respond, but I wasn¡¯t sure if my thoughts were reaching her. All I knew was that the human was slowly walking up to me, and gripped his sword with both hands. ¡°Now, in the name of the empire, I carry out this sentence.¡± Just as he raised his sword above his head, a shrill scream rang through the area, and his body seemed to freeze. My head turned to look at the source of the scream, half expecting to find another of my friends dead. However, what I saw surprised me to no end. Yang, looking angrier than I ever thought possible for her, with her eyes a bloody red. Even with whatever magic was placed on me, I could feel her mana surging around her. When she opened her mouth, high pitched tones escaped, almost like when she sang for her crafting. However, where her crafting songs were soft and gentle, this was fast and raging. Each tone carrying an oppressive energy. Standing above me, the human¡¯s face seemed to contort in pain as he found himself still unable to move. ¡°What¡­ what¡¯s going on?! She can¡¯t--¡± Before he could finish what he was saying, his mouth sealed itself. The flesh of his lips merged together, then seemed to bubble out. His arms started bending in unnatural ways, curling in on themselves. Blood sprayed out from wounds that appeared out of nowhere and were instantly sealed. Soon, his flesh became bloated, veins becoming visible on the surface and his features entirely masked. He was nothing more than a pulsating mass of flesh. The worst part, though, was that it wasn¡¯t just him. Six other people also let out screams as they appeared from thin air around us, all going through the same process. Yang¡¯s rage seemed to trigger something, an aspect of her nature crafting that had never even been considered. And even with the deformed abominations that the human attackers became, I could faintly sense life from each of them. She wasn¡¯t allowing them to die. ¡°S-stop!¡± The voice that called out this time was Tokemi, who grabbed onto Yang¡¯s waist from behind in a tight hug. Hearing her voice, Yang¡¯s song seemed to end abruptly, and she looked down at the girl holding onto her. The red in her eyes slowly faded away, and she fell to the ground powerlessly, as if she had used all of her energy. Tokemi cried as she held tightly onto Yang, refusing to let go. Meanwhile, I was still unable to move until roughly ten minutes later when Celeste appeared. She cast a spell on me, and I felt the foreign mana leaving my body. However, before she could come over to see if I was alright, I shook my head. ¡°Yin first¡­¡± She nodded in understanding, not wasting a moment before moving over to Yin¡¯s side. Thankfully, Celeste knew all of my skills. Her Soul Arts were no less developed than my own, and after applying a simple heal to seal the wound on Yin¡¯s chest, she ripped out the soul energy from one of the masses of flesh near her, refined it, and then poured it into Yin. At first, nothing happened, and I was afraid that the resurrection failed. Once my strength came back to me, I slowly stood up and made my way over. ¡°Come on, Yin¡­ you can¡¯t just die like that.¡± I sent my mana into her body to see what was wrong, and smiled in relief. She had been revived successfully, she was just sleeping at the moment. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine, John¡­¡± Celeste spoke with a soft voice. Though, that gentle tone did not last long. ¡°Which is more than I can say for the people that did this.¡± ¡°Do you have any information for us?¡± I asked her, and she quickly nodded. ¡°When you were attacked, we received a data packet from one of the ships heading through the warp gate. It was, quite simply, a declaration of war. The New Human Empire, made up of the supremacists of humanity, declared war against¡­ pretty much everyone. Their first act was to kill you, since you had ¡®betrayed your people¡¯.¡± I nodded my head at that, and walked over to the nearest ¡®human¡¯. ¡°I was hoping I¡¯d never need to use this.¡± I grit my teeth, and extended a hand in a grasping motion. One of the new abilities I developed for my Soul Arts, Memory Scan. Since memories were stored in the soul, along with skills and experience, I came up with the idea of sifting through memories as I purified a soul. Soon, I found myself kneeling inside of a temple, my head lowered. For some reason, I didn¡¯t question it and looked up at the man standing in front of me. He seemed to be my boss¡­ no, maybe master was a better word? ¡°Your name is Jacob. From now on, you will fight for the New Human Empire. Is that clear?¡± ¡°Yes, sir.¡± I felt myself speaking in a voice that wasn¡¯t my own. I tried to clear my head, remember that this was simply a memory of a dead man. As such, I burned the image of his master into my mind. Later in these memories, I would come to know that his name was General Martin. The general was just over six feet tall, with a broad muscular build. His normally black hair was showing signs of fading, and he had a long scar down the left side of his face. The person whose memories I was viewing was an NPC created by the gold market. He was a disposable soldier, created for one simple mission, to kill me. I watched as they waited in orbit around the Qu¡¯Lopti world, biding their time. Their preparations were flawless, they had information on all of the combatants from my group. They knew about Yin¡¯s telekinesis, Sharon¡¯s shapeshifting, even Celeste¡¯s arsenal. When they saw me coming down to one spot on the planet and preparing it for days at a time, they decided to lay their trap. Under the cover of stealth, seven people descended to the surface and laid the various preparations. First, and most importantly, a device they created based on the anti-spawn barriers druids make. By forcefully normalizing all elemental mana in the area, elemental manipulation abilities can be nullified. This was their countermeasure against myself, and any other druids I happened to bring with me. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Next, one of their party members was a curse specialist. The moment I seemed to notice something strange, she cast her strongest curse on me, removing my ability to use magic and weakening my physical body. Had Sharon or Yo been here, she was also in charge of doing the same to them. Finally, Jacob himself was one of the members assigned to stealthily kill any combatants in the area aside from myself. According to their orders, only people that started human, namely myself and Sharon, were allowed to have the privilege of knowing their attacker¡¯s identity. As for Tokemi and Yang, neither of them have ever displayed combat ability. One was known to be a simple-minded crafter, while the other was a young child. In their minds, these two were no threat. They never imagined that the one seen as the most useless would destroy their entire team out of rage. And to be honest, I never thought Yang was capable of that either. Thankfully, they didn¡¯t seem to have information on my ability to resurrect people, or they would have taken extra precautions. Closing my eyes, I finished sifting through his memories. There were two things that were clear from what he knew. One, they were not going to stop just because one team failed. They would keep coming until I died. And two¡­ someone leaked information to them. Either a member of my current crew, or someone that has already left, but someone gave them information. Most likely, it was a former member, since the information they had on Tokemi was so scarce, but that still annoyed me to no end. Celeste, having read the information from my mind, had her face darken even further. There was audible cracking as she tightened her fists. ¡°John..¡± ¡°I know.¡± I nodded to her, closing my eyes. Calling on my Nature Magic, I located the place where Jacob¡¯s memory indicated the device being planted. Then, I made all of the nearby roots stab towards it, shattering it and giving me back my elemental magic. ¡°Tell the Qu¡¯Lopti. We¡¯re heading out once everything is ready.¡± With that, I walked over to Yang, reaching down and picking her up. With one hand, I gently rubbed Tokemi¡¯s head. ¡°It¡¯s okay, everything¡¯s going to be okay.¡± Tokemi rubbed at her eyes, still sobbing. Though, she did manage a small nod. Next, I pushed the button on my comm to activate it. ¡°This is Captain John Hulett of the Ariadne. All available crew, report to the ship. In twenty four hours, we go to war.¡± There was a mixture of responses from the crew. By now, most had already left to return to their own worlds. However, Sharon¡¯s evolved companions had been training for years to be able to crew a ship. Even without the original crew, there were still over a thousand people ready to fly the Ariadne. Once their jamming devices were taken care of, the five of us were teleported back up to the ship. Sharon met us with a panicked face, and seeing the two girls passed out in mine and Celeste¡¯s arms, couldn¡¯t stop herself from asking. ¡°What happened? Is everything okay?¡± I shook my head, signalling for Sharon to walk with us as we went to the medbay. ¡°There was an assassination attempt. Someone¡¯s declared war.¡± I summarized what had happened down on the planet, including Yin¡¯s brief death. Sharon¡¯s expression grew dark as I covered that part. I wasn¡¯t the only one that was out for blood now. Sharon and Celeste both treated Yin as a best friend, even a sister. However, once I covered what Yang did to the attackers, Sharon¡¯s eyes opened wide and she glanced down to the unconscious girl in my arms. Then she looked back up to me. ¡°What are we going to do?¡± ¡°They want a war, and they¡¯re not stopping until we¡¯re dead. So we¡¯ll give them one. I¡¯m mobilizing every ship that is willing to join us.¡± After saying so, I turned to look at Celeste. ¡°Did you catch the location that they warped to with the gate?¡± The warp gates were a new technology pioneered by the Qu¡¯Lopti. In the future¡¯s records it should have been the humans that came up with the designs, but since the Qu¡¯Lopti were advancing so much faster in their Magitek research, they developed it first. By now, there were no more than ten warp gates deployed throughout the entire galaxy. However, Celeste shook her head. ¡°They used a coded password for the gate, and it connected to an unregistered location. I was on my way to you, and the connection was too brief for me to track it. They¡¯ve set up a secret warp gate somewhere, and probably changed the password for it as soon as they were through.¡± I thought about that, and muttered under my breath. ¡°That means they could emerge from any gate they wanted to attack.¡± Accessing my friends list, I sent a call to Talia, the elven queen. She seemed rather surprised to hear from me, and asked in a somewhat hurried voice. ¡°You¡¯re alive? Is everything okay?¡± Judging from her tone, I was able to understand the situation. ¡°The New Human Empire already contacted you. Place a heavy guard on the warp gate. They seem to have a private one somewhere, so they could attack at any time. Make sure you have enough firepower aimed at it to destroy the entire gate if something goes wrong.¡± Talia hesitated for a few moments, before she responded in a calmer voice. ¡°We understand. And yes, they sent their declaration just now. We¡¯re searching for any possible spies, but that is hard when not every human is part of this group. We can¡¯t simply oppress them all.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll take care of it somehow. Just keep your people safe. And ask Maeve to mobilize any ships you can. These guys are using the gold market to buy disposable soldiers, so they likely have a way to endlessly produce currency for the market.¡± She agreed to that as well, and soon Celeste, Sharon and I arrived at the medbay. We laid Yin and Yang down in the beds to rest, and I began making my way to the bridge. ¡°Guess I don¡¯t get that early retirement after all.¡± Chapter 153: Judge, Jury, and Executioner We sat in the medbay, watching over Yin and Yang for a little over an hour. In that time, Tokemi had been sitting on my lap, looking with worry at the two sleeping girls until she finally fell asleep where she was sitting. In the end, I wound up holding her in my arms to make sure she didn¡¯t fall off to the side. The first to wake up was Yang, unsurprisingly. When she woke, her eyes slowly started to open, before she suddenly sat up abruptly and looked around. ¡°What happened? Where¡¯s Yin?¡± She asked in a fearful voice, before she saw her sister lying in the bed next to her. ¡°Shh¡­ It¡¯s alright. She¡¯s just sleeping.¡± I spoke in a soft voice, trying not to disturb the loli in my lap. When she heard me, Yang slowly got up and walked over to Yin, putting a hand on the other woman¡¯s head as if to confirm my words. Then, she seemed to slowly remember what had happened, and her shoulders began trembling. ¡°I¡­ I killed them¡­ didn¡¯t I?¡± She turned around to regard me, her eyes watering. Shaking my head, I answered honestly. ¡°No, you didn¡¯t. They were still alive. I finished it before we left.¡± I was in a rush to get back here, so I just lit the bodies on fire before we teleported out. ¡°But¡­ that¡­ that¡¯s even worse, then¡­¡± She thought about the implication of what that meant. For them to live through how she twisted their bodies, would be an unending agony as they waited to slowly die. I could see in her eyes that she was starting to feel fear as she looked down at her own hands. ¡°They killed Yin. If you hadn¡¯t done what you did, they would have killed me, you, and Tokemi as well. Thankfully, they didn¡¯t know we could bring people back, or else we might have really lost her.¡± As I spoke, Sharon got up from her spot beside me and walked over to Yang, wrapping her in a soft embrace. ¡°It¡¯ll be alright, Yang. We won¡¯t make you do that again, and we¡¯ll take care of the bastards that tried to kill our people.¡± She did her best to comfort Yang, just as Yin began to show signs of awakening. This was one of our first times actually using this ability, so I wanted to make sure there weren¡¯t any unforeseen side-effects. Especially since the soul used to bring her back was the soul of an NPC bought from the gold market.
Don¡¯t worry about it. That soul was just as good as any other. We won¡¯t make you pay a monthly fee to keep her alive or anything like that.
Been a while¡­ I mentally responded to Malthan. Although for the first year or so he had regularly kept in touch to help me with the Qu¡¯Lopti, after the completion of the quest, he stopped talking as much.
Yeah, well, your life got boring there for a while. Had to skip past a few years until you were actually going to do something. Didn¡¯t expect the god of Madness and Chaos to just sit around and chat with a random diplomat, did you?
And now? Are you here to actually help, or just more snarky comments?
Heh. I¡¯ve already helped all I can. Rules are rules, after all.
What¡¯s that supposed to mean?
You¡¯ll find out soon enough.
Sometimes, I really hated how people refused to properly answer a question. I mean, would it be too much trouble to just explain? It¡¯s not like he has anything important going on. From what I can understand, he spends half his time ogling goddesses, and the other half bored out of his wits. Looking over, I saw Yin slowly sitting up. ¡°What¡­ what happened?¡± As she asked, she reached down to her chest, where the blade had previously stabbed her through the heart. Although the wound had healed, there was still a hole in her shirt where the attack had pierced. Softly, again so as not to wake Tokemi, I summarized what took place down on the Qu¡¯Lopti world. When I was done, she looked in surprise at Yang, and joined Sharon in comforting her. Afterwards, Celeste, who had been mostly quiet the entire time, spoke up. ¡°We just got a call, from Tordaedron.¡± ¡°Is it important?¡± I glanced over to her, and she nodded. With a sigh, I carefully stood up, carefully holding Tokemi so as not to disturb her. Beckoning Sharon over, I had her take the fox girl to her room. Yes, that¡¯s right, Tokemi has her own room now. Although she still likes sleeping with us sometimes, she is no longer scared to sleep alone. Though I imagine the next few days she¡¯ll want to be near Yin. Together with Celeste, I made my way to the bridge. Along the way, I could tell that the remaining crew had gotten my message. Objects were being hastily moved around to make room in previously cluttered halls. People were running back and forth to inspect all of the systems. There were even several beast-kin from Sharon¡¯s grove that were filling in positions that had been vacated. Perhaps the only crew members of note I didn¡¯t see were my parents, who should have been on the station. Most likely, they too were on their way over. When we arrived at the bridge, I made sure to signal for everyone to stand down before a certain elf announced my presence. ¡°Put him through.¡± I spoke simply, sitting in my chair. While it was comfortable, it felt a bit odd sitting in it again. Being a diplomat meant that I spent most of my time on the station, and I hadn¡¯t actually sat in my captain¡¯s chair for nearly a year. Tordaedron¡¯s holographic figure appeared in the center of the bridge, looking straight towards me. ¡°Greetings, chosen of Malthan. I hear you have made plans to go to war against those that tried to harm you within my realm.¡± I nodded my head at that. ¡°That¡¯s correct. You¡¯ll have to be in charge of your own defenses for a while, until this is settled.¡± Tordaedron let off a small grin before he spoke again. ¡°Yes, we certainly will. However, that is not why I called today. As the chosen of Malthan, nominated liason to the Qu¡¯Lopti people, I have been authorized to place a fleet at your disposal. I have already assigned a group of ten Judgement Flights as well as an Executioner Flight to you. They should be arriving at any moment.¡± I lifted my brow in confusion. Granted, I hadn¡¯t kept that close of an eye on their space development, but I did not think they had gone far enough to have so many combat ships prepared. And even if they did, it¡¯s not even been an hour and a half since the attack. Even if each of these flights had only one ship, that¡¯s still eleven combat ships to get prepared and launched within that time, likely more. So, how could they have gotten ready so soon? ¡°Is something the matter?¡± Tordaedron asked, crossing his arms in front of himself in a satisfied manner. ¡°Were you expecting those troops to be needed?¡± My tone may have sounded colder than I intended, but if he saw this coming and didn¡¯t warn me, then we might have a problem. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The Qu¡¯Lopti only chuckled slightly. ¡°The Chaos Lord sent me a message saying that you would have need of troops. He did not say when, or why you would need them, only that when it happened, the need would be great. So these ships were prepared as your escorts. Thankfully, the preparations for them only recently finished.¡±
You¡¯re welcome. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)
Fine¡­ you did good. I sighed, nodding my head to Tordaedron. ¡°Thank you. Can you send us the specs for these ships so that I know what I¡¯m working with?¡± ¡°Absolutely.¡± His grin grew a couple sizes, and he pointed to someone in the distance. ¡°Transmit the specifications of the Judgement and Executioner models! The chosen of chaos must soon depart on his new quest!¡± It was only a moment later that the screens behind the hologram began flashing with images. With Celeste¡¯s help, I downloaded the information directly to my mind. And¡­ I have to say, I really shouldn¡¯t have been as surprised as I was about the two kinds of ships they were lending me. Each ¡®flight¡¯ was composed of eleven different ships. The first is the carrier ship. It houses the other ten, as well as provides living quarters for the pilots, and repair facilities. Each carrier ship has roughly thirty people on staff. Now, the other ten ships are separated into groups. While they each have combat abilities on their own, their greatest power comes when¡­ when they combine. The ten ships form the head, torso, arms, legs, feet, and hands of giant robots. When the ships are combined, the pilots enter a mental link state, so that they can fluidly control the robot without lagging response times. Furthermore, aside from the main weapon of the Executioner, the arsenal of the two models are kept in a pseudo-inventory, so that they can be pulled out of thin air without taking up extra space. There are two main differences between the Judgement and Executioner models. For one, the Executioner is over three times the size, making its carrier only slightly smaller than the Ariadne. The second, is their arsenal. Judgement models focus on speed and melee fighting, wielding large photon sword. For ranged attacks, they have a single railgun. Executioners, on the other hand, are far more heavily armed, and focused on siege warfare. They have mana circuits installed through the arms and hands to let them use a few gravity and light spells, but their greatest weapon is a positron cannon. From what I could understand, getting hit by that thing would probably destroy the Ariadne. Their other weapons include missiles imbued with fire magic to enhance their explosive effects, and a giant laser axe. The downside of this was that the Executioner was slow to move and use any of its abilities. Furthermore, the weapons were all powered by a mana core, a large mana stone placed in the chest of the machine. Celeste¡­ how¡­ I was simple dumbfounded as I reviewed the information on these two machines. Before, when we first arrived, the Qu¡¯Lopti barely had any real weapons technology. Most of it was holographic, meant to look cool for their play wars. There should be no way that they could naturally advance this far in five short years. I mean, they were using antimatter weapons, for crying out loud! Even Earth had barely managed to achieve that before Genesis hit. ¡°Uhm¡­¡± She tried to come up with an answer, and when she couldn¡¯t, she closed her eyes. Likely, she was going through their network again. ¡°Wow¡­¡± Her voice sounded out in my mind. ¡°There are reports of discrepancies in their orders for the last few years. Whenever the rulers used the system to assign research fields, there would be something extra added on. Then, some scientists were given very focused quests to understand certain subjects, the rewards of which were greater understanding in that area.¡± ... You¡¯re saying that Malthan has been guiding the Qu¡¯Lopti people for several years to help them develop these machines? He taught them about antimatter, space combat, and who knows what else? I shivered somewhat in fear at the possible implications of that.
You¡¯re welcome. ( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã)
Not now! I mentally grumbled as the message appeared again. He was talking about rules, but wasn¡¯t this going a bit too far? Was there some sort of loophole he used to let him get away with this or something? Either way, the previously doomed Qu¡¯Lopti now had massive war potential. Just one of their Executioner Flights had the firepower of a capital ship. The Ariadne, even after repeated upgrades, couldn¡¯t compare. I¡¯m going to need to get a new ship again, aren¡¯t I? I thought to myself, and communicated that thought to Celeste. ¡°I can set up a factory in your grove to work on it, but I don¡¯t know if it would be ready by the time we would need it. Your best bet would be to try and get one another way if you need it. Maybe you can get one as a quest reward or something.¡± Again, her voice sounded out inside my mind. ¡°Captain, we¡¯re picking up eleven ships leaving the Qu¡¯Lopti atmosphere.¡± As Ackbar spoke, the hologram of Tordaedron suddenly disappeared, and was instead replaced by a scene of eleven large ships flying towards us. They seemed to be flying in formation. With the largest, red ship at its center, the smaller blue ones were arranged with two in front and behind, above and below, and three on either side. The Judgement Flight looked like a long blade, thin at the bottom and wide at the top. There were protrusions along its sides, likely the various other ships that would detach to form the Judgement Warrior. There did not appear to be many visible weapons on the carrier, aside from two turrets positioned at the top front of the ship. The Executioner Flight was far larger, and more imposing. Its shape was more rectangular, with multiple turrets at every corner. In the back, it used several engines to help propel it, while at the front was a wide hole inside what seemed to be one of the detachable pieces. No doubt, this was the positron cannon, our new most powerful weapon. As a side note, I immediately began assigning new shield upgrades for the Ariadne. My policy was to never have a weapon you couldn¡¯t defend against. Just in case, you know? ¡°By orders of the Qu¡¯Lopti High Command, these honorable soldiers are reporting for duty!¡± Said a voice that was sent to us by the Executioner. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Knowing Malthan, he¡¯d never willingly make things easy for me. So what could the New Human Empire have that would warrant the use of such forces? And am I going to need to grab more backup from other allies along the way? I was thinking that the answer to that last question was probably a resounding yes. Chapter 154: A Recap of the Races, and a New Journey Author¡¯s Corner: Sorry for the delays in releases, everyone. RL is not going so well the last week or so, and I haven¡¯t really had the mood to write anything.
The next few hours passed by without much suspense. I tried to convince Tessa¡¯s mom to stay on the station with Tokemi and Tessa, but naturally nobody listened. We¡¯re going to war, you know? Even with our clone technology, there is no guarantee of safety if our ship is destroyed in a fight. ¡°No, I¡¯m going with you!¡± Tokemi declared as she gripped onto my shirt. ¡°I¡¯m able to help!¡± Tessa nodded her head resolutely as she stood next to Tokemi. ¡°Yeah! We can help! We¡¯ve learned all kinds of cool tricks. Besides, if you just went off by yourself and something happened, wouldn¡¯t everyone be sad anyways?¡± Hearing her words, Tokemi started tearing up as she looked at me with wide eyes. Even after five years, I can¡¯t resist the pouting loli eyes¡­ They are incredibly dangerous weapons. ¡°Okay¡­ fine. But you have to be sure to listen to me, okay? If we get into any dangerous situations, I don¡¯t want you guys running off on your own.¡± Seeing me give in, the two girls grinned to each other in victory. Okay, so Tessa grew up a bit and isn¡¯t really a loli anymore, but she still knows how to team up with Tokemi! After that, my parents met with me. They had also tried to convince Tokemi to stay behind. However¡­ she had a different answer for them than she did for me. Apparently, she insisted on a duel with the two of them, and if she lost then she would stay behind. As for this duel, one thing we learned from the Qu¡¯Lopti was actually how to use ¡®duel tokens¡¯. They could be purchased from the market for a relatively low price. When used, they recorded the participants auras and let them fight to the death. Afterwards, the auras would be reverted to their state from prior to the duel. This way, even if a soul-altering effect was used, there was no risk of permanent damage. Sometimes, it amazes me how many game-like systems are in place, and the items that go with them. Anyways, for the result of the duel¡­ it was an instant victory. I wasn¡¯t there to see it personally, but my dad said that Tokemi did something to them that caused instant death. My best guess was that she used her time manipulation to stop the time around their vitals. As for my mom, who is a Deus Ex still, she would have simply needed to accelerate the time around her until her body was destroyed. Thinking of how strong Tokemi was¡­ I shivered a bit. It barely registered that I should be able to do something similar with my own abilities. Even with all the time I¡¯ve had lately I¡¯ve not practiced too much on the ¡®laws¡¯ behind the Time Affinity. As it was my slowest rising affinity, I was more concerned with understanding the others first. The next day, all of us were aboard the Ariadne, ready to depart. Although over half of the crew were now evolved animals from Sharon¡¯s grove, we were completely staffed. Celeste even assured me that the ones placed in important locations had the appropriate knowledge to work there. By the way¡­ our hangar was naturally not able to hold the eleven other ships, so we ended up forming our own fleet. This was done with another item bought from the gold market, a fleet identity plate. The only real benefits to being in a fleet were that we would have constant updates on ship positions, could more easily travel together in subspace, and the captains could communicate telepathically with each other. As for the name of our fleet¡­ I was outvoted eleven to one. Although technically they made me the boss of the entire fleet, each captain had a vote for the name. So¡­ our name turned into the Sons of Chaos. ¡°This is John Hulett, addressing the Sons of Chaos fleet.¡± I spoke with some reluctance as we prepared for our departure. ¡°Yesterday, people invaded the world of Kithorun, intent on assassinating myself and those I care about. Normally, I would not ask so many other people to get involved based on just that, but at the same time, those people declared war across the stars. The New Human Empire has challenged every race to a fight. This is no longer just my problem.¡± ¡°I do not know where they are hiding, or how long it will take to find them. But we will find them. We will show them that there are things you don¡¯t do. People you don¡¯t mess with.¡± I let out a long sigh mentally before I said the next part. However, it was kind of relevant, despite the awkwardness of it. ¡°We will show them the meaning of chaos.¡± From the eleven other ships, as well as the station, there were loud cheers transmitted over the call. ¡°The main Qu¡¯Lopti force will stay behind to defend Kithorun while we go to war. Do not let anyone through without proper authorization, and maintain surveillance on the subspace territory around the system.¡± Giving one final look to the planet, I then turned towards the navigations officer, a black haired wolf-girl that still had canine ears. ¡°Take us to subspace. Transmit the destination to the rest of the fleet so that we can move in formation. We¡¯re heading for Gerin.¡± Although the Qu¡¯Lopti had a warp gate that could take us to Gerin in just an hour, there were various reasons why it was better to take the long way. First of all, there was a fifteen minute recharge between each activation of the gate, meaning that if we got in trouble on the other side somehow, we¡¯d have to wait fifteen minutes for backup to arrive. Second, and more importantly, we do not know the staging ground for the New Human Empire. Rushing back would not help us significantly, since it is better to scan the systems as we pass them for any signs. ¡°Understood, sir!¡± The wolf-girl called out with a smile, then began repeating my instructions, followed by a list of coordinates from the computer. ¡°Sons of Chaos, prepare to enter FTL in three, two, one, jump.¡± As she finished speaking, the dozen ships making up our fleet disappeared, instead moving to the dark void of subspace. Nodding my head lightly, I sent one last order to the group. ¡°This trip will be a long one. The Ariadne is the only ship in the fleet with advanced scanning capabilities, we will be constantly scanning nearby systems as we pass to investigate for signs of the New Human Empire. Each ship should stand by and be ready for an order to drop out of subspace should something be discovered.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°As you command, envoy!¡± The eleven flight captains responded unanimously. Cutting off the communication, I instead opened up my friends list to call Talia again. I wanted to get an overview on how the other races were handling things so far. If I knew what to expect, I might be able to find more allies, or prevent misunderstandings. So far, there were a total of ten races, aside from humans, forming a somewhat stable alliance, though that number had the potential to grow quickly, as there were still more races being negotiated with. First, naturally were the elves. Not counting the humans, they had possibly the best start with setting up an empire after Genesis. Their people were flourishing, and they would take part in many diplomatic meetings. Next were the halflings. They were likewise rescued by an adventuring human that set out early from Earth, and were given significant help in advancing their culture to the point of reaching space. Although they were a hyperactive race that had trouble focusing for long periods of time, they could be quite ingenious when the situation called for it. According to Talia, they had already begun mobilizing their own fortifications against the New Human Empire as well. After the halflings came the Ha¡¯vosh. While they were still uninterested in journeying to space, they would welcome others to their world whenever they arrived. The devices we gave them to allow them to safely communicate with their psychic powers have begun spreading out more and more. Next on the list¡­ actually, two races that surprisingly came from the same system. Although they did not originate from the same planet, their two planets shared very close orbits with each other. These races were the demons and fairies. You thought I was going to say angels, didn¡¯t you? No, the demons and fairies actually get along well, despite their cultural differences. Demons had advanced their culture along the same lines as humans, though with slightly more focus on war potential. Meanwhile, the fairies were guardians of nature, preferring to live in their trees and tend their forests than develop technology. Their level of civilization was probably the lowest out of any of the allied races. Obviously, there are the Qu¡¯Lopti as well, but I already know all of their affairs, as I am often the one to represent them. The Qu¡¯Lopti influence is considerable, since a few of the races know about my efforts to help them. Combine that with the technology that the race is distributing freely, and they are much better off than they had been fated originally. Hmm, what¡¯s left? There were also three new races recently discovered and added to the alliance. The first was a species known as the Kleptids. They are a three-armed yellow race with a heavy focus on medicine. Unlike the elves who researched genetics to alter their bodies, the Kleptids did so because of their hostile planet. Apparently during one of their early wars, the atmosphere was poisoned, so dozens of new diseases would appear. As such, their research was focused on finding cures for those and other diseases. The next new race was the Drakes, a group of lizard people. Strangely, their technology went a completely different direction from most other races. Rather than mechanical engineering, they did genetic engineering. Their vehicles are large reptilian mounts, and their spaceships are actually grown in orbit. I can¡¯t imagine it would be fun to fight against a ship that had a giant row of teeth. The final new race to be discovered was the dwarves. Now, people had actually gone to look for them originally, but their homeworld was not at the location NeoLife¡¯s records indicated. This wasn¡¯t a fault in the records, but rather¡­ the dwarves move their planet. Don¡¯t ask me to explain how they managed to accomplish it, but somehow, they turned their entire planet into a giant spaceship. They were the first race to visit another star system, because they had been flying towards it for over a hundred years. All of these races so far have been making their own preparations for countering the New Human Empire, but only one has spoken up about going on the offensive. This was the Deus Ex race. After we left them some years ago, it seemed that an internal war broke out over whether or not to convert to Deus Ex. In the end, after their planet was shattered, only a few thousand Deus Ex remained intact. Though, they have been regularly repopulating their numbers over the last couple years. Even if their race dies out completely, as long as Celeste and I remain alive, we could even create more. Anyways, this was the current state of affairs with the other races. In terms of gathering information, I could rely on any of them, but only the Qu¡¯Lopti and the Deus Ex had the forces to launch attacks of their own. The demons probably could, if they didn¡¯t have to divide their forces to protect both their own and the fairy¡¯s homeworld. Of course, there was another problem that Talia told me about, which made me just as worried as the New Human Empire. ¡°It seems that monsters have begun appearing more frequently in empty space. Abstract attacks have increased by tenfold in the last year, and several trade ships have reported giant creatures attempting to attack their ships while they jumped in and out of subspace.¡± This one was really only a matter of time. Even on Earth, large monsters took a while to appear, and that was at the center of mana in the galaxy. This is actually a bit ahead of when I expected them to spawn in great enough numbers to be a threat. Originally, I thought that we had another ten years before they were noticed. After all, space is unbelievably huge. Out of our galaxy, we have only explored one tiny speck of one corner. When I received that last bit of news, I made another call to the fleet. ¡°All Qu¡¯Lopti flights, scan the subspace area for monsters during our travel. We¡¯ll probably have quite a bit to deal with.¡± I had barely finished saying that, when a dull roar shook the Ariadne. My first thought, before even knowing what had caused it? But there¡¯s no sound in space? Chapter 155: The Space Monster Cometh Author¡¯s Corner: Space battle? Space battle!
¡°All ships, drop out of subspace! We can¡¯t do a battle here!¡± I called out immediately as another roar shook through the ship. ¡°And identify whatever is causing that!¡± As the ships vanished one by one from subspace, an image appeared in the bridge of the Ariadne. The creature shown on it was at least ten miles long, easily bigger than the ship, with a serpentine body. Its face looked like an old chinese dragon, with long whiskers trailing off for hundreds of meters. On its underbelly were four small, thin legs, each with a set of nasty looking claws. Its entire body was white, except for the black eyes that glared at us. ¡°Creature unknown! But its mana signature is enormous. At least level five hundred!¡± The scanning technician spoke after the information was gathered, causing me to grimace. We had never even seen anything above level three hundred before, so I wasn¡¯t sure how well this would go. Soon, we too dropped out of subspace to appear alongside the rest of the fleet¡¯s ships. A moment later, a rip could be seen in the space in front of us, the giant dragon-like monster pushing its way through. ¡°All ships, prepare to engage.¡± This thing, from what we could tell so far, was faster than us. If we tried to run, even splitting up and going different directions in subspace, there would be heavy casualties. ¡°Understood, envoy! All flights, launch! Alpha formation.¡± The head of the Executioner Flight called out, before all one hundred and ten ships launched from the Qu¡¯Lopti carriers. They began spreading out, forming an eleven by ten wall of smaller ships. ¡°Open fire, photon rounds!¡± At his command, all of the Qu¡¯Lopti ships began pelting the dragon-like creature with streams of white bullets. Meanwhile, I looked to Ackbar at his console, and nodded my head. ¡°Charge the main cannon.¡± Next, I closed my eyes and focused. I used my Xeno-Shifter ability to attune myself primarily to the Plasma Affinity, and stretched my mana out. Better safe than sorry. Thanks to five years of casual training, combined with the growth of my mana control from passive cultivation, I was able to extend my mana senses out a bit beyond the boundaries of the ship. As such, atop the Ariadne, I formed a body out of plasma, making the skin out of magnetism. This new body resembled my void elf form, except its body glowed with a bright blue light. Using one of the abilities formed from my Mana Manipulation, ¡®Puppet Body¡¯, I could possess this form and use it as if it were my own, so long as it stayed within the range of my primary body¡¯s mana sense. My new body, like a living sun, watched the battle from a much clearer perspective. At the same time, its body began sprouting wings along its back, mana gradually pouring into it from the surroundings. Although my affinities had been focused on plasma, I still had roughly 50% of my other main elements. As the dragon was being pelted by the photon bullets, it let out another roar which shook the entire fleet. Though, with my senses spread out like they were, I could tell that it was not a true roar. At least, there was no actual sound involved. Instead, the monster released what was likely a breath weapon of mana that impacted the ship, causing it to vibrate and emit the roaring noise. If my clone on top of the Ariadne was made of solid elements, then it likely would have been crushed by that roar. Apparently seeing that its roar was ineffective, its mouth began glowing brightly, strands of light circling around and into its open mouth. Immediately, figuring that this would be a big blast, I shouted to the bridge. ¡°Evasive maneuvers!¡± ¡°Understood!¡± Thankfully the clone atop the Ariadne had magnetic skin, letting it latch onto the ship even as it began moving to the side. The hundred plus Qu¡¯Lopti ships also seemed to notice the incoming attacking, and scattered from their formation just before a thick beam of light emerged from the mouth of the dragon. The width of the beam was enough that, if it had hit, it would have swallowed the Ariadne whole. There was an explosion as the beam struck against the back of the ship, unable to fully maneuver out of the way in time. ¡°We¡¯ve lost the engines! Hull breaches throughout the rear of the ship! Sealing the affected corridors!¡± One of the voices in the bridge called out, but I was focusing too much on my clone on top of the ship to identify exactly who it was. ¡°Is the main cannon charged yet?¡± I did my best to ask in a calm voice, while I watched the Qu¡¯Lopti ships zig-zagging towards the dragon. Now that the first plan failed, they seemed to intend on getting into a dogfight with the monster. ¡°Main cannon is charged and ready to fire!¡± This time, I knew it was Ackbar speaking. ¡°Fire in ten seconds.¡± I gave the command, and then relayed to the fleet. ¡°Main cannon firing, get out of the way.¡± As I said that, the Qu¡¯Lopti ships curved their paths to avoid the blast from the main cannon. Now that I think about it, this is one of the first times I¡¯ve ever had this ship fire its main cannon. The last time was several upgrades ago, so it can¡¯t quite be considered the same. Still, against this enemy, it was uncertain how effective it would be. As the cannon fired, and a thick, multicolored beam shot out from the front of the ship, the dragon turned and charged straight for us. It charged through the beam of energy with relative ease, moving straight towards the Ariadne. Not yet¡­ I grimaced, unable to have the Ariadne evade as its engines had already been crippled. ¡°Protect the flagship with your lives!¡± One of the Qu¡¯Lopti called out, and just as the beam from the main cannon ended, ten large humanoid machines tackled the side of the dragon. Their backs lit up and they gradually shoved it to the side, making it avoid the ship by a small margin. At the same time, the eleventh, larger mech stood off to the side, its arms spread out. ¡°Chains of sorrow, drag thee into the abyss.¡± Green circles of light appeared around the mech, metal attachments descending from the circles to connect with the large machine. As the circles expanded, they revealed five large missile launchers. ¡°Feel the wrath of the heavens and regret in your next life!¡± A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The missile launches lit up with a yellow light, before each one launched ten rockets in a spray pattern. All of the various rockets curved and aimed themselves towards the dragon, striking along its body as it turned to face us again. From every rocket came a large explosion as it impacted the scaled hide of the dragon. However, when the blasts ended, no matter if it was the main cannon of the Ariadne, or the missile barrage from the Executioner, they only seemed to leave superficial wounds. My clone was still building up more and more energy, its body glowing brighter with each passing second. By now, though, I was more worried about whether or not the attack I was preparing would even be effective against this space dragon. I¡¯d have to hope we all lasted long enough to find out, because it did not seem to be dying any time soon. At that point, Ackbar¡¯s voice could again be heard on the bridge. ¡°Everyone, this creature¡¯s flexibility does not seem to match its form. Its body is more stiff than normal serpents, judging by its previous movements, so it can¡¯t make the same fast turns. Assuming that it does not have any other hidden abilities, you should be able to attack it if you land on its skin, near the neck.¡± ¡°Got it! We¡¯re going in.¡± Ten voices answered together, and I could see the light trails from the ten Judgement mechs as they flew towards the dragon. Again, it let out one of its roars, and two of the ten were thrown back away from it. The remaining eight all took up positions around the neck of the dragon, and unsheathed their energy swords to hack away at it. Almost there¡­ I clenched my fists, feeling that my clone was reaching its maximum capacity. Now the problem was using the attack, as we had no way to get closer to the dragon. I could fire it at a distance, but it would lose some of the effectiveness that way. Unfortunately, I was unlikely to get much of a say in this matter. My clone atop the ship stretched out one of its arms, siphoning all of the mana it had gathered into that one arm, while reshaping the aura of it to extend based on the energy fed into it. As such, the arm turned into a long line of light that stretched far beyond my ability to control. I struggled to hold it together long enough for a single swing, bringing the equivalent of a giant plasma blade down on the dragon¡¯s neck. Granted, my accuracy at this distance was shoddy at best, but I at least managed to avoid hitting one of the eight mechs standing on its neck. And the thin wound left by the attack was enough for one of them to wedge their sword into. That seemed to hurt the dragon, as it began writhing in pain and firing off its beam breath in random directions. Next, the Judgement mechs all pulled back while the Executioner charged forward. ¡°Final Beheading!¡± Its pilot cried out over the comm channel, and a giant axe with a blade of light appeared in its hands, which struck down at that small wound on its neck. The blade sank in deep, making a single clean cut that went over a hundred meters through. Although the head was not fully severed, the attack apparently cut through the spine, because from that point the monster had gone limp. ¡°Scan for life.¡± I ordered the crew of the Ariadne, while my clone atop the ship faded gradually, its energy used up. ¡°And give me a damage report.¡± ¡°Yes, Captain.¡± I waited a few moments before the reports came in. ¡°Mana signatures fading from the monster. It appears to be dead.¡± Soon, another voice chimed in, a bunny girl sitting at one of the stations to the far right. ¡°Damage report is in. Engines are completely destroyed. That beam wiped them out. Ten crew members lost in the attack, and another twenty from the resulting decompression before the corridors could be sealed. Total of thirty-two casualties, and we are stranded until we get the engines repaired.¡± I turned to look at Celeste, who was as always standing near my captain¡¯s chair. ¡°How long will it take to replace the engines?¡± She did some quick calculations, and grimaced. ¡°Five weeks, give or take. But I don¡¯t have enough metal in my grove, so I¡¯ll have to get that from you. For the engines, I¡¯ll need titanium, orichalcum, mithril, and iron.¡± I nodded my head, sighing slightly. Turning towards the scanning officer, I made my next order. ¡°Scan the nearby space. Are we close to any systems?¡± After a brief moment, I had my answer. ¡°No, sir. The nearest system is roughly two parsecs out.¡± Well, so much for that idea. ¡°Alright¡­¡± I then directed my attention to the communication channel. ¡°Judgement flights, we¡¯re stuck here for the next month. Start disassembling that monster, for now. Such good materials were delivered to us, we can¡¯t let them go to waste. I¡¯ll be out to collect them myself in a little while.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure if Yang would be comfortable using her Nature Crafting again so soon after the incident at the Qu¡¯Lopti homeworld. Much like myself when I first touched the Time Affinity, she likely had a great mental shock when she warped her Nature Crafting to turn it against living creatures. Nonetheless, the materials from the dragon were too good to pass up. At the very least, I needed to get a look at its scales before a day was up. I had managed to improve the hardness of my scale form a bit over the years, but this would let me make another breakthrough. As for other matters, I scheduled a ceremony for the crew to attend, to commemorate the thirty-two people that died in the attack. As this was a space battle, they were not in their clones, so they were well and truly dead. Otherwise, the enemy would only need to take out the medbay to kill everyone. Chapter 156: Good News and Bad News Author¡¯s Corner: Greetings all. Chapter time!
After giving some time to do the ceremony to honor the people that died in the battle, I got in my void elf form and flew out of the ship. My destination, the giant white dragon carcass still being disassembled several hundred miles away. Thankfully, there was no atmosphere to limit my acceleration, so I was able to use the Gravity Affinity and Plasma Affinity to make a makeshift personal engine that would quickly carry me over. All I had to do was wrap the plasma in a magnetic bubble, punch a small hole in it, and steer myself with gravity. Homemade ion drive! Anyways, after about ten minutes of constantly speeding up, I was rapidly approaching the body, and began my deceleration. Once I was there, I landed on the dragon¡¯s body and oriented my gravity so that I could calmly stand on it. Now¡­ let¡¯s get started. I let out a smile as I spread my mana sense across as much of the body as I could. There was no hope of me covering it all at once, but I didn¡¯t need to do that. I opened my mouth to speak, but naturally no voice could come out in space. Run partition program, highlight and assemble scan data. This was one of the custom programs I had written for my augmented brain during my stay with the Qu¡¯Lopti. Its purpose was to divide a part of my short-term memory enhancement to create a separate area in my mind to analyze and put together information. In this case, it was information I would receive by scanning with my mana sense. This information would then be compiled into a ¡®file¡¯ that contained a three dimensional representation of the stored data. In other words, after activating the program, I simply walked along the dragon¡¯s body while maintaining my scan. The further along I got, the more information I received. And since the Qu¡¯Lopti mechs hadn¡¯t had the chance to take the pieces they disassembled already back to the ship yet, I was able to scan those as well, adding them into the file like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. To be honest, I wrote this program one day when I was really bored and had a flash of inspiration, thinking it might come in handy for scanning monsters. Sadly, a dragon never appeared over the last five years! Thankfully, I finally had my chance to study the aura of an actual dragon. Though this wasn¡¯t exactly the type of dragon that I originally wanted, it still possessed extremely formidable defense. I¡¯d have to go through the aura later and see if it was hiding any special abilities. But for the most part, what I was interested in was its defense, and its ability to enter and exist in subspace without any special shielding. After scanning the body and assembling the aura in my mind, I began absorbing the pieces of the dragon that had already been removed. I¡¯d probably have to come back out here again later to finish the job, but I might as well get what I can while I¡¯m here. With that taken care of, I flew back towards the ship. While waiting to re-enter the ship¡¯s airlock, I partitioned my mind again. However, my goal this time was different than before. This time, I sent half of my consciousness into my grove, finding one of my testing ground planets. Afterwards, I quickly assembled a body there, one which looked identical to my own. Although this body has no soul, and cannot be considered alive, it was enough for me to use to experiment with creating a new form. ¡°Seriously¡­ did you have to make so many programs while we were at Kithorun?¡± Celeste asked in my mind, and I could feel her rolling her eyes mentally. ¡°If you had spent that time actively cultivating, you might have gotten one of your affinities to 100% by now, you know?¡± I chuckled at that, shaking my head. ¡°The affinities will get there on their own eventually. But those programs will help solve a few of my issues.¡± ¡°Uh-huh. And the program you wrote to make mental simulations? You only ever use that to reproduce video games!¡± She chided tiredly, but she wasn¡¯t really wrong. While that program would be great for playing out battles and coming up with strategies, it was also good for stress relief. ¡°It¡¯s fine. We¡¯ll probably need that stuff sooner or later.¡± ¡°Fine, fine¡­ Ackbar¡¯s wanting to meet up with you, and I got a report from the Qu¡¯Lopti piloting the Executioner.¡± When Celeste told me that, I paused, and changed my direction to walking towards the War Room. This was a new room we recently added to the ship, which was basically just a wide room with a large hologram projector in the center for planning missions. ¡°Well, tell him I¡¯m heading over. And what did they want?¡± I heard a chuckle over the mental link before Celeste explained. ¡°Basically just to report the rewards they got from the fight. Out of the eleven flights, they all received benefits except two. Those were the two that were blasted away by the dragon¡¯s breath. As for the others, the Judgement pilots each received between twenty and thirty levels. But each Executioner pilot was granted fifty levels for the kill. It seems that there is considerable experience to be gained from fighting space monsters in close quarters.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that, before an idea came to me. ¡°Celeste, can you head to the temple for a moment? I need you to get an answer to a question of mine from the market.¡± ¡°Hmm? Sure.¡± I would have gone myself, but I was on my way to meet Ackbar, and I could only be in so many places at once. ¡°Thanks. The question is whether or not groves are connected to subspace. If they aren¡¯t, then there is no point trying to test that ability in my grove.¡± I had managed to isolate the part of the aura that provides a resistance against subspace. Specifically, it was integrated into the scales of the beast, and gave off a faint aura of lightning and magnetism. I was still looking for the ability that would let the dragon cross between subspace and normal space, and was greatly anticipating that power. Depending on how it worked, it might allow me to dodge attacks by temporarily entering subspace.
Incoming call from Talia.
Huh? I stopped just outside the War Room as the call came in, and blinked. What could she be calling about right now? It hadn¡¯t been very long since we spoke last. ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± I asked as I accepted the call. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°There¡¯s a problem, John.¡± Talia¡¯s voice was shaking slightly as she spoke. ¡°The New Human Empire just launched their first attack¡­¡± My brows furrowed, and I clenched my fists. ¡°What happened?¡± ¡°Gerin 3¡­ was destroyed.¡± Her voice broke at that point, and I could tell she was crying on the other end. ¡°We found one of their spies, but he used some kind of device to open a rift around him. It looked just like a ship jumping to subspace. Then¡­ there was a giant explosion, and the entire planet burned¡­¡± My eyes went wide as I considered the implications of that. In many aspects, subspace reacted similar to antimatter, and I had even considered the possibility that subspace was made of antimatter, or a very similar substance. With this, they basically released a human-sized bubble of antimatter on the surface of a planet¡­ Is this how far they are willing to go for this war? ¡°Was anyone able to make it out in time?¡± My voice shook as I asked. If this was the case, they only needed a single person to wipe out an entire planet. It wouldn¡¯t matter if their numbers were small. With less than a hundred people, they could destroy practically every allied world. ¡°Aunt Melris was visiting Gerin Prime for a war council at the time, but the explosion just happened too fast¡­ nobody that was on the planet could have escaped.¡± I clenched my teeth as she said that, barely able to imagine the level of destruction caused by a single fanatic. ¡°I need you to ask around, anyone that has unlocked their psychic ability. See if there is anyone on your end with the Toybox power. If there is, I can send a few people to help out ahead of us.¡± There wasn¡¯t much I could do to stop suicide bombers from taking out entire planets, but if I sent a few dozen of Sharon¡¯s evolved animals over, at least they¡¯d have more people helping to look. She paused a bit after my question before responding. ¡°I¡¯ll ask around¡­ Thanks.¡± I could tell how shaken she was, since she was not even trying to maintain her royal speech. ¡°No problem. We¡¯ll be running a bit late, since we ran into some trouble. We¡¯ll keep looking for their hideout along the way. Maybe we¡¯ll get lucky.¡± ¡°I hope so¡­ There¡¯s not much we can do to defend against these kinds of attacks.¡± ¡°Right¡­ you could use clones for daily business, and have your main body in a safe bunker, but that wouldn¡¯t help the general population. It would at least make it harder to assassinate key figures.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I¡¯ll tell Aunt Maeve about it¡­ We¡¯ll check to see if there is any way to stop attacks like that from happening.¡± She spoke in a quiet tone, and soon ended the call. With a bitter smile, I walked into the War Room at last, to find Ackbar waiting for me. When he turned to look at me, and was preparing to open his mouth, he suddenly stopped. His eyebrows went up slightly, as if reading something from my expression. ¡°Did something happen, sir?¡± I nodded my head at that. ¡°Gerin 3 was just destroyed by the New Human Empire.¡± I spoke softly, but his eyes went wide at my words. His body visibly shook, and he gripped the chair he was standing next to hard enough for the steel to bend under his fingers. ¡°How?¡± He forced the one word out, the impact from this much higher for him, as he was originally from Gerin. ¡°From what Talia said, an antimatter suicide bomb.¡± His head nodded at that, and he struggled to keep his breathing under control. ¡°Sir¡­ I have something to report.¡± He did his best to keep his voice calm, but I could tell that was not an easy task for him. ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been working on a new Divination spell to help locate the base of the New Human Empire.¡± His words immediately grabbed my attention, however he soon shook his head. ¡°It only gives me a very vague direction right now. I don¡¯t know the distance, or the degree of accuracy. I need more information about them to refine the spell.¡± That sounded reasonable enough. Even just having a spell to tell their direction would be a huge help. All we¡¯d have to do is fly in that direction until it got us closer. ¡°If I can give any help, let me know.¡± He gave a nod at that, and didn¡¯t seem to want to say anything else. As I was turning to leave, I saw his eyes unfocus, as if he was checking an information window. Immediately afterwards, his eyes started watering up and he left through the opposite door. He must have had family on Gerin 3¡­ I shook my head and headed back to my own room. In my grove, my partitioned mind had finished sculpting the new white dragon body, the strongest I would currently be able to transform into. Its height was a full ten meters, with over three times that in length, from its head to tail. With just over thirty meters of wingspan, it incorporated the space dragon¡¯s powerful scales. Spines went down along its back and tail, and it had sharp claws on its four feet. For its attacks, I included my most advanced fire breath weapon, while the defense was even more powerful. Naturally, it still had the instant regeneration ability that I obtained years ago from the giant wolf monster. Combined with its thick scales, strong muscles, and hard bones, it would be hard to break through its body with physical attacks. Also, I couldn¡¯t be sure, but I felt like the scales also carried a slight resistance to magic as well. Thankfully, I¡¯d still be able to use all of my regular magic when I shapeshift. The only thing I¡¯d lose access to would be my sword, since the dragon form does not have the ability to grasp it. Likewise, if I sacrifice a bit of size, I could reproduce the dragon with my elemental mana, similar to what I did in the previous space battle. I would need to test how much mana that would take to sustain, though. As I got back to my room, I laid back on my bed and began thinking about all the things that would be happening soon. One of the elven worlds had been suddenly destroyed, and the enemy was revealed to have the ability to basically destroy any world they want easily. The only way to really prevent it was to make sure that there were no humans on a planet at all. Even then, if they managed to get someone of a different race to do it, they could bypass those defenses¡­ Just how are we going to deal with this? Chapter 157: On the interstellar subspace road again! Author¡¯s Corner: Hey everyone! Some of you may have noticed, but my signature now contains a second link. This link leads to a website where World Seed is being hosted, known as lightnovels.world. I hope everyone is willing to head over there to check it out and show support, as they have other original works there, as well as some translation projects underway. Before anyone panics, I am not going to get into the habit of posting there earlier than here in order to draw the audience over to the other site or anything. Depending on how things go, I may host future polls in both locations, but otherwise things will remain unchanged for the readers that simply want to read the story on RRL. That taken care of, hope you all enjoy the chapter!
It took a while before Talia got back to me. According to her, there are a total of three Toybox users in the Gerin system, but only one of them has trained it to a high enough level to send people to and from the Toy Chest. She also consulted the temple, and confirmed the theory that the bomb was a portable FTL drive, before searching the gold market for an item that could prevent the bombs. The item was a bit expensive, so they were unable to raise the funds to buy it right away. Unfortunately, Talia doesn¡¯t have anyone working for her that mass produces the gold coins. Instead, I decided to send the funds to buy five of the devices with the personnel I sent via the Toybox user. That way, they would have one for each planet, and still more left to research and recreate on their own. Going by the item description, it was a small sphere that was heavily enchanted. Its sole purpose was to create a field of stable space one mile in radius. This would prevent any form of teleportation or dimensional portals within that area. Now, normally it would take a ton of these to work for what we needed, but if we placed the portal in subspace that problem would be fixed. After all, subspace was roughly one ten-thousandth the size of normal space with direct correlation. As such, a one mile radius on that end would be enough to cover an entire planet, and then some. It took about three hours to arrange for all of the money to be transferred, and the personnel to be assigned. With this, the subspace bombs won¡¯t be a threat to the elves anymore. Though, it did take about a third of my gold supply to give them that protection, so I really hope they don¡¯t try anything outrageous. The next few days were spent in relative quiet, waiting for the repairs to conclude. In that time, two other bombing attempts occurred. One was on Gerin 6, where the plan was foiled by the new technology, and the other was on the Ha¡¯vosh planet. In that case¡­ there was no need for the anchoring device, because the Ha¡¯vosh detected the problem and dealt with it themselves. The strangest thing was the bomber of Gerin 6. It was a human, like normal, but as soon as his plan failed and he was about to be taken in for interrogation, he dropped dead. There were no signs of foul play, or anything like that. My only guess was that the disposable soldiers purchased over the gold market were given jobs to perform immediately before their time expired. That way there would be no risk of an information leak. Since they were NPCs purchased by the gold market, resurrection spells didn¡¯t work on them either, so interrogation was completely out of the question. By the time we were ready to leave, and the repairs to the Ariadne had finished, I had consulted with everyone regarding Ackbar¡¯s new spell. From what he told us, he could feel the New Human Empire from several different directions. One such direction included the path we had initially been going. None of us were sure quite how accurate this was, but it at least hinted that there was still an Empire presence among Gerin, or in a world along that route. As such, we decided to maintain our original course, rather than investigate one of the other readings. Since he was unable to differentiate the strength of the results from his spell, we couldn¡¯t tell which one might be from a single spy or their main fleet. This left us only with the option of exploring each location one at a time. At the most, he could teach the spell to others, and the search will spread out after we arrive at Gerin. Shortly after we launched back into subspace, I once again checked my skill list to confirm my progress. I had been through quite a lot of growth lately, and was quite proud of myself.
Skills
Mana Manipulation - Master Level 3: 12%
Nature Magic - Expert Level 9: 9%
Wild Luck - Basic Level 8: 33%
Sketching - Basic Level 6: 60%
Herbology - Advanced Level 1: 12%
Gathering - Novice Level 2: 28%
Alchemy - Expert Level 8: 1%
Mana Signatures - Expert Level 5: 2%
Cooking - Basic Level 4: 10%
Flight - Novice Level 1: 0%
Aura Sight - Advanced Level 5: 2%
Technomancy - Advanced Level 8: 3%
Programming - Expert Level 2: 50%
Enchanting - Master Level 8: 85%
Engineering - Novice Level 5: 8%
Maintenance - Intermediate Level 2: 4%
Dodge - Intermediate Level 1: 0%
Swordsmanship - Beginner Level 5: 29%
Marksmanship - Basic Level 3: 59%
Energy Weapons - Beginner Level 9: 42%
Soul Arts - Advanced Level 1: 4%
Psychic Power: Toybox - Expert Level 2: 13%
Piloting - Beginner Level 5: 3%
Navigation - Beginner Level 2: 12%
Weapons Systems - Basic Level 1: 13%
Shield Systems - Basic Level 1: 0%
Spatial Comprehension - Intermediate Level 7: 10%
Barrier Magic - Novice Level 3: 10%
Divination - Intermediate Level 3: 30%
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. As I said, I was quite proud of my growth. I had gotten not one, but two skills up to the Master level. Enchanting was even fairly close to breaking through to the Grandmaster level. However, I had not managed to make any progress in that skill for over a year, no matter how much I tried. I seemed to be lacking some important piece of information. Naturally, I had considered cheating and simply buying the information from the gold market, but the price was ridiculous! It would take almost all of my gold just to buy that one tip on how to advance further. In order to get my Enchanting skill up to the Master level, I learned that I was able to do ¡®compact enchanting¡¯. This was basically shrinking an enchantment down so that more powerful or complex enchantments could be used on the same item. Honestly, it was the process of awakening items that gave me that idea. The second trick I learned doesn¡¯t really have a name, but I call it ¡®material enchanting¡¯. This means that, from start to finish, I enchant an item at every stage. So, if I want to make a sword with fire abilities, I first enchant the iron that makes it with the fire attribute. This makes the base material itself magical, and the enchantment is somewhat absorbed into the iron as it is forged. Even without a second enchantment, this would give the sword fire properties. However, after being forged, I cool it in enchanted water, further solidifying the magic in the weapon, and then apply a second enchantment. When combined with my compact enchanting method, this let me create an item with dozens of times the power of what I used to be able to make. Sadly, I did not personally have a smithing skill, so I had to accompany someone else while they crafted it. Still, a two person job was worth the increase of power. And apparently, they were important, because once I got the hang of them my experience skyrocketed in the Enchanting skill. The other skill that I made considerable progress in was Mana Manipulation. This one was actually easier for me to train in, since I could do so with the mana in my grove. I learned a number of tricks when it came to this skill, though none of them were quite as beneficial as the two enchanting techniques. My most powerful ability from Mana Manipulation was what I used against the space dragon, an ability which allows me to possess an ¡®empty¡¯ body with my mana. This ability is actually not limited to constructs of my mana, since I can actually possess artificial golems or inactive robots as well. The only condition is that the body not have a mind or a soul. Now, as we traveled to the Gerin system, we kept the Ariadne scanning normal space in our surroundings, and the eleven Qu¡¯Lopti flights scanning subspace. Hopefully, this way we would be able to prevent any more monsters from ambushing us. Though¡­ that didn¡¯t stop everything. When we were roughly two months out from Gerin, we met another ship moving along our path. At first, we were suspicious that they might be from the New Human Empire, but that thought was quickly dismissed. Ackbar did not sense anything from them with his new spell, and they made their purpose quite clear. ¡°Hand over your ships or be blasted out of space.¡± A lizardman spoke over the connection, holding a sword up to his screen to look threatening. Naturally, we had to drop out of subspace, because any battle there would turn disastrous for both sides. And honestly, we had far more to lose. The lizardman ran a single ship, one half the size of the Ariadne. From the scans we took, I had to question his sanity in challenging us, as the specs for his ship were far below ours. Nonetheless, there was only one response to show to pirates, even the crazy ones. ¡°Fire all weapons.¡± I said calmly, watching the screen. ¡°Wait what?¡± The lizardman gaped as he heard my words, then turned to someone off screen. ¡°Evasive maneuvers, pull out, retreat!¡± He immediately ran away from the viewing area, likely trying to run to a lifepod or something. Did he seriously expect people to surrender their ships without a fight? I must have run into the most noob pirate in the galaxy. This event proved to be only a minor distraction from our journey, though at least we made sure to rid the universe of one more mentally unstable lizardman. I still felt like I was forgetting something as we approached closer and closer to Gerin. Wait! We never stopped the facilities on Hydra! Oh fuck¡­ Uhm¡­ maybe someone else already went there? I began mentally panicking, adding to my list of things to do that we needed to check out Hydra. Five years of constant element seed production, five years of unattended dungeons¡­ and five years of an unattended monster spawning formation. I was REALLY not looking forward to what might have happened due to that mistake. ¡°I¡¯m sure it couldn¡¯t be anything that bad, right? It¡¯s only been five years.¡± I heard Celeste¡¯s voice speak up in my head, though it didn¡¯t sound like she was entirely sure about it herself. Unfortunately, we had passed the point of being able to detour and check up on Hydra a couple weeks ago, so there was little we could do before going to Gerin. Chapter 158: The Next Stage Author¡¯s Corner: I have no idea what I¡¯m about to write, but I hope you guys like it! \o/
As the days passed, we made sure to keep regular tabs on all locations that Ackbar was sensing the New Human Empire from. It got to the point where Celeste set up a holographic star map with Ackbar standing at our position. Then, he would point in the general direction of each reading from the spell. Repeating this process every day, she took the information and began to triangulate regions that the empire was likely hiding in. Naturally, this method was ineffective at pinpointing any moving targets, but for stationary ones we were able to narrow them down considerably. Assuming, of course, that this spell was as accurate as we hoped. If not, then this will end up being a great big waste of time. Oh, and another thing¡­ about five days before we arrived in the Gerin system, I was greeted with a message window appearing in front of me. I had half expected it to be a call from Talia updating me about the war, or a random message from Malthan, but instead this is what I was greeted with.
Galactic Grove conditions have been met!
Number of solar systems inside the Nebula Grove has reached 1,000. Gravity Affinity is greater than 50%. It is suggested that you get to a safe location for the upgrade process. Upgrade will last 5 hours.
Seeing that message, my mind instantly went into panic mode. The later parts of upgrading to the Nebula stage already caused damage to the area around me due to excessive mana absorption. ¡°Drop out of subspace, and hurry!¡± I called out on the comms, running towards the airlock. I could hear the groaning of metal from around me as mana began rushing towards my body with every step I took. In an attempt to alleviate the pressure to the surroundings, I pulled out the Staff of the Minor World, and tried to pull mana from that instead, but it still seemed to want more. Light seemed to distort around me as we dropped out of subspace. By the time I made it to the airlock, I had already shifted to my void elf form. While waiting for the airlock to depressurize, I could hear the groaning of the metal trying to cave in on itself. Inside my grove, more and more stars were being created. Within ten minutes, I had ten new solar systems, and it was only speeding up. The moment the airlock opened, I flew out into the empty space, my staff in hand. Looking around, I was glad to see that there were no planets or anything nearby that I could accidentally affect with my upgrading process. Instead, I closed my eyes, and focused on the changes happening inside my grove while I slowly drifted away. Well, that was the plan at least. ¡°John? What¡¯s going on?¡± I heard Sharon¡¯s voice in my head, transmitted via Celeste due to the absence of proper comms. Instead of focusing on my grove, I decided to partition my mind again, so that I could still talk to her. ¡°Sorry, there was no time to explain. My grove is upgrading now, and I was afraid the process would damage the ship.¡± Inside my grove, at the very center, a single massive star was forming. At the same time, everything else in the grove moved further away from the center, as if fleeing from it. This star was not a miniature version like most of the others, it was a true star. I could feel the plasma of the surrounding space being sucked into my body, as well as a great crushing pressure. Out of the desire to not turn into a ball of elf-paste, I hardened my skin and muscles to resist the pressure. After a moment, I heard Sharon¡¯s voice again. ¡°Oh¡­ Is everyone going to be okay?¡± I could tell she was still worried, but this time it was for all of her animal companions currently residing in my grove. I turned my attention towards the planet they were occupying, and was glad to discover that it had been pushed towards the outer areas of the grove, furthest away from the forming star. ¡°They¡¯re fine, I¡¯m keeping an eye on them.¡± I sent back to her, trying to reassure her. By now, a new star was appearing every second, faster than the planets could be formed around them. At the same time, the central star kept growing and growing, until I could feel it tremble. Worrying about Sharon¡¯s animal companions, I focused on that planet, ready to deflect any energies that may be emitted in their direction. All of a sudden, a mist of light erupted around the central star, the star itself shrinking drastically. Several of the closer planets were enveloped by this mist, their atmospheres bursting into flames and turning the planets into giant balls of molten slag. Thankfully, the planet I was safeguarding was too far away from the center to be reached by this blast of ionized gas. ¡°Good¡­ We¡¯ll need to have them all evacuate if this is going to be as bad as we thought.¡± Sharon¡¯s voice came in again as the star at the center trembled once again. This time, however, the light seemed to fade from the star as it collapsed in on itself. I could feel the gravity within the grove slowly start to shift, and knew it was only a matter of time before everything would be pulled in. How long, though, I had no idea. Dammit, I didn¡¯t want to form the black hole now of all times. I grimaced as I watched the cloud of cosmic gas slowly form into a spiral shape, guided by some unseen energy. As time passed, more stars and planets began forming, faster and faster until the five hour period was done. At that time, I guessed that I had roughly fifty thousand solar systems in total now. Granted, that was still extremely small for an entire galaxy, but far larger than I previously had.
Upgrade Complete
Galactic Grove has successfully been formed! Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.08:29:23:21:20.50 until total grove collapse.
Galactic Grove Ability Acquired!
Black Hole of Mana Unranked Grove Ability By borrowing the strength of the black hole within your grove, you are capable of quickly absorbing massive amounts of mana in your surroundings.
Well, at least they let me know how long it would take before the grove was completely destroyed by the black hole¡­ So I had nearly nine months to get everything ready. I could work with that. Pulling my partitioned mind out of my grove, I took a look around to see how far away I had drifted. ¡°I¡¯m done now, heading back.¡± Sadly, I had no idea which direction ¡®back¡¯ was, until Celeste pointed it out for me. As such, I turned myself that way and began flying. At the same time, the ship seemed to be moving towards me as well, otherwise it would have taken another five hours of flying to get back. When I got back on the ship, I was met with a rather upset Sharon, an annoyed Yin, and two smirking parents. ¡°So, any other surprises you have in store for us?¡± My dad asked while crossing his arms over his chest. ¡°Uhm¡­ no? Not right now, at least.¡± I suddenly realized how fortunate I was that some random space monster didn¡¯t decide to munch on me while I was drifting away from the ship. At least they aren¡¯t THAT common yet. ¡°Good.¡± He said with a nod. Afterwards, he took my mom and wandered off, while she gave me a friendly wave. Meanwhile, the two girls closed in on me. ¡°John¡­¡± Yin began, giving me a smile that was very much not a smile. ¡°I think you like worrying us, don¡¯t you?¡± Sharon said, mirroring Yin¡¯s expression. I felt a cold sweat form on my back as I tried to back up, only to find that the airlock had closed behind me. ¡°Uhm¡­ we can talk about this, right? Heheh¡­ no need to be hasty?¡± I chuckled awkwardly. Any man that has ever been in a relationship can tell you, the most fearsome being they have ever known was the person they were in that relationship with. In my case, it was these two beauties. They scared the ever-loving daylights out of me sometimes! ¡°Sure, we can talk¡­¡± Sharon grinned, grabbing me by one hand while Yin grabbed the other. Distractions, distractions, what could I use for a distraction?! ¡°So, are you two ready for the ceremony when we get back to Gerin?¡± John has used Distraction! Yin froze for a moment, looking at me in confusion. ¡°Ceremony?¡± She asked as she tilted her head. I nodded my head rapidly in response. ¡°Right, the ceremony! Didn¡¯t we agree that we¡¯d have a nice wedding after we got away from Kithorun? Where better to have it than Gerin, since that is where you evolved, and Sharon and I are both elves now?¡± Distraction is critically effective! I watched as the two girls¡¯ smiles grew much softer. I mean, really, why would we want to have the wedding on Kithorun? Do you even know what their customs are? When Qu¡¯Lopti marry, it¡¯s not a nice, romantic ceremony. Instead, it¡¯s a dramatic battle of husband versus wife to determine the ¡®fate of the world¡¯. In other words, they fight with fake weapons, until one of them admits defeat. The ¡®loser¡¯ is the one that has to pay for the refreshments afterwards. ¡°Okay¡­ fine. You¡¯re off the hook, for now.¡± Sharon gives me a wry smile. ¡°But I¡¯m not forgetting how you didn¡¯t keep track of your grove and let all of this erupt so suddenly. We¡¯ll have to find a planet that we can safely put everyone, or distribute them out through different groves until the final evolution. Which is how long¡­?¡± I glanced back to the timer, and nodded my head. ¡°Just under nine months. After that, I guess we¡¯ll have the questions to life, the universe, and whether or not your grove will be able to survive this¡­¡± Sharon¡¯s lips curved downwards at the mention of that. We still didn¡¯t know what would happen with her grove, and Malthan wasn¡¯t wanting to tell me. So, she simply sighed and shook her head. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. If the grove is destroyed, I¡¯ll just try to make another one. With everyone¡¯s help, it won¡¯t take long before it is at a level where they can live in it again. It¡¯s not like I¡¯m losing my druid abilities either way.¡± I smiled, grasping her hand lightly. ¡°It¡¯ll be alright, one way or the other.¡± Hearing me say that, Yin nodded her head as well, pulling Sharon into a comforting hug. Now I needed to add this to my list of things that we had to do over the next year. While it wouldn¡¯t be that hard to simply move everyone from my grove into different groves of Sharon¡¯s other animals, it¡¯s a different matter for trying to move all of the animals in her own grove, since many of them required special habitats. Did this seriously have to happen while we have a war going on?
Yes, yes it did.
Oh hush, you. I grumbled mentally to the new window that appeared, and began sending messages quietly to Talia, asking to arrange for our ceremony. Now that I brought it up, I definitely had to go through with it. Of course, I had planned to do this at some point while we were at Gerin anyways, I just figured it would be after the war. But desperate times called for a desperate distraction! Pulling the two girls along, I returned to our room for a while. The captain was taking a break for a few minutes to cuddle his future wives! Chapter 159: Catching Up Author¡¯s Corner: First off, I wanted to introduce the fic of a friend and long time reader of WS, Xacual. He decided to write a story of his own, and I encourage anyone to go check it out at http://royalroadl.com/fiction/7183 . Now, you can skip this next bit if you want and go straight to the chapter. Normally, I hate openly asking for donations, but the financial situation where I live has become pretty shitty. So, if anyone is willing to help out, it would be greatly appreciated. I¡¯ll still be writing whenever I get the chance either way, but bills are the mortal enemy of poor authors >.< Now that that¡¯s out of the way, I hope everyone can enjoy the chapter!
After spending some time with the girls, I decided to take a little while to explore the ship, see how everyone was holding up. Okay, the girls called my parents over and kicked me out so that they could plan the wedding, but still. We were finally almost back to Gerin, and people would be able to meet with their loved ones. And for those who had lost loved ones in the New Human Empire attacks¡­ they would be able to mourn with their friends. My first visit was Yo, since I had not been able to spend much time with her during this trip. Her experiences in these last few years since arriving to the Qu¡¯Lopti world have been¡­ interesting, to say the least. She fully immersed herself in the Qu¡¯Lopti culture, enjoying every day she spent with them. When I got to her room, I knocked on the door to get her attention. I wasn¡¯t wanting to interrupt her if she was busy with something. ¡°Just a second!¡± She called out, before reaching the door a few moments later. Not only her personality, even her physical form has undergone a bit of a change. She was now a bit slimmer, her figure more defined than it had to be. She was solid enough now that she could even wear real clothes without them getting soggy. When she opened the door, I saw the green slime girl giving me a warm smile. She was currently wearing tight jeans, as well as a white shirt with a pink heart over the chest that highlighted her figure. Her hair was arranged to look like a ponytail, though there was no actual band holding it in place, simply her own slime. ¡°Hey dad, what¡¯s up?¡± She asked as she jumped forward, wrapping her arms around my neck to give me a tight hug. ¡°Ah, wanted to see how you¡¯ve been doing. Mind if I come in?¡± I asked, taking a peek inside to make sure the room was presentable. Thankfully, part of her maturing meant that she no longer covered the walls of her room in slime when she was bored. ¡°Hmm? Sure, come on in!¡± She nodded her head happily, letting go of my neck and stepping back with her arms behind her. ¡°I¡¯ve got Yang in here right now, that alright?¡± I was a bit confused by that, and it probably showed on my face, because she followed it up with a sad smile. ¡°She still hasn¡¯t entirely gotten over what happened at Kithorun, so I¡¯ve been doing my best to comfort her. It¡¯s easy to relate, you know? I mean, my power basically requires that I consume the bodies of people or monsters. So I¡¯ve had her come here every now and then so we could hang out.¡± I nodded my head, understanding. ¡°I see.¡± Then, following her lead, I went into her room. There weren¡¯t a whole lot of places to sit in here, just a bed and a desk. As such, it wasn¡¯t surprising to see Yang sitting on Yo¡¯s bed, though her face flushed a bit as I walked in. Was it that embarrassing for me to catch her hanging out with Yo? ¡°Hello, Master.¡± She lowered her head slightly, her wings tucking behind her. ¡°What brings you here?¡± ¡°Well, I was coming to check up on Yo, but I guess this is a good chance to see how you¡¯re doing as well. Yo said she¡¯s been helping you out lately?¡± Yang gave a soft smile at that, nodding her head. ¡°Yo has been very good to me these past months, yes. But¡­ please don¡¯t ask me to do that again.¡± ¡°That¡¯s fine.¡± I smiled, moving to sit by her. Her face flushed a bit more as she looked over to me. ¡°I just wanted to make sure you were okay. If you ever feel up to it, I have a bunch of materials sitting in my inventory for you to work with,, whenever you want to get back to work.¡± Because of my grove slowly collapsing, I decided to go ahead and move the dragon¡¯s body parts to my inventory. Surprisingly, the size did not seem to influence how much I could store, and I was able to take care of it all easily. ¡°Thank you, Master. I¡¯ll keep that in mind.¡± Though she said that, it did not seem as if she would be volunteering to craft again for a bit. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. ¡°By the way, Yang. Yin, Sharon, and I are finally having our wedding ceremony once we get to Gerin.¡± Yang gave a small nod, with a soft smile on her face. ¡°I know, Master. Yin sent me a message about it a little while ago.¡± Yo, on the other hand, sniggered mischievously. ¡°So, you three are finally tying the knot, huh? About time. You¡¯ve been going at each other practically as long as I¡¯ve been alive!¡± I sighed, shaking my head. ¡°How are you and Kismet doing?¡± Unsurprisingly, Yo had had no problem with the Qu¡¯Lopti¡¯s marriage traditions. Her and Kismet held a grand battle that lasted for hours before the former boss monster finally subdued her. ¡°Hmm? He¡¯s fine. I think he went to take lessons on the ship¡¯s engineering for a while. He¡¯s been wanting to learn more about the ship¡¯s systems lately.¡± Yo said, sitting at the desk across from the bed and nodding. I guess I¡¯ll add that to my list of stops to make today. ¡°Thanks, I should go and make sure everything¡¯s doing alright.¡± I said as I stood up, reaching over and patting Yang¡¯s head. ¡°You girls going to be fine without me supervising?¡± Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The slime girl put on another mischievous smirk, while Yang¡¯s face reddened slightly. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, dad. I was just about to get her to sing for me again. It¡¯s part of the rehab, you know?¡± I nodded in understanding at that, and took my leave of the room. On my way to the engineering section to meet up with Kismet, I first bumped into Priscilla. It¡¯s surprising how empty the halls were, but I guessed that most people were either busy doing their work or preparing to get off the ship when we reached Gerin. ¡°Ah, John!¡± She smiled brightly to me when she spotted me. ¡°How are you doing?¡± She was still wearing her normal maid clothes, like she always did. Her bunny ears poked out from her long hair as she tilted her head cutely towards me. ¡°I¡¯m fine. How¡¯s your research coming?¡± Lately, Priscilla has been devoting herself to learning more and more about Alchemy, to the point where she was now likely better at it than myself. ¡°It¡¯s going great!¡± She grinned, hopping in the air slightly as she said it. ¡°I just got done developing a new type of poisonous plant last week, and was able to discover some new recipes for it!¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Did Sharon let you know that I¡¯ll be needing your help soon, getting everyone migrated?¡± She nodded her head, her ears bobbing back and forth. ¡°Yes, Mistress already informed me. I¡¯m arranging for habitations based on priority, and living requirements. Naturally, we need to have as few people outside the groves as possible, to conserve space, and we have to put people in groves that contain an environment they could survive in.¡± That made sense to me. We probably couldn¡¯t put many people in Priscilla¡¯s grove, because half of her plants were poisonous. Unlike me, she fully explored both the medicinal and poison paths of alchemy. ¡°Alright. Well, I was just about to go check on Kismet. If you need me for anything, let me know.¡± I was just about to walk off when there was a startled noise from behind me. ¡°Ah! Actually, could I get some of the dragon¡¯s blood from you? I had a theory about how it could be used, and was wanting to test it.¡± I nodded, and retrieved some of it from my inventory, depositing it in a glass vial that Priscilla produced. ¡°Thank you very much, Captain! Have a good day!¡± She spoke with a grin before running back down the hall. Finally, after walking a bit longer, I made it to the engineering section. There, I saw Kismet speaking with Halinth, the chief engineer. ¡°I see¡­ But, how does this open a stable portal?¡± The shadowborn asked with his brows furrowed. Halinth was a tall, muscular elf with the typical facial features of a bully. Despite that, he was actually pretty kind. ¡°Ah, you see, when¡­ Oh, hello Captain!¡± He turned and saluted me as he noticed my presence. ¡°Ah, hey John.¡± Kismet smiled to me as well, waving a hand at me when he turned around and spotted me. ¡°Sorry, was trying to get some lessons. Want to be more useful around here.¡± I nodded my head at that. ¡°That¡¯s fine. How¡¯ve you been doing lately?¡± Seeing that I was here for him rather than the engineer, Kismet seemed a bit surprised. ¡°Ah, I¡¯ve been fine. Itching to get out of the ship again. To be honest, it¡¯s pretty boring being stuck in here all the time. I miss being able to fight out in the open ground.¡± I chuckled slightly as I heard his answer. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll be sure to put you on the next team whenever we have a combat mission. Surprised you¡¯re not with Yo right now, you two are usually inseparable.¡± He smiled wryly, shaking his head. ¡°She¡¯s having a session with Yang right now, and I didn¡¯t want to get in their way. I¡¯ll get her when we¡¯re alone, but I have to be willing to give her space when she¡¯s got guests. She¡¯s even been complaining that we need a bigger room for when she has her girl friends over.¡± I heard a chuckle coming from my mental connection with Celeste, but I wasn¡¯t sure what she found funny. Might have just been one of her books. She downloaded practically every story the Qu¡¯Lopti had written, and was just as addicted to reading as ever. ¡°Ah, that¡¯s true. Yang didn¡¯t seem like she¡¯d appreciate the extra company when I was there.¡± I nodded my head. Kismet simply chuckled softly. ¡°Right. Anyways, is there anything else? Sorry, but I am really hoping to learn how some of this works before I get back to them later.¡± ¡°Huh? No, that¡¯s all, I guess. Be sure to keep in touch if you need anything.¡± ¡°I will, and congratulations on finally getting married with Yin and Sharon.¡± He smiled to me, before I went off to check on the next group of people. Next up was the secondary team, who for some reason decided to stick with me. When I asked Nathan why they stuck around rather than going off to adventure¡­ ¡°You¡¯re basically an apostle of the God of Chaos. You really think your life is going to stay boring for long? If I hang around you, it¡¯s bound to be more fun than going off by ourselves.¡± Yeah, that¡¯s pretty much what he said. I sometimes wish he hadn¡¯t been so right. Anyways, I tried to talk to them again, but they were currently in the simulation room. This room was added to the ship after arriving on the Qu¡¯Lopti world, using their VR devices. Essentially, it allowed the users to program a simulation for either themselves or a group. Checking the settings, the one they were using was a team combat exercise. Since this was an online battle, I figured they were fighting against the crew of one of the Qu¡¯Lopti ships. Well, I can come back and check on them later. I shook my head, making my way towards the mess hall. I could at least chat with the crew for a while and eat, until we arrived at Gerin. Chapter 160: Together, Forever Author¡¯s Corner: I would like to thank those people that have donated to my story thus far, it means a lot to me as a writer that people are willing to do so. Now, hurry up and read this chapter!
By the time we had arrived at Gerin, I was more than ready to get off the ship. After five years of no travel, I had forgotten just how frustrating it can get. We need some better way to travel or something¡­ I mean really, at this point our individual abilities mean practically nothing, since this war will mostly be conducted between ships. I¡¯m confident that our levels and abilities surpass the New Human Empire¡­ but what about our technology? Celeste seemed to have picked up my thoughts, because she replied a few moments later. ¡°Well, there¡¯s not much that can be done about that, unless you invest in gear or abilities to let people fight in the vacuum of space. Right now, you, me, and Yo are the only ones that can do that. And sorry, John, but I don¡¯t think we''re strong enough to take on a fully armed fleet with just the three of us.¡± I thought about that for a moment, but nodded my head. If we could get everyone able to fight like that, it might not be a problem. But not sure everyone would be open to the idea of changing into either a slime, Deus Ex, or void elf. ¡°True, but there are some other methods, like environment shields. Though we¡¯d have to purchase one from the gold market to learn how to develop them. Naturally, the best method for fighting a space battle is spaceships. If you want to have better chances of winning, you need to increase the power of your space fleet.¡± Again, I could only nod in response. I know. Hopefully, the Deus Ex will be willing to join us. Since our flight path did not take us close enough to the Deus Ex homeworld to make contact, we had yet to get in touch with them about combining fleets to fight the New Human Empire. ¡°Captain.¡± The comm in my ear sounded off. ¡°We¡¯re arriving at the border of Gerin space now. They¡¯re hailing us for our identification now.¡± ¡°Understood, I¡¯m on my way. Patch me through to them for now.¡± I waited for the signal before I spoke up, while walking towards the bridge. ¡°This is John Hulett of the Ariadne. Who am I talking with?¡± ¡°This is Captain Himural of the Noral. Your ship¡¯s appearance doesn¡¯t match our records of the Ariadne. Do you have an explanation for that?¡± A masculine voice was transmitted to me in response. ¡°I¡¯ve had seven years to upgrade the ship, I am not surprised that the appearance has changed.¡± Well, I kind of was. I mean, each change was just a little bit at a time, so I hadn¡¯t really noticed that the ship was now a bit longer and considerably more well-armed than in the past. ¡°Queen Talia of Gerin 6 is expecting us, and can verify our identities.¡± ¡°Just a moment.¡± I heard from the comm as I arrived on the bridge, seeing three ships in front of us through the screen. Most likely, they had their guns trained on us right now in case our information didn¡¯t check out. A few moments later, a message appeared in front of me.
Talia: You waiting for subspace clearance?
I responded by sending a brief ¡®Yes¡¯, and soon we were allowed through. After coming out of subspace, we saw a further ten ships, the smallest being the size of the Ariadne. I suddenly felt like my ship desperately needed an upgrade¡­ Or just an entirely new ship. Celeste- ¡°No, even with your vast gold reserves, you can¡¯t afford a fully functioning ship of a higher quality than the Ariadne. The Ariadne itself would go for five million gold coins, which even you would have difficulty producing. It is easier and faster to get either more upgrades for this ship, or find another way to get something better.¡± Before I could even ask Celeste, she seemed to anticipate my question, answering me mentally. Well, it was worth a shot. By the way, did you ever figure out about the subspace in groves? ¡°Huh? Oh, right, that.¡± I had forgotten about that, since it was only a bit of curiosity at the time. ¡°There¡¯s subspace inside of groves. However, the space ratio is the same, so anything that goes into subspace in a grove that is too small is pretty much crushed under the weight of the universe.¡± That sounded¡­ Yeah, I¡¯ll just avoid doing that until after my grove evolves to the final form. At that point, I shouldn¡¯t have to worry about size limits or anything like that. And I¡¯m distracting myself again, aren¡¯t I? ¡°Yes, yes you are. They¡¯re waiting for you at the teleport bay.¡± I nodded my head, turning and leaving the bridge after giving one last order. ¡°Put us in orbit. Until we leave, have the Ariadne assist with planetary defense in case of emergencies.¡± My first stop along the way to meet up with the girls was the medbay. After Tokemi¡¯s party, I doubted anyone wanted to risk going down to a planet without clone bodies until this war was over. As if to confirm my suspicions, I already saw my dad, Sharon, Yin, Yang, Tokemi, as well as Tessa and her mom all hooked up to clone controllers. My mom¡¯s body was also in a sort of standby state in the corner, so I figured she was borrowing one of Celeste¡¯s spares. Once in my own clone, I went to meet everyone at the teleport bay(after making a quick stop to change clothes). When I got there I found everyone waiting for me, with Sharon, Yin, Yang, and Yo all being in dresses. Each dress was of a similar design, but colored different. For Yo, it was a black dress that ran down to her ankles, and had only a single shoulder strap. For Sharon, she was wearing a green dress of a similar pattern, while Yin wore a white one. Finally, Yang wore a brown dress. Looking among the others, I was confused for a moment. None of the rest were wearing such fancy clothes. Although my dad had put on a suit, it was not a tuxedo, and the rest of them only wore clothes as if going to a business meeting. ¡°Did I miss something about the dress code?¡± I looked down to my own outfit. I was wearing a full, black tuxedo, much like the one my father had worn for his own marriage. Sharon grinned playfully, rolling her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s okay, John, you look fine. But Yang and Yo needed to dress up for this, too. According to Talia, a bride typically has someone giving her away, normally a family member or close friend. For us, Yang and Yo are the best we got.¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Ah¡­ the groom doesn¡¯t need anything like that?¡± I asked, and she shook her head. I had done a brief review of elven marriage traditions before, just to make sure it wasn¡¯t something like a hunting competition or the like. I hadn¡¯t read too deeply into it once I saw that the process was fairly similar to Earth¡¯s own marriage system. Well, in theory at least. ¡°Jeez, John, and here I thought we had dropped the ball for not asking about this stuff until just recently.¡± Sharon teased, holding an arm out to invite me onto the teleport platform. As I stepped on the platform, my waist was captured at both sides by Sharon and Yin, who leaned happily against me. Taking one last look around, I noticed a certain absence. ¡°Where is Celeste?¡± Before Sharon had the chance to speak up, Yin instead spoke. ¡°She already went down. Helping prepare.¡± I nodded my head at that, and signaled for the operator to send us all down. ¡°Mary, looks like our boy is finally getting married.¡± My parents grinned at each other before the light of teleportation covered us all. I had expected us to appear in Talia¡¯s forest, but we ended up going somewhere else. Surrounding us was the polished marble flooring of a large throne room, painted glass windows aligned to shower the ground in colorful light. Standing in front of her throne, Maeve grinned down to us all. ¡°Hey, heroes. Been awhile, hasn¡¯t it?¡± She waved with one hand to us, wearing a red silk dress. There was a white carpet spread out leading between her throne and the door of the room, with rows of chairs on either side. In one of the chairs near the front, I saw Celeste smiling at us. ¡°Give it a few more minutes for the rest to get set up, and we¡¯ll get started.¡± Soon, other people began pouring into the room. First was Ackbar, together with Aelsgwynn, Priscilla, Kismet, Talia, and about three dozen of my current and former crew members. Maeve smiled, nodding when she saw the seats getting filled up. ¡°This is an important wedding, both for you three as well as the people of this system. As such, we have chosen to host it here, and broadcast the ceremony across the Gerin system.¡± Well, that succeeded in making me anxious. I just learned that my wedding was going to be shown live to billions of people¡­ Talk about stage fright. Just as the anxiety was starting to settle in, a gentle hand was placed on my own. Looking up, I saw Yin smiling warmly at me. ¡°It will be okay.¡± I could only nod my head in response to that, turning to face Maeve. Celeste was currently streaming the wedding traditions into my mind so that I would know what to do and say, so that I would not make a fool of myself. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°We know.¡± She said with a nod, and I could tell that even she was taking this seriously, as she had adopted her royal speech. Once the rest of the people that came with us found a seat, only myself, Yin, Yang, Yo, and Sharon were standing in front of her. Yin and Sharon stood on her right, while I stood to her left. Finally, Yang and Yo stood behind Yin and Sharon respectively. Seeing that everyone was in place, she nodded her head, raising her arms. ¡°We pay homage to those that have already departed to join the cycle as we gather here today. Under their gaze, we present John Hulett, who has rendered great service to our people. Without him, we may not have made it to this day.¡± She swept her arm over to indicate me. ¡°Under their gaze, we present Sharon Bradbury and Yin, who have rendered great service to our people. Without them, we may also not have made it to this day. These three people have come to us, seeking to be joined for the remainder of their years. And, by the cycle, We are honored to be the one to present them.¡± Next, she turned her head to address me. ¡°John, do you swear upon the cycle to always love and care for these two women? To stay with them through the ravages of time?¡± I nodded, speaking the words that I knew from Celeste. ¡°I swear upon the cycle.¡± She nodded her head in satisfaction, before turning to the girls. ¡°Sharon, Yin, do you both swear upon the cycle to always love and care for the one you have chosen? To stay with him through the ravages of time?¡± The two girls looked at each other, and gave a soft smile, before speaking in unison. ¡°We swear upon the cycle.¡± Maeve¡¯s smile grew slightly wider as she heard that, before addressing the crowd. ¡°Then, under the watch of those who came before, and those who are still with us, I pray that you all live for many years to come. And, should you be separated early, that you will find each other in the next life, and once again fall in love. For, as of this moment, I declare the union between these three people, and let no power oppose it.¡±
You have been officially married to the Wood Elf Sharon Bradbury(Now Sharon Hulett) and the Stormbird Yin(Now Yin Hulett) under the laws of the Elven people. Inventory space between spouses is shared. New Inventory space is 300x200. You can see the status windows of your spouses.
I was surprised as I saw the information appear in front of me, and a glance at the girls told me they saw it too. Maeve, however, simply nodded her head again, speaking just loud enough for us to hear. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everyone gets that nowadays.¡± She then raised her voice again for everyone. ¡°People of Gerin, both humans and elves. The New Human Empire sought to shake us with news of this man¡¯s death. And yet, he now stands before us, not only alive, but now married to the women he loves. I know that not all humans are involved with the Empire, but we must remain vigilant. This is still a war, and one in which the enemy is far more ruthless than we could ever be. However, we have far more numbers, and if we band together, they will pose no threat to us.¡± She totally just hijacked our wedding for a public speech. But, oh well. At least it¡¯s finally official. I stretched a hand out for the girls, and was surprised when Yo and Yang practically pushed them into my arms. Chapter 161: The Honeymooners Author¡¯s Corner: Hey guys, and sorry for the long delay. Can¡¯t guarantee that the hiatus is entirely over yet, but I wanted to give you all something to read. Also, a small announcement. I plan to start a new story, which I will be writing alongside World Seed. Once I have the first chapter up and posted, I¡¯ll post a link in this thread. Don¡¯t worry, I am still not dropping World Seed. Aside from RL, one of the reasons I hadn¡¯t been able to write here is because I couldn¡¯t get the ideas for this new story out of my head. With any luck, writing this story will actually help me do better with World Seed. Now, with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter!
After the wedding, the three of us retired to the ship for the night. What, you thought I was going to get straight back to work right after getting married? Hell no! Though, I wasn¡¯t completely irresponsible. Since Ackbar said that he sensed a New Human Empire reading from the planet, I let him and the Nathan¡¯s team fly around it in one of the shuttles to locate them. Meanwhile, my wives and I enjoyed our honeymoon, however brief it was. In the morning, before the two of them woke up, I decided to take a look at their status windows. I had to say that I was impressed with what I saw. Although they were lower level than myself, that was completely expected. After all, they didn¡¯t have the cheat items I had that slowly raised my power without me having to do anything.
NameYin HulettRaceStormbird(Evolved)
TitlesFully EvolvedFame10,000
Level 18021%ClassMage
Advanced ClassStorm QueenDeityThull
Health1500/1500Health Regen2.5
Mana4560/4560Mana Regen22.42
Strength50Wisdom150
Agility200Intelligence456
Dexterity40Charisma34
Vitality150Luck10
Points Remaining0
Wind 60%Water 50%Lightning 65%
NameSharon HulettRaceWood Elf
TitlesAnimal CollectorFame20,500
Level 15895%ClassDruid
Advanced ClassColony DruidDeityKrisa
Health1600/1600Health Regen2.66
Mana1000/1000Mana Regen9.22
Strength350Wisdom110
Agility150Intelligence100
Dexterity60Charisma65
Vitality160Luck10
Points Remaining0
Earth 34%Fire 43%Wind 38%Water 50%
Lightning 50%Light 35%Dark 38%Animal 65%
Void 25%Metal 25%Fur 50%Blood 30%
Muscle 32%Plant 20%Bone 48%Plasma 20%
Is it weird for someone to have as many titles as I do? I questioned mentally.
Duh! Titles are only granted to people who make actual achievements. Though two of your own titles are questionable, most of them are a result of your own stupidity!
Well¡­. That¡¯s a bit harsh.
Is it, Amateur Brain Surgeon?
Okay¡­ I deserved that one. Anyways, why are you suddenly so talkative now? I thought my life had become too boring for you or something?
Well, you have two hot, naked women sleeping next to you. That¡¯s pretty interesting. What¡¯s that face for? You know you can¡¯t actually hurt this window, right?
I really wish he was wrong¡­ The thought of him peeping on my wives¡­ I may have tried burning the message window he was using to talk to me. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t work¡­
Now, are you ready to get going, or not? There¡¯s an empire out there to crush!
Yeah, yeah, I get it. So you just came back because you thought this war would be fun, basically. Well, can you make yourself useful before you run off and disappear again?
I¡¯m not sure what you mean, Johnny boy. I¡¯m always useful.
Whatever¡­ Anyways- I didn¡¯t manage to get half my thought out before the next blue screen appeared, followed by one immediately after it.
Can¡¯t tell you what will happen when your grove evolves, no. Rules, you see. Don¡¯t worry, nothing bad will happen to your wife.
Gah! Got the timing on that last post off by a few seconds, just ignore it until you finish your question. Go ahead, I¡¯ll be right here. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
...I honestly don¡¯t know what to think about this. So, I decided to ignore it, and accept that nothing bad would happen to Sharon. Shaking my head, I waited for a few minutes before the girls began waking up. First was Yin, who slowly rolled over and gave me a very warm smile. ¡°Morning.¡± I leaned down and gave her a kiss on the forehead. ¡°Morning. Ready to get back to work?¡± Suddenly, there was a groggy voice from my other side. ¡°Unless work is a new slang for sleep, can I take a raincheck?¡± Unlike Yin, Sharon had a serious case of pillow hair when she rolled over, but she still gave me a small smile. ¡°Not working, is it?¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°Come on, sleepyhead. Time to get things done. Busy day and all that.¡± She groaned, slowly sitting up. I admit, I admired the view when the blanket fell down. ¡°Fine¡­ But you better give us a proper honeymoon when this is all over, deal? I mean the whole nine yards. Romantic dinners, a nice hotel room, and the best scenery money can¡¯t buy.¡± I smiled slightly, nodding. ¡°Alright, deal. Besides, we still have some downtime whenever we¡¯re traveling.¡± She slowly began to grin at that. ¡°This is true. Now, let¡¯s go see if they found anything, yeah?¡± After we all got dressed and went out, I met up with Celeste to get a status report. She spoke in a happy tone when she replied, and I wasn¡¯t entirely sure why. Maybe she was glad that I finally got married. ¡°Ackbar and the B-Team gave the system a quick pass. The only Empire readings came from this planet, and there were only two of them, according to him. We managed to track one down, and found an elf woman hiding outside of the capital.¡± ¡°When we tried to interrogate her, she wouldn¡¯t tell us anything, even though we did confirm that the signal Ackbar was receiving was coming from her. So, I decided to resort to drastic measures. When I tried to scan her soul, she used some strange technique, not really sure what it was. All I know is that her soul practically burst into black flames before exploding. Took out all of us that were there, and made a nice crater in the cave she was hiding in.¡± Cold sweat began to form at my back as I heard that. Loyalty like that isn¡¯t easy to come by, so the elf was most likely an NPC purchased from the market. As for that final technique, it vaguely reminded me of the Cerberus breath weapon from the demon dungeon, the black flames that drained experience. Except, in this case it was the person¡¯s soul being converted into the flames. Could they have known that we used this kind of technique to get information? Or were they already designed to self-detonate if they were captured? I wasn¡¯t sure what to think. Either way, the New Human Empire was treating these NPCs as nothing more than disposable pawns. And in some ways, that made sense. The longer that one stuck around, the more they would cost. Why pay for a minion that is in the enemy¡¯s custody? Still, I couldn¡¯t approve of these kinds of methods. ¡°What about the other signal, did you find anything?¡± There was a brief wait, before Celeste shook her head, frowning slightly. ¡°Ackbar said it vanished about an hour after the first one detonated. We found the site that the person was most likely staying, but there wasn¡¯t any trace of where they had gone. I have two theories. Either they used a long distance teleport ability, or they activated a cloaking ability that is able to hide from Ackbar¡¯s scan. He hasn¡¯t refined the spell to be exceptionally powerful yet, so it is possible that the person is just hidden from detection.¡± I nodded slightly, agreeing with her assessment. When she mentioned a long distance teleport, I activated my Toybox, just to see if there was anything weird in the Toy Chest. This got a laugh out of Celeste. ¡°I doubt they¡¯d be using the Toybox for this. The whole reason that power is unpopular is because its normal form has no long distance teleporting. If they were buying NPCs with custom psychic powers, they most likely bought more specialized ones, like Worldwalking or Nexus Gate.¡± Like she said, I couldn¡¯t sense anything inside of the Toy Chest when I probed it with my power. ¡°Well, was worth a shot. Just think how awkward it would be if we went through this entire war and found out that we had access to their supply lines all along?¡± That brought a bitter smile to her face. ¡°True, better safe than sorry. But, next time we find one of them, I want to take either you or Tokemi with us. The ability to stop time should be able to prevent the self-detonation this last one used long enough for a soul scan.¡± I nodded at that, understanding. Not like I¡¯d let Tokemi head to the front lines or anything. ¡°I¡¯ll go.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± She responded. ¡°Now, Ackbar said that he doesn¡¯t sense any more signals from this system after we did a full circle around it. That means that we are ready to leave as soon as you give the order. I¡¯ve already started recalling people who went to visit families.¡± I thought over what should be done next. While it is important to go after the New Human Empire, they are showing a disturbing amount of new abilities that we¡¯ve never heard of. Going after them alone would practically be suicide, if they were making as many advances in their space technology as they were in these new powers. ¡°Let¡¯s meet up with the Deus Ex, and see if we can form an allied fleet. If their ships are anything like they used to be, that will be a big help to us in this war.¡± Celeste smiled slightly as she heard that. ¡°Alright. I¡¯ll set the course when I get back to the bridge.¡± I could imagine that she rather liked the Deus Ex race, since she was one herself. Not only that, but if she ever created bodies and souls for her AI children, they would also be Deus Ex. But for the most part, the Deus Ex were the best choice for a war alliance, if they accepted a deal. They are the least likely to be infiltrated, and at the same time have the most abundant force to fight with. Even their middle-grade ships would be a match for the Ariadne. I just hoped that they didn¡¯t hold a grudge for us causing a civil war on their planet... Chapter 162: Schooled Author¡¯s Corner: So, got another chapter for you guys! As I had hoped, venting the ideas for my other story has started to help get the creative juices flowing again, and I can(hopefully), write more for World Seed now. I won¡¯t be stopping either story until they reach their natural conclusion, as I have no intention of dropping one half way through(hence going to such lengths to keep myself writing World Seed. We¡¯re at 163 chapters now, this is WAY past the point of no return!) For those that are interested, you can find my second story, World Keeper, in the link below. I hope you guys continue to enjoy my work, and please don¡¯t throw sharp objects at author-sama! http://royalroadl.com/fiction/7509
It only took a couple of hours to get everyone back on board the Ariadne, and ready to leave. Talia and Maeve were both there to see us off with a smile, and wished us the best. Our next stop was going to be the Deus Ex homeworld, followed most likely by Hydra. Although there was not a signal from the New Human Empire leading to Hydra, I still felt the need to check the place out, if only to see what damage we caused by neglecting it for these last few years. Thanks to our increase in speed since our last time making this journey, the travel time was only expected to take a few weeks. Still, that¡¯s a few weeks of doing nothing except watching out for the potential space monster attack. Due to the rare experience of actually wanting to actively train, I decided to move towards the cargo bay with both Kismet and my mother. What I wanted to train this time was the Dark element, which the two of them could be considered experts in. Especially my mother, as she actually trained to her level of power, versus Kismet who was born into it. Naturally, since I was pulling my mom away to train, my dad followed along as well. And, since Kismet was coming, Yo decided to join too. Somehow, Celeste and Yang ended up meeting us in the hallway and decided to watch as well. Doubt they¡¯ll actually say anything to interrupt us, but they are still present. Must do my best not to forget them. ¡°So, what do you want to do to train? Isn¡¯t your Dark element stronger than ours?¡± My mom asked me curiously after we got to the cargo bay. By now, her body had been upgraded enough times that she looked indistinguishable from a normal human, and I would never guess that she was a Deus Ex if I hadn¡¯t been the one to make her that way. ¡°Ah¡­ well, yes. My affinity should be higher than either of you, I think. But.. my understanding is still lacking. I had the knowledge from the Qu¡¯Lopti world, but there was only so far that they could understand. And even less that I could understand from their writings.¡± I did my best to explain. I mean seriously, half of the Qu¡¯Lopti¡¯s explanations on magic contain written sound effects. Saying that it goes whoosh does not help! Without Celeste filtering through the information for whatever was usable, I doubt I would have been able to learn anything from them. Kismet nodded his head, an amused smile on his face. ¡°In other words, you let your cheat items build up your power, without ever actually figuring out the new ways in which you could use it.¡± ¡°...Pretty much, yeah.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but nod, since that really was what had happened. ¡°Alright.¡± He chuckled, before a wicked smile came over his face. ¡°Do you want to do a hands on lesson, or a boring lecture as we try to explain what we know of darkness?¡± His smile made me really want to choose the boring lecture. But¡­ I knew that I¡¯d get the most out of actual combat experience. Since I already had the ability to manipulate the darkness as well as I needed to, I just needed to know what all it could do. Right now, it was like I could form a fist, but I didn¡¯t know how to properly throw a punch. And they are the best in my crew for a specific element. After them, I would probably need to consult Sharon¡¯s animals to learn some of the other elements. And some, I will have to rely on myself. ¡°I¡¯ll go hands on.¡± I said after thinking about it for a few moments. He nodded his head again. ¡°Alright, do you have any duel tokens?¡± ¡°Ah, I have some!¡± My mom called out, surprising both of us. ¡°What? I thought it would be nice to use for sparring sometime. Not my fault I never found anyone to really spar with that was at my level.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t even know what your level is, mom¡­¡± ¡°97?¡± She smiled sweetly, before pulling a bronze token out of her inventory. Actually, her level could still be considered fairly high for the crew, regardless of the large distance between the two of us. She held the token in her hand for a moment, before exerting enough strength to crush it. Closing her eyes, I could tell she was sending some kind of invisible command. A few moments later, a message appeared in front of me.
Mary Hulett has challenged John Hulett and Kismet to a three-way duel. Do you accept? Y/N
I mentally hit the accept button, and felt as a field of energy wrapped around us. Once it was done, Kismet smiled to me. ¡°Now, I don¡¯t think you¡¯ve ever actually been in a duel before. No matter what happens between now and the end of the duel, we will be restored to our current state when it is over. However, the surroundings are not so lucky, so we should avoid anything that could cause damage to the ship.¡± I quickly agreed to that, having no desire to get vented into subspace and destroyed by the exotic mana. ¡°Alright. So¡­ what kind of things do you two have to show me?¡± As I asked, I extended my Mana Sense to cover the entire cargo bay, using my Spatial Comprehension to track every movement or magic they did. No sooner had I done so, before I noticed that my mother had already disappeared. I could detect a trace of dark mana along the floor where she had previously been, as if a shadow still existed there. However, before I could act, I felt the point of a blade on my back. Not against my armor, but directly on my skin. ¡°First lesson.¡± She said, standing behind me suddenly with a smile in her voice. ¡°Darkness is everywhere. Learn to use it, and you can be everywhere, too.¡± Since this was a duel, and I knew that none of us could actually be harmed, I made a series of wind blades around my hand, before spinning around to strike at her. I know, a son should never try to hurt his own mother, but this WAS a duel after all. Plus, she did just embarrass me. However, when my hand made contact with her, her figure twisted, and seemed to flow apart as if made of gas, before she turned pitch black and vanished. ¡°Second lesson.¡± She was now standing back in her original position. ¡°Shadows are shapeless. Become a shadow, and physical attacks won¡¯t touch you.¡± She smirked triumphantly, having embarrassed me twice in as many moves. Given that she was less than half my level, she did have the right to boast. My standard of fighting generally consisted of putting as much pure firepower into an attack that I could, without thinking too deeply about it. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Third lesson.¡± This time, it was Kismet who spoke, a barely contained grin fighting its way on his face. ¡°Never lose your way in the darkness.¡± As he spoke, a bubble of black energy seemed to radiate from his body, covering the entire area in shadows. I could not see anything beyond my own hands, and even my Mana Sense was being restricted. ¡°Darkness can mislead even the most trained hunters.¡± Although I hadn¡¯t heard him move, his voice seemed to be echoing from all around me. ¡°Once you¡¯ve lost your way, the darkness has you. And it rarely lets go.¡± I felt as though a cold liquid were running up my leg. Looking down, I saw as my leg seemed to be vanishing into the shadows. This ability I knew, the shadow prison. I knew that if I let this cover my entire body, I¡¯d have to force my way back out. Closing my eyes, I called on my own Darkness Manipulation to push back Kismet¡¯s attack, restoring my leg to normal. Focusing on the dark mana around us, I pulled that into my body, soaking it up to disperse his area effect. When I opened my eyes, the two of them were standing exactly where they were before, having not moved a single step. I began wondering if my mom had even really moved when she ¡®attacked¡¯ me earlier. ¡°Now, that¡¯s enough free lessons, don¡¯t you think?¡± Kismet asked with a mischievous smile, looking towards my mom. ¡°Time to see if he can keep up.¡± She giggled lightly, and nodded her head. ¡°Remember, John, we¡¯re only using the Dark element. Wouldn¡¯t be fair if you used any of your other elements, either.¡± I nodded at that, agreeing. I was training my Dark element, so even if I was at a disadvantage, I would only use the Dark element now. Besides, I still had confidence in my ability to forcefully tear control away from them if things got too bad, though that felt like cheating. Seeing my nod, both my mom and Kismet instantly began moving. My mom walked in a slow, even manner to her right, her form seeming to distort with every step. Soon, she seemed to produce illusory shadows of her walking in front and behind, each one moving at the same pace. As for Kismet, he had gone for a more straightforward method. Instead of using a fancy trick, he had materialized a spear of darkness in his hand and was charging straight at me. Okay, so maybe I didn¡¯t train as much as I should have, but I could at least create basic weapons out of darkness. So, I met Kismet¡¯s shadow spear with one of my own, moving to intercept him. He gave a small smile as he slashed downwards with his spear, but I simply raised mine to block it. However, at the point of contact, the body of his spear suddenly bent towards me, the head shifting to look like a snake. I barely had a moment to react before it bit me, and I could feel a foreign dark mana being injected into my body.
That¡¯s not how you block a snake! - 30 HP, Poisoned
The next instant, my mother arrived behind my back¡­ and on both sides of me. There were now five of her, and I could not tell the difference between them with only my eyes. However, my Mana Sense was still deployed, and was able to notice the different mana types from the original. After all, the copies were still constructs of only dark mana. Raising her dagger, all five clones made a stabbing motion at me, my hands still holding back Kismet¡¯s spear. Since I could not physically block, I had to use my magic to do so. Five more spears rose up from behind me, one stabbing into each form of my mother. The real one reacted to the damage, clutching at her stomach where the spear had hit her. However, the other four all continued with their attack, seemingly oblivious to the damage as four daggers stabbed into me at once.
Blocked one out of five daggers. -200 HP, Bleeding
By now, my health was dropping at a rapid pace, both from bleeding out and from the mysterious venom that Kismet had injected me with. Focusing, I shattered one of the snake scales on my forehead, instantly restoring my health to the maximum. Although this stopped the bleeding, the dark mana poison still seemed to be in my body. ¡°Time for round 2, then?¡± Kismet asked with a chuckle as he jumped back, and slammed his palm into the ground. My mom also leapt back, still holding onto her stomach. She seemed to focus for a moment, her body becoming hazy, before she resumed her stance, the wound having closed completely. This time, I decided to go on the offensive, donning a full set of shadow armor, and equipping myself with a shadow sword and shield. I did manage to learn a couple of things from Kismet in the first exchange, although I hadn¡¯t quite been able to make out what my mother had done. As such, I was more than happy to use Kismet¡¯s teachings against him. As I charged towards the Shadowborn, he slowly lifted his hand up, a gooey black ooze dripping from it. The closer I got, the more there seemed to be, before it exploded out like a bubbling wave of tar. When I thought that this would simply be an attempt to slow me down so he could prepare a sneak attack, the tar-like wave lashed out at me with a razor sharp tentacle. It slipped past my shadow armor and sent me flying back a dozen meters.
The Thing That Lurks in the Darkness doesn¡¯t like you. -50 HP
Although I managed to land on my feet, that did not help me much. The shadow monster was slowly charging at me, and Kismet was flying above it, inky black wings sprouted from his back. It was at this point that my mother made her second move, sinking down into her shadow, which began expanding in all directions. I¡­ don¡¯t think I could actually win this without cheating. The thought suddenly occurred to me. Although I unquestionably had more raw power than either of them, they were both more refined in their methods. With my mom, she was specialized in assassination techniques. She could strike unseen, create doubles of herself, and hide in the shadows. And with Kismet, he specialized in creation. He could make and control constructs of darkness. Any of these powers were theoretically possible for me. I had the required skills to train them. It was just a matter of understanding them. Just because you see a man light a fire with two twigs does not mean you¡¯ll be able to do it yourself. This¡­ was going to take a while. For now, though, time to cheat! Reaching into my own shadow, I formed a copy of myself, putting a fragment of my own mind in it. If they were attacking from two fronts, then I would defend from two fronts. Next, I attuned myself fully to dark mana, giving myself roughly 95% affinity. I was only allowed to use one element, so might as well go full power, right? Finally, I used my newfound power over darkness to wrest away the dark mana holding the tar monster together. I ripped away Kismet¡¯s wings, and I yanked my mother back out of the shadows. They both had wry smiles on their faces after that, knowing that I had opted to use raw force to win, since I couldn¡¯t win in technique. But I swear, I¡¯ll try to learn some of these techniques! Chapter 163: The Return to Deus Ex Author¡¯s Corner: Something something something, dark side of the force, something something, chapter. Oh, also, what does everyone think of the new cover art for World Seed? Decided to use GIMP to color the old image, though this one might only be temporary. Asked an awesome person to draw an image that I could use, so hopefully we¡¯ll soon have one that is not a recolored google image!
After ending the ¡®lesson¡¯ with my mother and Kismet, I stayed in the cargo bay for a while, focusing on the moves that they had used. Even if I did not have too long to study them at the time, I had been able to record them with my brain augments. So, it was easy to look back and review it all over again. As time passed, people began leaving the hangar, until it was just me and Celeste. ¡°You totally cheated, you know?¡± She asked with a grin, the first words she had said since arriving here with us. ¡°Yeah, but I couldn¡¯t really help it, right?¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°They definitely had me beat in terms of ability, so I had to do what I was good at.¡± Celeste nodded. ¡°That¡¯s right. So, how would you rate the two of them?¡± When I lifted my eyebrow curiously, she smirked wryly. ¡°You know they¡¯ve both been wanting to get in the combat teams. I know you don¡¯t want to put your own mother in a dangerous position, but you have to admit that you just saw their strength.¡± Well, I couldn¡¯t really disagree with that. ¡°That¡¯s true¡­ Though I don¡¯t really know who I¡¯d team them up with.¡± ¡°How about Ackbar? You haven¡¯t been using him enough lately. I doubt he¡¯s ever going to say ¡®It¡¯s a trap¡¯ like you keep hoping.¡± That made me laugh. ¡°Seriously, he should be around their level. And there is also Aelsgwynn. She¡¯s made some good progress with her fire magic since we had our extended vacation. As for a last one¡­ it¡¯d be nice to stick them with a healer, so how about Priscilla?¡± I looked at her curiously. ¡°Didn¡¯t think Priscilla wanted to join any combat teams. She seemed more like the researching type.¡± Celeste grinned. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Well, I¡¯ll think about finding another healer to stick with them. Can¡¯t really have an all-damage party and expect survivability.¡± I nodded, and Celeste left the cargo bay as well. So, back to reviewing! I went over every aspect of the lesson, and the various techniques that they had displayed, trying to reproduce them from start to finish. First, what my mom showed me at the beginning. Standing still, I wrapped myself in dark mana, infusing it into my body and drifting down into my shadow. But, that¡¯s where the first problem came up. Has mom started using her darkness sight again? I wondered, and began tying my senses to dark mana as well. I hadn¡¯t done this in a while, but it was still fairly easy to reproduce. If she did it like this, she could still ¡®see¡¯ me.. Next, a part I was much more familiar with. I created a copy of myself with dark mana. Though, I was only recreating the appearance, and not the aura. I was pretty sure that she hadn¡¯t gone that deep in her shadow clones. Like this, I continued for the rest of the day, until I had at least copied the basics of every move they made. Really though, it was only the moves my mom used that took some effort to reproduce. Kismet¡¯s techniques were simply new applications of dark mana¡¯s ability to create things from shadows. That was easy enough to see through. For the next two weeks, I sought out help from many of Sharon¡¯s animals in order to help instruct me in the rest of the basic elements. As for the rest¡­ well, I¡¯d be on my own. The only nonstandard element I share with anyone is Time Element, and I¡¯m not sure how deep Tokemi has trained it. Anyways, I learned a few things that were rather interesting. Most of the seven basic elements, aside from light and dark, didn¡¯t seem to have so much profoundness in them. For instance, while you could pull out fire mana from an object to freeze it, it did not get any deeper than that. Fire manipulation was basically just for heating and cooling. Though, each element did have their own ¡®elemental body¡¯, which basically converts your entire being into that element. This is different from becoming an elemental, because you do not have the almost omnipotent control over that element around you. At least my training did give me some new ideas on how to use each element, though. That should let me be a bit more useful if we run into a real powerhouse. After all, I couldn¡¯t exclude the possibility that there was someone else out there like me who had learned cheat-like abilities on the enemy side. So, until we reached the Deus Ex world, I spent most of my time in the cargo bay, practicing the techniques that I had acquired. Surprisingly, my Mana Manipulation skill finally showed a slight gain in experience, something that hadn¡¯t happened in a while. It wasn¡¯t much, mind you, but that was still something. That skill hadn¡¯t improved for a long time, so any increase was welcome. Finally, we arrived at the border of the Deus Ex space. Fearing that they may simply open fire at anyone that trespassed in their territory, we first sent out a short-range broadcast to get their attention. If they really want us dead, there¡¯s not a whole lot we can do about it, but at least we can prevent it from being an accidental shooting. ¡°This is John Hulett of the Ariadne, here to speak with a representative of the Deus Ex. Please do not shoot us, as it would be extremely rude.¡± Just in case, I preemptively extended my mana senses out beyond the top of the ship, just as I had during the fight against the space dragon. Worst case scenario, I might be able to buy us a few seconds to run like crazy. There was a delay of a few minutes, and I was considering just barging in, before a message responded. ¡°John Hulett. This is Unit X-55A9. Your identity has been verified and you are clear to enter Deus Ex space. We are aware of the purpose behind your visit, and a representative is waiting to converse.¡± Well¡­ that went better than expected, I guess. I let out a sigh of relief, before ordering the ship to proceed. ¡°Where can I go to--¡± I was suddenly shrouded in a white light while sitting in my captain¡¯s chair, and in the space of a blink I had moved to sitting at a large table. ¡°Meet the¡­ well, that was unexpected¡­.¡± Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Okay, new priority, get shields that can stop teleports! That is just every kind of bad news if people could send nukes directly into the ship. Celeste¡¯s voice rang out in my mind as I thought that. ¡°We do have anti-spell shields¡­ but they used a pure technological teleport. Will need to get specific jamming shields to prevent that as the next upgrade.¡± I nodded my head slightly, and looked around. Aside from myself, there was only one other person in this room, a rather obvious robot sitting at the far end of the table. Although this one had two arms and two legs, thus giving it a very basic human frame, its eye sockets were deep, with two tiny glowing dots. It had a set of jaws, but obviously no teeth, making it seem even more unnatural, and it regarded me with indifference as I observed it. ¡°John Hulett. We received news that you would be coming here. You wish to ask for aid against the New Human Alliance, correct?¡± He, and it was obviously a male voice even if it sounded like it was speaking through a fan, did not move in the slightest as he asked me that. ¡°That¡¯s right. The Deus Ex are currently the only other power with a large enough force to spare anyone. Not to mention that your technology far outclasses any of the other known races.¡± The representative gave an almost imperceptible nod when I said that. ¡°Agreed. However, our numbers are lacking. While we can spare some ships with automated crew, there have not been enough ¡®monsters¡¯ spawning to replenish our numbers to an acceptable degree. Currently, we do not have the capability to send anyone with you, without compromising our own defenses.¡± Damn¡­ that does make sense, though¡­ They just got done waging a war with the soulless robots, and probably don¡¯t want to make anyone else if they can¡¯t immediately convert them to a Deus Ex. But¡­ ¡°What if I could get you an easy supply of monster spawns? That way you could increase your numbers as quickly as you want.¡± I wasn¡¯t sure, but I thought his blue LED eyes brightened when I said that. ¡°Is this within your capabilities?¡± I nodded my head. ¡°That¡¯s right. I can create an area where you can spawn monsters as frequently as you want. The only requirement is someone has to be there with enough mana to activate it. But, I doubt that you don¡¯t have anyone capable of that.¡± ¡°Indeed. Using the information you left behind during your previous ¡®visit¡¯, we determined that it would be wise to divert some of our resources to developing this new energy.¡± There was a brief pause, as he seemed to be debating something. ¡°Very well, your suggestion has been approved. If you provide us with the means of increasing our numbers more rapidly, we shall dispatch a suitable fleet to join you. The time limit will depend upon the new speed of producing Deus Ex.¡± They are being very reasonable¡­ This isn¡¯t a bad thing, at least. ¡°Alright. Once you decide where you want me to put it, I can get started. I don¡¯t need any specific materials.¡± No sooner had I finished saying that, then the white light appeared around me again. This time, when it faded, I fell flat on my butt. After all, there was not a chair under me anymore. It¡¯s not like I would magically adjust my posture during the teleport, unfortunately. Around me, I heard various sounds of snarling, and turned to find caged monsters surrounding me. Some were hound-like, with sharp metal spikes protruding from their backs. Some were flying discs, banging against the invisible walls of their cage. A moment later, another white light flashed, and the representative appeared. ¡°This is where we keep the current supply of ¡®monsters¡¯. The goal was to wait for a suitable breeding pair to emerge, but these do not seem to follow that biological imperative. This was most troubling, as we were forced to wait for them to appear naturally.¡± Extending my senses again, I saw that there were maybe two hundred monsters in this facility. ¡°Wow¡­ Well, this will do, at least.¡± I shrugged, looking around to find a large enough area. ¡°Excellent. This was the only other facility on the planet that currently possesses an atmosphere breathable by your standards. It would have been inconvenient to require additional facilities.¡± Ah¡­ is that why they are teleporting me around, because I wouldn¡¯t be able to breathe otherwise? Well, I could just turn into a Void Elf, but they probably don¡¯t know about that. I simply nodded my head, until I found an empty patch of metal floor about five meters wide. This seemed to be the biggest free space in the immediate area, so I decided to work with it. Kneeling down, I placed one hand on the floor, and working. This was a simple matter, as all I really needed to do was flex my Metal Manipulation ability. All around me, a spell diagram began forming, the lines etching themselves into the metal floor. The process took maybe five minutes, runes slowly forming on the ground before it was done. This was a formation I had used far too many times in the past, so it did not take me long to complete. Once I was done, I gave a slight nod and stood up. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s done. As long as you put mana into the circle, it will work. Like so.¡± To give a demonstration, I put some of my own mana into the diagram. As I did, the lines began lighting up, showing its activation. More lights of multiple colors rushed into the spell circle, gathering at a single point before forming into a new shape. Like my original training formation, this one was simply designed to summon an ettin. Big, dumb, with two heads and a bad temper. As soon as it appeared, it seemed like an automatic response was triggered. A white light appeared around the ettin, and it vanished, appearing a short distance away in a previously unoccupied cage. The representative of the Deus Ex observed for a while, before speaking. ¡°This is acceptable. Within one hour, we will know the amount of time needed to produce sufficient numbers. At that time, we will resume contact.¡± I was going to respond, but the same white light appeared around me, and I found myself standing back on the bridge, meeting the gazes of some rather surprised crew members. They really need to learn how to properly talk to people¡­ Chapter 164: Maintain Calm Author¡¯s Corner: So, said this in my last chapter of World Keeper, but¡­ I totally got distracted for a few days by random free games. Don¡¯t throw things at author-sama! I¡¯m writing again!
¡°How did the negotiations go?¡± Ackbar asked after I appeared on the bridge. I nodded my head lightly, moving to sit back in my comfortable captain¡¯s chair. ¡°Well¡­ We¡¯re getting the help at least¡­ We¡¯ve just got to wait a while for it.¡± Seeing the confused look on his face, I explained the situation regarding the Deus Ex¡¯s population problems. ¡°Ahh¡­ Yes, that would be a problem. Well, I suppose we will simply have to see what happens, and plan around that. However, I do have something to report, Captain.¡± This time, it was my turn to be confused. ¡°While you were absent, I conducted another scan for the New Human Empire, and I felt that there were less responses than previously. Roughly 20% less, if I had to guess. Either they are consolidating their forces at less locations, their spies have died, or they have started setting up defenses against divination magic.¡± Well¡­ that sucked royally. Information is a deciding factor in a war, and it is one that we are severely lacking in¡­ ¡°I see¡­ We still have the locations for their planet bases that we acquired before we arrived at Gerin. When we get the Deus Ex¡¯s help, we¡¯ll begin heading to those. Hopefully, they aren¡¯t abandoned or anything.¡± Ackbar nodded and turned back to his station, while I sat back and thought about our situation. We need some reliable intel. Don¡¯t suppose my friendly neighborhood deity would be of any help?
No can do! Rules are rules, no telling the business of other players.
Fine, fine.. Figured it wouldn¡¯t work, but had to try. I shook my head in resignation, and simply waited for the results from the Deus Ex. Either way, we¡¯d have to wait for them. Who knows, maybe their scanning technology will be able to give us some help if it is advanced far enough. Like that, an hour passed by in silence, until a communication was received from the Deus Ex. ¡°Captain Hulett. Calculations have been complete. Please stand by for seven days, at which point we will possess sufficient numbers to send with you.¡± ¡°Understood¡­¡± I let out a small sigh. Seven days wasn¡¯t too bad, at least. I had been expecting them to ask for more time, at which point I would have had to leave without them and ask that they catch up when they are able. A week¡­ was still acceptable. ¡°Very well. We shall continue production until that time. Until then, it is suggested that modifications are made to your primary ship, as it is lacking several key features.¡± I felt my eye twitch slightly at that. The Ariadne isn¡¯t lacking¡­ you guys are just too insanely advanced. ¡°We would¡­ appreciate the assistance.¡± ¡°Very well. Dock your ship at the orbital construction facility, and upgrades can begin immediately.¡± After it said that, there was a ripple in the space around the metal planet. A large, circular station was revealed, with three rings all connected and lined up to fit ships far bigger than the one we were currently using. Seeing that the conversation was over, and the Deus Ex abruptly ended the call, I shook my head slightly. ¡°Go ahead, take us in. But, be sure to keep an eye on whatever upgrades they make. Not that I don¡¯t trust them¡­ but can never be too careful.¡± That got a nod from everyone on the bridge, and our ship slowly changed course and moved to dock at the station. Shortly after we got docked, there was a request for entry from one of our airlocks. Pulling up the visual feed, there were five bipedal robots of near identical design were waiting motionlessly on a platform just outside the airlock. They were each just under two meters tall, with slim, metal faces that only had two glowing green orbs for eyes. Along their bodies were green lines, likely marking them as construction units. Finally, the one difference between them was that each one had a unique code painted on their chest. Of course¡­ it wasn¡¯t an english code, but a series of dots, lines, and empty circles. I gave the order to let them in, but as before I asked Celeste to keep an eye on them. There was a chance that she could learn some new designs by watching their work, or get ideas for more improvements. Even though they have quite a lot of advancement in regards to technology, I am confident that Celeste knows far more than them when it comes to magic. After all, she has some information from the future, as well as personal experience over a much longer period of time compared to these Deus Ex. After they entered, the construction crew immediately proceeded to the shield generators. The eerie thing was that they took the shortest route possible, despite not asking for directions or having never been on the ship before. Most likely, they conducted a deep scan of the ship before suggesting the upgrades. Really hope one of those upgrades is to shield against teleporting, and those scans¡­ Once the five Deus Ex arrived at the primary shield generators, they began retrieving devices from seemingly nowhere, each one pulling out something different. One of them began rapidly disassembling the shield generator, while another began pulling out smaller chips and circuits, as well as a few crystal. Like a well oiled machine--pardon the pun-- they tossed out some of the previously installed machinery and replaced it with what they had pulled out. Over the course of the next few minutes, they had practically replaced the entire generator, leaving only its shell intact. Celeste¡­ Are you able to tell what they¡¯re doing? ¡°Kind of.¡± She answered in a somewhat troubled tone. ¡°Without a deep scan, I can¡¯t properly identify what kinds of effects what they are doing will have. However, I have been running continual diagnostics on the shield generator, and so far output has increased by 30%, with multiple new shield frequencies updated. They seem to be leaving any of the magic defenses alone, and purely enhancing the technological aspects.¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Well, that was both reassuring and not at the same time. Can you at least see if they rig up anything that would be bad for us later on? ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m keeping an eye out for that. So far, I haven¡¯t seen anything. However, once the upgrades are done, I would suggest taking the shields offline for an hour or so, so that I can run a full diagnostic on them. Same with any additional systems they mess with. Like you say, better safe than sorry.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that, and the Deus Ex promptly finished their work. They left the discarded components lying around for the crew to recover, replaced the covering for the shield generator, and then moved on. Their next stop was the engine. I wasn¡¯t really sure what they expected to do here, as the majority of our thrust comes from magic formations now. Sure, we do also have actual engines, but they serve mostly as a container and converter for the energies that the formations draw from. Though, that didn¡¯t seem to be an issue. Here, the Deus Ex only replaced a single part, a power converter connected to the engines. And what they replaced it with was a part that looked entirely identical. If we hadn¡¯t been personally watching, we might never notice the change. ¡°Ah, don¡¯t worry, John. That part was actually showing signs of needing to be replaced, but it wasn¡¯t to a degree that we needed to worry about yet. We have all the materials to replace those if we need to.¡± Well¡­ I guess that was good, at least. Though it was discomforting that their scans apparently ran so deep that they could tell which individual parts of the ship needed to be replaced. Next on their upgrade tour was the scanners. Though, for this one they actually had to exit the ship and walk across the surface to access what they needed. And it was also this one that we were unable to watch through the cameras, because the sensor panel wasn¡¯t in view of one of the cameras, and they needed to take the scanner offline to conduct the upgrade. Thankfully, however, it was still within the range of my Mana Sense, so I could properly keep an eye on them through that. And through me, Celeste was able to continue observing them as well. Again, they seemed to be doing their job earnestly, and finished within ten minutes. Afterwards, they casually walked back down to the platform they had originally entered the ship from, and we watched as the platform descended into the ground. At the same time, they sent a memo through the ship¡¯s communication window.
Maintenance complete. Full list of Maintenance as follows. ¡­
I skimmed through the list, since they labeled each and every part used, and I myself didn¡¯t know the names for most of them. However, there was a part at the end that caught my attention.
... Suggest Further Maintenance. Hull material lacking, suggest replacing with element M-192. Full replacement impossible without approval. Lacking sufficient materials. Engine thrust lacking, suggest replacing with model AK-5242. Full thrust capacity indeterminable due to nature of device. Shield strength lacking, suggest replacing with model D-94. Insufficient space to convert shield module.
So¡­ they really were just doing maintenance¡­ and even made a list of suggested improvements. Celeste.. Can you find out what that element, and those model numbers mean? It¡¯s unlikely that they used the same method of identifying things as we do. For all I knew, element M-192 could be iron, mithril, or even toilet paper. ¡°Will do, John!¡± She responded energetically, spending a few long moments silent before sending me a mental response again. ¡°The element seems to be their identification for mithril, which they began discovering a few weeks ago in nearby asteroid belts and the core of their own planet. As it was an unknown element, they haven¡¯t given it a proper name yet. As for the model numbers¡­ they seem to be rather old by the Deus Ex standards, but are the most advanced ones they have compatible with our systems.¡± ¡°Ahh¡­¡± I unintentionally let that comment out verbally, but nobody seemed to be paying attention anyways. How much mithril would it take to replace the ship¡¯s hull? I might have enough in my grove¡­. Uhm¡­ nevermind. I let out a bitter smile as I sent a portion of my mind to investigate my grove. For convenience, I had separated all of the major metals into their own giant planetoids, so that they could have pure mana of that same type to grow faster. However¡­ the mithril planetoid seemed to have been too close to the center of the system when the black hole formed. By now¡­ it had been entirely pulled into the black hole, so the only mithril I could still access was what was spawning in the individual planets. And, while there was surely a lot of it, it would not be enough to replace the hull of a ship the size of the Ariadne. Thankfully, I had placed the gold planetoid near the edge of my grove. All I had lost so far seemed to be my mithril and silver planetoids. ¡°It¡¯s fine, John.¡± Celeste spoke to me mentally, in a comforting tone. ¡°Once your grove reaches the next step, if everything goes right, you should have as much material as you want. You might even be able to bring out some of those legendary ores if you get lucky!¡± I gave a dry chuckle at that, though she was right. Still¡­ that was months away. I might not even reach that point by the time this war is over. Or, knowing my luck, the process would end right at some critical moment. I don¡¯t want to turn into a giant black hole of mana during a space battle! Announcement! Not a Chapter I really don''t like posting these non-chapters, but in this case, I found it unavoidable. I have some news I need to share with everyone, as it impacts my ability to write my two stories, World Seed and World Keeper. Now, I want to start off by saying that I still have no intention of dropping either story, so please pay attention until the end. Author-sama thanks you in advance. The financial situation has deteriorated further than I had feared, and a lot of luxuries are no longer affordable. Due to some medical reasons, I had avoided getting a job until now, but it seems like this is not an option anymore. I''m going to have to start looking for one soon, and that means I won''t have as much time to write anymore. I thank everyone that has read my stories until this point, and hope that you can all be patient and supportive in the future. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. I''ll do my best to continue writing whenever I have the time and mood, but after getting this news my mood is pretty much ruined for right now... Chapter 165: Discussions, Discord, and Tactical Disco balls? Author¡¯s Corner: Howdy readers, author-sama here! So, I wanted to thank everyone for their support in my previous announcement. After listening to some suggestions, I decided to go ahead and post the first volume of World Seed on Amazon Kindle. Along with it, I also published a previously unseen story, which I wrote almost a year before starting World Seed. Both are available for 4.99$, or free for Kindle Unlimited users, so if you are able to, please check them out. If not, even just spreading the word would be a big help. If either story sells enough copies, I will post its sequel(Volume 2 of World Seed, or book 2 of the other story), so you can look forward to that! Also, I will NOT be taking World Seed off of RRL, as Amazon¡¯s exclusive contract only applies to Kindle Select, not normal Kindle publishing. Now, with that out of the way, everyone enjoy this chapter! EDIT: Correction, World Seed is not available for free on Kindle Unlimited. That seems to be exclusive to Kindle Select, which World Seed cannot be enrolled in due to being here.
The next few days, we spent in relative quiet. From the Deus Ex, there were no status reports given unless we asked directly, and when we did things seemed to be progressing exactly according to schedule. Now¡­ on another front, there was definitely a development. Particularly a conversation that happened on our third day in this system.
Incoming call from Talia
I nodded my head to accept the call, figuring that she was giving me a regular report on how things were going. ¡°John?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here. How is everything?¡± I asked, casually. These reports typically came once a week, so it wasn¡¯t really like I was expecting bad news. ¡°Not good¡­ We¡¯ve got some bad news.¡± Well, I guess I need to start fixing my expectations. My expression turned serious as I sat forward in my chair, furrowing my eyebrows. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°There have been¡­ problems over here. Mostly diplomatic. In the last conference call of race representatives, I can¡¯t be sure exactly what was said. However, from High Queen Maeve¡¯s responses, the other races are becoming more hostile. Particularly against the humans. When it was over, she set up a kingdom construction project for shelters to protect the human residents, give them their own land on the planet.¡± ¡°According to her, this was for their own protection, so that they could have a fortified area to defend themselves if the other races really did go looking for trouble.¡± Talia explained, and I could tell that she thought this was serious as well. ¡°You don¡¯t seem like you entirely agree¡­¡± ¡°Well¡­ I just don¡¯t understand it all. Our people have never really been through a war of this scale.¡± She said in an exasperated tone. ¡°To be honest, it worries me. Their opening move was to scare us, by burning one of our worlds. I understand that. But, couldn¡¯t they have just done that to all of our worlds at once and been done with it? Instead, they only launched a couple of minor attacks and gave us time to develop a defense against their first weapon. Since then, nothing. There were spies caught in our territories with the help of your people, but we couldn¡¯t get any useful information.¡± I nodded my head slightly, and was just about to speak up when she continued. ¡°But, why? I mean, what purpose would there be in not wiping us out? I went over some tactical documents brought over by other races, and I can¡¯t figure it out. They can¡¯t cut off our supply lines because our base is a self-sustaining planet. They can¡¯t move their troops in without being spotted, unless they have some ability we don¡¯t know about. And, they aren¡¯t spreading any propaganda. If you told me that they were designing a new weapon, something even scarier than the bombs they used before, I might be able to believe that. But, that would mean they wanted to destroy us, which they could have done before.¡± It was at this point that I decided to squeeze a few words in. ¡°Maybe the New Human Empire really doesn¡¯t want to destroy the other races?¡± ¡°Well, what else could their goal be?¡± Talia asked. ¡°Maybe they want to enslave them, instead?¡± I offered, not entirely sure myself. However, it was the only idea that made sense, because what Talia had said was entirely true. They really could have destroyed everyone by now if they wanted, and they had proven as much. ¡°But¡­¡± She started, seeming to think it over. ¡°In order to do that, they would need to completely overwhelm the entire combined fighting power of the allied races. I can believe that they have hidden super-weapons, but it shouldn¡¯t be something of that scale. And if their goal was to enslave us, why blow up one of our planets? Just to scare us into putting all of our forces in one place, and not go out to look for them?¡± ¡°It¡¯s definitely possible. Aside from myself and the Deus Ex, none of the other races have enough power available in a space fleet for both offense and defense. If they scare everyone into a full defense, they can roam around unchecked as much as they want. We don¡¯t even know where their main base is. And, until we manage to find someone from their group that doesn¡¯t self destruct the moment we get our hands on them, we can¡¯t find that out.¡± Hearing what I said, there was a pause in the conversation. Soon, Talia again began talking. ¡°Okay¡­ I can understand that. And, with all of our defenses aimed away from our planet to prevent an invasion, that leaves us open to any spies that are still on the planet. If they really do have some kind of long distance troop transport, they might be able to bring people in completely undetected. Right now, tensions might be rising because each race knows that they can¡¯t take any actions other than defending their own worlds¡­ If that continues, humans on other inhabited worlds might start getting attacked¡­¡± I nodded my head again, agreeing, and continuing what she was saying. ¡°And if the humans begin to suffer under the ¡®alien races¡¯, there might be more sympathizers that join the New Human Empire. At the very least, it will be easier for them to conduct their operations.¡± It seemed like I was finally starting to get an idea of what this enemy was really doing. Or, I hoped I was. This was still speculation. ¡°I agree¡­ I¡¯ll pass this information on to the High Queen. If the other races understand this plan, they might not be so quick to act, and may start watching for suspicious activity on the planet.¡± After that, we said a few more words, and the call was ended. Aside from that conversation, the week of waiting was rather boring. I did continue polishing my techniques for the various elements I controlled, so that I would be able to fight better, and I spent some time working on equipment. But there was not a lot else to do and be productive in this situation. After the week of waiting, we received a communication from the Deus Ex ¡®overlord¡¯, stating that the ships had been sufficiently staffed to begin the voyage. Following that, ships began rising up from the planet¡¯s surface, one after another. Each one had a long, sleek design, uniform in appearance. It was hard to judge the sizes from this distance, but they seemed to be three hundred meters wide, three kilometers long, and eight meters tall with a curved front. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Altogether, there were fifteen ships launching from the Deus Ex world to meet us, and when they had arrived, we received another communication. The face that appeared in the hologram seemed identical to the representative I had met, except that its eyes were red in color. ¡°The Striker Legion is ready to advance.¡± ¡°Well then¡­¡± I did my best to suppress my excitement. I did not know the capabilities of these ships, but judging by our last encounter with the Deus Ex, their firepower should not be much lower with the Ariadne, and quite possibly a bit higher. Fifteen ships on the level of the Ariadne¡­ we might just have a chance at this after all. Turning to the side, I gave an order to the navigations officer on duty, one of Sharon¡¯s rabbit companions. ¡°Send the coordinates to planet Hydra to the fleet. We are paying a visit there on our way to the first location.¡± I really didn¡¯t want to sidetrack anymore than absolutely necessary, but seeing the state of that world could be considered as such. And, besides¡­ it really was on the way to one of the locations. ¡°Understood, captain!¡± The rabbit man called out, rapidly typing on the display in front of him. At the same time, I sent fleet invitations to each of the Deus Ex ships, in order to increase coordination. ¡°All ships, launch.¡± I gave the command, sitting back in my captain¡¯s chair. There was something about seeing nearly thirty ships opening subspace gates at once that was incredibly satisfying. Our entire fleet was shrouded by blue light, and then we were flying through the void. Judging by how the Deus Ex ships were perfectly matching our speed, I assumed that it was likely that their ships had a higher speed than we did. Rather than feeling envious, this actually made me happy to know that such ships were on our side. ¡°Celeste.¡± I called out to our own Deus Ex, who stepped up beside me in response. ¡°Start transmitting the typical dangers of subspace, such as the abstracts and other monsters. Don¡¯t want to have them caught off guard if we come across a nest of them.¡± She smiled lightly at that, ¡°Understood.¡± Though she did not make any apparent movements, I had no doubt that she was doing as I had said. In the meantime¡­ the trip to Hydra would likely take a week or two, depending on interruptions, so I got up from my seat and headed to my personal work area, where I perform my enchantment and alchemy. Though, lately I¡¯ve been sharing that space with a particularly studious rabbit. Priscilla was, unsurprisingly, in the work area again when I entered, and jumped in surprise. ¡°Oh, hey John!¡± She called with a smile, standing in front of an old fashioned mortar and pestle. Although there is more advanced equipment here for higher levels of alchemy, she always seems to like using the older tools. ¡°What brings you here?¡± ¡°I just wanted to do some more work on the gear, since there is a bit of time before we arrive at our next location.¡± I answered, truthfully. There was one piece of equipment that I still had left to replace, though I had never been in much of a hurry. It was not something which had really seen use since I created it, my Yin Yang amulet. Several years ago, I had created this item as a defense against darkness and light magic. Since then¡­ I haven¡¯t really gotten into a serious battle against either of those elements, so I never bothered to upgrade this item. But now, preparing to fight an unknown enemy, I decided to use my improved skills to see just how much I could get out of an amulet. My first step, I sent a fraction of my mind into my grove, searching the various planets and asteroids to gather up one kilogram of orichalcum. I would not need anywhere near this amount for the amulet, but if I failed then it would be nice to have extra. Nodding to myself, I began dividing it into a number of small disks, each one a half inch thick and six inches in diameter. Priscilla watched with a small smile as the block of metal appeared, and then seemed to begin separating itself in front of her. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll leave you to this, so I don¡¯t disturb you.¡± She spoke, and then walked to the door. Really, I had no reason to keep her here, and it would be easier to do this without a distraction. So, I let her go, and focused on my work. Once the disks were prepared, I grabbed one and took a deep breath. When I planned for this amulet to be an upgrade, it was not merely in terms of power. I wanted it to actually be useful to me. As such, I sent my mana into the item, in the thinnest strands I could manage. First, I began further molding the amulet, carving in a spell diagram. For this diagram, I created a six sided star in the center. Each point of the star had a small circle at the end, and there was another circle encapsulating the star itself. At the center of the star, there was yet another circle, its edges touching the various inner sides of the star. Next, in each of the outer circles, I began laying runes along their interiors, for each circle to gather mana of a particular element. Starting from the top and moving clockwise, I set the elements to be Light, Wind, Fire, Dark, Earth, and Water. With this, it should absorb any attacks consisting of those six elements directed at me, and I can even charge them at will. To test it, I filled each circle with the mana type that it corresponded with, and watched them change colors to match their element. However, the storage here seemed incredibly insufficient, despite the rare material used. As such, I went in and began rearranging its aura with my mana carefully, arranging for the mana to be funneled into a more efficient space. It would be no good if the amulet couldn¡¯t properly defend against one or two attacks, right? Now, once I had taken care of that, came the challenge. I did not want this to simply gather mana. Like my old amulet, I wanted it to be able to attack as well. As such, I began weaving in more runes along the lines of the six sided star. On command, it would channel the mana from the circles into the star, following the lines. Since no element directly touched its polar opposite, they would have time to mix with other elements before encountering it. Finally, in the center, once the mana from all six sides had been evenly mixed, they would be channeled into the center circle. In this one, I laid the runes for a simple blast spell. And then, it was time to test it out. Closing my eyes, I wrapped the amulet in my mana, suppressing its own aura to forcefully send it to my grove. If not for my nearly monstrous mana pools and recovery rate, that might not be possible, but this made my grove the perfect testing ground. Once the amulet was in the grove, I supplied it with all six of the elements it needed, and then activated it. I watched as the six lights flowed along the lines of the amulet, merging with each other one by one. Each time the lights met, their glow would become stronger. And finally, when the lines of the six sided star had fully lit up¡­ the amulet exploded. It was a glorious explosion, mind you, easily fifteen meters in radius, full of chaotic mana that seemed to be made of all of the colors of the rainbow. But¡­ it was definitely not what I wanted. As such, I began the same process on the next one, going in and tweaking the aura along the lines to more properly stabilized the combined mana types. On my second attempt, things went much more smoothly. The lines all lit up, and a prismatic blast was fired out from the center of the amulet. The blast was roughly two meters wide at its thickest, and stretched for about ten kilometers before dissipating. If I had to compare it with anything, in scope of pure attack power, it reminded me of my first time using the Element Burst ability, back when I had less mana available to use for it. Still¡­ this was a great success, since this was much easier to use than that ability, and would not give me such a powerful backlash if I tried to gather too much mana. So, I added this new item, the Burst Amulet, to my gear. Chapter 166: The Black Spot Author¡¯s Corner: Wow, I can honestly say I never thought that the two books would start selling this well. And, I know I have all of you to thank for that, so thank you very much! Thanks to the support with those two books, I have dodged the hunt for painful jobs, and can instead consider my job writing more stories for you guys! This means that, hopefully, there will not be the dreaded decrease in chapters! Now, with that out of the way, enjoy tonight¡¯s chapter!
The trip to Hydra was¡­ well¡­ honestly? It was boring. I had already finished updating the last of my equipment, the Burst Amulet, and the Deus Ex ships were truly powerful. Although we had come across a space monster a few days after leaving their world, the battle only took a few seconds. This monster was only about half as big as the previous space dragon, and did not seem to have many special tricks, so it had been torn apart by blasts of light as soon as we dropped out of subspace. I had wanted to do battle simulations, but that was also impossible. Not because people didn¡¯t agree to it or anything, but because we had no information on the New Human Empire ships and tactics. Without the information, it was impossible for us to create a simulation to fight them. In the end, all I could do was to spend my time with the other crew members of the ship that possessed groves. This was because, I still needed to transfer over the valuable plants I had collected and created. There were some that I really couldn¡¯t bear to watch become extinct because of the black hole. One, my particular favorite, was modelled after a particular enemy that I had originally encountered on Hydra, one that I had never truly been able to kill. My lesser Nature Wyrm, only about 60% the size of the original, had as many of the original powers that I could transplant into it. First, it had the body type and flight ability of the space dragon, which I felt was the most important part. Next, I gave it a powerful breath weapon with the plant element. Finally, and I felt that this ability resembled what the creature originally had a bit too closely¡­ I gave it the instant regeneration power I acquired from the boss monster on Hydra. The body part I linked it to was a root near the center of the plant dragon, which would serve as a form of heart. Actually, creating this plant monster had been easier than I had expected. Combining my Animal and Plant Manipulation abilities, I was able to merge the auras of plants and beasts together. From there, I just had to select an appropriate monster to use as the base, and begin altering the aura. Unfortunately, I was limited by the level of the base creature, which resulted in the plant dragon having less power than the original. Otherwise, though, I felt it was a good recreation. The system even named it ¡®Immature Nature Wyrm¡¯, which I took to mean that I had gotten pretty close. Anyways, I wanted to move the Nature Wyrm, as well as the other plants I had gathered and created, over to other groves so that they would not be lost in the black hole. No matter how great my abilities would rise after I entered the final stage, I imagined that it would still take considerable work to recreate those plants. As for the animals, I had long since distributed a few of them among the groves from the crew. Now, with that out of the way, we arrived at Hydra with few problems. Naturally, we continued scanning for any New Human Empire signals, but like before they were simply decreasing in number. We could only use the locations we had previously triangulated with Ackbar¡¯s help. As for Hydra itself¡­ well, that part surprised me when we arrived in orbit. The world had changed, in a visible way. The oceans and mountains were masked by a layer of green that swept across the entire planet, with the only exception being a single location. That one spot was pitch black, as if it was a giant green eye. Okay, maybe that was a bad comparison, because it sent shivers down my spine to think about. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? Run a scan on the planet.¡± I said, with mild worry. I was really hoping that black spot was not the location of my previous lab. ¡°Understood, sir!¡± The scanning officer nodded to me, turning to his console and hitting a few commands. A short while later, he brought up two maps of the planet, one looking like how I remembered it and the other as it was now. ¡°Notable locations have been highlighted on the maps.¡± As he spoke, the two maps overlapped, and we could clearly see the changes. ¡°The majority of the planet seems to have been covered in dense jungle. However, the area immediately surrounding the demon dungeon has undergone a different change. Aside from the demon and plant dungeons, all other dungeon mana signatures have disappeared.¡± Okay¡­ I¡¯m not sure if that is better or worse¡­ ¡°Which territory is my previous lab in?¡± When I asked that, he hit a few more buttons, and the map highlighted one of the icons, which was deeply within the plant territory. ¡°Location found. Multiple monster signatures detected within. Your orders, captain?¡± He turned to look at me, curiously. We couldn¡¯t stay here for too long, so there was only one thing that could be done. ¡°I¡¯ll head on down and clean the area. Can¡¯t leave it alone any longer than it has been.¡± As I spoke, I got up and moved towards the medbay, in order to retrieve a clone. No matter how strong I was, I didn¡¯t want to take a chance with this planet, it had left too deep of an impression on me. ¡°Captain Hulett.¡± A monotone voice entered my ear from the comms as I walked. ¡°Would it not be easier to simply bombard the planet to eliminate any potential threats? Scanners indicate no sapient lifeforms outside of the ¡®dungeon monsters¡¯ on the planet.¡± I thought about that for a brief second, before shaking my head. ¡°No, let¡¯s not do that. The situation should be remedied fairly easily, and does not require an orbital strike.¡± Honestly, all I would have to do is destroy the monster spawning formation, and retrieve the elemental seeds. With that out of the way, there will be nothing to perpetually feed the monsters. ¡°...Understood. We shall leave this situation to your discretion, then.¡± The voice entered my ear one more time before I arrived in the medbay, and put on the clone controller headset. Once inside my clone body, I stood up and looked around. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Alright, send me down as close to the lab as you can.¡± I spoke into the comms, running towards the teleport bay. From there, a warm light enveloped me, and I found myself in the middle of a dense jungle. All around me were tightly packed trees, some with shifting vines while others remained motionless. I could feel the ground shaking lightly beneath my feet, and instinctively brought a hand up to my comm. ¡°How far am I from the compound?¡± ¡°Sir, according to our scans, you should be directly on top of it.¡± Oh, well that is helpful. Taking another look around, I could see bits of broken stone hanging from tree branches, so there is a good chance that these trees grew up from beneath my lab. Well, that might mean that the diagrams were already broken¡­ With that thought in mind, I extended my mana sense, observing my surroundings. What I found¡­ was a very familiar type of aura. Plant monsters, simply waiting to strike. When I had first been to this world, they were a constant danger. I had only hidden from them by cultivating the Plant Affinity, masking myself as one of their own. Currently, my affinity should be high enough to make that unnecessary. Either way, I soon found what I was looking for, a supernova of mana beneath my feet. Tightly packed mana seeds, likely filling the entire basement until there was no room to spawn anymore. Well¡­ I had a way to take care of that now. Closing my eyes, I focused on my grove. This was an ability that I had never tested before, because of fear that it would damage my surroundings. But now, that was exactly what I wanted. I connected to the black hole at the very center of my grove, and pulled at it as I would pull at anything else I wanted to summon. Around my body, the light seemed to warp and twist. Groans could be heard as the thinner branches snapped off of nearby trees and flew at me. Even the ground beneath my feet began cracking and shifting. This was the ability I had gained by advancing my grove to the Galactic stage, the ability to channel the black hole. I wasn¡¯t sure what the area of effect would be for this, but cleaning up the basement beneath me should be easy. My concern right now was not killing myself in the process. With the branches flying at me like spears, I could only raise my arms to shield myself, watching as they broke apart into nothing when they entered my vicinity. I could feel them changing into raw plant mana, spiraling around my body and entering it without my control. The ground beneath my feet was likewise deteriorating, changing into earth mana that I unconsciously absorbed. But.. no matter how much plant mana I emit, there was no way for the tree monsters around me to think of this as anything other than a blatant attack. As such, I watched as three thick vines launched themselves at me, followed by thick roots with sharp points. Each attack was broken apart and absorbed by the force I was emitting, and I could see the trees shaking, either from pain or fear. While they hesitated, I began sinking lower into the ground, the earth below me giving way. Sorry guys, but I¡¯ll make this as quick as I can. I thought to myself, before the vortex of mana broke through to the basement below. Beneath myself, I saw a prismatic array of tiny spheres, the collected seeds of elemental mana. However, upon my arrival, they seemed to explode into clouds of mist, which condensed into their various elements. Torrents of fire, water, darkness and light, all swirled around my body. When these elements collided with the plants around me, a pained shriek ran through the jungle. There had to be thousands of elemental seeds stored here, each one a densely packed container for a single, pure element. At times, my body seemed to be shrouded in stone, lava, or powerful winds. All of it broke apart as it neared me, almost faster than I could absorb. I felt something inside of me, from within my grove, seem to grow with this intake of mana. The pull around me became more powerful, the area expanding. Now, even the nearest trees began to buckle under the pressure. Splintered fragments shot everywhere, before eventually arcing and flying at my body. Despite the damage caused to the surroundings, and the waves of mana crashing into me, I had yet to completely absorb even half of the seeds below. But, I had to hurry this up. If the pattern persisted like last time, this much attention would soon draw a boss monster to my location. And, I wasn¡¯t entirely sure that this black hole field could defend against a true boss monster. As such, I did the only thing I could think of. Leaning forward, I urged my aura to change, growing four large wings from my back. Next, I channeled my black hole through these as well, increasing the suction power and area I was influencing, but at a cost. With the increase in power, I was no longer able to completely absorb everything before it came in contact with me. This meant that I felt my skin burning, freezing, ripping and tearing all at once. Damage prompts began appearing in front of me, though the numbers were fairly low. The problem was their speed, as I would receive over a dozen prompts a second. In under a minute, I was forced to activate my instant regeneration for the first time, healing my accumulated wounds. Then, a few moments later, I activated it again. My flesh was destroyed as quickly as it could repair itself, pain wracking my body and making it hard to concentrate. By the time that I had absorbed the last seed, as well as everything within fifty meters of me former base, I had healed myself fully five times. Once I was done, I quickly cut off the connection to the black hole. Panting heavily, I dropped down to my knees and tried to catch my breath, one hand clutching my chest. That¡­ was definitely one of the most painful moments of my life so far. Then again, until that point, I can¡¯t say I had suffered any serious pains normal people wouldn¡¯t go through. It had felt like someone was carving away at me, only to slap it back on and start over. ¡°Take¡­ take me¡­ back.¡± I said between rough breaths, feeling the rumbling beneath my feet growing more intense. That same warm light enveloped me, calling me back to the ship as a window appeared in front of me.
Large quantities of mana absorbed. Black hole growth accelerated. Time to completion updated. 04:01:23:40:12.28
Chapter 167: Ive Been Busy, Okay? Author¡¯s Corner: For the record, being sick sucks.
After having returned to the ship, I immediately disconnected the link between myself and my clone body. Sitting up sharply, I let out a rough gasp, the pain from the previous experience still running wild across my skin. Although I was no longer having my skin reconstructed over and over, the memory of the pain was much harder to get over. ¡°You okay? John?¡± I heard a familiar voice calling into my mind, and only gave a shaky nod in response. ¡°You rest for a little bit. We got what we need here, so I¡¯ll take over to send us to the next place.¡± Again, I could only give another nod to Celeste¡¯s words. Soon, the door to the medbay opened, and both Sharon and Yin ran in with worried faces. ¡°What happened down there, John? We just saw your clone in the teleport bay.¡± Sharon asked, causing some confusion. Most of the injuries should have healed by the time that anyone saw the body. Or, did they notice that almost all of the ¡®extra life¡¯ scales on the clone¡¯s forehead were gone? ¡°Just¡­ Got in a bit over my head with a new power.¡± I said, giving a bitter smile, one of my hands still trembling slightly. Yin gave me a stern look, moving to my side and placing her hand atop my own. Thankfully, that seemed to stop the shaking. ¡°Be careful next time.¡± She said in a serious voice. I chuckled dryly, nodding my head in agreement. Although I doubted that I would ever find another mana source that large and dense, I had no intention to repeat that event. A few moments later, the ship seemed to rock slightly, the telltale sign that we had entered subspace. Although I did not know where we were going exactly, I had a few guesses. After all, I had seen the map we made of Ackbar¡¯s signals as well. Though, focusing on that was a bit difficult at the moment. Deep breaths, John¡­ This was an entirely different kind of trauma than being trapped in that time bubble, so naturally I had to deal with it the hard way. Thankfully, Yin and Sharon were here to make things more bearable. We stayed in the medbay for roughly half an hour, before my body had stopped shaking enough for me to get up and move. At that point, with Sharon and Yin¡¯s help, we made our way to the bridge. Bed would be preferable, but the captain¡¯s chair is still pretty comfortable. ¡°Status report.¡± I called out as I walked into the bridge, not giving time for the usual game of ¡®salute the captain¡¯. I could see that half of the officers were already halfway to standing up by the time I opened my mouth. Celeste, standing by my chair, turned and gave me a nod. ¡°We¡¯re heading to the first location now. There aren¡¯t any records of civilizations starting from this area from the information I gained in NeoLife, but as we learned from the Qu¡¯Lopti, that does not prove anything.¡± I nodded my head slightly, moving over with only slight difficulty to sit in the most comfortable chair in all of creation. At least, that¡¯s how it felt right now. ¡°Make a note that we need to come back to Hydra some time in the future, to see how the planet is doing. It should stop spiralling out of control for a while, at least.¡± Celeste smiled, nodding. ¡°Will do, Captain. Now, the Deus Ex asked me to convey a message while you were incapacitated. They saw your display of power below, and inquired how it was you managed to do that, as it did not seem a biological trait.¡± Oh right, we never gave them the detailed class information the first time we made contact, did we..? And that¡¯s not exactly something that they would know to ask the other allied races. ¡°Ah¡­ what did you tell them?¡± ¡°I gave them the list of basic classes, and a few known advanced classes, as well as the means to acquire them. Since your case is a bit special, I left out the information regarding the evolution of groves. Given their personalities, if they knew what it took, I imagine that many of the Deus Ex would willingly grow their groves to the Universe stage as quickly as possible.¡± Hearing her answer, I was somewhat relieved. Honestly, just one person having that type of power is already bad enough. If more and more people appeared like me, more importantly people that knew how to really use this kind of power, that would cause chaos. ¡°Is there anything else?¡± Celeste shook her head, signalling that that was all. Well, I could only expect so much to happen during the time that I was down on the planet, and then recovering in the medbay. Right now, we should be quite a distance away from Hydra, so even if something were to happen as a result of what I did, we would have no way to tell. ¡°¡°Envoy!¡±¡± Eleven voices rang out all at once in the fleet chat, the leaders of the Qu¡¯Lopti flights calling together. ¡°Uhm¡­ what?¡± I had a bad feeling about this¡­ ¡°That was amazing!¡± Said the first one, one of the leaders of the Judgement flights. Oh god¡­ they had been watching. ¡°Show us how to do that, too!¡± Said another one. ¡°Celeste¡­¡± I called out weakly to her, and she simply chuckled. Now, to deal with this how I have dealt with over enthusiastic Qu¡¯Lopti for the last several years. By ending the call and ignoring their existence. Must not fall for the chuuni virus. Sharon grinned wryly from next to me, shaking her head. Looking over at Celeste, she asked a question. ¡°How long until we reach the next area?¡± Celeste thought about it for only a second before answering. ¡°Assuming that we don¡¯t run into any distractions, it should take us five days.¡± Sharon gave a nod at that, and then reached down to help me out of the chair. ¡°Then, if you don¡¯t mind, we are relieving the captain of duty for a little while. If you need him, you know where to find him.¡± She smiled towards Yin, who nodded her head. Hey, don¡¯t I get a say in this?! If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. It appeared that I did not, because I was led away with the two girls holding my arms to support me. On the way, I ran into Yo and Yang¡­ did Yo just kiss her? I felt as if my mind blanked for a bit there, and by the time I noticed what was going on, I was almost to my room. ¡°Yo and Yang are a thing?¡± I asked, in a slightly dazed tone. What about Kismet? Yin raised a curious eyebrow, while Sharon¡¯s eyes went wide. ¡°Eh? You never noticed?¡± ¡°Been a bit busy, if you forgot¡­¡± I glanced around at the ship to emphasize my point. Sharon chuckled at that, nodding her head in acceptance. ¡°Some dad you are. Didn¡¯t even notice his ¡®daughter¡¯ growing a harem.¡± Sharon gave me a mischievous grin, saying something completely outrageous. A harem? I haven¡¯t been that busy, have I? ¡°Uhm¡­ harem¡­ huh¡­ who else?¡± Words, please form into proper sentences, I seriously know what I wanted to ask, I swear. ¡°Hmm?¡± Sharon looked at me thoughtfully. ¡°Well, there¡¯s Priscilla and Aelsgwynn, too, right?¡± She looks at Yin for confirmation. ¡°Celeste.¡± Yin says calmly. ¡°Oh, right! Though, Celeste isn¡¯t really like the rest.¡± Sharon explained, and I could hear a roaring laughter in my mind. ¡°She hasn¡¯t really ¡®fallen¡¯ for Yo, as far as I know. Uhm¡­ I think that¡¯s it?¡± Yin nodded her head, agreeing. I couldn¡¯t help but look between the two of them. ¡°And¡­ Kismet is fine with that?¡± ¡°Yup!¡± Sharon said with a smile. ¡°He just wants Yo to be happy, and every now and then I think he joins the fun.¡± Please, don¡¯t make me imagine the ¡®fun¡¯. Regardless of racial differences, I still spent the last several years in a pseudo-parental relationship with Yo. ¡°And¡­ I was the only one that didn¡¯t know?¡± I mean, some of it really couldn¡¯t be helped. I hadn¡¯t actually spoken to Aelsgwynn much at all. Priscilla mostly talks about alchemy and magic research when she¡¯s around me. And I would never even think of Yo and Yang being together. ¡°Basically.¡± This time it was Yin who spoke up, with Sharon following with a better explanation. ¡°Well, you really could blame Priscilla. She kind of got Yo started on her path of conquest when she wanted to use her for some alchemy research. Since we were still on the Qu¡¯Lopti world at the time¡­ it didn¡¯t take long for her to learn about harems. But, like you said, you¡¯ve been busy.¡± Sharon patted my back reassuringly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ve been making sure that Yo doesn¡¯t touch anyone that¡¯s off limits. She is still just a good big sister to Tokemi.¡± ¡°Good¡­¡± If Yo had touched the innocent fox loli¡­ I might have lost it. ¡°Are there any other major developments with the crew I¡¯ve missed?¡± ¡°Nathan and Clara.¡± Yin spoke up again, making Sharon¡¯s eyes widen as we got to the door. ¡°Eh, what happened with them?¡± She asked curiously. Good, at least I¡¯m not the only one that is clueless about some things. ¡°Married.¡± That was Yin¡¯s entire explanation. But, really? Nathan, the talisman expert, married the bubbly catgirl? I guess it made a kind of sense, somehow. ¡°Wow, really? Never thought he had it in him to propose. He seemed like a certain someone else we know..¡± Don¡¯t look at me, I proposed properly! I just took a little while¡­ ¡°He didn¡¯t.¡± Oh¡­ Sharon looked back to Yin, ¡°What? Then¡­¡± ¡°Clara.¡± ¡°He made her propose?¡± Sharon looked incredulously at her as we finally entered my room, receiving only a nod from Yin. ¡°Wow¡­¡± After that¡­ well, we didn¡¯t talk so much. No, we did not have five days of rampant sex. We did a lot of cuddling, but that was it. We also talked more about the developments with the crew that I had missed while focusing on other things. I swear it¡¯s not my fault, okay?! Speaking of, there was another, rather important development that we learned from Sharon. Specifically regarding her animal companions. According to her, once an animal evolved to the last stage, their pregnancies would last a full nine months. It had taken this long to get reliable information back due to the slow growth of the offspring, but now she could properly tell me. When they mated, the offspring would have the same race as the parents, or some hybrid if they were not exactly the same. Not the original race of the parents, but the final one. This meant that the four year old cubs had power on the same level as their fully matured parents, due to the evolution process. And, if that child then evolved, Sharon had the theory that it could continue to reach more advanced forms through the generations. I began to wonder at that, recalling some information that Celeste had told me long ago in NeoLife, regarding the ultimate evolution. Would it be possible for Sharon¡¯s animal companions to eventually evolve into Divinities? That would obviously take a long time yet, especially since they seem to have much more natural growth cycles than they previously did. But that was also curious. Why would the growth cycles have slowed down when they became more powerful? The lower level monsters that never evolved were still waging the daily generation war to gain strength and evolve, but the higher level ones had changed. Though, I suppose a better question could be why they had such an absurd growth rate in the first place. Or, was this just one of the secrets of the universe that a certain god didn¡¯t feel like sharing?
Hey, don¡¯t blame this one on me. I¡¯m not the God of Sex or anything like that! Though, that would be an awesome title.
Chapter 168: Parental Bonding Author¡¯s Corner: By popular demand, we interrupt your regularly scheduled adventure for a father/daughter talk! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
After spending the night, and most of the next day with my wives, I decided that there was something I had to do. No, nothing dangerous, nothing reckless, nothing that would likely end up with me frying my brain. Is it bad that I have to reassure myself of all that? Anyways, right now, I stood in front of one of the many metal doors of the ship, and pressed the button to page the room¡¯s owner. I did not want to walk in on any embarrassing situations, considering who I was coming to meet. Thankfully, that situation did not occur, and the door opened a moment later. Yo stood in the room, smiling at me. Her translucent green skin was still holding itself together exceptionally well, showing that she had a good control of herself. Not that that was ever really in question, I¡¯m just distracting myself. Her hair was let down today, falling halfway down her back, and she wore a tight black t-shirt together with a black skirt. ¡°Hey, dad. What¡¯s up?¡± She asked with a happy smile, stepping forward and giving me a warm hug. ¡°Ah¡­ just wanted to talk.¡± I said, reaching a hand up and patting her back. ¡°Is it alright if I come in?¡± ¡°Hmm?¡± She leaned back, tilting her head to the side curiously, but nodded. ¡°Yup, I don¡¯t have anyone over right now, so it¡¯s fine.¡± Saying so, she bounced back into the room, linking her hands behind her back as she watched me come in. ¡°So, what¡¯s on your mind? These visits are pretty rare, so I didn¡¯t do something wrong, right?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The comment caught me off-guard slightly, but I shook my head. ¡°No, nothing like that. I just wanted to ask you about some things.¡± Yo brought one finger up to her chin, tapping it thoughtfully before her eyes widened. ¡°Ah! Is it about the whole harem thing? I figured that you¡¯d probably come by for that eventually.¡± I smiled bitterly as she guessed my reason for showing up. ¡°Am I that easy to read?¡± The slime girl simply shook her head, walking to a nearby chair and sitting down. ¡°Nah, I just figured you¡¯d show up when you noticed. No offense, dad, but you can take a while to see things like that.¡± She then showed me a comforting smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not upset or anything. You¡¯ve been really busy with this war situation, and being the Qu¡¯Lopti ambassador. You haven¡¯t even had much time to spend with Tokemi, let alone me.¡± ¡°Ah¡­ sorry. So, what can you tell me? Please¡­ be vague where it¡¯s needed.¡± I neither needed nor wanted my daughter to tell me about her night time activities with her harem. She nodded her head in acceptance at that. ¡°Hmm, where to begin. Well, it started back on Qu¡¯Lesh.¡± She gave another nod to confirm her own thoughts. ¡°Priscilla, one of Sharon¡¯s top animal companions, came to me asking if she could harvest some of my slime for alchemy research. I didn¡¯t really see a reason to refuse, so I let her.¡± Yo shivered slightly at her next comment, though it did not seem to be from anything unpleasant. ¡°The experience was¡­ different than I thought it would be. It made me feel really strange, and I kinda liked it. But, I didn¡¯t want to be unfaithful to Kismet or anything like that, so I went to tell him about it. Honestly, the feeling wasn¡¯t that different than when Kismet and I were together, so I definitely had to let him know it happened, right?¡± She looked at me for confirmation, and I nodded my head. ¡°Anyways, after that the two of us consulted one of our friends, Jaresh Blackbone. When he heard about our situation, he seemed to understand what was going on perfectly. Apparently, harems are a common concept for the Qu¡¯Lopti. He asked Kismet if he was alright with me ¡®collecting¡¯ women that I liked. I was worried he¡¯d get mad and say no, but he was actually really accepting of it!¡± She grinned brightly at that part. ¡°He told me that as long as it made me happy, I could build a harem. Just so long as I still loved him. How can a girl not love a guy like that?¡± Yo brought her arms to her chest, hugging herself with a happy smile. ¡°Anyways¡­ after that, I went to talk to Priscilla about it. She was skeptical at first, but was willing to give it a trial run. It¡¯s weird how that girl can get so logical about some things, but kind of cute too.¡± ¡°After trying a physical relationship for a couple of weeks, she seemed really into it. She started bringing me presents and asking me to go to nice places with her, basically started taking me out on dates. She knew I was still married to Kismet, but just like him she was fine as long as I still cared for her.¡± Yo seemed to think for a bit at that, and I thought she might be done talking, but just before I could speak she continued. ¡°Next was Celeste. Though, I guess you could say she¡¯s only a half harem member?¡± Yo tilted her head to the side in thought, but eventually nodded. ¡°Yeah, only half. We¡¯re friends, but not really lovey-dovey or anything. Also, it¡¯s totally your fault with this one, you know?¡± She sent a look my way, and I was momentarily confused. ¡°Every time you¡¯re with your wives, who do you think is in the back of your head? She can ignore what you¡¯re doing sometimes by blocking it out, but you have to know that there¡¯s a limit to that, right? It¡¯s like the difference between ignoring someone that¡¯s talking across the room and trying to ignore someone blasting loud music directly in your ear.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± I had really not thought about it like that. If I had known that was an issue, would have made a ¡®mute¡¯ function or something equivalent. ¡°It¡¯s alright, John. I¡¯m not upset or anything.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice came into my mind, comforting me. ¡°Girl just needs to vent every now and then, right?¡± Her thoughts seemed to mimic Yo¡¯s. ¡°Even though her body is mechanical, ever since she gained a soul she has been able to experience real emotions and pleasures. And with her feeling your pleasure all the time like that with no way to release it¡­ She was practically going crazy by the time she came to me. Apparently, she had heard about my relationship with Priscilla, and wanted me to help with her ¡®issue¡¯. She even bought an upgrade for her body to give her a more realistic anatomy for that purpose.¡± Yeah, I really didn¡¯t need to think about that part. I sent a mental apology to Celeste about that, and made a note to put in a switch so she could stop monitoring when needed. She just sent back that she hadn¡¯t wanted to worry me. After that, Yo continued. ¡°Next, was Aelsgwynn. She was actually a recommendation from Celeste. Poor girl had been so lonely at Qu¡¯Lesh, with all of her friends and family in the Gerin system. I had wanted to just start out as friends, but eventually we became more than that. Especially after that horrible incident by the Empire, she cried on my shoulder all night. After that, I think she started seeing me more as a spiritual support.¡± ¡°Ah, finally, there¡¯s Yang. I honestly thought that I made it pretty obvious to you when you caught us together that last time. Guess I wasn¡¯t as blatant as I thought?¡± She stuck out her tongue playfully to me. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°In my defense, thinking about my daughter and my former animal companion being in a relationship is not exactly a typical thing.¡± Yo giggled slightly at that. ¡°True, true. Anyways, with her it really started after we left Qu¡¯Lesh. I didn¡¯t lie about any of that. After she lost control like that, I saw how hard she was taking it, so I approached her. I wanted to offer her someone to talk to, to help her get through it. I never actually intended to add her to the harem, because I always thought that she liked you.¡± To be fair, so did I. That¡¯s one of the reasons I had been so surprised. ¡°Turns out, what she feels for you isn¡¯t really a romantic love, it¡¯s more of an idol worship. She practically deified you since before I was born, and that feeling stuck with her to a degree even after evolving. She did not want to be with you in a romantic sense like Yin did, she just wanted to always serve you, and repay you for what you did for her. And¡­ that¡¯s how she started liking me, really. Because I was one of your creations.¡± Yo smiled awkwardly, scratching her chin with one finger as she averted her eyes. ¡°It was awkward there for a while. I mean, she didn¡¯t like me because I was nice or anything at first, just because you made me. Over the weeks, I started making her see me less as your creation-slash-daughter, and more as just myself. Thankfully, she still seemed to like me for me, so we were both happy to continue.¡± I gave a slight sigh in relief, since she seemed to be finished listing her girlfriends. ¡°And, they¡¯re all fine that you are seeing so many other people?¡± She nodded her head happily at that. ¡°Yup! Aelsgwynn was a bit hesitant when I told her, but now she likes to hang out with the others and chat. They all get along really well.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Anything else you haven¡¯t told me?¡± I looked at her suspiciously, and she sank into thought again. ¡°Oh! I never showed you my custom ability, did I? Does that count?¡± She looked up proudly at me, and I could tell that she wanted to show off. ¡°No, no it doesn¡¯t¡­ but I want to see it anyways.¡± I chuckled lightly at the excited expression as she hopped to her feet, and stretched out her arm. ¡°Extreme Imperial Combinator: Slimeforge!¡± She called out in a serious voice, and I could feel various types of mana gathering in her hand. Slowly, her slime started to spread outwards, turning into a long staff. ¡°I made this ability by taking my assimilation and reproducing power to the next level.¡± She spoke proudly. Furrowing her brows, the staff slowly seemed to become more tangible, its color switching from a translucent green to a solid black. ¡°With this, I can take the qualities of anything I have absorbed, then mix and match them however I want to make items. I can even make them real items if I absorb sufficient materials. For instance, this staff is made from obsidian gathered at Qu¡¯Lesh. For magical properties, I took the soulflame breath of the cerberus.¡± Saying that much, she tossed the staff over to me. I reflexively reached up one hand to catch it, then half expected it to dissolve in my grip. ¡°If I reabsorb the items, I can recover the energy used to make them, but otherwise it takes quite a bit to make something tangible like that.¡± She said with a small smile, taking a deep breath. ¡°One time, I actually put the cerberus¡¯s mind into the item to make it an ego weapon. However, the cerberus didn¡¯t want to listen, so I had to take it apart again.¡± That is¡­ actually, a really cool power. Almost on the same level as the one Celeste made. ¡°That¡¯s kind of awesome, Yo.¡± I handed the staff back to her, letting her reabsorb it into her body. ¡°Thanks, dad!¡± She beamed happily, running up and giving me a tight hug as soon as the staff was fully absorbed. ¡°Haven¡¯t really needed to use it in a fight, but it¡¯s really cool to just be able to do it whenever I want. Now, let¡¯s see¡­ I think that¡¯s all the big reveals from me? Unless you know someone else that needs a little ¡®support¡¯.¡± She wiggled her eyebrows meaningfully as she said the last word, and I shook my head with a bitter smile. ¡°No, sorry, I won¡¯t be donating any girls to your harem. I can accept you having one, as long as everyone is happy in it, but you¡¯ll have to work for them yourself.¡± I looked at her and grinned slightly. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t want it to be too easy, would you?¡± Her eyes widened slightly, before she laughed happily, hugging me even more tightly. ¡°No, definitely not. Half the fun is in the chase. Still, you¡¯re the best, dad. I was worried that I¡¯d get in trouble when you found out.¡± Sighing, I reached up and patted her back. ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you just come out and tell me? That would have been easier than just waiting to see how long it¡¯d take me to notice, right?¡± It was her turn to look at me and smile bitterly. ¡°You mean, why didn¡¯t I walk up to my dad and say, ¡®Hey dad, I found out I¡¯m really into girls too, and I¡¯m setting up my own harem of lovers.¡¯? Come on, that¡¯s not exactly the kind of thing you can just expect me to say. And besides, you have had a lot on your mind lately, and I didn¡¯t want to be a distraction.¡± I chuckled, shaking my head. ¡°Sometimes, I need a good distraction. That being said, if anything big like that comes up, come tell me before it gets so¡­ far along, okay?¡± She nodded her head, accepting that. ¡°Well, then maybe I should tell you right now? I¡¯m thinking of having a kid!¡± She grins brightly as she says that. You remember how I said that I wasn¡¯t doing anything that would fry my brain? Okay, I think I might have lied a bit. ¡°Dad? Dad, are you okay?¡±
Bomb dropped! You have been inflicted with the Confused status ;)
Apparently, I had gone unresponsive for a little while after Yo had said that, because she had to shake me to get my attention. ¡°Dad? Come on, I didn¡¯t mean it like that! I¡¯m not going to be knocking anyone up! Did you not know how slimes reproduce?¡± I think I remember something like that, now that she mentioned it¡­ still, though, it took me a minute to come back to my senses. ¡°You¡­ split off part of yourself to make a new core?¡± Yo nodded in relief. ¡°Right, that¡¯s it. It¡¯s really more like cloning, from your perspective, I guess. Just that the new slime person will have their own personality and everything. Is that okay? I wanted to have a kid that me, Kismet, and my girlfriends could all raise together. Give us all something extra to bond over, and maybe give Tokemi a new little sister figure.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡­ makes much more sense. Alright, but you¡¯ll have to be sure to take care of the kid. I don¡¯t want to hear any complaints, alright?¡± I smiled down to her, and she nodded happily. Was I about to be a grandfather? I had mixed feelings about this¡­. Chapter 169: Shattered Dreams Author¡¯s Corner: And now, we return to our regularly scheduled plotline.
After leaving Yo¡¯s room, I wandered around the ship for a while, lost in thought. I mean, Yo seemed to be doing so much better than she had been originally, but it was hard to see her handling the responsibility of having a kid. Then again, I didn¡¯t know very much about how the children of slime people were normally handled, so I wasn¡¯t the best judge there. However, I could not spend too much time worrying about that. It wouldn¡¯t be long before we arrived at the coordinates for the New Human Empire base we suspected would be here. If they had a fleet of ships waiting for us, or some new kind of weapon, I wasn¡¯t sure what would happen. Hell, they might have abandoned all of their outposts after shielding from the divination spells, and blown up whatever planet they were on. I had to consider that possibility as well. Given their displayed temperament, it was entirely possible that we would be flying to a destroyed system, or even a trap. ¡°Captain, we¡¯ll be approaching the system in roughly three hours.¡± Ackbar called in from my comms, informing me of the proximity. Nodding my head, I thanked him, before sending a broadcast to the entire fleet. ¡°In three hours, we will be entering the star system of our first suspected outpost for the New Human Empire. I can¡¯t even begin to guess what we will find there, but I want everyone to be ready. If possible, we need to capture prisoners for interrogation. If there aren¡¯t any prisoners, prioritize gathering intelligence.¡± And if this is their main staging point by chance, then Malthan have mercy on us. ¡°But above all, everyone should assume a defensive position. There may be traps placed that we can¡¯t detect at this range.¡± With that last line, I cut the communication and made my way to the bridge. The next couple of hours were spent in preparation, everyone on edge in case of the possibility of an ambush. It wasn¡¯t until we were half an hour out that one of the officers finally spoke up. ¡°Sir, we¡¯re within scanning range of the coordinates.¡± I nodded my head, looking at the officer. ¡°Picking up anything?¡± ¡°Negative, sir. No readings on either the subspace or normal space scans.¡± The officer shook his head after another look at his screen. However, a moment later, something flickered on the screen. ¡°Huh?¡± He asked curiously, looking it over again. ¡°Correction, sir, it looks like there might be something there. I am getting a faint response.¡± Well¡­ that was curious. ¡°Okay. I have no idea what to do about that, aside from what I already told everyone. So, carry on.¡± I let out a sigh, shaking my head. I could only wait to see what would happen. The little remaining time seemed to take forever, before we eventually made it to the coordinates. However, the signal from the scanners was still only ¡®faint¡¯, and we couldn¡¯t get a visual. As such, we had to drop out of subspace before we could get a clear understanding. Naturally, I sent a message across the entire fleet to have weapons ready, just in case. When the fleet was wrapped in a field of blue light and emerged from subspace, what we saw¡­ could only be described as destruction. In front of us was a planet, or what was left of it. At least a third of it had been blasted away, leaving a great field of asteroids surrounding the planet. The parts that remained seemed scorched, as if the entire planet had burned from whatever explosion destroyed it to this extent. When the crew aboard the bridge saw this, they let out a collective gasp. I furrowed my brows in frustration, thinking to myself. Why is there a signal coming from this? Did some piece of technology manage to survive? ¡°Scan for the source of the signal. If there¡¯s anything left after this, I want to know what it could be.¡± Honestly, even if it was just some mundane device, that would at least be a lead. ¡°Understood, sir!¡± The officer in charge of scanning started typing away at his console, presumably to narrow the scan. ¡°Something¡¯s off, John.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice entered my head as I looked at the scene in front of me. She seemed unsure about whatever she was talking about. ¡°This doesn¡¯t feel right.¡± I nodded, trusting her judgement. However, there wasn¡¯t really much I could do about the subject. Just in case, I spread out my Mana Sense as far as it could go, to watch for anything suspicious. ¡°Any results?¡± ¡°Sir, the signal seems to be coming from one of the asteroids. Pulling it up on screens.¡± After he answered, hologram appeared in the center of the bridge, showing one of the distant asteroids. From the surface, it did not seem to be anything special. However, there was a blinking red light to mark the source of the signal. ¡°Hold position. I need to go get a better look at that.¡± I got up from my chair, and walked out of the bridge. I didn¡¯t bother waiting for the inevitable protests, thought that did not stop the one who I couldn¡¯t really run away from. ¡°John, what are you doing?¡± Celeste called out into my mind, her voice concerned. ¡°I¡¯m going to go get a better look. If there¡¯s something there, I¡¯ll be able to find it.¡± I spoke simply as I moved towards the medbay. ¡°And if it¡¯s a trap?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯ll be careful. Besides, I haven¡¯t had a real chance to test my durability in a long while.¡± When I arrived at the medbay, I connected to my clone. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m playing this safe. If anything goes wrong, disconnect me from this end.¡± I felt more than heard her agree to that, and I quickly made my way to the airlock. As I did, I first altered my aura to become a void elf, in order to grant myself immunity to the hazards of space. When in the airlock, I gave them the signal to let me out. Once I was outside, I turned into my real combat form. I felt my muscles stretching as my body grew to double its normal height. My hands and feet grew sharp claws that extended out a few inches, and my skin grew white scales that covered my entire body. Finally, large leathery wings sprouted from my back, growing until they were even bigger than my new form. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. This was the ultimate form I was currently able to take, combining the best offense, defense, and utility powers I had acquired over the years. So far, I had never had the need to use it in a fight, so I was unsure just how strong it was. However, I was confident with being able to fight a boss monster of the same level as myself. Using my new form¡¯s space flight ability, acquired from the giant space dragon, I quickly made my way to the asteroid that had been indicated in the scan. At the same time, I kept my senses focused for even the slightest unnatural movement, giving all of the asteroids as wide a berth as possible. There was still the off chance that they were bombs or something. It did not take me long before I arrived at the asteroid in question, but when I got there, I found myself instantly alarmed. With my Mana Sense extended, I was able to tell that this was not a chunk of rock as it appeared. In fact, there was not a trace of earth mana coming from it. Instead, there was simply metal and electricity mana. Celeste, I need you to identify this, now! I thought back towards her as I used my Mana Sense to thoroughly scan the device, creating a three dimensional image of it in my mind. It took a few long moments before she got back to me. ¡°It seems to be a signal relay of some kind. If you destroy it, you¡¯ll cut off ¡®normal¡¯ contact methods with this base, I believe. Whatever is causing the illusion must not have completely suppressed the signal.¡± Take it they¡¯ll know we were here once I smash it? I asked, flying a ways back and getting ready. ¡°Most likely, they knew we were here the moment we dropped out of subspace, if not earlier. We need to hurry up and find the source of the illusion. A spell this big, give me a few minutes.¡± I nodded my head, before aiming a palm at the ¡®asteroid¡¯ in front of me. A thick ball of red light condensed in front of my hand, and flew towards the target. When it impacted, there was a silent explosion of red light. Although I could sense that the device had been destroyed, the ¡®asteroid¡¯ was still there. So, hologram or illusion? I asked myself curiously as I flew towards the nearest asteroid. This one, my senses determined to be a normal floating rock. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve got a theory. Unless they have a power generator pumping out purely obscene amounts of energy, they can¡¯t create an effect this big with just a single device or formula. Most likely, there are dozens of different ¡®control points¡¯, each one controlling a section of the illusion. I can have the Qu¡¯Lopti help you scan for them, as their mana scanners are more advanced than either the Ariadne or the Deus Ex.¡± After she finished speaking, I saw the Qu¡¯Lopti flights all split apart, over a hundred ships flying in different directions. Presumably, they were moving to scan each asteroid one by one to determine the fakes. It only took a few moments before the first ship opened fire on an asteroid. An invisible ripple of energy spread through the area, with most of the asteroids fading away into nothing. However, that was not the most disconcerting part. Celeste¡­ I asked, as I looked towards a structure not too far from my present location. How do we safely break THAT? What I saw was only a corner of the structure, but it was enough to let me know exactly what it was. A giant metal ring, the interior able to fit the Ariadne several times over. This was a warp gate, something that should definitely NOT be here. This must be one of their staging points, part of their own connection of gates. Maybe even the one that the ships before had fled to. ¡°It¡¯s already powered up. You need to shut it down before you destroy it, or the backlash will be large enough to destroy you. I¡¯ll try to pull up a map for you to follow until the Qu¡¯Lopti break that section.¡± As she spoke, a wireframe map appeared in my vision, extending beyond what I saw of the gate. If this map was right, it showed me the entirety of the gate based on this corner. Of course, that is only assuming they followed the standard design. Trusting Celeste¡¯s map, I flew down towards where the wireframe portion began, using my mana sense to verify its accuracy. Sure enough, I felt dense metal mana coming from that apparently empty space. So, I flew towards the section that was highlighted as one of the likely power sources. Or, that was my plan at least. Just as I was about to approach the section, I felt an eruption of different mana types beneath me, coming from the ring itself. Although I had never personally been this close to one, it was fairly obvious what was happening. There were only one of two options. Either it was self-destructing, or¡­ ¡°John, something¡¯s warping in, hide yourself!¡± How am I supposed to hide myself!? I¡¯m in the middle of space for crying out loud! Looking around desperately, I flew towards one of the nearby asteroids, scanning it. Since I could feel that it was ¡®empty¡¯, I flew straight into it. Hopefully, this will be enough to hide from their sensors. It only took a few more moments before a thick beam of light erupted from the gate, and a giant metal shape began making its way through. The front of the new ship was a smooth cylinder, roughly fifteen meters thick and sixty long, before it began curving outwards. From there, it split into four thick metal bands that circled around a glowing white shape. The white shape seemed trapped within the metal bands, which joined on the opposite side to form a thick, silvery ball. At the back of the ball was a single hole, which appeared to serve as the engine as it pushed its way out. Okay, NOW can I blow it up?! Chapter 170: Fire all the things! Author¡¯s Corner: For the record, I hate moving.
¡°No, John! You still can¡¯t blow it up!¡± Celeste called out into my mind. ¡°Let us take care of this for now.¡± After that, I saw the Qu¡¯Lopti ships come together to form their giant mechs, each one equipped with their full armaments from the start. The Deus Ex ships began glowing in a strange light, multicolored energy arcing along their hulls, heading towards the weapons at the front. The only ship not to directly take action was the Ariadne, which seemed to be watching for now. As the Deus Ex gathered the light at the tip of their cannons, beams of energy shot out towards the New Human Empire ship. Each of the fifteen Deus Ex ships sent an attack, and they all seemed to target the same part of the enemy ship. However, a grid of hexagonal energy shields sprang into being around the New Human Empire ship. When the fifteen beams impacted against one of the hexagons, that shield glowed brightly while the others all dimmed. Although a small amount of initial energy was let through the shield, once the energy from the other shields had been redistributed it was able to perfectly block the attack. I furrowed my brows as I watched that scene. Those shields had a pretty obvious weakness, so it couldn¡¯t be that simple. Then again, I can¡¯t call it simple when it just took the full initial volley of fifteen Deus Ex ships acting in concert. As if adding insult to injury, I saw a second ship start to poke its head out through the warp gate, this one built entirely different compared to the earlier ship. Although there were still the two giant bands of silver metal surrounding a white cloud of energy, the rest was fundamentally different. With the energy cloud as the center, five rings of metal orbited the ship, a glowing blue light at the center of each ring. Okay, I really want to blow something up right now. If the first ship was built for defense, then this should be their assault ship. That seemed like a prime target for exploding to me. ¡°Do it.¡± Celeste said, her voice resigned. At the very least, I¡¯d be a good distraction, right? ¡°But get as far away from the blast as you can.¡± I nodded my head, finally flying out from the asteroid hologram that had been shielding me from sight. Of the five rings surrounding the second ship, four moved at the front to overlap, aiming at our fleet, while the fifth flew to the back, seeming to track me. I really hope this is a laser, and not some fancy kind of energy¡­ Placing both my hands out in front of myself, I gathered as much light mana as I could, preparing myself to receive their attack. And when that attack came, it was on me faster than I could blink. I let out a roar of pain, feeling my wings begin to burn in the first few seconds. Were it not for my insane Light Affinity, I might be killed as soon as the attack hit, but thankfully I had some time. Fully extending my wings, I called on the black hole in my grove again to frantically absorb this attack, using my own control over light to disperse what I could before it reached me. However, I was not sending the mana into my grove this time, I was directly swallowing it. This was an ability that I had managed to create by combining my Mana Leech and elemental breath powers. The result? Ten seconds later, when the laser from the enemy ship finally stopped, I felt my body burning with too much restrained energy. My wings had been charred black, but the rest of me was glowing like a shining star. Your turn. I grimaced to myself, opening my mouth again. What came out was a thick beam of light, leaving small explosions through space as it crashed into the enemy ship. Just a half second later, the hexagonal shields once again appeared, surrounding both ships. The one receiving my attack showed the same glowing effect as the one that had blocked the Deus Ex before, though the other shields did not seem to dim as much. I had not been able to watch the result of the attack against the fleet, due to being surrounded by a thick laser myself, but now that I could see, I was somewhat surprised. Although all of the ships were still present, I could see cracks visible along the hull of one of the leading Deus Ex ships. A single shot from their assault ship almost took down a Deus Ex ship¡­ Gritting my teeth, I cut off the laser attack I had been firing after it was only halfway finished, and turned my head to face the warp gate. As if noticing my action, all five of the ring turrets flew around the assault ship to face me, overlapping to appear as one giant cannon. At the same time that I opened my mouth to finish releasing the blast and destroy the gate, I felt a warm light burn through me. The next thing I knew, I was back in the Ariadne, jolting upright in the bed I had laid myself in when I connected to my clone. Dammit¡­ instant death, huh? I wasn¡¯t surprised, I had barely managed to tank one of their turrets, let alone all five at once. ¡°Celeste, status report.¡± I called out to the empty room. I heard the familiar voice echoing into my mind. ¡°They killed you too quick, you weren¡¯t able to do any critical damage to the gate. However, you did get a small amount of damage in, and it has made the gate unstable. After your attack, it was immediately shut down. Most likely, if they risk activating it again, the gate will explode.¡± ¡°And the fleet?¡± I recalled the Deus Ex ship, and the damage it had sustained. ¡°One Striker has been critically damaged, and can¡¯t operate normally until it has been repaired. However, we have acquired useful information from the enemy ships. Though¡­ not all of it is good.¡± I did not like the sound of that at all. ¡°Tell me.¡± ¡°The ships appear to be powered by white holes, granting them a near limitless supply of energy. These kinds of ships would be hard to come across, even in NeoLife.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice was laced with concern. ¡°The Empire has a powerful backer, someone able to show them how to build and use these ships. It¡¯s impossible that the humans could have come up with this in five years, no matter how hard they tried.¡± Great, so someone isn¡¯t playing fair. ¡°Anything else?¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. This time, Celeste sounded more sure of herself when she spoke. ¡°We are preparing to deal with the ships now. Like you noted, there is a major weakness to this kind of shielding. Although the Striker Legion alone can¡¯t break through them with a concentrated assault, we worked out a plan.¡± I nodded my head slightly, laying back in the bed. It would take too long to run to the bridge at this point. ¡°Show me.¡± My vision became blurred, until I was looking through Celeste¡¯s eyes. ¡°Commence firing. Striker Legion, go!¡± I heard her call out, as if it were my own voice. On the hologram at the center of the bridge, I was able to see that the remaining fourteen working Deus Ex ships all fired at the same location once again. And once again, they were blocked by that hexagonal shield. ¡°Main cannon, fully charged!¡± One of the officers called out from the bridge. ¡°Fire! Executioner, charge positron cannon!¡± Celeste again called out. This time, it was the Ariadne that emitted a thick beam of light, blasting towards the assault ship. One of the dimmed shields surrounding it flared to life, while the rest of them nearly vanished entirely. A few seconds later, we were receiving reports of weapons overheating, but then the one we were waiting for arrived. ¡°Executioner is primed.¡± ¡°Fire!¡± Celeste called out a final time, and the Qu¡¯Lopti ship released its most powerful attack. This time, there was no energy to spare for the shields. Although a white hole may provide limitless energy, that does not mean they have the ability to harness all of it at once. With the shields distracted by the previous two attacks, the positron cannon cleanly struck the shield ship, causing explosions to arise all over its surface. At the same time, the two active shields vanished, allowing the full force of the fleet to be shown. However, Celeste was not calm or content. Instead, she was even more alarmed. ¡°All forces, immediately jump to subspace!¡± Although I did not understand this action, the ships all obeyed her order. Turning off their weapons, they surrounded themselves with the blue energy shields that would protect them in subspace and made the jump. Only then did Celeste let out a deep sigh of relief. What was that about? I asked her, curious. ¡°Those were white holes, John.¡± She answered patiently. ¡°I don¡¯t know how well they will be contained after they lose their shielding. It¡¯s entirely possible that the entire region of space will be destroyed by the release of energy. Or, if they were built with such failsafes in mind, there might be no damage at all.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that, understanding her logic. At least we have a way to deal with the New Human Empire ships, now. And we aren¡¯t completely clueless about their abilities. I felt Celeste¡¯s lips curl into a bitter smile. ¡°That was only two ships. If they had a second defense ship present, the plan probably wouldn¡¯t have worked. And if you didn¡¯t deal damage to the assault ship beforehand, we wouldn¡¯t have had the time to do it.¡± It was at that point that a tremor swept through the ship. Celeste shook her head helplessly. ¡°And that would be them blowing up the warp gate, trying to send more reinforcements. We should be safe for a few hours, maybe even days depending on how close their nearest outpost is.¡± How long will it take to get the Deus Ex ship repaired? ¡°No idea. If they have the resources nearby, maybe five days. If not, we may need to scrap that ship.¡± Celeste looked up from her chair, looking at the screens. Wait, that¡¯s my chair! She quickly changed the subject, issuing orders to the crew. ¡°It should be safe now, do a scan for energy readings in the system.¡± We¡¯ll talk about this later¡­ I grumbled mentally, before a report came in. ¡°Energy levels normal, showing additional signatures from the planet¡¯s surface.¡± Celeste cursed inwardly at that. ¡°That¡¯s not good.¡± Why is that not good? I thought that was the best case scenario, if we could still get to their base? I felt the Deus Ex shaking her head. ¡°That means that the white holes were contained and neutralized prior to the ships being destroyed. Otherwise, that planet would have been destroyed. And for their ships to have that failsafe, it most likely means that they were made to operate in larger fleet. Think about it, if they were always sent out in groups of two, where each depended on the other to survive, it would be better to have the white holes be a final bomb to destroy their attackers. But if they are operating as a fleet, they can¡¯t risk one destroyed ship taking out the entire fleet.¡± I gulped when I heard that, hearing a door open and close from my end of the connection. How many of those ships do you think they have? ¡°Can¡¯t be too many. Even if they constructed an automated station to continuously build these ships, they¡¯ve only had five years. Common sense would say they can have no more than a dozen left, though they likely have several weaker ships for cannon fodder.¡± I nodded my head slightly, opening my eyes. Standing in the room with me now were Sharon, Yin, Yo, and Tokemi. They all looked at me worriedly, as if they were concerned why I was still laying in the bed with my eyes closed. Seeing that I had ¡®woken up¡¯, they let out a sigh of relief. Tokemi even ran at the bed and jumped on me, wrapping me in a tight hug. I felt my shirt start to get damp where she buried her face, so I could tell that she had thought the worst. I could only pat her back and reassure her that I was fine. Looking at the others, I gave a small nod, my expression serious. ¡°We need to mobilize the teams for a ground assault.¡± The women in front of me all nodded, though Yo brought up an unfortunately valid point. ¡°Okay, but you¡¯re staying here. You just lost your clone, and it would take too long to grow you a new one. Let us handle it this time, Dad.¡± She winked mischievously at me, and the women all nodded again, giving me no room to argue this. Chapter 171: The Siege Author¡¯s Corner: Distractions are an author¡¯s greatest weakness.
¡°Ready to go?¡± I called out over the comms, sitting in my captain¡¯s chair. The away teams had been prepared, with several teams set up to look at the base below. After dealing with the New Human Empire ships, it became an easy matter for the Qu¡¯Lopti fleet to take out the rest of the hologram projectors. Most of them had even been destroyed with the detonation of the warp gate. The first team was to be led by Sharon, consisting of herself, Yin, Celeste, Yo, and Priscilla. Although I wasn¡¯t there to contribute, Priscilla was able to fill in as a team healer. Next, five minutes after they teleport in and determine the situation, the second team will be sent. This team consists of Nathan, Amy, Clara, Sam, and Brian, with Nathan in command. Finally, after they go down, five minutes later the final team will be sent. This team has Ackbar, Kismet, Aelsgwynn, Demona, and¡­ my parents, with Ackbar as the leader of this group. Tessa and Tokemi both tried to insist that they could participate as well, but I had to draw the line somewhere. Anyways, aside from those three teams, two of the Judgement mechs were going down for artillery support, to make sure that the site wasn¡¯t bombed. From the reports, there was a large facility on this world, as well as scattered outposts. However, there was nothing to signify that a civilization existed on this world. As a compromise with Celeste, I would be watching the engagement through her eyes again. This way, I wouldn¡¯t have to just wait and read about it through a report later. Otherwise, clone or no, I would charge down there with them. While my body might be vulnerable to giant spaceship turrets, I am fairly confident in my ability to handle attacks planetside. Closing my eyes, I allowed Celeste to ¡®send¡¯ me her sight. Currently, they were still in the teleport bay, and Sharon was just beginning to issue orders. This would be the first combat operation any of them have been in since we left the Qu¡¯Lopti world, so they were fully suited up in their customized armors. ¡°Celeste, you¡¯ll be in charge of scouting the area once we¡¯re down.¡± Sharon looked towards me-- well, towards Celeste who I was watching from-- and spoke while adjusting her leather gloves. ¡°Once you have a map of the area, we¡¯ll begin moving. I can¡¯t bring out any of my companions from my grove, so if we run into trouble, I¡¯ll be counting on you, Priscilla.¡± The rabbit girl nodded energetically. ¡°Leave it to me, Mistress!¡± She said with a wide smile, giving an exaggerated thumbs up. Sharon nodded and looked towards Yin. ¡°You¡¯ll be in the back of the group. Use your telekinesis and magic for crowd control.¡± Finally, she turned to Yo. ¡°As for you, you¡¯ll be with me in the front. Everyone clear on their roles?¡± When everyone nodded, Sharon gave the order to teleport them down to the planet. The facility itself was shielded, so they couldn¡¯t go there directly. Instead, they appeared roughly a hundred meters away, near a wide river. In between them and the facility was a large, reinforced wall. After Sharon gave Celeste the signal, she closed her eyes and focused. ¡°Sorry, John.¡± She sent me mentally. ¡°Your mind isn¡¯t able to handle this many signals at once, so I¡¯ll keep it easy for you.¡± I knew what she was about to do, so I wasn¡¯t surprised when I suddenly had an aerial view of the area. It wasn¡¯t that Celeste had opened her eyes, rather she was no longer anywhere to be found around the group. She had activated her unique skill, which she trained for over five years now. Reality Break: Limitless Silver Sand. Although I didn¡¯t really approve of her name for the skill, it was incredibly useful. Using this power, she was able to deconstruct her body into a cloud of sand, and reshape it however she wanted. Currently, she seemed to be dispersing it into the air, using each tiny part of herself as a scouting drone. I could see specks of silver sand floating past the wall, and into the air vents. From there, she let it spread out further and further. Roughly five minutes later, after using almost all of her mana to maintain the cloud form, her body pieced itself back together next to the other girls. ¡°I didn¡¯t manage to get everywhere in time, but I¡¯ll be good to go in a second. Also, security seems to be on its way.¡± ¡°Humans?¡± Sharon asked, though she found the alternative unlikely, judging by her voice. ¡°Mostly.¡± Celeste nodded. ¡°The humans seem to be the upper echelons of the facility, but there was another race here as well. One I don¡¯t have in my records.¡± Closing her eyes again, she reactivated her skill to change her shape into the form of the second alien race we had seen upon her scouting. This was a tall, green race, looking almost like orcs. The main difference was that they had four arms, instead of the normal two, and a sharp horn on their forehead. ¡°The humans are armed with energy rifles, while the other race carries four short swords. The humans also have a type of battle armor, while the other one does not.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but shake my head, and it seemed like Sharon was no different. ¡°So, they¡¯re being used as cannon fodder.¡± At this time, five more beams of light descended, marking the arrival of the second team. And with them, the massive mech also came into view from above. ¡°Listen up, guys. We¡¯ve got incoming. Energy rifles and standard swords, from the descriptions.¡± Nathan nodded, pulling a stack of talismans from his inventory. ¡°Leave them to us. If it¡¯s not some terrifying monster heading our way, we can take it.¡± I chuckled at that, remembering their original fight with the boss monster on Hydra. Sharon smiled. ¡°Take it easy, you guys.¡± Then, she turned to Priscilla. ¡°Think you can hide us until we get in?¡± Priscilla nodded with a grin. ¡°Easily.¡± Her eyes began to glow a bright white, and I watched as they disappeared from view, one by one. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± She called out, excitedly, and I could see dust clouds rising up from the ground as she sprinted towards the wall. Celeste followed shortly after, and I could only assume that the others did as well. The reinforced wall was really no problem for them to get around. Everyone in the group had either some kind of flight ability¡­ or was a rabbit. Although I couldn¡¯t see her, I knew that Priscilla had simply managed to jump over the wall, likely carrying Sharon with her. As Celeste flew above the wall, we were able to see at least two dozen people running towards it. Among them, five were human, while the others were all those strange four-armed orcs. Rather than leaving the wall or scaling it, they took up defensive positions, as if assuming the wall would be scaled or breached. Why build a defensive wall like that in the first place if you know it won¡¯t help? I couldn¡¯t help but ask myself. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Celeste sent me an answer mentally. ¡°Maybe the wall is just to ward off normal monsters?¡± I couldn¡¯t argue that thought, so simply waited until the group arrived at the door the security team had come through. Naturally, it had closed behind them, but that did not mean much to this group. They stood there, waiting for their chance, and it soon came. From the wall that they had just scaled over, there was the sound of a large explosion. Celeste glanced back, and we saw that a section of the wall had collapsed. At the same time, one of the humans aimed their guns. ¡°Fire!¡± He shouted, and all five energy rifles shot towards the cloud of dust and smoke. After their first volley ended, they ordered the grunts to charge in. But, this was the chance that Celeste had been waiting for. With them distracted by the battle, she was able to hack the door. No, she did not connect and override the controls. Instead, she turned her arms into long, thin swords, and actually hacked the wall to pieces. ¡°There is a security checkpoint on the other side of this door we¡¯ll have to take out. After that, a corridor with a single turret concealed in the ceiling.¡± Celeste instructed, as Sharon and Yo walked into the checkpoint. I had expected there to be some hesitation from Sharon towards killing other humans, but she once again showed me her brutal side. As soon as the guard saw us walk in, he shot to his feet to trigger the alarm. Before Yo could even take action, Sharon had pointed her fist at him, and a long metal blade rapidly extended. When she retracted the blade back into her glove, the end was covered in blood. A moment later, the guard fell to the ground, coughing and choking on blood from the new hole in his neck. Against my expectations, Sharon did not even flinch when she killed him, simply walking towards the next door. ¡°Yo, get ready for the turret.¡± She said as she crouched down, assuming a fighting stance. Both of Sharon¡¯s fists became covered in metal, and she punched forward with enough force to rip the door out of its frame and send it tumbling a few feet down the hall. At that time, red lights began flashing throughout the base, likely alerting anyone that remains of the approaching danger. A circular section of the ceiling in the corridor ahead of them dropped down, revealing a turret with two gun barrels. Yo, having been assigned this job, ran forward, forming her left hand into a shield. Crackling white light shot out from both barrels of the turret, impacting against the slime shield. However, she must have granted it properties of a fairly resistant material, because it held firm. Once she was within five meters of the turret, she extended her right hand, forming it into her spear. The spear extended outwards, piercing straight through the turret, which let out a shower of sparks and a whine of machinery failing. ¡°Let¡¯s move.¡± Sharon said coldly, walking up to the next door. I managed to spot some silver dust floating into the air vents, and assumed that Celeste converted a small part of herself to the cloud again in order to scout. After triggering the alarm, all of the doors were now locked. However, they were not as heavily reinforced as those at the security checkpoint, so it was easy for the team to get through them. After Sharon punched down the next door, there was a blast of energy, and she was sent flying back a few feet. On the other side of the door were two security officers, each aiming energy rifles at the group. ¡°Identify yourselves!¡± They shouted, priming their weapons again. ¡°Mistress!¡± Priscilla cried out, appearing almost instantly next to the downed Sharon. Thanks to her armor, the wounds were not severe, but Priscilla immediately began treatment anyways. Meanwhile, Yo walked up to the doorway, grimacing at the pair of officers. ¡°That was a mistake.¡± She said, her voice darker than I had ever heard it. Ripples began forming along her skin, likely some imperceptible shift she performed. ¡°Grunts, charge!¡± One of the officers shouted out, and six of the green aliens burst into the hall, brandishing their swords. Yo didn¡¯t seem to pay any attention to them, simply running forward towards the two with rifles. However, no matter how close she got to the unfamiliar aliens, they were unable to hit them. Each that tried would have its swords stop in midair, before their bodies were thrown back to slam against the wall. Although Celeste wasn¡¯t looking in that direction, I knew it had to be the result of Yin¡¯s telekinesis. When Yo arrived in front of the two officers, who were by this point panicking and waiting for their rifles to recharge, she shoved her hands through both of their chests. I saw as blood spewed out of their bodies like a bad special effect in an action movie, before they collapsed to the ground. It was at this point that my viewpoint shifted to focus on the six aliens. Celeste held up her hands, inside each of which was a small plasma pistol, and began mowing down the immobilized enemies. With everyone taken care of, Yo raced back towards Priscilla and Sharon, dropping down to her knees to look at the wound on the latter¡¯s chest. ¡°Is she okay?¡± Yo asked, her voice filled with concern. Soon, I saw Yin walk into view as well, standing over Priscilla and the others and looking down at Sharon. Priscilla nodded, a gentle smile on her face. ¡°She¡¯s fine. Just give her a minute for the natural healing process to pick up, and we can get moving again. Go stand guard, make sure we¡¯re not ambushed.¡± Yo nodded her head, immediately returning to the doorway. Looking down at one of the bodies, she picked it up and tossed it back into the hall. ¡°Celeste, think you can work with that?¡± Celeste seemed to understand her meaning, looking down to the body. ¡°It¡¯s still intact enough, and there hasn¡¯t been enough time for the soul to dissipate. It will work.¡± She extended one hand towards the body, before her viewpoint seemed to shake slightly. No doubt she was ripping the man¡¯s soul out to look through his memories, but I couldn¡¯t use my sensory abilities to verify. And, since Celeste wasn¡¯t sharing those memories with me, I didn¡¯t know what she found. ¡°Well¡­ this is interesting.¡± She spoke after a few moments, and I could feel a smile forming on her lips. Chapter 172: Know Thy Enemy ¡°What did you find?¡± Sharon asks, groaning as she sat up near Celeste. It seemed the Priscilla was right about it not taking long to recover that level of injury. Though, her armor may need some repairs later. ¡°It¡¯ll be easier to explain if I show you.¡± I felt Celeste nod in response. ¡°I¡¯ve got a full map of the compound now, though. This place seems to be a simply research and scouting outpost. As for the location of their main base, these two didn¡¯t know that. They only ever moved between bases via the warp gate.¡± Seeing that Sharon was able to move again, Celeste helped her to her feet. Sharon accepted the help with a small nod of thanks, then looked to the Deus Ex. ¡°So, where are we going first? You said you had something to show us.¡± Celeste gave a firm nod, then began leading the way. Thanks to obtaining the memories from the previous guards, she already knew the layout of the entire complex, and their security procedures. As such, she was able to navigate the team through as few fights as possible. Although they still encountered some resistance, Celeste was able to give warnings for each one, allowing them to breeze through it. Soon, they arrived at a wide room, and immediately I knew it to be a temple. There were rows of pews lined up, but there was no god¡¯s statue here. Instead, there was a statue of a man, one I had personally seen during my trip through the memories of the men who tried to kill me at Tokemi¡¯s party. Standing tall with a broad, muscular build, General Martin¡¯s statue was all-too vivid. At the base of the statue, there was an engraving. ¡®Stanley Martin, Champion of Abzul.¡¯ Sharon asked from behind Celeste, in a confused voice. ¡°What¡¯s going on, Celeste?¡± Celeste nodded her head, turning around to look at the others. ¡°This is the leader of the Empire, a man who has set humanity on a ¡®holy mission¡¯ given to him by the God of War himself. From what those men believed, every major advancement that the Empire made in the last six years, all of it was passed down from the heavens. Given to Martin so that he could advance the human cause.¡± Sharon clenched her fists, gritting her teeth as she spoke. ¡°So, a god really is pulling the strings for this war?¡± Her words caused Yin next to her to frown, putting a reassuring hand on Sharon¡¯s shoulder. ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± Celeste chuckled, as if amused by something. ¡°And they don¡¯t even know the face of this god of theirs. Martin has asserted that it is a human god, and that he will help humanity rise to be the dominant power of the entire universe.¡± ¡°He¡¯s not?¡± Yin asked, an eyebrow raised in confusion. Celeste simply shook her head. ¡°No, he¡¯s not. Not like it really matters, at this point.¡± She then looked back at the statue, and sighed. ¡°No wonder they were able to get so far, they literally had the hand of god guiding them.¡± I felt the smile on Celeste¡¯s lips turn cold. ¡°But, they weren¡¯t the only one, were they?¡± ¡°The Qu¡¯Lopti!¡± Priscilla exclaimed in surprise. ¡°Weren¡¯t they being guided by their god to rapidly advance, too?¡± Celeste nodded at that. ¡°That¡¯s right. I don¡¯t know if this is some game between the gods, to see who will win, or if there is some other reason behind it. Either way, we¡¯re stuck between two powerhouses.¡± Sharon paused for a moment, and then gave another nod. ¡°Let¡¯s move this along. You said this is a research facility, so at the very least there will be researchers, and we can learn a thing or two. We¡¯ll need as much intel as we can get if we want to take on a god.¡± Once again, Celeste led the way, though this time they encountered far more resistance. In their first encounter, they came across five human officers, and a proverbial horde of the four-armed aliens. Again, there was a warning from Celeste, so the fight was not difficult. Meanwhile, I was focused on something else. Malthan said that there were rules for how they could interfere. He was able to advance the Qu¡¯Lopti like he did only because I did that big quest to save their species, and one of the rewards was to have the Qu¡¯Lopti advanced enough to be of use when I needed them. But, the General shouldn¡¯t have been able to do a quest of that scale. So, how is he giving them all this help? By the time I had finished my thought, the scene Celeste was showing me had already been dyed red in blood. Aside from the last few grunts, the enemy force at this checkpoint had already been entirely wiped out. Once that was taken care of, she spoke to the others. ¡°There should only be one checkpoint left. By now, the other teams should be in the facility as well, so they can¡¯t focus all of their attention on us. However, the last checkpoint has additional safety measures.¡± ¡°Such as?¡± Sharon wiped some blood off of her cheek, looking to Celeste. ¡°They use proper laser turrets to guard the research itself, not the lightning turrets we¡¯ve fought until now. Additionally, this base has a self-destruct code. If the final layer of defense is breached, it will be activated. After that, all of the doors will close and lock. Sixty seconds later, the base will explode, killing everyone inside.¡± Sharon furrowed her brows. ¡°Is there an abort code, or any way for people to evacuate?¡± Celeste shook her head. ¡°It¡¯s a completely automated process. If the final layer of defense is breached, the base is assumed to be lost. All personnel are written off as either dead or dying, and the base becomes a death trap. If we don¡¯t take out the shield generator within that sixty seconds, we¡¯ll have to lose these bodies.¡± Sharon blinked, confused for a moment. ¡°Why don¡¯t we simply take out the shields first, then?¡± ¡°Because, if the shields are destroyed, the self destruct is also triggered. And, I¡¯m sure we can all agree that getting the research is more important, yes?¡± The girls all nodded at that. ¡°Alright. We¡¯ll head to the labs first, and I¡¯ll see if I can grab a few researchers to stick in my grove. That way, once we¡¯re back at the ship, I can search their memories for information whether we take the shields down or not.¡± Sharon nods, then looks to Priscilla. ¡°You and I will head to the shield generator as soon as the last line of defense to the labs is taken care of. Smashing things is generally a lot easier than fixing them.¡± She looks back to Celeste before finishing. ¡°Can you get us a map to it?¡± Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Celeste nodded, pulling a device from her upgrade inventory and linking with it. Soon, a holographic map appeared in the hallway between them. Judging from the layout, it seemed to be the compound they were currently in. A red dot lit up at what should be their present location. ¡°We¡¯re here right now.¡± The dot extended into a line that curved through a few more hallways. ¡°This is the last area we should have a real fight before the labs.¡± After that, a green path branched off from the red one, leading back towards the far side of the facility. ¡°And this is the way to the shield generators. You¡¯ll need to move pretty fast, if you want to get there by the end of the countdown.¡± Sharon watched the map closely, committing the two paths to memory. Once Celeste was done, she gave a small nod to her. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± It was a bit odd that they hadn¡¯t received any communication from the other two teams, but I could confirm from my end that they hadn¡¯t been taken out. At the very least, they hadn¡¯t left their clone bodies yet. Most likely, communications were one of the things blocked out with that shield. I was probably only able to watch because the link between Celeste and myself was not exactly conventional. Anyways, it didn¡¯t take them very long before they were standing before the next checkpoint, making their own preparations. Celeste equipped her wristband cannon, Yo morphed into a fully armored form, and Yin¡­ well, she¡¯s pretty much in her prepared state at all times. However, she did pull out her whip. As for Sharon and Priscilla, they looked to each other and nodded. The rabbit girl walked over to Sharon, and gently grabbed her hand. ¡°See you soon, Mistress.¡± She spoke with a small smile, her body starting to glow. When Priscilla¡¯s body shattered into strands of light, those strands then curved and struck towards Sharon¡¯s body. At first, I was confused, as it looked like some kind of attack, but Celeste managed to remain calm. I watched as Sharon¡¯s body became more lithe, her legs extending slightly. White, furred ears sprouted from the top of her head, and a strange glow seemed to come from her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m ready.¡± She spoke, walking up to the door. Just as she had done many times before, she was getting ready to knock down the door to announce their arrival. However, this time, as soon as she got close, the door was blasted towards her, throwing her back down the hall. Had it not been for her merging with Priscilla, she would not have likely been able to correct her posture in midair to land on her feet. Though, once she did so, she let out a furious shout and charged forward, far faster than her body would normally carry her. On the other side of the doorway, there was a single human. This human was wearing a large, metal exoskeleton. Without a doubt, it was power armor, and he was aided by two rifle-wielding humans in the back, and over a dozen grunts. Oh, and did I forget to mention the laser turrets dropping down from above his head? Yeah, those were there, too. Still, Sharon charged straight towards the new mech, taking advantage of its heavy build and inability to quickly make adjustments. Within a moment, she was behind it, one blade stabbing through the man¡¯s chest from the back. Her other hand let out an explosion of fire that engulfed the remaining two humans, and the majority of the grunts. ¡°Sheesh, going so far on her own.¡± Celeste clicked her tongue, taking careful aim and shooting down anyone that managed to survive Sharon¡¯s initial assault. Yo stood just in front of Celeste, ready to take out anyone that happened to get close, while Yin stood at the very back, waiting to see if she would need to participate in this fight. This battle only last a few moments, before the last grunt had fallen. Although the laser turrets had significant offensive power if left alone, they had been Celeste¡¯s first targets when she opened fire. Having knowledge of the area completely changed the situation. Once the battle was over, there was a red light flashing through the base. The door they had come through before encountering this final obstacle, which had been left open before, suddenly slammed closed with a clicking sound. Celeste looked towards Sharon and shouted out. ¡°Sixty seconds, go!¡± Sharon looked back to her, nodding, before turning and abruptly running back down the hall. Rather than raise her fist to batter down the door, she brought her arms in an X shape to shield her head, putting more force into the final step before she reached the door. There was the sound of tearing metal as Sharon jumped into the door, opening a hole through it and continuing on without pause. For Celeste and the others, they made a beeline towards the labs, finding several panicking humans in white labcoats. Some tried to pull out weapons to offer a last token of resistance, but it was obvious that none of them had been properly trained for battle. Yin glared at the group of them, and there were dozens of sickening crunches issued out from the surroundings. A moment later, the researchers all fell to the ground, where Celeste began grabbing them to store in her grove. ¡°Take this and see if you can find a computer to plug it into!¡± She shouted out, tossing what looked like a small USB drive to Yin, who caught it in one hand and rushed toward the counters. I could only watch as Celeste hurriedly stuffed as many bodies from the researchers into her grove as she could. ¡°Come on, come on¡­¡± She muttered to herself, likely tracking the time. Losing these bodies would not be a major loss, but each one represented a full level for the body¡¯s owner. And for those that leveled up without rampantly killing monsters, each level represented a certain amount of skill proficiency. ¡°Ten seconds¡­¡± I heard Celeste say under her breath, before a distant explosion rocked the base. With an expression of excitement, Celeste immediately activated her comms. ¡°Teleport all teams out, now!¡± Light appeared from above to wrap around her, and as she was pulled out I could see a blinding flash of light appear from below the base. Chapter 173: What Was Gained, What Was Lost By the time the fight had ended, only two of the people sent down had died. One of them was Ackbar, while the other was my father. Thankfully, their levels were among the lowest out of all of us, so losing a single one was not too big of an issue. ¡°So, what did you discover?¡± I asked Celeste in the War Room. Gathered around the large display in the center was a circle of chairs, each of which held someone from the previous mission. After they came back from the mission, Celeste had been given two hours to ¡®interrogate¡¯ the dead scientists and go over the acquired research data. ¡°Aside from what you personally saw, not much.¡± The Deus Ex shook her head. ¡°They might be overly cautious, or aware that we have secret methods to gather information, because they weren¡¯t given much information to work with. Their base was devoted to researching a method to create two pieces of technology. One for personal use, and the other to install in a ship.¡± Celeste reached forward and tapped her fingers against the display a couple times, and an image appeared on it. This was something I had personally seen before, and was intimately familiar with. However, it was something that should not exist for thousands of years yet. ¡°Is that¡­?¡± She nodded her head slowly. ¡°It¡¯s a Companion Implant, and from the blueprints that were sent, it might even be an improved version of the one you copied in NeoLife. If my understanding of the blueprint is correct, it will allow for increased reaction speed by having the AI in control of the user¡¯s senses increase their perception speed.¡± She pointed out two wires that had not been on the original model. ¡°One of these seems designed to override sensory input, while the other looks like a kill-switch. If that is triggered, from what I can tell the mind of the input¡¯s owner will be wiped, leaving only the AI.¡± I furrowed my brows when I heard her explanation. When I originally botched my implant, I had accidentally given Celeste the chance to control my body if she wanted. For the two of us, that was fine as we were able to trust each other. I also had the guarantee of being able to use my own magic to forcefully destroy the implant if I wanted. But, the same was not true for these. They were basically designed to put an AI commander in control of every soldier. Sitting next to me, Sharon was the first one to speak up. ¡°How far did they get on their research?¡± Celeste smiled bitterly when she was asked that question. ¡°As you can see, they have complete blueprints. They had those from the start, passed down from ¡®High Command¡¯. Their only goal was to figure out how to make it work, and build it. They were getting ready to deliver the first prototype when we moved in, which may be why the Empire responded so quickly with those two ships. They had already been preparing them to retrieve the technology.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± I started, looking at Celeste. ¡°If they already have the blueprints, and we can assume the data was transmitted before our arrival, then another base can easily be created to pick up where they left off. What about the other piece of technology? The one that you said would be designed for ships?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ we might have lucked out with that one.¡± Celeste spoke, grinning slightly. Again, she tapped the display, and something that looked like a segmented ring appeared in the hologram. ¡°For their spaceship technology, this base was entrusted with something very valuable, something that could easily tip the scales of war, even in the age of NeoLife.¡± ¡°From the data gathered, this appears to be a portal warp gate, a wormhole generator. Now, the reason I said we lucked out comes in two parts. First, their research had not made much progress on this item, meaning that they won¡¯t get very far even if they start up another project for it. The second, with the aid of the Deus Ex, we might be able to complete this design.¡± ¡°If the data can be believed, this device functions similarly to a standard FTL drive. However, rather than transporting the ship to subspace, this can only be activated while in subspace. By pulling in the exotic particles that make up that dimension, and using them as a power source, it opens a wormhole to the designated location. If the Empire had managed to complete this, then they could effortlessly send their entire fleet directly to any race¡¯s homeworld.¡± Around the table, at least half of the people gathered let out a gasp at Celeste¡¯s words. As for me, I was only glad that we got ahold of this before they finished it. ¡°Have the Deus Ex begin working on this as soon as possible, and see if you can find any countermeasures, just in case they do manage to finish it.¡± Celeste nodded, committing the orders to memory. ¡°One other thing. Whether it was from the scientists themselves, or the data on their computers, we weren¡¯t able to get a location for any of the other bases. I found a picture file, one of them celebrating at a party at night. However, the sky was purposely blurred, making it impossible to determine the location from the stars.¡± I grimaced at that. From all the precautions they took to make sure that no base knew where the others were, or knew what they were working on, the only answer I could come up with was that the person handing down these orders knew we had a way to get answers from their people. Likely, the only ones that knew the locations for other bases were those that scouted them out and built the warp gates. ¡°What about their funds, any information on that? All of the people they bought from the market couldn¡¯t come cheap.¡± ¡°Ah, actually, I do have some news about that.¡± Once again, she tapped the display, bringing up the image of the four-armed race they had encountered in the lab. ¡°They call this race ¡®Grunts¡¯, though their actual name seems to be Orik. One of the researchers had seen the Orik gathered in large quantities around a block of solid gold.¡± If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Although the researcher himself didn¡¯t know what they were doing, it¡¯s likely that they turned a large number of Orik into druids, specifically so that they could obtain the Gold Affinity and become living farms. Their efficiency can¡¯t be as good as your¡¯s, since you have a higher level grove able to self-expand, but they make up for it in numbers. I can¡¯t say how many Orik they have working on this, or where they came from, but they probably stole the entire race off of an underdeveloped world. Likely turned the entire population into a slave species.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but nod solemnly at this information. ¡°That could explain it. And, unfortunately we have no method to stop them. Their farming operation is likely to be held at their central base, to ensure that it can¡¯t be taken down. Next time we hit one of their bases, we have to grab an Orik or two, and find out where their homeworld was.¡± Even if the New Human Empire had simply taken the population of the Orik from their homeworld to a different planet, a move of that scale could not go very far. It was even more likely that the New Human Empire had simply set up a base at the Orik homeworld. If we could find that, we could deal a major blow to them, while potentially freeing the Orik race. Celeste seemed to understand my thoughts, because she nodded slightly, agreeing with me. Next, I turned to address the rest of the room. ¡°That¡¯s all for this meeting. I want everyone to understand, the battles we had today were just the first of many. Get used to your teammates, and develop strategies to use for future combat. Celeste, I¡¯ll leave it to you to contact the Deus Ex fleet and pass the schematics. Try to get an understanding for how long it would take to create a working prototype, as well as how long they¡¯d need to repair their damaged ship. With that, everyone is dismissed.¡± Everyone looked at me, nodding their heads as they got to their feet one by one, moving to leave the War Room. Meanwhile, I had a blue screen appearing in front of my face, which convinced me to speed up the meeting.
Incoming call from Thalia.
Figuring that this was a regular report, I wanted to answer it in private. That way, I didn¡¯t seem like a crazy person talking to himself, for once. ¡°Yes?¡± I asked, after answering the call. ¡°John! Thank goodness, we were afraid something had happened.¡± The elf queen¡¯s voice was laced with worry. ¡°We have some problems over here.¡± ¡°What? Did the New Human Empire make a move?¡± I asked, concerned. With what we knew, they shouldn¡¯t have the forces yet to make that kind of assault. They were still developing technology for their war, after all. ¡°No, not the Empire. We just received word from the High Queen. The Kleptids and Drakes just pulled out of the alliance.¡± ¡°Eh?¡± I couldn¡¯t help voicing my confusion. It didn¡¯t make any sense to pull out of the alliance now, when we all had a common enemy to fight. ¡°Why would they do that?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know. She said that they were focusing on consolidating their defenses, and couldn¡¯t afford to spare the attention for this alliance anymore. But, that just doesn¡¯t make sense to us. Even if they are focusing on their own worlds, there¡¯s no reason for them to back out of the alliance. Do you think¡­ that maybe they are joining the Empire?¡± I immediately shook my head at that suggestion. ¡°No, the New Human Empire would never accept an ally. They¡¯ll take slaves, but they won¡¯t view any other race as an equal. Did Maeve mention anything about them in the previous meetings?¡± ¡°Well, not much¡­ The High Queen said that some of the races were becoming more irritable, paranoid, like they couldn¡¯t trust anything anymore. But, we never thought it had gotten this bad. And¡­ there¡¯s something else.¡± The way she said that did not leave me with much confidence for the coming news. ¡°Go on¡­¡± ¡°The other queens, and some of their assistants. They¡¯ve been having problems. Some would disappear, only to turn up dead in a remote location. Others have been falling ill from diseases we¡¯ve never seen, likely poison. We¡­ I think that there might be a spy within the ranks of the court. At the very least, an assassin is in the system, targeting royalty. My own advisor disappeared this morning, and I haven¡¯t seen him since.¡± ¡°What about the High Queens?¡± I asked, worried. Even if the normal queens fell, the few High Queens of the Gerin system could still hold control. ¡°The High Queens are fine, so far. Their security can¡¯t be compared to ours, after all.¡± Thalia spoke in a relieved tone. Likely, she had worried over their safety as well. ¡°High Queen Maeve paid me a visit yesterday to confirm my safety, and brought a number of guards with her. Likely, nobody would be able to approach her without being detected. As for myself¡­ we are protected, as well. The dress that Aria bestowed on us is¡­ inconvenient at times, but it is still a defensive garment handed down by a goddess.¡± She did have a point there. ¡°Okay, but remember, you also have the weapon she gave you, as well. If there really is no other way, you can use that. After so much time passed¡­ It should be able to destroy anything short of a battleship. But, you only get one shot with it, so try not to use it unless it is a last resort.¡± ¡°We understand, John. You should be cautious, as well. While we have the defenses of our homeland, you have no such guarantees on your voyage. It is too easy to fail, and yet you cannot afford to do so. Not only your life, but all of our lives may well rest in your hands. For that reason, please win this war, for all of us. Only then will we be safe.¡± Chapter 174: Man On a Mission Author¡¯s Corner: As I said in World Keeper¡­ Sorry for the delay, some RL issues have come up. For the next 4-8 weeks, depending on how things go, my releases may slow down a bit due to family crisis. However, I will do my best to maintain my current pace when possible. Obviously, this time I had to delay a bit before I was able to write the chapter, and I am ultimately unsatisfied with it >.< I mean, it¡¯s not that the chapter is bad or anything, in my opinion. But it ended up shorter than I had imagined, and there was not going to be a good place to end the chapter if not where I chose to do so. Tl;dr - Sorry for the delay, enjoy the slightly shorter than normal chapter. Also, for those interested, I have come up with the story I am going to write after I finish World Seed. In my next chapter of World Keeper(which will be chapter 34), I will be posting a teaser prologue for it at the end of the chapter. Would post it here, but I put the poll on the other story for it xD
After hanging up from talking with Thalia, I sat back in the chair, taking a moment to think for myself within the War Room. Things were progressing, and not in a direction that was good for any of us. Malthan, you around? Oh great god of chaos or whatever, pick up the phone!
The all-powerful being you are trying to reach cannot be found at this time, please leave your name and prayer after the tone.
I know that was you, bastard. I felt my temper nearing its limits. Just the fact that the New Human Empire obviously had a god passing down almost impossible technology was already pushing things too far.
Fine, fine. What is it? Wanting to know about the God of War, huh?
That¡¯s right. You keep saying that you can¡¯t get involved because of all these rules, and then he turns up and does this? That has to be breaking every rule in the book!
Sadly, it doesn¡¯t. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥ He¡¯s just willing to pay a price that others aren¡¯t.
And what¡¯s that? What could make him so willing to interfere and start up this war, pay whatever price he had to, and nobody else is doing the same? Yes, I was back-talking a god. Did I really care? Not at the moment.
Can¡¯t tell ya that, Johnny Boy. Rules are rules. Trust me, if it was that easy to break the rules around here, do you think the god of CHAOS and MADNESS would follow them?
As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. Malthan¡¯s domains practically emphasized rule-breaking. Even so, he was following along, which meant that the god of war had to be doing so, as well. I just didn¡¯t understand the rules well enough to know what it meant he was doing. Can you at least tell me the rules, so that I can understand?
To reference an old Earth movie, it¡¯s like fight club. First rule of being a god, don¡¯t tell mortals about the rules to being a god. Except that one. Tricksy like that.
Grumbling, I got up and moved to the ship¡¯s temple. The market proclaimed that it sold everything imaginable. That should include a list of these rules, or information about what the New Human Empire¡¯s god was doing. At least, that was the plan. True, it was listed as an item on the market. However, the price was¡­ ridiculous, to say the least. Whether it was to learn about the actions of the God of War, or the rules that bind the gods, they had the same price. Become a god. As if something like that was even possible! Isn¡¯t that basically saying ¡®Yes, it¡¯s available, but no we won¡¯t let you have it¡¯? I had been prepared to spend an entire planet of gold for that information, and then I found out that the price was beyond what anyone would ever be able to pay.
Tried to tell you. Can¡¯t let the rules leak to non-gods. Mere mortals are not supposed to understand the basic laws of the universe, yada yada, blah blah blah.
I nodded my head, sitting down at one of the pews and starting to think. After a moment, Celeste¡¯s voice began to transmit into my mind. ¡°John, we might have a way to work with this, within the boundaries of the rules.¡± What are you talking about, Celeste? Did she understand something that I didn¡¯t? Also, wasn¡¯t she working on getting reports from the Deus Ex fleet? ¡°It¡¯s easy, really. Gods cannot pass down specific information like what you are wanting, or the Empire has been given, without certain requirements. I don¡¯t know what all of those requirements are, but we know one, at least. Malthan already told us that much.¡± He did?
I did?
I felt Celeste grinning in satisfaction within my mind. ¡°He advanced the Qu¡¯Lopti civilization by leaps and bounds, issuing quests to research specific types of technology, and granting blueprints as rewards. Now, the Empire likely isn¡¯t using this method, but we can.¡±
Oooh, she¡¯s a clever one.
Wait, you mean get a quest from the gods that will lead us to the information we need? ¡°That¡¯s right! If there was a god who, for instance, wanted to save the Orik people. With that quest, we¡¯d have the location for their homeworld, which is likely a location for an Empire base.¡± Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Aaand she falls short. ?_?
¡°Huh, what?¡± Celeste¡¯s voice sounded out in surprise. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me¡­ there¡¯s not a single god interested in the fate of that species?¡± I suddenly felt like this was more a conversation between Celeste and Malthan, with me being an observer.
Oh, I¡¯m sure there is, somewhere. But there aren¡¯t any that owe me any favors, and I doubt there¡¯s one invested enough in that race to cross Abzul.
Well, there goes the easy way. Any other quests you can think of that would help get us where we need to be, Celeste? ¡°Give me a second¡­ What about one of the elven gods? One of their planets was rendered uninhabitable. Could one of them be wanting to hand out a revenge quest?¡±
Warmer, but no cigar. Care for round three?
I heard a mental growl of frustration from Celeste, which made me crack a small grin. He¡¯s not the god of madness for nothing. Is there a god of peace that we could talk to? Maybe they¡¯d be willing to put an end to Abzul¡¯s antics.
Karnak? That hippie is too scared of anyone to offend them, let alone the god of war.
I shook my head, feeling that this was too much to worry about right now. Celeste, have you gotten anything back from the Deus Ex? ¡°The Striker Fleet reported that there is severe damage to multiple key systems on their ship. If not for quick thinking on their part to isolate damaged sections and reroute power, the ship would have likely exploded when it was struck. According to them, it¡¯d be better to just salvage the valuable systems and leave the rest behind. As for the device plans, they estimate it will take a few weeks to get a finished prototype working if they devote the manpower of their homeworld to the calculations.¡± Okay, so no use waiting around here. Have them start the research, and begin the salvaging operation. I wanted to add ¡®find out how to kill a god¡¯ to the list, but we didn¡¯t even really know anything about the gods to begin with. They could be beings of unlimited power and resources, or just someone on a higher plane of existence, like me with my grove. ¡°Understood, I¡¯ll get right on that.¡± After that, I felt Celeste¡¯s presence fade from my mind, likely meaning she made herself busy with other matters. In the meantime, I don¡¯t suppose you have any quests for me, Malthan?
Wow, you¡¯re really desperate if you are asking ME that. Hmm¡­ Ooh, I have an idea. There is one thing you could do, that would cause a bit of chaos for me~ It¡¯s even along the way.
Quest Accepted!
Close Encounters Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Assault and Investigation The shadows are a terrible threat, but the greatest is the one that stands in the light without ever being known. Find the hidden truth behind Facility AB7. Time Limit: Two weeks Rewards: Knowledge about the New Human Empire plot. Failure: The death of a trusted friend.
Suddenly, the map of the stars appeared in my mind, highlighting all of the locations we had suspected New Human Empire bases or spies. Gradually, the dots faded away one by one, until there was just a single one left. Letters slowly began to form from the light above that dot, spelling out the name ¡®Facility AB7¡¯. Celeste, we have our quest marker. And a time limit. ¡°I¡¯m on it!¡± Her voice suddenly came in urgently when I called for her, but the message that appeared on the screen next bothered me even more.
Just a note, this is a true death. If you fail this mission, one of your friends WILL die, and there is nothing either of us can do to save them or bring them back. Even if you beat it, you might still lose them if you don¡¯t act fast enough.
Great, as if I didn¡¯t have enough to worry about already. Celeste, how soon can we leave, and how long will it take us to get to that base? It barely took her a moment before an answer came in. ¡°If we leave one of the Strikers behind to catch up with us when they are done, we can leave immediately. As for how long it will take¡­ It¡¯s at least somewhat close, but that will take us a full ten days to get there at our maximum speed. That¡¯s not leaving a lot of time to finish the mission.¡± We¡¯ll have to make do. Four days, we¡¯ll be assaulting an enemy base. Even if this is an investigation, if it takes us four days to take that base, we¡¯ll already be as good as dead. Celeste seemed to agree with that point, because she did not try to correct me. Soon, I heard her give the order. ¡°All available ships, prepare to jump to FTL, target is the following coordinates. Expected time of arrival is ten days, but be prepared for heavy resistance. We don¡¯t know what we are getting ourselves into, but it¡¯s not likely to be good.¡± Great pep talk, really feeling the motivation there. I thought dryly, shaking my head. I had some suspicions about what we might find there, but I couldn¡¯t verify anything. It was already a good thing that we managed to find a clue with Malthan, but it might have come at too heavy a cost. Chapter 175: Training Simulations This time, while we were traveling to our new destination, I could not afford to be busy. We now had information regarding their ships¡¯ capabilities, so it was possible to form simulations for battle. That¡¯s what I planned to do, run over various simulations so that we had a solid plan in mind before we arrived. Participating in this simulation was Celeste, as well as the captains of the Qu¡¯Lopti and Deus Ex fleets. Naturally, we weren¡¯t able to include the two that were still behind at the previous base, but all of the other ships had linked simulation chairs installed so that we could do practice runs like this. While I had been in these simulation chairs before, it was mostly for brief breaks, or to practice a new ability. I had never done anything of this scale before. ¡°So, any suggestions for the settings?¡± I asked, my body appearing as suspended in a black void. Around me were the several other participants, all in similar conditions. Only the Qu¡¯Lopti did not seem to be taking this seriously, floating around and doing flips while the rest of us considered. It was one of the Deus Ex captains that spoke up. I really couldn¡¯t tell you which one, because they have identical body frames and voices. Sounds really racist, I know, but it¡¯s true! They all look the exact same! ¡°We should begin with two ships of a similar configuration as what we faced at the most recent outpost, with the planet providing no aid to either party, and then increase the difficulty as we find appropriate countermeasures.¡± Celeste nodded at that suggestion. ¡°We should also give ourselves a time limit. We have to perform an investigation on the surface of this planet after the fight, so the battle should last no longer than fifteen minutes. That way, they don¡¯t have time to destroy whatever evidence we are looking for.¡± Everyone nodded at that. Looking at the Qu¡¯Lopti officers, I began giving out instructions. ¡°Your first priority after we emerge from FTL is to form all but one of the Judgement Warriors, and the Executioner. The remaining Judgement ships should fan out, keep their shields and turrets busy while the other ships find their targets. All Judgement Warriors should spread themselves out and open fire with their railguns, while the Executioner prepares its full arsenal.¡± I saw two of the Qu¡¯Lopti captains grinning as they heard this, obviously enjoying these battle simulations. ¡°For the Deus Ex¡­ are you all able to command the missing ship for this simulation, until they arrive?¡± When they nodded their heads, I breathed out a sigh of relief. ¡°Okay, then. Priority target for your fleet is the turrets of the assault ship. Judging by the last battle, they seem to get exponentially stronger the more of them stack for a single strike. Even removing one from the equation will be a big help.¡± Finally, I turned to Celeste. ¡°You¡¯ll be in command of the Ariadne for the first few simulations. Use the information you gathered from the last encounter to probe their defenses, find a way to breach them. Otherwise, use your best judgement to choose your targets, but try to disable their warp gate early on if you can.¡± Celeste crossed her arms in front of her and raised an eyebrow, an amused smirk on her face. ¡°And what will you be doing, then?¡± ¡°I¡¯m going to see what happens when an overpowered ant punches an elephant.¡± I knew that I probably couldn¡¯t make much difference by myself, but I wanted to do this for two reasons. One was to see their capabilities firsthand, when I¡¯m not distracted by a warp gate. The other was because I had very little experience commanding a space fleet during an actual battle. Before I tried to do so, I wanted to watch how Celeste did it a few times first. Celeste, likely plucking these thoughts from my mind, nodded her head. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s put on a show for you, then. Since we¡¯re removing the planet from the equation, setting it as a barren rock of roughly the same size as Earth.¡± Once she was done applying all the different settings to the simulation, we were diving right in. I saw the many different ship from the side labeled Sons of Chaos drop out of FTL, immediately regretting that I allowed that name to last this long. Thankfully, they all began executing the plan as soon as the simulation began. For the purpose of this simulation, I was spawned just on top of the Ariadne, already in my full combat form. Thanks to the abilities I had acquired, I no longer needed to fear the exotic energies from subspace, and could be prepared to launch the moment we dropped out. There was actually an even more powerful ability I had at my disposal for space battles, and this was the perfect chance to try it out. Jumping off of the Ariadne, I set my course to take me in the direction of the two New Human Empire ships. They appeared in exactly the same configuration as before, with the warp gate some distance behind them. Shortly after jumping off the Ariadne, just as the Qu¡¯Lopti mechs were getting prepared, I vanished from the battlefield, a rip in space leading to a purple void appearing momentarily in my place. This was the other ability I had gotten from the space dragon, the ability to traverse between normal space and subspace. For a few brief moments, I was surrounded by a myriad of black and purple energies, each of which felt like they were bombarding me from all sides, kept at bay only by the shielding ability of that same dragon. I moved forward less than half a kilometer before using the ability again, reappearing in normal space. When I re-emerged, I was actually behind the New Human Empire ships, having gone a bit too far in my estimations. Still, I was fairly close, closer than any of the Judgement ships that were buzzing around as distractions. And what would you do if an enemy just appeared behind you at the start of a battle? Naturally, one of the turrets flew to aim at me, but this time I was more prepared. Flying forward, I shielded my figure with my large wings, since I did not need them for flight in space. I filled them with my Mana Leech ability, and attuned myself to the light element. By temporarily sacrificing all of my other affinities, even if I didn¡¯t reach 100%, I should have at least 95%. Knowing that, I should be able to resist a pure light attack like this without difficulty. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Sure enough, I felt a blast of heat on my wings a few moments later. Although it was still painful, it was not to a degree that I was in danger of a quick death. If I had to estimate, I could likely handle a blast from two turrets like this, using my regeneration power to sustain me. If I tried to tank three, I would die before the blast ended. Any more would be an instant defeat. After five seconds of sustained laser fire, the heat from my wings faded away. Two small holes had been burnt through, but it was not significant enough damage for me to waste one of my full heals. Instead, I cast a standard healing spell on myself while continuing to fly closer to the assault ship. I could see the rain of weapons fire surrounding the two ships, causing the hexagonal shields to go into overdrive to protect both ships. This is where the other weakness of those shields becomes apparent, as quick attacks such as railgun rounds tend to arrive before the shield finishes forming. However, that only made them targets for the assault turrets. Aside from the one trained on me, and one other that came to assist it, the rest were targeting the Qu¡¯Lopti Judgement Warriors. Thankfully, the specialty of those mechs happened to be melee, rather than ranged. That meant that their movement abilities were high enough to avoid a lock by simply flying around in random patterns, only occasionally firing a shot. Sadly, their railgun fire did not do much damage to either ship, despite being able to pass through the shield before it forms. Soon, just before I was at the assault ship, the two layered turrets fired at me. Well, more accurately, the one in the back fired into the other one, which somehow amplified its power to attack me. I still chose to block in the same manner as I had before, though this time I tapped into the power of the black hole within my grove to aid me in absorbing the lasers. Unlike before, I barely felt the heat from the lasers, as much of the energy was absorbed before it could reach me. I also did not have to continue for the entire five seconds, because I flew through the turrets. Yes, through them. They were in front of me, and it was quicker than going around. Thankfully, there was that great big hole in the center of each turret that they fired from. I felt an uncomfortable energy wash over me, before I was on the other side. Now, there was nothing standing between me and the silver metal of the enemy ship. Now¡­ Let¡¯s go punch an elephant. I clenched my fist, cancelling out my attunement and drawing on the mana from my grove. My fist gave off a faint shine as I filled it with metal mana, then slammed it against the hull of the ship. Unsurprisingly, my fist was not more powerful than a railgun blast from one of the Judgement Warriors. However, I did not despair quite yet. Instead, I reached out my mana senses and began constructing a second body, this one made almost entirely of metal mana. Compared to my combat form, this body was roughly three times as large, looking like a silver angel. When I had this second body punch, there was a visible dent on the surface, and sparks flying everywhere. Seeing that, I couldn¡¯t help but grin, having the silver angel¡¯s fist turn into a long blade to strike again. However, before it could make contact, I found myself floating just outside the airlock of the Ariadne again, my connection with the construct severed. What happened? I asked in my head as I turned to look at the battle. In the distance, I saw the warp gate flickering on and off, as if it had been short-circuited. More importantly, one of the metal rings wrapping around the white hole of the assault ship had been shattered. The white field of energy at its center trembled, convulsing for several seconds before a second field of energy spread out to encompass the ship. A blinding white light erupted from the center of the ship, like a small sun, and when it faded away there was not a single trace of the assault ship remaining. ¡°We were dealing the finishing blow, so had to pull the ant back home.¡± Celeste said in a teasing voice. ¡°Looks like we have a solid plan for dealing with this setup. As long as they don¡¯t focus on one of our larger ships with three or more turrets, we can defeat a single pair. Shall we up the difficulty, then?¡± I nodded, and we all appeared in the same vacant lobby space as before. ¡°This time, let¡¯s make it two assault ships, with a single shield ship.¡± One of the Qu¡¯Lopti officers suggested, I believe the one in charge of the Executioner. ¡°We already have trouble with a single shield ship unless we spread out our attacks to make them use up more energy, but it¡¯s manageable. A second shield ship would take a lot longer to get used to than a second turret ship.¡± The Deus Ex captains nodded, one of them speaking up. ¡°This is acceptable.¡± With that, we went in to run another scenario. This time¡­ it was a crushing defeat. It wasn¡¯t simply that they doubled the number of targets that could be attacked. I didn¡¯t dare to try to go out on my own again, because one ship was constantly committed to full attacks on a single target while the second chased the moving targets with its turrets. After the first ten seconds, we lost the Ariadne. Then, every thirty seconds, another ship was destroyed. In the end, although the Qu¡¯Lopti mechs managed to destroy the shield ship, there wasn¡¯t enough backup for them to take out the assault ships. They could only wait to be killed. How are we going to deal with that? Chapter 176: Prelude to Battle For the next three days, we were almost constantly in training simulations. It took us fifteen attempts before we were able to take out a pair of assault ships guarded by a single shield ship. Next was one assault ship guarded by two shield ships, another pain. For that fight, I had to actually get into the midst of it myself and let Celeste go back to commanding. On the bright side, we learned that if I burn a couple of stars for their energy, I can blast through one of the assault ships. Sadly, handling that much power also ripped my body to shreds, but it was a work in progress. After that, we did two pairs of enemy ships, followed by various circumstances where the planet would be able to help them, or a nearby starbase. Though, the starbase was a conceptual design that Celeste and the Deus Ex captains created based on the white hole technologies the New Human Empire seemed to be employing. Anyways, by the end of the three days, we were confident that we had plans to win against up to four of their ships in any configuration. Any more and we¡¯d likely suffer heavy losses. One the fourth day, the final Deus Ex ship managed to catch up with us. For now, I was sharing the tactical information with the relevant crew members, that way we would be prepared to act at a moment¡¯s notice. Of course, I doubted the strategies were foolproof, and knew that the enemy would eventually adapt to them. Right now, I was relying on the hopes that we knew more about their fleets than they did about ours. Sadly, no amount of simulations could prepare me for what was on this planet we were heading to. Malthan was being completely unhelpful in that regard, which was understandable. I mean, he offered me a quest to investigate. Why would he do that, and then just tell me the answer? Sharon, sitting with me and the senior officers in charge of the Ariadne, looked at me strangely as I was briefing them on the strategies. ¡°John¡­?¡± ¡°Yes? Is there a problem with the plan?¡± I asked, looking curiously to her. ¡°Yes, yes there is. Why is it that every plan you have mentioned so far with at least four enemy ships requires you detonating your body to take one out?¡± Okay¡­ that is a very good question, and an even better concern for a wife to have for her husband! ¡°Well¡­ we don¡¯t exactly have the firepower to take on a fourth ship with just what we have. And, since I¡¯m the only one able to bring out so much explosive power, it makes sense for me to do it. I mean, it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll be going in my main body or anything, and we actually have extra clones this time.¡± Sharon gave me a questioning look, as if she still didn¡¯t think that was a good enough explanation. It¡¯s the best I have, though! If we had more powerful ships, then this would be easy to solve! Sharon turned to look at Celeste. ¡°Is there any way we can bounce their attacks back at them? I mean, their laser weapons should be more than enough to break through those shields. Especially if they are stacked a few times.¡± Celeste helplessly shook her head. ¡°We tried reconfiguring our shields to various wavelengths. We found what should be the optimum setting to deflect the damage from their attacks, but it won¡¯t let us send it back at them. For that, we would need a special device, either opening a portal to have their attack redirected, or create a giant mirror in space. Problem is, the laser is too powerful, so any mirror, whether magical or technological, would be blasted apart. As for the portal, that would need some work.¡± Sharon glanced at me at the mention of portals, and I had to shake my head as well. ¡°With how much energy those lasers contain, I don¡¯t think I¡¯d last half a second redirecting them without my brain turning to mush.¡± She let out a resigned sigh, nodding her head in acceptance. ¡°Fine, but I still don¡¯t like that plan.¡± I chuckled slightly. ¡°If you can come up with something that does not require me to become a living bomb, please, I beg of you to tell us. You have no idea how uncomfortable that is.¡± She cracked a small smile at that, so I guessed my joke got through. ¡°Huh¡­¡± She suddenly lifted her head up. ¡°What if you tried to use your black hole to absorb the energy from their white hole? From what you said the last time that you absorbed a lot of energy, your grove got closer to evolving. Would a white hole be able to give it that extra push?¡± I felt a cold sweat pour down my back as I considered that. ¡°Please spare me from that. I want to destroy one ship, not the solar system. You saw how intense the absorption process was when I upgraded earlier. I can only imagine that upgrading to the universe stage would be thousands of times worse. Remember, we still need that planet in one piece.¡± Sharon opened her mouth, as if preparing to speak, but realized she had nothing to counter that with. ¡°Okay, point. Still kind of want you to hurry up and evolve it, though. My grove finished getting pulled through to your black hole last night.¡± She crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks to pout, and I could only blink in surprise. I hadn¡¯t noticed when her grove was affected by the black hole. It was still nearly four months until my own grove was fully pulled in, but maybe with hers lacking the gravity element, it was easier to grab. ¡°Sorry¡­ I didn¡¯t know. Well, we¡¯ll save that tactic for a ¡®plan B¡¯ if we need it in the future when we aren¡¯t trying to keep the surroundings intact.¡± She nodded slightly at that. Honestly, I was still wondering what would happen with her grove when mine went to the next stage. Malthan wouldn¡¯t tell me anything about it, except that she wouldn¡¯t be hurt, which was at least reassuring to know. After the meeting was over, people went back to their respective posts. We were still nearly a week out from the battle, so it¡¯s not like it had been an emergency meeting. If we had spent all ten days in the simulations just to figure out the various combinations that could be defending one planet, we¡¯d be in way more trouble. As I got back to my room, I discovered that the door was already open. Inside, Tokemi was laying on my bed, on her stomach with her legs kicking back and forth while she read a book. Once she saw I had entered the room, she set the book down and smiled at me. ¡°Hey dad! How¡¯d the meeting go?¡± Okay, so I was surprised to find her waiting for me in my room. Glancing back at the door that was still open, I cast my mana senses out towards it. Yup, frozen. Tokemi must have been pretty irritated if she froze the door open with time mana, and left it that way. I shook my head with a bitter smile as I walked towards her. ¡°It went alright, I guess. I take it you wanted to see me?¡± She made a large nodding motion with her head. ¡°Yeah! I hardly ever get to see you since we left Qu¡¯Lesh!¡± She laid down flat on the bed, arms and legs sprawled out. ¡°So, tonight I¡¯m making sure that changes!¡± I blinked, confused by her meaning. ¡°And you¡¯re going to do that by¡­.?¡± ¡°Yahtzee!¡± Tokemi held up her hands, and an old game box suddenly appeared in them. Furrowing her brows, the box quickly returned to mint condition. ¡°Mom said I shouldn¡¯t bother you too much the last few days, because you were busy with stuff, but she said you¡¯re all done with that now!¡± Tokemi had a happy smile on her face as she said that, so I couldn¡¯t exactly turn her away. ¡°Okay, okay. We¡¯ve got some time now.¡± I sat down on the bed as Tokemi fished out the cups and dice, flipping the box over to use as a playing mat. ¡°Neat trick with the door, by the way.¡± I nodded back towards the door, which was still stuck open. Tokemi blinked, as if only just realizing that she had done that. ¡°Oh, sorry. Wanted to make sure you knew I was in here.¡± She giggled lightly. A moment later, I heard the door to the room closing, evidently her power no longer affecting it. ¡°Ah¡­ How good is your time control power now?¡± I asked curiously. ¡°Got my affinity up to 92% last week!¡± She declared proudly. I chuckled, remembering that my own hadn¡¯t even hit 60% yet. Then again, she had a very big advantage when it came to this affinity. ¡°That so? How big of an area are you able to cover with it?¡± Time was a weird element to work with. From my practices, it generally did not matter what was in the field you affected, time influences everything equally. That¡¯s also why it took so much work to increase the area I could affect with my time powers. ¡°Hmm¡­ I never really tested.¡± She shrugged. ¡°I can make time stop, or go way faster, though!¡± She grinned, tossing two dice into the air. The first one froze soon after it left her hand, but the other went up and back down faster than I could blink. ¡°I think I¡¯m getting the hang of rewinding, too¡­ That one¡¯s hard, though.¡± Suddenly, I felt like she was half here to show off, and the thought made me laugh. Regardless, that power she displayed was certainly one with a terrifying potential. If she could really ¡®stop¡¯ time for a wide area, then the New Human Empire¡¯s attacks would never even reach us. But, that would be asking her to cover kilometers with that power. If she had a full 100% affinity, she might be able to do that, but anything less made me doubtful. Though, this opened up a new idea for how I could handle the fights. I hadn¡¯t tried using my time control during the simulations, partly because I didn¡¯t have enough practice with it for Celeste to properly simulate it. In a somewhat better mood, I spent the next several hours playing games with Tokemi, who was only too happy to have the attention. I was still determined not to let her fight, but at least I knew that she had the power to protect herself if need be. Hell, she probably has more raw fighting power with her time control than almost anyone on this ship. For the next several days, I began practicing my own ability to control time mana. With it being the only ¡®absolute¡¯ power I had, I knew that I needed far more training with it. Unfortunately, Tokemi is the only other person in the entire ship that practices this element, and she isn¡¯t even that well informed about it. What could you expect, she¡¯s not even ten years old yet. In my opinion, being as strong and smart as she is at this age is already monstrous. On the tenth day, I found myself on the bridge, already plugged into a clone body. All of the senior officers from the briefing a week ago were at their stations, preparing for the inevitable fight. Celeste was standing next to me, ready to fill in in the event that a worst case scenario appeared and I had to leave the ship. ¡°Everyone, we are less than five minutes away from the New Human Empire¡¯s AB7 base. Everyone should have been briefed on the various strategies to deal with this encounter. I don¡¯t want anyone running off on their own. This one fight could change everything--¡± ¡°Captain.¡± The scanning officer interrupted me, which gave me a bad feeling. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°They appear to have an FTL jammer in the subspace around their world. We¡¯ll have to drop out a short distance earlier than expected.¡± Nothing like a bucket of ice cold water to spill over my plans. Without the ability to jump to subspace and back, my plan for self-detonation did not have much merit. ¡°Slight change of plans. We¡¯re dropping out in thirty seconds. Everyone set your shields to the indicated frequencies to minimize damage.¡± We might be able to destroy their FTL jammer, but doing so would open us up to an ambush with them knowing exactly where we¡¯d drop out. It seemed a better idea to save what little surprise we could. ¡°Everyone, prepare to execute the plan in three, two, one¡­ Begin.¡± I gave the signal for the Sons of Chaos to start their assault, all ships immediately dropping out of FTL to engage. Chapter 177: The War of the World As soon as the fleet emerged from subspace, we immediately checked what ships were in the area. Thankfully, this didn¡¯t seem to be where they kept the majority of their fleet, or else we would not have a chance. However, from the report I heard, this should still be a fairly important outpost, as there were a total of three ships stationed here, as well as what seemed to be a station. For the configuration of the ships, all three were shield ships, but were spread out quite far. The three of them were placed at equal distances around the planet, while the station orbited back closer to the moon. The station looked almost like a massive cannon, with not one but two white holes contained near the back. The silvery metal spiraled away from them, looking like the barrel of a giant gun. We can¡¯t afford to let that station get a shot off. I had no doubt that the power behind that station could level a planet. What was most worrying, though, was that the station was not aimed towards us. Instead, it was actually in an idle position with the barrel of the gun pointed at the planet below. On the far side of the planet, our scans were showing the presence of the local warp gate, so we were not short on things to shoot at. ¡°All ships, prioritize the destruction of the station. Under no circumstances can it be allowed to fire!¡± The three shield ships were far enough away from the station that they shouldn¡¯t be able to defend it. Moments after we had arrived, they had begun moving.Two of them moved to begin positioning themselves between us and the planet, while the third one started to move towards the station. However, we came in with all weapons primed and ready to fire. How could we allow those ships to get into their positions to stop us? Our ships turned slightly to aim our biggest weapons at the station, and beams of light flew towards it. Unsurprisingly, shields appeared around the station to block the majority of the damage. It would be a bit unrealistic to hope for something of that size to be completely incapable of defense. Thankfully, a few shots did manage to get through, since these were not the same hexagonal shields as the specialized ships. Instead, it was a layered barrier of light that appeared around the station. The bigger attacks, such as the Ariadne¡¯s main cannon, were capable of piercing through the shield layers to inflict some damage on the hull. After the first barrage, the Qu¡¯Lopti flights were already moving to form their mechs. If it was possible to do so before we exited subspace, that would have been for the best. However, the shields to fight back the exotic matter were located on the supply ships of each flight. ¡°Minimal damage inflicted on the enemy station. Detecting a strong energy building up. However, it is making no attempts to aim at us.¡± I cursed inwardly as the report came in. I was really hoping that I was wrong in my guess, but it seemed like the station existed for the purpose of destroying the planet in the event of an attack. ¡°Judgement flights, move to disable the warp gate! Executioner, join the assault on the station.¡± There were still ten seconds before our big weapons were fully charged again, but we continued pelting the station with our cannons and laser turrets as we moved closer. I could only hope that it would take longer for their weapon to charge than ours, since they obviously needed a far higher output of power. ¡°All ships, fire when able.¡± Ten seconds may not be long, but in a situation like this, it felt like an eternity. I was thankful for the lack of assault ships, but I understood why they weren¡¯t needed here. All that the New Human Empire needed was for the shield ships to delay us. If we attacked the planet, they would shield it while the station targeted us. If we attacked the station, they would shield it to stop us while the planet was destroyed. Sadly, a circumstance like this was not something we had planned for. After all, why would we assume that they would be willing to just throw away an entire planet like this? I could see a glowing white light building up within the barrel of the station¡¯s cannon, and knew that it would be done charging soon. Thankfully, our weapons came first. The shield ship was currently halfway between the planet and the station, making it still unable to shield either side. With this, we were able to fire freely. Thanks to the Executioner¡¯s cannon, we even had vastly increased firepower compared to the first volley. ¡°Warp gate disabled!¡± I heard the report, barely registering it as the attacks landed on the station. One of the white holes had started to dim, but after the various blasts struck the hull, there were reports of explosions occurring within the station. I could see both white holes begin to flicker, and had a bad feeling for what was coming next. Unfortunately, I was unable to give an order in time, before the station erupted in a massive explosion of light. I could vaguely see the shield ship that had been en route to defend the station raising its shields to protect itself, before that ship faded away into the blinding light. Even as far away as we were, we felt the Ariadne rock slightly when the blast reached us, most of us having to cover our eyes to avoid the light. When the blast had ended, I was able to see the destruction caused by such an explosion. While the planet itself seemed mostly intact, there was a wide area of scorched earth on the surface, easily visible even at this distance. The moon, however, was not as lucky. It had been much closer to the station when it blew up, and seemed to have shattered under the force of the blast. The moon had clear cracks running through it, and was already showing signs of dividing into five large sections, with numerous smaller rocks flying out. As for the ship that had been closer to the station, there was no trace of it remaining. With a nod, I stood up, moving towards the teleport bay. ¡°All ships, clear up the remaining two. Ground teams, prepare to move.¡± Without the presence of an assault ship, it was only a matter of time before the two shield ships were taken care of. ¡°Captain.¡± I heard a voice calling after me over the comms. ¡°We lost one of the Judgement Warriors in that blast, and the others are badly damaged.¡± I momentarily paused my steps when I heard that, but ultimately had to continue. The Qu¡¯Lopti aren¡¯t dumb enough to go out like that without using clones. Although we lost the mechs, the supply ships still had the facilities to house the Qu¡¯Lopti, and slowly build replacements. ¡°Understood. Recall any of them back that can make it, and begin salvaging. Celeste?¡± I glanced back down the hall behind me, finding the Deus Ex girl chasing after me, nodding her head. I gradually began shifting into my combat form, although I maintained my normal size. ¡°Let¡¯s do this.¡± She said, a smile in her voice. As I walked down the hall, I saw glittering silver sand fly in front of me, surrounding my body. This was the true reason why Celeste had practiced her special technique, and also the first time we have been able to employ it in a combat scenario. The silver sand locked together around me, becoming a solid metal frame. I glanced down to my hand, which was now surrounded in a white, metal gauntlet with red highlights. Similar armor was spreading out all around my body, with the last piece forming over my head. My vision darkened for a few moments, before Celeste linked her senses with mine, allowing me to see outside of my ¡®suit¡¯. ¡°Looks like everything¡¯s working, John.¡± I heard her voice directly in my ear, seeing a holographic display in the corner of my vision, showing what I currently looked like. The only exposed skin I had right now was the leathery white wings, but even the tops of those were armored. As for the rest of me, I was outfitted with a smooth, white suit of armor. Across my chest and arms, red highlights formed simple patterns. On my head, a simple black visor in the shape of a V marked my face. ¡°Alright, tell the others that we¡¯re moving in. We¡¯ll go down first and clear the way.¡± Once we got to the teleport bay, I stepped up on the platform. ¡°Locate the facility, and send us down as close as you can. The others can join us when they get here.¡± ¡°Understood, John. Let¡¯s go kick some ass.¡± I could tell that she was looking forward to a proper test run of this armor mode. Within a few moments, we were already down on the planet. Surrounding us were tall mountains, with a single metal door in the side of one not far away. ¡°This is the area of the planet with the most densely packed lifesigns. Odds are, this is the base you¡¯re needing.¡± I nodded my head, pointing one finger towards the door. ¡°Break.¡± I spoke simply, urging the metal mana in the door to disperse. This was one of the key features of the ¡®Celestial Armor¡¯, as Celeste termed it, allowing her to direct my mana more efficiently according to my thoughts. Of course, it was far from the only feature. Walking forward, I ignored the alarm that sounded when the door began breaking apart, forming little more than crushed scraps. Behind where the door had stood, there was a dark hallway leading down. With a thought, I retracted my wings back into my body, the suit shifting to accommodate the change. There was no need for me to have wings when I was going underground, after all.
Incoming call from Thalia.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I hesitated for a moment, but chose to ignore the call for now. I couldn¡¯t afford to be distracted, even if there was not likely to be anything here that could hurt me. One of the first things I had learned about the New Human Empire¡¯s abilities was that they had a way to block my element manipulation. ¡°John, we¡¯re on our way!¡± I heard Sharon shouting over the comms. ¡°Don¡¯t do anything stupid before we get there!¡± Too late. I thought with a small grin, stepping into the hallway. Celeste analyzed the scene, and quickly adjusted my view to compensate for the darkness, allowing me to proceed without the need for a light source. ¡°Celeste, begin scouting the environment. I want to know exactly what I¡¯m up against here.¡± ¡°Got it!¡± She cheerfully called back, and I saw a layer of silver sand rushing forward from behind me, flying into the nearby vents. To my surprise, there hadn¡¯t been a group to ¡®welcome¡¯ me at the first door, but we might have just gotten here faster than they could prepare their defenses. With Celeste¡¯s nanites flying around to scout, I saw a holographic map forming in the corner of my view, beneath the display of myself. At first, there was only the long hallway that we were currently in, but gradually more areas were filled in, the blue map expanding in three dimensions. Thankfully, this included the room directly ahead of us, at the end of this hall, because there were several red dots present, indicating enemies. ¡°Want to try out the cannon?¡± I asked, feeling my grin grow slightly as I continued walking towards the door at the end of the long hallway. The response I got back was a very energetic confirmation, so I raised my right hand to aim my fist at the door. The armor around my arm shifted, expanding and contracting as it rearranged itself. When it was done, there was a slight extension past my fist, a white cylinder that stretched out a few inches. Immediately, I began generating plasma mana in that area, which was captured by the armor and caused the new addition to glow red. ¡°Firing!¡± Celeste¡¯s voice rang out, before a thick beam of red light shot out, blasting against the door and burning a hole through it. I could hear a scream of pain from the other side, so a pleased smile crossed my lips. I shot off two more blasts before I reached the door, one above and one below. That way, by the time I arrived, there was a large enough hole present that I could simply step through. Looking at the room, I saw over a dozen shaking figures, familiar energy rifles aimed at me from all sides. ¡°Sorry, but this is going to be a bad day for you.¡± Chapter 178: Race Against Time I saw the barrels of the gun glowing moments before bolts of energy shot out at me from a dozen directions. Not paying any attention to it, I allowed Celeste to handle the defense. ¡°Let me try this out¡­¡± She said in a playful voice, and an array of blue hexagonal shields spread out around me to intercept the incoming attacks. The shielding method looked similar to the shield ships that the New Human Empire uses, so it was likely she copied the idea from them. As for me, I decided to try to take a lesson from someone else, as well. Stretching out my mana, I connected with the auras of the various humans surrounding me. Then, exercising control over the time mana which exists in all things, I simply stopped their hearts. Doing so used a fair amount of mana, but nothing that I could not afford. All around me, people dropped their weapons, bringing their hands up to grip their chests with looks of pain on their face. Their bodies slumped forward, but refused to fall from their previous positions. This was likely due to their hearts being frozen in time, unable to be moved with them until I cancelled the effect. As soon as I did so, they each fell to the ground, and I continued moving forward. ¡°That was Tokemi¡¯s trick, right?¡± Celeste asked, causing me to nod my head. Although I had never really used time mana before in combat, I knew the idea behind it. Even more so when it was stuff like that, which I had heard of Tokemi doing herself. Am I just holding myself back? I thought curiously as I marched forward. ¡°John!¡± I heard an irritated Sharon calling out from behind me as she charged forward, apparently already merged with one of her rabbit companions. Her ears had elongated, moving to the top of her head and gaining the typical white fur. ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Behind her were Yin and Yo, so it seemed like the whole team had been gathered. I nodded my head slightly to her, before turning towards the door at the opposite end of the large metal room. ¡°Celeste is still mapping the area, so I¡¯m not sure which way to go.¡± In the corner of my vision, I saw another prompt appearing, alerting me that Thalia was trying to reach me. Likely, she was annoyed that I didn¡¯t answer when she called earlier, but I still didn¡¯t really have the time to talk. ¡°Alright.¡± Sharon said, moving to stand next to me. ¡°We¡¯ll talk about your going off on your own later. Let¡¯s do what we came for and get out.¡± ¡°Guys, I¡¯ve mapped a section of the facility.¡± Celeste called out, speaking through the power armor she had turned into so that everyone can hear. ¡°I haven¡¯t seen a single Orik, so this is almost definitely not a main outpost. Everyone inside the facility is human. Furthermore, many of their appearances are identical, meaning that there is a high chance that they are entities purchased from the system.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ quite a lot of expense to put into this.¡± Yo spoke up, tilting her head and raising a slimebrow in a look of confusion. ¡°Why would they be willing to spend so much gold for that?¡± Celeste shook my head, which felt really annoying by the way, and continued. ¡°I don¡¯t know. It probably has to do with our reason for being here. I¡¯ll let you know when I find anything else.¡± Everyone nodded their head, and we continued forward. In the next room, we were almost ambushed by the same cloaking technology they had originally shown us at the Qu¡¯Lopti homeworld. However, this time we had Celeste, who could monitor for such things. When she alerted me of the three assassins, I didn¡¯t hesitate to stop their hearts as simply as I had the men in the last room. It wasn¡¯t until nearly five minutes later, after we had passed through at least ten rooms, when we ran into a real problem. Until that point, I had been able to deal with whatever appeared without even worrying about the others interfering. However, I was surprised to find that I was suddenly unable to use my elemental manipulation. ¡°What¡¯s going on, Celeste?¡± I asked, looking to the three humans in front of me who had most definitely not dropped dead like I wanted them to. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know? Dammit, it seems like they had countermeasures in place after all.¡± I couldn¡¯t really blame Celeste for not being able to sense that, because it was not something we completely understood yet. However, it did cause Sharon and Yin to take action. Sharon sped forward, her body turning into a blur as she appeared between two of the men, growing long blades from her gloves that immediately severed their necks. Meanwhile, Yin had¡­ the easiest way to describe it is crushing. Regardless, the third assailant was now little more than meat paste on the floor. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s our turn.¡± Sharon said with a small grin, and I could only nod in agreement. Although I also had equipment that I could use, it was primarily designed to assist my elemental manipulation, or mimic it in some way. With my own powers sealed, it was likely my gear wouldn¡¯t be of much use. As such, I moved to the back of the group with Yin, while Yo and Sharon advanced in the front. Even without my elemental powers, I still had Nature Magic to heal them with. Well, not like they would really need much healing. Thankfully, powerful individuals are likely way too expensive to place in this facility, if they were bought through the market. With nobody truly strong enough to fight back, our progress was unhindered until Celeste¡¯s silver sand had mapped out the entire facility. When there was just a small percentage left to explore, she sent a warning to the rest of the group. ¡°I think I¡¯ve found the path we have to take, but there is a barrier before the final door.¡± I could tell from her tone that she was frustrated by that fact. ¡°I can¡¯t get through it, or any of the vents leading past.¡± Sharon seemed almost bored as she watched Yo tear down a steel door with her bare hands. ¡°Is there anyone we need to worry about?¡± She asked, looking in my direction. ¡°I have identified one individual that seemed to be unusual for this facility. His position is just before the final door, and he seems to be guarding it.¡± Yo turned back as she heard that, throwing the door she was holding down to the floor. ¡°And? What¡¯s so strange about him?¡± It was likely unusual for her to kill so many people with the same face so quickly, so Yo might be eager to fight someone unique. After her question, a blue hologram appeared in the center of the small room we were in, projected by my armor. The hologram showed a single man, with a tall, muscular build. However, I could not say that he was entirely human. Over a quarter of his head, as well as both arms and legs, had been replaced with sleek machinery. No doubt, this man was a cyborg, and the first I had seen from the New Human Empire. ¡°I don¡¯t have enough of me in the area to make a scanning tool and find his level, but he is most likely the commander of the facility. At the very least, he is someone near the top. His power should be considerable, so I want you all to be careful, okay?¡± That last sentence held no small amount of worry, even though we were in clone bodies. Nobody knew the weaknesses of these bodies better than Celeste, after all. ¡°...Alright.¡± Sharon nodded. ¡°Show us the way.¡± At this point, I became little more than a healing robot following them around. When it comes to commanding teams, Sharon undoubtedly has more experience, so I did not feel bad following her lead. Celeste, however, seemed to take some pity on me. In the corner of my view, the map she had been creating of the facility expanded, the path we needed to take highlighted for me. Looks like I¡¯ve become the official navigator. Now that I didn¡¯t have to concentrate on fighting, I saw that Thalia was once again trying to reach me. This time, I didn¡¯t really have a reason to refuse to answer, because all I was doing was giving out directions. ¡°Kind of busy at the moment. What¡¯s up?¡± I asked as I answered the call. ¡°John, we have a problem!¡± Thalia¡¯s panicked voice came through over the call. Hearing her tone, I immediately took this seriously. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°There¡¯s been a rebellion! Maeve and I are trapped in her castle!¡± Thalia had even dropped the royal manner of speech, which would have let me know this was major, even if the contents themselves did not paint a clear enough picture. ¡°The guards suddenly started attacking us, and we were forced to hide underground. I think¡­ I think that they might be assassins from the Empire!¡± I could hear her voice cracking up, as if she was only moments away from breaking down in tears. ¡°It¡¯s alright. I¡¯ll call some people, they¡¯ll be there soon.¡± Thankfully, some of our crew had decided to get off at Gerin originally, rather than joining us. Otherwise, I wouldn¡¯t be able to offer any help at all. ¡°But tell me, what exactly happened?¡± As we continued to progress through the facility, Celeste made my helmet soundproof so that I could listen to Thalia¡¯s explanation. I wasn¡¯t sure if she was explaining things to the girls or not, but we continued moving at a faster pace. ¡°Maeve called me a few hours ago to visit, saying that she was worried. That she thought her court wasn¡¯t safe. I rushed over as fast as I could, but by the time I got here, she was already being attacked. By her own guard, even!¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t have been able to save her, if it wasn¡¯t for this dress. Oh Circle, I¡¯ve never been so happy to be stuck in it. I grabbed her and ran, and we escaped into the tunnels beneath the castle. I can still hear them running around outside, looking for us. I don¡¯t know if we¡¯ll be able to last until help arrives¡­¡± I could hear broken sobs over the end of her explanation, and I knew that this timing couldn¡¯t be a coincidence. Is that what this quest is about? To somehow save Maeve and Thalia? But, what could this base possibly have to do with that? ¡°It¡¯ll be okay, Thalia. I might be able to help. Don¡¯t ask how, I¡¯m not sure myself. Just trust me, nothing bad is going to happen to you.¡± I tried to speak as confidently as I could, while in my mind I was wanting us to rush faster and faster. As if responding to my wish, the girls looked in my direction, faces displaying shock. The three of them each gave a quick nod to whatever Celeste had told them, and we practically ran through the rooms. Rather than waiting for Sharon or Yo to bash down the doors, Yin would rip them out of their positions with her telekinesis before we even approached them, and Sharon would speed through to quickly kill whoever was inside the room before we moved on. Doing this caused Yin quite a lot of mental strain, requiring me to cast recovery magic on her regularly, but it drastically increased the speed we progressed. In under a minute, we were approaching the room where Celeste had been unable to progress her scans. Just as before, Yin ripped the door off and threw it to the side, while Yo and Sharon charged in. By now, Celeste had allowed me to hear what was going on outside, though I still hadn¡¯t hung up from the call with Thalia. I thought, maybe keeping the call going would reassure her, even if we weren¡¯t speaking. Just having a friendly voice ready to tell her everything would be alright. ¡°Hah! You finally made it here, time to-gah! Hey, let me finish!¡± The cyborg commander shouted out as Sharon appeared in front of him, stabbing out with her bladed glove. He hurriedly raised one hand to block, the blade unable to penetrate his metal limb. ¡°Maybe later.¡± I said, not wanting to waste time with this. I knew that I was probably going to suffer for this, but I stretched my psychic energy to cover him, while Celeste warned Sharon and Yo to back off. ¡°That¡¯s better, where was I? Oh ye--¡± The cyborg suddenly vanished from his position. Sharon turned to look questioningly at me, but my head was currently being assaulted by a jackhammer. Or, that¡¯s what it felt like after using Toy Prison on someone for the first time. And, going by the distinct coppery taste in my mouth, I should not do this again too soon. I tried to focus on healing my own broken head, while the girls made quick work of the door that led to our prize. ¡°Almost there, Thalia. Just a little bit more¡­¡± I groaned out, moving forward with the others into a dimly lit room. In front of me, Sharon and Yo had frozen midstep, causing me to wonder what was going on. It wasn¡¯t that they had entered a trap or anything, as their bodies were still shaking slightly. I didn¡¯t quite understand until I saw past them, and into the darkness. This room was much more expansive than any other that we had been in, at least a hundred meters from end to end. All along the wall, people were strung up by their wrists. Bruises and cuts were spread out over their bodies, and many lacked any semblance of clothing. Among them were humans, elves, dwarves, fairies, demons, halflings, kleptids, drakes. Every race of the alliance, aside from the Deus Ex, Qu¡¯Lopti, and Ha¡¯Vosh. However, what caught my attention the most wasn¡¯t the assortment, but rather one particular face in the crowd ahead of us. One of the elves with her head held down, silvery hair matted with blood obscuring half her face. ¡°Thalia¡­¡± I couldn¡¯t help but speak out as I looked at the figure. ¡°What¡­?¡± I heard her asking, her tone still one of worry. ¡°That¡¯s not Maeve!¡± I called out as I rushed towards the familiar, albeit battered figure of High Queen Maeve chained to the far wall. ¡°What do you--¡± The call abruptly ended before she could finish her sentence, and I could only watch my friend¡¯s list, hoping that Thalia¡¯s name wasn¡¯t removed from it. Chapter 179: The Queens Story Laid Bare There were only really two situations that would cause a call in the system to drop, from my understanding. First, if one of the recipients died. Now, that was obviously not the case, because Thalia¡¯s name was still appearing on my friend¡¯s list. As soon as someone died, their name would be removed. The other circumstance where the call would drop, is if the other party was rendered unconscious. That seemed to be the obvious case here, so I could only watch the list, and hope that the name did not disappear. While I was watching, the power armor surrounding me seemingly shattered, forming millions of tiny particles that rapidly reformed into Celeste. Once she was done remaking herself, she ran over and checked on Maeve¡¯s condition. ¡°She¡¯s still alive, thankfully. Her soul seems to be connected to something outside of her body, though. Should I try to sever the connection?¡± I barely registered her words, but still shook my head. ¡°Try one of the others first.¡± No offense to whatever unlucky person was chosen, but if I had to choose between risking a complete stranger and someone I actually knew, the choice is obvious. As Celeste nodded, and moved to inspect the person chained next to Maeve, a prompt appeared in front of me.
Incoming call from Thalia.
I felt like I could finally breathe after seeing that message, and quickly accepted it. ¡°Thalia!? Are you okay?¡± ¡°I¡­ We¡¯re fine.¡± She said, her voice shaking. ¡°The High Queen¡­ no, her imposter, tried to kill me.¡± ¡°Well¡­ did you get out safely?¡± There was an awkward pause for a moment before Thalia responded. ¡°Uhm¡­ no. She was actually quite successful.¡± I felt like my mind went blank at that. If Thalia was dead, then how..? As if sensing the unspoken question, she continued. ¡°After she stabbed us through my neck, the dress shattered. The dagger was taken out and our wound was healed. From there¡­ well, we panicked slightly. We may have used the royal scepter.¡± ¡°...The one that¡¯s been building up energy for nearly a decade?¡± ¡°Indeed. It was quite messy. Thankfully, that accursed dress is finally gone.¡± Her voice still sounded awkward, but I breathed out a sigh of relief. So that was the real purpose of it. I had never really understood why Aria would give out a dress like that, unless it was just to force a fashion statement. A moment later, there were two sudden gasps from in front of me. Neither of them sounded like my party, so I looked up. Along the wall, two of the previously motionless chained figures were suddenly moving. One was the soldier that Celeste was working on, while the other was Maeve herself. Maeve let out a groan of pain as she felt the wounds all over her body, but her eyes were watery as she looked at us. ¡°Where¡­ where am I? What have I done?¡± Although she was a queen who ruled over an entire planet, at the moment she seemed to be nothing more than a scared girl. ¡°What do you remember?¡± I asked, cautiously. Maeve¡¯s face lowered, her eyes closing. ¡°Everything¡­ did I really do all that?¡± I could see tears forming at the edge of her closed eyes. Looking over at the soldier sitting next to her, although his soul had been returned back to his body, he looked just barely alive. Celeste looked up at me, and shook her head. ¡°His soul was damaged when I tried to forcefully sever the connection.¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Thalia asked from the other end of the call. ¡°We¡¯ve got Maeve here, the real one. And a bunch of other people, too.¡± But, why were they even kept alive like this in the first place. Surely, it would have been enough to take their memories to give to their doubles. Or is there some deeper meaning? ¡°The system.¡± Celeste said as she looked at the vegetative body in front of her. ¡°They must have needed the original alive, so that the double could take their place in the system. If the real Maeve died¡­ she would be removed from everyone¡¯s friends list. It probably also let them intercept the messages sent to these people.¡± Maeve nodded slightly at that, but Sharon looked around the room. ¡°There are diplomats from every race here. How could they do all of this without anyone noticing?¡± At that, the High Queen spoke. ¡°I¡­ I¡¯m not entirely sure about the others. But, for me, they got me through my guard. One day, while I was on my way to meet the other High Queens, I had two guards protecting me. When we got to the ship, I saw another¡­ another me. After that, I blacked out. When I woke up, it was like I couldn¡¯t control my own body.¡± ¡°When did they capture you, Miss Maeve?¡± Yo asked, curiously. ¡°It was¡­ a couple of days before you arrived at my world after the war declaration.¡± Finally, Maeve looked up at me, and smiled bitterly. ¡°Sorry about the wedding, but that was her doing. Though, she thankfully followed the script I had been preparing ahead of time, likely to help keep her cover.¡± Suddenly, I was reminded of the calls Thalia had sent me previously, about how the political relations had started to break down. If they had this many of the officials in their pocket, it¡¯s no wonder. Any more, and they wouldn¡¯t have even needed to fight the war. They could have just ordered the warp gates to be opened, and let the New Human Empire walk right in. That¡¯s why this planet was set to be destroyed in an attack, to cover their trails. They couldn¡¯t afford this secret to be discovered, and would rather have it destroyed. As I thought that, a new window appeared in front of me.
Quest Complete!
Close EncountersRank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡î Assault and Investigation Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.You have uncovered a secret plot to control the allied races through politics, and in doing so have saved the life of a friend!Reward: Sometimes, success is the greatest reward.
While I somewhat felt that I was ripped off with the quest reward, the fact that I succeeded in itself was enough to count as a reward. Now I just have to figure out how to save these guys, before they can destroy their civilizations. As it stood now, the only way I knew for sure how to save them was to kill their double. ¡°Thalia, send a message to whoever you can. I¡¯m going to give you a list of people who have been compromised like Maeve was. Until we figure out what¡¯s going on, these figures should be taken into custody. If they resist, kill them. That is the only known way to properly return them to normal.¡± From there, I began listing the names of each individual lined up along the walls, after having Celeste check their souls. Of course, I needed her and Maeve to help me identify quite a few, and there were a couple that were lacking that strange connection. When I went to investigate those without the soul connection, their chains suddenly loosened, and they launched themselves at me to attack. Thankfully, Yin was a step faster, and the two were literally torn to ribbons before they could reach me. Well, at least that is two less corrupt politicians.. In the end, I had sent Thalia at least fifty names, all of them either political representatives or guards. When I finished the list, Thalia let out a long breath. ¡°That¡¯s a lot of people, John. We¡¯re not sure anyone will believe us without proof.¡± I nodded my head at that. ¡°I understand. It¡¯s possible that they will try to discredit you. We¡¯ll try to safely cut the links from our end in the meantime.¡± With that taken care of, we began cutting the chains for all of the remaining captives, while I applied healing magic to cure their physical injuries. Maeve looked slightly uncomfortable as she received the healing, her face tinted red. ¡°You do realize I¡¯m still naked, don¡¯t you?¡± ...I had actually forgotten in the seriousness of the situation. ¡°Uhm¡­ yes?¡± She let out a sigh, shaking her head with a wry grin. ¡°Two wives just not enough for you, huh?¡± As Maeve said that, I felt a chill running down my back, two piercing stares behind me threatening to give me a very bad time if I answered wrongly. ¡°No, no, I¡¯m perfectly happy in my relationships, thank you.¡± I hurriedly answered. Turning around, I looked at Sharon and Yo. ¡°Can you two make sure that there is nobody left in this base to cause us trouble on our way out? We¡¯re going to have to carry them all out by hand.¡± While I would love to just shove them in my grove, I couldn¡¯t guarantee their safety. The number of planets in my grove was shrinking by the hour. And, Sharon had already completely lost her grove. Not to mention the fact that druid powers are still being blocked. The two girls nodded their head, and sped out of the room. Sighing, I turned to Yin. ¡°Mind helping me carry those we can?¡± While it would have been best to send Yin with the others, her telekinesis was more useful here. ¡°Okay.¡± She nodded quickly, and waved a hand. Five people floated up gently into the air, and she began walking to the entrance with them. Maeve stood up, using one arm to cover her chest while she smirked at me. ¡°I¡¯ll follow from the back. Eyes front, mister.¡± She laughed, picking up the vegetative guard while Celeste and I each grabbed another. While we walked, Maeve was sending out calls as well, letting people know what had happened. From the tone of her voice, the whole event had deeply shaken her. She event sent a message to Thalia, nearly sobbing out an apology for what her double had done. It¡¯d definitely be too much to ask that this was their main plan, and we ruined all their dreams by discovering this place. I thought bitterly, looking up at the sky when I had finished the first trip ferrying people. If this had truly been their main plan, the base would have been better defended, and not set to be destroyed at the first attack. But, there was not even a single Orik, and almost everyone in the facility was purchased through the system. At best, this was a secret side project, that even most of the New Human Empire didn¡¯t know about. If it had succeeded, the war would have been won in an instant. Even with it failing, the only demerit is that they lose their spies. But, they also lose the need to spend as much gold as they likely had to for this to work every month. Furthermore, there will undoubtedly be chaos among the races until all of the diplomats are returned to normal. My only consolation was that it was highly unlikely for them to have a second base like this. Even before my grove started devouring itself, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to make enough gold to sustain half of the system entities they had bought here, so I can¡¯t imagine them having too many more. I could only offer a silent thanks to Malthan for sending us here, regardless of what happens in the future.
Aww, shucks. You¡¯re going to make me cry, you know? Real, manly tears.
You know what? I take it back. I shook my head, working with the others to gather up the remaining people below, before having them all sent to the ship. And¡­ of course, getting Maeve some clothes. Thankfully, she seemed more accepting about being naked than the reason why she was naked in the first place. Chapter 180: Scum of the Earth For the next several days of the journey, Thalia worked with Maeve to fix the public chaos sowed by the doppelgangers. At first, as expected, they came together to denounce both Thalia and Maeve. However, we also had the Qu¡¯Lopti and the Deus Ex on our side, who had not been infiltrated. With their support, public opinion began turning in our favor. Even though the doppelgangers still denied the claims, and threatened all-out war if this continued, the people had to admit that things were suspicious. Finally, a fight broke out among some of the halflings, resulting in one of the doppelganger guards being killed. Immediately afterwards, that person woke up aboard the Ariadne, and sent a call to his friends and family. From there, it was only a matter of time. The doppelgangers for the various political leaders went into hiding, and began using what influence they had left to disrupt things such as the economy or military powers. However, they had no more allies left, now that proof of the scheme had been confirmed. One by one, people began waking up aboard the ship, all of them shocked by the events that had happened. It would be hard for anyone to accept what they had done, and a few even tried to take their own lives, before the crew stepped in to stop them. Those who had fallen too deep into their depression were sedated, so that they could be with their families to recover. By the time we were back at Gerin, almost all of the doppelgangers had been found and killed. Which is good, because we had no way to reverse the situation from our end. Even after Celeste spent days studying the connection, she could not think of any way to safely sever it without first killing the double. According to her, this was truly the work of the system, and she had even confirmed the item on the market.
Infiltration Clone During purchase, please designate a target for the clone to mimic. Once the clone and the original meet, the clone will steal the soul of the original, gaining all of their knowledge and memories. However, they will remain loyal to the one who purchased them. In order to keep the soul intact, and allow the clone to access the system as if it were the original, the original must be kept alive at all times. If the original dies, the clone will die within 24 hours. Cost: 1,000 gold x original¡¯s level per month.
I was shocked when I saw that item, having a hard time accepting that even such a thing was available. Though, the price was not that cheap, it was hardly expensive. However, once you start adding up how many people they had to copy, they must have spent millions of gold on this plan. And, that is ignoring the costs they invested into things such as the system entities for the base, the ships defending it, and the space cannon aimed at the planet. Speaking of which, there was that commander that was trapped in the Toy Prison. About a day after we left, Celeste and Yin accompanied me to the brig, where I opened the Toy Prison to release him. For the time when he was trapped, he was almost constantly banging against the spatial walls holding him, which gave me the meanest migraine you could ever imagine. Try to picture someone literally punching the inside of your skull, and that¡¯s about how it felt. Once he was released, he immediately turned towards me. A vicious grin was on his face as his hand shifted, metal parts sliding around to form a cannon. As he lifted his arm up to aim it at me, his entire hand had been ripped off by Yin, who looked at him with eyes that were begging for an excuse to do the same thing to his head. ¡°The fuck!?¡± He shouted out, looking at the broken stub of a wrist on his metal arm. ¡°Do you guys even know who I am?!¡± ¡°One big headache.¡± I said, gripping my head slightly. Opening the Toy Prison to release him hadn¡¯t done my brain any favors. Though, at least now I knew that I was able to use this power if needed. ¡°You idiot, I¡¯m going to--¡± His words were suddenly turned into a mumbled mess when his mouth locked itself closed, causing his eyes to go wide in alarm. Yin¡¯s glare was becoming more intense by the moment. ¡°Shut up.¡± She commanded, and I could see sparks dancing on her arms, knowing that she was barely holding back from killing this man. I couldn¡¯t tell if her rage was directed at him personally, or at the New Human Empire, which he represented. Either way, making her mad right now would be unhealthy for anyone. Letting out a sigh, I turned to Celeste. ¡°Would you mind?¡± Celeste nodded, and opened the barred door to the cell that the prisoner was in. At the same time, his body lifted into the air and slammed against the wall, refusing to move even a muscle as the Deus Ex approached. This was the real reason that we brought him out in the brig, rather than ejecting him out the airlock. He was the first real source of information that we had access to, and we needed to get everything we could out of him. Normally, this would be done through a friendly interrogation, maybe use a few torture techniques. Right now, though, nobody on this ship, Celeste included, wanted to keep him alive. So, our ¡®interrogation¡¯ involved searching his soul for memories related to the enemy. However, something came up after a few moments, causing Celeste to raise her artificial eyebrows. Her lips slightly twisted into a derisive smirk as she called out to me. ¡°John, could you summon something up for us? Something nasty, preferably.¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ why?¡± ¡°He¡¯s a doppelganger.¡± She explained, causing the man¡¯s eyes to widen further. ¡°His soul has the same kind of connection that the others had, except his body is on the receiving end. So¡­ while we¡¯re playing with his soul, why not send them a little present when we¡¯re done?¡± ¡°You mean..?¡± I gulped slightly, imagining the implications to what she was saying. ¡°I mean, I want to replace his soul with that of a monster, and have that be what gets sent back when he dies. See how they like it when their soldier starts rampaging in whatever base he is held in.¡± There was venom in her words, and I got the feeling that Yin wasn¡¯t the only one that was holding the New Human Empire accountable for what they had been trying to do. I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to admit that the idea had merit. Maybe it was the old morals talking, but twisting souls around like this just didn¡¯t sit well. Though, that hesitation lasted for only the few seconds it took me to accept that we had originally come here to rip out his soul and look through it like the pages of a book. Reluctantly, I agreed, and created a spell circle in the prison. The creature it was configured to summon was an ettin, something I had made far too many times in the past. I doubted that I could forget how to do this even if I wanted to. Celeste, seeing the preparations were done, poured mana into the circle, creating the two-headed giant. Then, she promptly killed it. Finally, she aimed one hand each at the ettin and our captive, causing the latter to begin letting out muffled screams of pain. Throughout the entire process, Celeste¡¯s expression only turned darker and darker. I knew that what she was doing right now was sifting through his memories, and the cause for her current expression was most likely what she was seeing. Still, at one point her attitude seemed to shift from anger to outright hatred. When she was done, the man was still pinned to the wall, though his face had changed to show a more feral look. He tried to snarl out, but Celeste appeared in front of him and punched with enough force that her fist went straight through his face, and the wall behind him. Thankfully, that wall led to the adjacent cell, rather than to the vacuum of space. ¡°Scum.¡± She spoke under her breath, pulling her fist back. Two of her fingers were shattered, bending in unnatural ways from the force behind her punch. Looking at that, she took a deep breath before looking at us. ¡°Sorry¡­ I need a moment.¡± I nodded my head, not wanting to get between an angry robot girl and her ¡®chill time¡¯. ¡°Take as long as you need.¡± She offered a weak smile, and closed her eyes to calm herself down while I erased the spell formation in the cell, and began repairing the wall by fusing the metal back into place. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes. ¡°Okay¡­ I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°Was it that bad?¡± Yin asked, looking between Celeste and the headless corpse that had fallen down to the floor. ¡°Worse¡­¡± Celeste shot the body a dirty look. ¡°He tortured them. Even though they were unconscious, unaware, and unable to give him any benefit. He would whip them, beat them, cut them. Because it was fun. Like dolls, he considered them. He would even ¡®play house¡¯ by unchaining some of them and posing them together.¡± She spat out the last words, as if they had left a bad taste in her mouth. ¡°Was there any information on other bases, or anything we could use?¡± I had to step in there, not really wanting to hear about all of the horrible things that he had done. Celeste looked up, looking like she had forgotten in her anger what she was supposed to be looking for. ¡°Right, sorry. He knew about a couple of bases, though not their exact coordinates. However, he was able to see the stars, so I should be able to find the location.¡± She gave a confident nod. ¡°He also knew about their main base, where they get all their gold and their orders from. However, he had only been there briefly, and during the day. I don¡¯t have enough information to get a location for that one.¡± I nodded my head, sighing at the news. ¡°Still, that¡¯s better than what we had before. Any more information about their plans or anything?¡± She shook her head slightly at that. ¡°Sorry, but no. According to his memories, every group in the Empire is given separate orders, and nobody knows what anyone else is doing. He was a fairly high ranking individual, but since he was assigned to this secret project, he wasn¡¯t aware of what the rest of the empire was doing. His only job was to stay there and monitor the ¡®dolls¡¯.¡± ¡°Every so often, they would send another one there, and he would chain them up with the rest. If any of them ever woke up, his job was to kill them immediately. The only way he¡¯d be relieved of duty was if enough of the doppelgangers infiltrated the allied races to force a surrender, or if the base was destroyed.¡± I massaged my temples as I heard her explanation. Normally, a good way to break up this kind of organization would be to infiltrate the orders and change them. However, that wasn¡¯t really possible with the system in place. We¡¯d have to use one of those clones to replace the person giving the orders. And if we could do that, it¡¯d be easier to just take them out. ¡°Did he know anything else that would be useful?¡± At this, Celeste smirked slightly. ¡°Not really. The only other thing he knew was that their ¡®commander in chief¡¯ isn¡¯t quite human anymore.¡± Seeing the confused faces of myself and Yin, she explained. ¡°Our little cyborg friend here had a face to face meeting with the good Stanley Martin, and noticed something different about him. His eyes were slit, like a snake. He normally wears dark shades to avoid it being noticed, but this guy had cybernetic eyes.¡± I furrowed my brows in thought at that news. ¡°Well¡­ every little bit helps.¡± Chapter 181: A Good Year
It¡¯s been a good year, hasn¡¯t it?
A message window appeared in front of me, causing me to sigh. We were only an hour or so out from the elven homeworld, and soon it would be time to disembark. What is it, Malthan? You want something?
What, can¡¯t a guy celebrate his birthday?
Sure, go have fun with a goddess. I bet they¡¯d be more than happy to help you celebrate. In all the time that I had been speaking with Malthan, he had never mentioned any birthdays to me. Then again, time seemed to work differently for where the gods lived, so it might really have only been a year or two since this whole mess started.
Way ahead of you, man! You wouldn¡¯t believe how competitive the Goddesses of Beauty and Breasts get in the sack!
And I really don¡¯t want to know. If you can¡¯t keep it in your pants, at least keep it to yourself. I was currently sitting in my room, writing out a report on the events that happened in the New Human Empire base. Although written reports were a bit outdated, and I didn¡¯t technically have a boss that I needed to deliver them to, I figured that a report would be useful to deliver to the alliance representatives. As much as I hated what happened, this was our first real strike at our enemy. Sure, the first base that we attacked could count to, but we didn¡¯t actually inconvenience them much with it. With this, though, we foiled one of their plans. It may have only been a side plan, but they had to invest a large amount of effort to pull it off. Aside from that, though, we also had locations for some of their other bases. We were no longer guessing at a starmap and hoping to get lucky. For the first time in this bloody war, we have a plan.
Don¡¯t forget about threesomes with the most attractive divine beings in the cosmos!
Would really like to forget about that, though. Once I finished my report, I organized it and saved it to my computer. After that, I took a quick glance at my grove, and saw that there was barely more than two months left before I hit the final stage. By now, almost all of my planets had been eaten up by the black hole, with only the outermost ones still hanging on the precipice. At the center of the black hole, I could feel a densely packed ball of mass, containing every type of mana I could recognize and then some. This was likely to become the seed of my new grove, the embryo to the new universe. I still didn¡¯t really know what kind of changes would happen once my grove hit the final stage, and Malthan was being entirely tight-lipped about it. I wanted to try to buy the information from the market, but the price was too expensive for me without my planets of gold. As I walked through the halls of the ship, wandering aimlessly to pass the time, I couldn¡¯t help but remember everything that had happened until now. From my very first day in NeoLife, cursing Aria for making my life miserable, everything had led up to this. There were times that I wasn¡¯t sure how I had survived, or what I was going to do next, but somehow I always made it. Throughout my entire adventure, there had been people helping me. People like Sharon, Celeste, Yin and Yang. Whenever I was in trouble, they were there for me. I might not always be able to say the same about myself, but they have been the best friends I could ever ask for. Hell, even Malthan has been a big help, in his own way. I¡¯m sure that half of my ability to survive somehow was thanks to him. Especially after I got involved with the Qu¡¯Lopti, and he advanced their civilization to help with this war. As much as I hate to admit it, I¡¯d probably have been dead a long time ago if not for him. It was almost funny, how an unemployed gamer ended up becoming a fighter on the frontlines to protect the universe. Looking back at my life, I could barely recognize who I used to be. Even without being trapped in a time bubble for a century, it felt like the old me was someone completely different. Someone I could almost pity for always being alone, and never having the power to do anything for himself. As I got to the bridge, I looked at each of the crew members on duty. Almost all of them were those taken from Sharon¡¯s grove. If my own growth could be called an achievement, than theirs was nothing short of a miracle. They had literally gone from being mindless animals to starship crew members. I don¡¯t think there could be a more exaggerated growth in a single lifetime no matter where you looked. ¡°Captain, we¡¯re approaching the Gerin system.¡± One of them, a cat-eared woman, said. ¡°Alright. Tell everyone to prepare to exit subspace.¡± I nodded as I sat down in the chair. Now more than ever, I could feel the weight of my responsibilities. I did not belong to any single power, but I was fighting for the freedom of all the races. And as it stands, I was the only one able to do so. From what Maeve had told me, their doppelganger plan kicked in at the very beginning of this war. It might be that the reason why none of the other races had been willing to send reinforcements was because they had already been replaced at the time. Once the chaos settles from their plan being revealed, we might finally be able to get some help in our fight. That seemed like an entirely possible theory. After all, the only races that answered the call were those that had not been infiltrated, with the exception of the Ha¡¯vosh who don¡¯t have much interest in space travel in the first place. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if they didn¡¯t even have a single ship that could possibly be contributed to this fight for their own defense, let alone to help us strike back. ¡°John?¡± A female voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I looked to the left to find Maeve standing there. She was wearing a blue and white dress that had been made for her after she arrived. ¡°Everything okay?¡± I nodded my head to her. ¡°Just thinking about everything that¡¯s happened until now. Everyone has come a long way, haven¡¯t they?¡± Maeve smiled gently, nodding her head. ¡°They have. My people had almost given up on exploring other stars before you arrived. Now, we have begun to terraform new worlds, wielding powers spoken only in legend. Had someone told me ten years ago that I would be working with aliens to save my people from certain doom, I would have had them confined for their own safety.¡± She thought about something, and then laughed. ¡°Cycle, we have even changed our way of life on a global scale. Because you arrived, we were able to learn what the Cycle really is. It may have just been the passed-down delusions of our ancestors¡¯ beliefs, but to us it was as real as the sun in the sky. There are many among us who feel that these new gods are an affront to what we have always known, but at the same time, there is no way to fight it. Most simply accepted the gods as part of the Cycle.¡± ¡°And you?¡± I asked curiously, looking to the high queen, who smiled mysteriously. ¡°I believe in my faith. Faith without reason is ignorance, but reason without faith is cruelty. These gods you introduced to us do not contradict the Cycle. All it means is that we were thinking too small. We glimpsed the nature of the universe, like a word on a single page, and thought we knew the whole book. Now that we have seen the rest of the page, why should we reject it? The page has always been there, waiting to be read, but we were simply too blind in our faith.¡± Maeve then turned her head to look forward, as if she could directly see the passing stars as we flew by them. ¡°Just imagine what we will learn when we turn the page again. What new wonders will we see, what long-held truths will be rewritten, all because we learn more of the universe¡¯s truths?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but laugh lightly when she finished, earning me an annoyed look from the elf. ¡°I never took you for a philosopher, Maeve.¡± She grinned wryly at that, shaking her head. ¡°You forget, John, I have ruled over the elves longer than you have been alive. Don¡¯t underestimate what one can understand when given that time. Especially when one has little to do but think. Compared to the other races we have found, the elves are exceptionally long-lived. Although we are few in number, we still have those centuries of wisdom.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that. ¡°I guess you¡¯re right. How are the talks with the other queens, now that everyone knows you haven¡¯t been yourself lately?¡± A look of sorrow flashed by, before Maeve collected herself. ¡°I had many things to apologize for, but they were understanding. My only regret is that the enemy discovered my recovery too soon, and removed themselves from my friends list. There are items that can be bought from the market to track friends, but since they removed themselves from the list, that is no longer possible.¡± They must have been using the friends list to send orders to the doppelgangers. Probably the best method, since the system messages are undetectable and untraceable. As far as I know, at least. ¡°Well, we still have plenty to go on, so it¡¯s not like we have to stay on the defensive anymore.¡± It was at this time that the ship lightly shook, a sign of it exiting subspace. Maeve gave a small smile when she saw her homeworld displayed on the monitor ahead, her body relaxing. ¡°I know, John. But, for right now, I just feel like it is good to be back home.¡± With that, Maeve turned to leave the bridge, while I began the procedures to have us docked with one of the stations that had been constructed in the system. We could theoretically just teleport everyone to the surface, but it always felt more natural to dock the ship and set off on foot. Besides, rules are rules. Being the ¡®hero¡¯ of the galaxy won¡¯t change that. Soon after Maeve left, Sharon and Yin walked out onto the bridge, standing on either side of me. ¡°Well, ready to go?¡± Sharon asked with a mischievous smile. For a moment, I searched through my memory to make sure that I hadn¡¯t made any other promises that she could be referring to. She must have understood from my expression, because she giggled. ¡°You¡¯ve got your report to hand in, don¡¯t you? I haven¡¯t actually been with you to any of these meetings before, but this seems like one I don¡¯t want to miss.¡± On the other side of me, I could catch Yin nodding slightly. It seemed she shared the sentiment of wanting to watch me embarrass myself in front of the representatives to every world. Well, too bad! ¡°I had Celeste email it to them once we dropped out of subspace.¡± Sharon¡¯s face showed clear disappointment, but she could only sigh and shake her head. ¡°You can take the fun out of everything, can¡¯t you?¡± ¡°I try my best.¡± I answered with a smile, reaching up and grabbing her hand gently.
You can¡¯t take the fun out of a holy threesome!
Shut up, Malthan, you¡¯re ruining the moment. I did my best to ignore the horny god, refusing to imagine whatever escapades he could be currently up to. Chapter 182: Reunions ¡°Thank you very much for your efforts.¡± A tall, scaled humanoid spoke to me after we docked. This was Kal¡¯thorm, the lead representative for the drakes in the alliance. He, naturally, was one of the people that had been abducted in the New Human Empire¡¯s plot. Like many of the others, he stopped to thank me as he disembarked from the ship. I gave him a polite nod, not wanting to take too much of either his or my time. If I stopped to have a full conversation with each and every diplomat we brought back, I¡¯d be here for days. Politicians are not known for being short spoken on any world. Thankfully, he was the last one to leave the ship, so I was able to find a nearby bench to sit down on, lean back, and relax. Celeste, how is the progress for the Deus Ex figuring out that warp device? I sent a mental message, not really feeling the energy to talk anymore after seeing everyone off. ¡°Give me just a minute, and I¡¯ll get their report.¡± The reply came back fairly quickly, and I only had to wait a short while before she continued. ¡°They are having some difficulties, as it involves new science that they haven¡¯t even touched yet. Subspace is a pretty new concept for them, and this goes a step beyond that. You could consider it sub-subspace, I guess? Strictly following the blueprints, they think they can have a prototype ready within a week. But, if they do that without first understanding the science behind it, they won¡¯t know what to do if something goes wrong.¡± Okay¡­ no rush, then. Let¡¯s not try to end up in the void between galaxies, or worse in the middle of a black hole. Though, this is somewhat good news. If the combined minds of the Deus Ex still haven¡¯t solved the problem, then I doubt the New Human Empire would be any closer. ¡°Agreed. So, what¡¯s the plan from here, Captain?¡± She asked in a serious tone, her voice bouncing around in my skull a bit as I thought it over. Well, we have some targets to go after now. And, there is always the chance that they could pull up their roots by the time we get there if we delayed. Was hoping that the Deus Ex would be finished with their prototype of the new device so that we could accelerate things, but that does not look like it will be possible. Instead, I want to see if we can get some much-needed upgrades for the Ariadne before we set out. Although we had survived our last few encounters with the New Human Empire, that was when they did not know where we were going to be attacking. There was at least the remote possibility that they had a ¡®contingency list¡¯ of planets that each person has been to, so that they could fortify the defenses around those bases if that person was compromised. If we were to get into a big fight with more than three or four ships, our losses would not be small. I also want to see if we can get any support from the other races, now that their representatives are back where they should be. ¡°Sounds fair. What kind of upgrades do you want for the Ariadne? You could probably just do most of them through the system, right?¡± I had almost forgotten about the existence of the ship upgrade menu. Mostly because we were having trouble coming up with new designs for systems to improve. We could go with ¡®theoretical¡¯ technology, but that would lead to the same problems of not understanding if something broke down. Something that can counter what the New Human Empire has been throwing at us. They don¡¯t seem to use physical weapons like missiles or cannons, so we can create specialized laser defenses. As for those shields¡­ I¡¯m not sure what kind of weapon we could create to counter that. ¡°Hmm¡­ They take a moment to deploy after detecting an incoming attack, so a small bit of the first barrage always gets through. But, that¡¯s not really enough to launch a decisive attack. The only way would be to have an antimatter cannon. Sadly, the production of antimatter requires too many resources to create actual artillery shells out of it. Even the Qu¡¯Lopti that made the positron cannon can only make beams of positrons. As for antiprotons and antineutrons, and the ability to fuse them into the molecules we want, that¡¯s beyond us.¡± What about a different approach? Instead of destroying the ship in that first strike, we destroy the crew? Something like an airborne toxin that would quickly spread? It¡¯s not exactly the most humane course of action, using biological weapons. But, given the scenario, it was our best choice. Either way, we are killing the crew, it¡¯s just a matter of how we do so and how many of our own people have to die in the process. ¡°I¡­ can see if any of our allies can come up with something. Maybe the elves or the kleptids will be able to help out there. But, it will take time, so we¡¯ll have to stay here for a bit if we want to rely on them for that.¡± I furrowed my brows, wanting to ask how long we¡¯d need to stay here. But of course, there was no way that Celeste could know the answer to that before she even asked if they were able to do it. Alright. Tell the crew that we¡¯re going to stay for a while. They can have shore leave if they want. Finally, I got up, wanting to head to another part of the station. I had promised Sharon and Yin that we would meet up after the delegates had all been sent away. Had it not been for my complete and utter lack of energy, I would already be there. To my surprise, they were not alone when I found them. Sitting next to the two of them at a small restaurant built into the station, a petite woman with platinum hair and red eyes was chatting happily. It took me a moment to recognize her, because she was not wearing the flashy dress, and instead wore a tight fitting, brown dress. ¡°There he is. Hey, John!¡± Thalia waved at me from beside the two girls, drawing their attention to me. I waved back, a bit surprised at this new side of Thalia. It¡¯s not that I haven¡¯t heard her sound excited about things over the system calls, but I had never quite seen it in person. At least, not to the degree that she would drop the her ¡®queen¡¯ demeanor. ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting to see you here.¡± ¡°Oh? Is that a problem?¡± She asked curiously, glancing to the two girls. ¡°Were you hoping for a date or something?¡± Well, kind of, yes. ¡°It¡¯s alright. So, what brings you to this corner of the orbit?¡± Thalia looked around a moment more, before sulking into her chair. ¡°Aunt Maeve said we were going to meet here, and I saw your friends were already here when I arrived. Don¡¯t suppose you know where she is?¡± That¡¯s weird¡­ I was fairly sure that Maeve was the first to disembark after we arrived at the station. Celeste, can you run a quick scan to find the location of the High Queen? I really don¡¯t want her to have gotten kidnapped right after we got here. A reply came less than a minute later. ¡°Found her. Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯s fine. She¡¯s heading your way now, it just looks like she had to make a stop first.¡± Her voice sounded more relaxed than it had when we were talking about our plans for the future, so I assumed it wasn¡¯t anything bad. ¡°Celeste says she is on her way.¡± I reassured Thalia, who let out a long sigh of relief. Apparently, she had the same worries that I had. ¡°So, excited to get her back?¡± Thalia gave a small nod. ¡°That easy to tell?¡± She gave her oddly green drink a sip before continuing. ¡°Even though there has been a Maeve here all along, it doesn¡¯t feel like it was our Aunt Maeve. At the time, things seemed normal, so we couldn¡¯t tell. But now that we know, it feels like we haven¡¯t seen her in months. We want to make sure that she has a pleasant welcome back.¡± And the queenly demeanor has returned. Guess Thalia really was worried about Maeve getting kidnapped while she wasn¡¯t looking. ¡°Well, at least it¡¯s all sorted out now. And, it looks like we are going to be staying here for a little while.¡± Sharon and Yin quickly turned to look at me when I said that, questioning expressions on their faces. As such, I explained before they started fighting over who should ask first. ¡°We aren¡¯t ready to handle the bigger encounters with the New Human Empire, so we need to stay for a bit to get everything we need. I already went over the details of what we need with Celeste, but until everything is caught up we are on shore leave.¡± ¡°What? But, we are just starting to pick up momentum! We can¡¯t sit back and do nothing now.¡± Sharon protests, looking disappointed that we weren¡¯t going to be going out and blowing up more bases. ¡°We¡¯ve only fought small parties so far. The only time we actually fought with their assault ships, we lost one of our own. If we hit a world where they are expecting us, our entire fleet could get wiped out. We need defenses that can actually resist their attacks, and weapons that can actually hurt them.¡± It looked like she wanted to argue more after that, but she lowered her head in defeat. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I have no intention of us giving them an easy win. But, if we follow up with our attack right now to try to catch them before they can prepare, we¡¯ll only be throwing ourselves against an iron wall. Remember that they have the warp gates to move between their own worlds.¡± Sharon nodded her head slightly, while Yin reached over to pat her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ll get them.¡± She said quietly, drawing a smile from the other girl. ¡°Okay.¡± Sharon finally agreed. ¡°But, we shouldn¡¯t be here long enough for you grove to finish evolving. That¡¯s still a couple months away, right?¡± I nodded, and she continued. ¡°I saw what happened the last time your grove had a growth spurt, so we can¡¯t be anywhere near an inhabited planet when it decides that it is time to wake up.¡± ¡°I completely agree. Besides, two months is much longer than I had any plans of waiting. I¡¯m not eager to continue this war, but I do want to end it, even if a day sooner. Leaving an enemy of that size out there just doesn¡¯t sit well with me. Especially now that we know that they are being backed by an actual god.¡± ¡°What¡¯s this about gods?¡± A voice came from behind me, and I turned to find Maeve standing there. In her arms was a stuffed animal, looking like a giant rabbit with¡­ sabertooth tiger fangs? Evil rabbit, very evil rabbit. The stuffed animal was half as big as she was, so she was hugging it to her chest as she carried it along. ¡°Wanted to stop and pick up a present first.¡± Maeve stepped past me, moving over towards Thalia, whose cheeks were starting to redden more with every step the High Queen took. When she arrived in front of her, Maeve set the rabbit toy down in front of Thalia, and then bowed deeply at the waist. ¡°Thalia¡­ I¡¯m sorry. For everything my double did, for leaving you alone so long to handle things alone, and for costing you your life-saving treasures.¡± Thalia rapidly looked left and right, as if to assess how many people were witnessing her embarrassing moment. ¡°P-please stop. Get up. You apologized already over the calls. Really, there¡¯s no need to go this far, we understand. And we never really liked that dress anyways.¡± Nevertheless, she did slowly reach down and pick up the rabbit toy, hugging it to her chest. ¡°We are just glad that you are back. Everything else¡­ it was not your choice.¡± As if it would hide her from the world, she buried her head in the neck of the evil rabbit plushie. Maeve looked up at the sight, her eyes watering. However, a small smile appeared on her face, and she stepped forward to embrace Thalia in a tight hug. ¡°I¡¯m back.¡± Thalia choked out a cry of her own, nodding her head against the toy. ¡°Welcome back.¡± I felt a soft smile appear on my lips as I watched the reunion between the two queens. At least something seemed to be going well in the world. Chapter 183: Conference and Convenience I took a deep breath before tightly grasping the metallic orb in my living quarters. This was the device the leaders of the various races had purchased from the system market in order to conduct meetings over large distances. The moment my grip tightened on it, I felt a strange sensation pulling at my mind. Afterwards, the metal sphere was placed down on the floor, where it emitted a bright light. It was the equivalent of a holographic cellphone, except that it could potentially work over any distance. As the multicolored lights swarmed around my room, the scenery changed into a black landscape. Around me stood over a dozen figures from various races, the diplomatic leaders of the different worlds. I was familiar with most of them, but there were a couple of new faces. The first to speak was the fairy king, Duhe. ¡°John Hulett. You know why you have been called to stand here today?¡± His wings were a mix of pink and black, looking like those of a butterfly, though he stood nearly five feet tall. His build was slim, a childlike face similar to what was common among his race. I merely nodded my head. ¡°This is about my request for reinforcements.¡± I had submitted the report as soon as we arrived in the Gerin system, and naturally had requested reinforcements. Now that the various governments were back under proper management, it should not be too difficult of a request. Duhe nodded his head, but a black-skinned woman next to him, standing nearly seven feet tall with sharp horns poking out of her head, spoke. This was one of the new representatives, someone whose name I didn¡¯t know. ¡°That¡¯s right. We have spoken on this matter in length.¡± Her face held a vicious expression, but I did not pay it any mind. She was of the demon race, and their faces were actually like that naturally. It took a great deal of effort for them to have what would pass as normal expressions. However, her next words surprised me. ¡°After reviewing all of the data on the enemy, we have come to a conclusion. At this time, we are unable to offer any support to your cause.¡± My shock must have been obvious, because Maeve spoke up next, with a troubled voice. ¡°Don¡¯t be mistaken¡­ It is not that we do not wish to help. It¡¯s just¡­ our level of technology is far below a standard where we would be of assistance. If we pooled all of our resources together, we might be able to afford a decent ship from the market, but we would have nobody familiar with the systems to man it. Using our own technology, it is unlikely we could do anything more than getting in your way.¡± As she spoke, several of the other leaders also nodded their heads. Duhe looked at her for a moment before sighing lightly. ¡°However, we are willing to offer what little aid we can. Though this cannot come in the form of a ship and crew, there are other things that we can assist with.¡± ¡°Aye.¡± A short, potbellied humanoid said. He was Tulin, appointed leader of the dwarven race. ¡°Each of us ¡®ave a field we¡¯re good at. Give us a week, boy, and we¡¯ll get ya some designs for yer ship that should ¡®elp.¡± After Tulin, it was again Maeve that spoke. ¡°Aside from that¡­ we have come to an agreement. Although none of our ships are strong enough to help, and none of us possess the technology to do so on our own, there is something else that can be done. Each of us have agreed to creating a ship together, one that would have the strengths of every race. We can¡¯t make any promises on when it will be done, but once it is, we¡¯ll send it to help.¡± I could only nod my head. Honestly, I was a little disappointed that I wasn¡¯t getting any backup. But, the reasons that they provided were all valid. Aside from the Deus Ex and the Qu¡¯Lopti, both technologically superior races, it wasn¡¯t likely that any of the others would have the ability to hurt a New Human Empire ship. The only thing that they¡¯d do would be to add to the number of possible targets. I guess that I was just hoping they had made new advancements since this all began, which would help them catch up to where we needed them to be. Maybe this new ship that they were working on would fit that bill, maybe not. It might not even be finished before this whole war was over. Still, the fact that they were at least doing something to help was a sign of improvement. Before, whether it was sending ships to aid me or helping come up with new technologies, none of the other governments had offered help. ¡°I understand. I hope that the process goes well. Until we get the upgrades we need for a prolonged battle, my fleet will be staying in the Gerin system. That will give plenty of time for the designs you mentioned.¡± After that, I was dismissed. I could see an apologetic look on Maeve¡¯s face, but I didn¡¯t mind it. With a nod, I picked up the metal sphere from the ground, and placed it back on the table. The holographic environment quickly disappeared, returning the scenery to the normal living quarters from the Ariadne. ¡°Looks like things are going to slow down for a little while.¡± I heard Celeste¡¯s voice enter my mind as I sat back down. ¡°Yeah¡­¡± I nodded in reply. ¡°Check to see if there are any dungeons or boss monsters that we could use for training in this system. Even if it wouldn¡¯t be enough to train me, some of the crew could still benefit at least.¡± I received a brief confirmation from my mental passenger before she asked a question. ¡°And what about you? Any plans for the next week or two?¡± I let out a brief sigh as I thought about it. Honestly, there was nothing incredibly pressing for me to do. I had already updated my gear as much as I could right now. There wasn¡¯t anything on the market that I could afford that seemed like it¡¯d help me get stronger. With my ring and staff, my affinities would naturally grow on their own no matter what I did. ¡°Maybe I could come up with a new technique or something?¡± Even after my lessons with my mother and Kismet, most of my strategy relied on pure blasts of elemental energy, or brute force control. I was still struggling to create my own techniques. At times, I wondered what good it was to have a special technique like that, when you had sufficient control. However, Celeste would always patiently give me the same answer. ¡°A practiced technique can bring out more power than pure control, with less energy used. Although it requires an initial investment of time to create, it can mean the difference between life and death. Compare it to the difference between a street thug and a martial artist. They both throw their fists around, but one does so in a practiced manner to release even more power.¡± There wasn¡¯t much I could say to argue with that logic. Truthfully, the only reason that I had never bothered creating new techniques was that I had never met anyone that had a high enough degree of control over any of my elements that pure control wouldn¡¯t work. And, if it didn¡¯t work, I would always have backup to save the day. However, I couldn¡¯t follow those rules anymore. The opponent that I was challenging next was a god. Even if they weren¡¯t an elemental god, their strength should be something beyond what the current me can handle. Maybe they could shatter planets with a punch, or ignore blasts from even the largest weapons. No matter what, I needed to improve, and I only had three ways of doing that. One, I had to create new techniques to use. Two, I could learn or improve some of my skills. And three, waiting for my grove to evolve. The last method was unreliable, because I didn¡¯t know what kind of power I would get from this new evolution. As for skills, a new skill likely wouldn¡¯t be enough to help me out, whereas the current ones I have aren¡¯t easy to train anymore. ¡°You¡¯re just procrastinating because you don¡¯t want to try to think up a new technique, aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes, yes I am.¡± I answered Celeste calmly, recognizing that I only really had one choice. But what kind of technique did I want? Ideally, I¡¯d like something that I could combine with the others, like a combination move. But those are¡­ difficult to train, to say the least, and impractical. What would I do if one of them wasn¡¯t able to do their part? ¡°John. Stop procrastinating.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t wanna.¡± Yes, I was being childish. Was I going to stop? Probably not. ¡°Well¡­ I could evolve my Puppet Body power¡­¡± I thought back to my only real self-created ability. With a thought, wind and fire formed in the middle of the room, forming a hazy outline of a body. Fires were lit up in the eyes, mouth and hair, while wind densely swirled to create the rest of the body. ¡°How are you going to do that?¡± Celeste asked, somewhat doubtfully. To be honest, I wasn¡¯t exactly sure myself. I knew what the best case scenario would be, but it wasn¡¯t currently possible. ¡°I¡­ want to make them complete. Having to control each one in a battle is too distracting, even when I split my mind. If I am able to create a consciousness, and make their bodies self-sustaining, I could create my own army of elementals.¡± Celeste seemed to nod in my head. ¡°Okay, then what about storing them? I¡¯m sure you don¡¯t want to have a tornado walking around the ship all the time.¡± At that, I could only smile bitterly. ¡°That¡¯s the problem. I would like to keep them in my grove, so that I can just bring them out when I need to. But, with my grove on the brink of evolution, that¡¯s impossible. Whatever I sent in there would just be destroyed before it ever saw any use.¡± ¡°Alright¡­ I get that¡­ What about a magic item? Could you store their consciousness inside of a magic item, and then push it into the body when you summoned it?¡± I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what it was, but Celeste¡¯s words struck something, giving me an idea. ¡°Celeste, has anyone ever told you that you are a genius?¡± ¡°Not nearly often enough.¡± Was her quick reply as I got up and made my way to my crafting room. ¡°What did I do this time?¡± ¡°Nevermind right now. Tell me, do you have any mana-conductive metals? Mithral, orichalcum, whatever you can gather up.¡± I had an idea this time, and I was rather relieved when I discovered that Celeste wasn¡¯t directly scanning my mind to find out what it was. ¡°Let me check with my main body.¡± There was a brief period of silence while I finished walking to the crafting room. Right now, Priscilla wasn¡¯t here, so she was likely off somewhere keeping either Sharon or one of the other crew members company. ¡°Okay, I¡¯ve got less than half a kilogram of mithral throughout my grove, but that¡¯s it. Everything else has already been used up.¡± ¡°Great, can I borrow about half of that?¡± I wasn¡¯t entirely sure how much I needed, but I knew it wasn¡¯t a lot. ¡°And ask your kids if any of them would like to be the god of their own little world.¡± There was a small gasp in my mind, as Celeste instantly understood what I meant to do with this plan. ¡°I¡¯ll go check right now. But, are you sure that would work without giving them a Deus Ex body?¡± I nodded my head confidently. ¡°There are a few important aspects to possessing a grove. The most important two are a mind and a soul. The grove integrates directly into the soul, while the mind controls it. Theoretically, an item could be made to have a grove without a mind, but it¡¯d basically just be a bag of holding.¡± ¡°If you have a soul and a mind, the next important thing is mana control. That can be easily done, as long as I enchant the item to have that property. Finally, there are the basic elements. Again, those can be simply enchanted into an item. Once all those components are gathered, you just need the elemental seeds. I can easily make those at any time.¡± Celeste listened to my explanation before offering her opinion. ¡°Okay¡­ but the starting grove is so small. You can¡¯t store an army in there. And before you suggest it, you can¡¯t just teach the item¡¯s soul to make them, because that would deplete the grove even faster.¡± ¡°I know, but we aren¡¯t in enough of a rush that we need the grove developed right away. Besides, don¡¯t we already have the perfect item to gather as much mana as we needed to develop a grove quickly?¡± There was a pause from Celeste at that, as she understood what I meant. Chapter 184: The Inanimate Druid Soon, Celeste walked into my crafting room carrying a small chunk of silvery rock. Naturally, it had yet to be refined, but I could take care of that. ¡°Any volunteers?¡± I asked, looking at her. She gave me a slight nod, but seemed hesitant. ¡°Let me take a look at the item before you put them into it. I don¡¯t want there to be any mistakes here.¡± I could understand her worry, as these were technically her children. Even if I was giving one the chance to gain a new life, it could all tumble out of control with just one wrong slip. Even if people only looked at AI children like you would look at an orphan, how quickly would you offer up that orphan for a fifty-fifty chance at mini-godhood or death? ¡°Alright.¡± I accepted her condition easily, and caused the mithral ore to float out of her hands. Using my control of the elements, I quickly identified the impurities, removing them from the stone before shaping it into ten small rings. Each ring would represent one possible attempt to get the enchantment right. First, I began to establish the enchantment circle. This would probably have the most varied components out of the ones I had done so far, due to needing so many elements. Because I wanted to include more than just the basic few elements into the grove eventually to support elemental constructs with more possibilities than just those, I included a total of ten ¡®gather elemental mana¡¯ enchantments. The elements included were: fire, water, earth, wind, light, dark, lightning, plant, animal, and metal. With this combination, I should be able to create a stable grove that can support almost any constructs I want to put in it. After all, it would suck if I put a lightning elemental into the world, and it died out because of losing energy. Now, with that taken care of, I included a mana manipulation enchantment. Normally, something like this would be useless on an item, because it is designed to enable the item itself to manipulate mana more effectively, not the person using it. If anything, it uses up extra enchantment space in the aura to slightly reduce the cost of using the item¡¯s abilities. But, if I give the item its own soul and its own mind, then it should allow it to manipulate mana like any normal person. From the pile of ten rings, I grabbed one at random and placed it into the center of the large enchantment circle. Then, I began infusing my mana into the circle itself. Because this was such delicate work, I did not allow the enchantment circle to take control of the mana to do the work for me. Instead, I constantly monitored the flow of energy, keeping it in check. When the enchantment began to be absorbed into the ring, I strengthened my control of it. This was a crucial step, as I had to arrange the enchantments in such a way that I would be able to fit the AI¡¯s mind into it when I was done. And, in order to make sure that the AI would be able to safely use all of the item¡¯s powers, I had to place that particular enchantment as close to the center as absolutely possible. However, perhaps my control of the mana had been a bit too strict. Just as the enchantment was beginning to settle in, and the flow of magic started to finalize itself in the ring, small cracks began forming along the outside of the ring itself. Then, with a quiet snap, the ring split apart in half. Just as I was being thankful that the damage was low enough that I could simply reforge the ring, it began glowing red hot. Then stopped immediately and cracked again, then started glowing, before it erupted into a small burst of wind. As each piece hit the ground, they fell through the shadows, never to be seen again. Okay, that¡¯s probably the weirdest enchanting failure I¡¯ve seen before. Shaking my head, I looked over the enchantment circle to make sure that I did not need to make any revisions before grabbing the next in the line of rings to begin work on. One down, nine to go. ¡°So, John¡­¡± Celeste spoke up, grabbing my attention before I could get started with this ring. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Why did you want to give this ring its own mind? If you made it a soulbound item like your armor, then wouldn¡¯t you be able to control it like a second grove?¡± She looked honestly curious when she asked that, but I couldn¡¯t blame her. I hadn¡¯t actually thought about doing it that way. However, there were a couple of flaws in the idea that would prevent it from being viable. ¡°Well, didn¡¯t really cross my mind. But, pretty sure it wouldn¡¯t work. If we make it a soulbound item, that means it would be merged with my soul, and thus my grove. The whole reason we¡¯re doing this is because my grove can¡¯t be used. Also, I wanted to be able to give the item to someone else in case of emergencies, and tell the constructs to obey the wearer of the ring.¡± ¡°One ring to rule them all, eh?¡± Celeste asked with a grin, but I only turned to look at her curiously. ¡°Ah, nevermind..¡± Shaking my head, I got back to work. This time, when the mana came into contact with the ring, I allowed my control of it to relax slightly, though still made sure to provide enough room within the enchantment for the mind to be placed. ¡°Though, now that you mention it, this would be a good way to quickly cheat and give someone a grove of their own, if we soulbind one of these rings to them. Could potentially mass produce groves.¡± Celeste waited to speak until I was relaxing my control of the mana again, waiting to see if this was a success or failure. ¡°True, but doing it that way would present a problem of its own. Bypassing the initial cultivation lessons means that they would only ever be able to use the elements that were put into the ring at the start. They¡¯d still have to learn to cultivate mana on their own.¡± I nodded, agreeing with that assessment. I made sure to keep a close eye on the ring, waiting to see if there was any unusual reaction. This time, I also made sure to spread out my senses to track the elemental mana of the surroundings. Like I expected, I found it slowly pouring into the ring. This was probably one of the reasons that the first try did what it did. It simply overloaded on the elemental mana, without a method to safely contain it. Given what I was doing with this ring, I didn¡¯t have the intention of adding a ¡®stop absorbing¡¯ feature to let it limit what it could absorb. Rather, the item itself would do that, once it had a mind and a soul. Until then, I simply took control of the surrounding elemental mana, and prevented it from being absorbed. ¡°Alright¡­ this should be good.¡± Just to be safe, I split a piece of my mind off to specifically control that mana, so that I could still focus on the next step. Celeste smiled faintly, stepping forward to pick up the ring and inspect it. She was not gentle at all with it, and actually threw it directly against the wall of the room with considerable strength. Had the ring been made of steel or gold, it likely would have deformed from the impact. However, thankfully this was made with a much stronger metal, allowing it to maintain its shape. Though, it did give me a brief jumpscare. ¡°It¡¯s good.¡± She said, her smile widening slightly. A moment later, she pulled an item out of her inventory, a familiar short slab of metal. ¡°His name is Lex. You better be nice to him, okay? He¡¯s a good kid.¡± I chuckled slightly, nodding my head as I accepted the AI, and the ring to go with it. Closing my eyes, I quickly gathered the mana necessary to create a small goblin, which was immediately slaughtered so that I could refine and steal its soul. I didn¡¯t have any spare buffer to use for this, since I hadn¡¯t really been doing a lot of mindless mob killing lately. Gently, I began mixing the new soul into the ring, letting it slowly settle into the inanimate aura and breathe life into the object. Next, the most delicate task came up, transferring the consciousness of the AI from the device I had been given to the ring. Thankfully, these soft sticks store data as a magical aura, which makes the whole process much easier. Otherwise, we probably never would have been able to make any intelligent items. Carefully, I wrapped my mana around the consciousness, pulling it off of the device just a little bit at a time. No matter how many times I do stuff like this, I don¡¯t feel safe rushing it. It¡¯s hard to objectify artificial intelligence when I¡¯ve had one as a best friend for years. As I gradually moved the aura over to the ring, I made slight adjustments to the ring¡¯s aura to allow for an easy connection. With that taken care of, I slotted the new consciousness into the aura, and watched as the various tendrils of energy all connected together. Of course, it was only now that I realized I had forgotten to give it two very important enchantments. That was, the ability to speak and hear. Crap. I want a do-over! Noticing that something was wrong from my sudden anxiety, Celeste sent me a suspicious glare. ¡°What did you do?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ forgot to make it so that he can hear and talk? I can fix it!¡± Celeste¡¯s face visibly paled at that, which I had to consider for a moment, given that she didn¡¯t have any blood that could drain from her face. ¡°Really, I can!¡± She looked at me skeptically, but I was already working. Lex, can you hear me? I sent the message with some metal mana, allowing it to be absorbed into the ring. If you can, try to send some mana back to me with your thoughts. It took a few long moments of silence, but eventually I heard a reply. Did¡­ did it work? This feels different than what I expected. Almost there. Just one last step. Going to add on a new option for you. When I do this, I need you to put this somewhere that it feels comfortable, okay? The last thing I wanted was to get this far, and have the ring explode because I added in the ability to communicate. Alright. The small voice responded more quickly this time, and I got to work. The previous enchantment diagram was wiped clear with a thought, and a new one set up. This one was much more simple, as it only allowed the manipulation and absorption of sound mana to transmit and receive audio. ¡°Okay¡­ here we go.¡± Celeste was impatiently tapping her foot behind me as I got to work, this time being even more careful with how I managed the mana than I had when initially creating the ring. However, as soon as the enchantment made contact with the ring itself, I felt the mana pulled out of my control. Although, I could still monitor it, so I could see the enchantment reshaping itself slightly to fit in an empty part of the aura, allowing me to breathe out a breath I didn¡¯t know I was holding. ¡°Is it¡­?¡± ¡°He¡¯s fine.¡± I answered Celeste, then turned to look at the ring in question. ¡°Aren¡¯t you?¡± Rather than the confirmation I wanted, there was an audible screeching sound, like nails on a chalkboard, that violated my ears for several long moments. After it passed, there was a low droning sound, so I could guess what was happening. ¡°I think he¡¯s¡­ calibrating?¡± Celeste raised a suspicious eyebrow, but then turned towards the ring. ¡°Lex, you okay in there?¡± The noises alternated a few more times between high and low pitches, before finally settling on the slightly higher end of the spectrum. Though, not painfully high, but more like a prepubescent boy¡¯s high pitched voice. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m okay, mom. I think I¡¯m ready for the next step.¡± After she heard that, Celeste looked at me, and I began the process of making the various elemental seeds needed to make a grove. ¡°Well¡­ let¡¯s make our first inanimate druid.¡± Chapter 185: One Ring to Rule Them All Creating the elemental seeds was an easy matter for me at this point. All it required was a moment of concentration to gather the necessary elements nearby, and condense them into a small, spherical shape. Though, for the earth element, I had to use a tiny chunk of my grove, due to that mana type being rather sparse on a spaceship. However, it still only took a few minutes before the Essence of Nature, the main ingredient to establish a grove, was complete. Next came the tricky part. Normally, the prospective druid would use Nature Magic to channel the energies from the Essence of Nature throughout their body, letting it merge with them at an inseperable level. However, from my understanding, one of the key differences between intelligent items like Lex and a Deus Ex like Celeste was that intelligent items were incapable of gaining their own skills. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure why myself, but it likely had something to do with the differences in their souls, and that they did not possess their own bodies. As such, I needed to use my own Nature Magic, along with my Soul Arts, in order to help channel the energy from the essence throughout the small ring. In the worst case scenario, this could cause Lex to explode from an excess of energy being channeled into him, like the previous ring experiment. To prevent that, I focused on taking it slow, far slower than I had when I was establishing my own grove. With my magic, I split tiny strands of the merged elemental energy off of the essence, sending them into the ring and carefully tied it together with the ring¡¯s aura. Even for me, this felt incredibly risky, but the potential rewards that would come if this succeeded were even greater. Especially if the elemental army that I wanted to create later became a reality. This process lasted over half an hour, and the aura was starting to slowly change. The essence wasn¡¯t entirely used up yet, so I couldn¡¯t afford to quit at this point. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what would happen if I did stop before the grove was fully formed. Would I have the chance to try again, or would doing so only hurt Lex? I did, however, slow down by quite a lot. It took another half hour before the remaining third of the essence had finally merged together with Lex¡¯s aura. Letting out a sigh of relief, I wiped some sweat from my brow that had accumulated, and took a step back. What came next would determine whether or not this was all for nothing. ¡°Lex?¡± I asked, cautiously, waiting for his reply. Celeste stood next to me, looking between myself and the ring resting on the ground. ¡°Yes¡­?¡± A somewhat pained voice came in response, drawing a worried gasp from Celeste. I can¡¯t imagine that the process was easy on him, but he was brave enough not to cry out. That, or he was too distracted to be able to activate the voice function. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Stupid question, but one that needed to be asked. ¡°It¡­ feels different. Better now, but still different.¡± ¡°Try focusing your mind inwardly. There should be something different.¡± Moment of truth¡­ ¡°What¡­ what is this?¡± His voice seemed to tremble, sometimes flickering in and out as if it was hard to focus. ¡°Mom, is this what you meant? There is¡­ something inside me. It looks like a big rock.¡± Celeste quickly let out a sigh of relief when she heard Lex¡¯s words. ¡°Yes, that¡¯s right. That¡¯s what we were hoping for. Now, you can go back to absorbing the elements, but try to focus them into that space. It should slowly start to grow.¡± While intelligent items couldn¡¯t get skills, they were still entirely capable of having affinities. But, that wasn¡¯t because of any strange reasoning like ¡®they were sentient enough to have it¡¯. Rather, everything, living or dead, had an affinity with some kind of element. It just usually lacked the degree necessary to actually manipulate the element. As for Lex, his enchantments should make it easy to boost his affinities to the point where he can easily control the elements given to him. That¡¯s what I¡¯m hoping for, at least. ¡°Alright, mom.¡± I hear his voice calling back, and can feel the mana shifting in the room. Again, I focus on the ring, ready to stop the flow of mana if things start to look dangerous. However, that doesn¡¯t seem to be an issue, as the mana appears to vanish as soon as it comes into contact with the ring. I nodded my head slightly, relaxing my guard for a moment. ¡°While you are absorbing the mana, try to send some of your own back out, as close to what you absorbed as you can. That should help you improve your abilities.¡± This was the most basic fundamental of cultivating mana, so it was important that he understood it. Lex did not respond to the information I gave him, but I felt a slight shift in the mana around us. Upon inspection, Lex was now both absorbing and releasing mana in alternating motions, as if breathing. I let myself nod slightly, accepting this method of circulating his mana. Turning to Celeste, I gave a reassuring smile. ¡°We¡¯ll need to watch him for the next few hours to make sure nothing bad happens, but after that he should be good.¡± Celeste had a somewhat stiff smile as she answered. ¡°Right¡­ Once we¡¯re sure everything is safe, would you mind taking him down to the planet? He¡¯s never seen anything of the real world outside of scanned images, and I¡¯m sure the mana quality would be better down there.¡± It was obvious that she was more concerned about the former information, and had only supplied the last bit as a practical excuse. Again, I nodded my head. ¡°Alright. In the meantime, can I get you to make an AI for me?¡± When I asked that, Celeste looked at me, confused. ¡°Not a complex one like Lex and the others. A very basic AI, like a blank slate. One that barely has a consciousness. I need to analyze the aura of something like that for a technique I am working on.¡± Celeste furrowed her brows when I explained, as if the request was especially difficult. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ not really a problem.¡± Something in her voice suggested that she was uncomfortable with it, and she apparently heard that thought in my mind. ¡°It¡¯s just, you¡¯re basically asking me to make a mentally handicapped child on purpose, you know?¡± When she explained her discomfort, she turned to face me directly. I couldn¡¯t really refute her words, though. In a way, that was exactly what I was asking her to do. The AI were her children, and asking her to create one without complex reasoning would be like asking a mother to intentionally have a disadvantaged child. What mother would want something like that for her baby? ¡°I didn¡¯t think of it like that.¡± I shook my head, trying to think of another way to get what I needed. ¡°If that¡¯s not possible, how about making a few soft sticks for me to analyze the different auras of a few of your other children? I just need to understand how consciousness works, on a magical level, what its basic structure looks like.¡± At that, Celeste¡¯s expression softened slightly. ¡°I can do that easily enough.¡± With that said, she turned to continue looking at the lonely ring in the center of the ground. It was around that time that I realized, I never received any window or prompt about the completion of the ring. Surely, I should have at least gotten a window to name it, like I did every item I created. Yet, that had not appeared once during this whole affair. Is the ring not ¡®complete¡¯ yet? Do I still need to do something else? Or is it no longer considered my creation, now that it has a mind, a soul, and even a druid¡¯s grove of its own?
Actually, I just got bored waiting for you to be done, and missed the timing. Here you go!This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
Please name your item.
I stared, unblinking, at the window for several long seconds. I had to admit, being forgotten was not on the list of reasons why I thought that window hadn¡¯t appeared yet. After recovering from my shock, I slowly entered the name I had wanted to give the ring all along. Once that was done, I cast the identifying spell that Sharon had come up with shortly after we started our journey.
Ring of the Elemental Army Durability - 50/50 Possessing Soul: Lex -Special Options- Personal Grove(??) Innate Mana Control Elemental Mana Control(Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Light, Dark, Lightning, Plant, Animal, Metal, Sound) Elemental Integration Ego Level: 11
I was slightly surprised by the information that had appeared. First of all, the question marks that were listed next to the grove. Does that simply mean that the user doesn¡¯t have access to the grove themselves, so its size can¡¯t be listed? More importantly, however, was the next two lines after that. The various enchantments I had laid out to give the ring had apparently been consolidated into ¡®Innate Mana Control¡¯ and ¡®Elemental Mana Control¡¯. Even Sound was listed there, and I had only given the ring the ability to manipulate sound mana to project a voice. Is this an effect caused by creating the grove? When I was tampering with its aura to integrate it all together, did it also merge the enchantments? This was definitely an unexpected effect, and I wasn¡¯t sure whether it was something that was good or not yet. On the bright side, it should provide a better basic control of those elements. However, it means that Lex needs to learn how to control them from scratch, because it lost the enchanted abilities I had put in to teach it. Finally, there was the ¡®Elemental Integration¡¯ line, which I did not understand at all. With just the name of the enchantment given, I couldn¡¯t figure out how it worked, or what the requirements were. I¡¯ll need to get someone to do a more detailed identification spell later. As for the ego level, that line was normal, and something that was included for any intelligent items when they were identified. An item¡¯s ego level was, quite simply, its character level. If an item had a level five soul, it would have a level five ego. Since this is what level Lex ended up as, then that means only eleven levels of pure souls were transferred from the monster that I had killed. From now on, its level would increase whenever anyone equipped it and killed something. Unlike regular ¡®characters¡¯, a living item could not gain an increase in stats when they leveled up. Instead, they were more similar to the Deus Ex in that they were able to purchase enchantments that would be applied to whatever item they were. I could only assume that Elemental Integration was the enchantment that Lex had bought with its eleven levels, though whether it understood what it meant or not was another matter entirely. With the unique circumstances behind its existence, there may not have been many options for it to choose from, or there could have even been too many. I would have to ask him myself after I let him adjust to cultivating mana for a while. There was still a lot to learn about everything that was going on in this crazy new world, even after all we had experienced so far. Why do I feel like I¡¯m always telling myself that? Either way, Celeste and I patiently sat at the side, maintaining a constant watch over the new Ring of the Elemental Army, also known as Lex. Neither of us said a word to the other, not wanting to distract the mind held within the small item. Chapter 186: Hi... High God After waiting for a while, and deciding that Lex¡¯s situation was stable, both Celeste and I were immediately relieved. Honestly, this whole thing had been one big gamble, so it would not have surprised me if everything blew up in my face. The theories behind it were all solid, and there was no real reason why I should have failed other than unknown variables. But, given past performance, unknown variables are a constant problem. ¡°I need a vacation.¡± I muttered under my breath, glancing towards Celeste next to me. ¡°Mind letting the girls all know that we¡¯ll be heading down to the planet? It¡¯ll give everyone some much needed time off the ship, and you already said why Lex should go down.¡± Celeste nodded with a faint smile. ¡°Right. I¡¯ll be right back.¡± To my surprise, she actually left the room to physically inform them. I had expected her to just call people on the comms while staying in the room. Or for her to even ask why I didn¡¯t do just that. Really, it was just because I felt a bit too tense at the moment, and didn¡¯t want to worry them unnecessarily. Well, it¡¯s not like she isn¡¯t always with me if need be, anyways. I thought to myself, not sure whether Celeste was currently paying attention to my thoughts. Looking to Lex, I decided to ask what had been on my mind since I identified him. ¡°Lex, you listening?¡± It took a moment before the young voice replied back to me. ¡°Yeah, just working on this mana thing. Is something wrong?¡± His voice seemed to panic at the last bit. ¡°No, nothing like that. I just had to ask, do you know anything about your abilities? They aren¡¯t quite what I originally put in that ring. And then there¡¯s one that I don¡¯t know anything about.¡± Again, I was met with silence for a brief period. ¡°Well¡­ If you mean the element ones, everything started to shift when you were giving me that little world. I don¡¯t really know what happened, but I ended up with that.¡± ¡°And the Elemental Integration?¡± That was the part I was most concerned with, as I couldn¡¯t be certain where it had come from. ¡°Shortly after you put me in the ring, this strange voice asked me to pick an upgrade. But, before I could choose one, you started giving me that world. When I checked again, I just¡­ had it. Maybe¡­ maybe you gave it to me by accident?¡± Yeah, right¡­ Malthan! I called out in my mind. I know that nothing I had done should have given him an entirely new enchantment. Maybe modifying his previous enchantments to condense them, but not adding something new. And, since he didn¡¯t select the option, that left only one choice.
©d(¡ã?¡ã*) What¡¯s up, my boy?!
I froze for a moment as I looked at the screen that appeared. Deep breaths¡­ God of Chaos¡­ expect random¡­ Just an hour or so ago he had completely forgotten about me, to the point where he forgot to give me a system window, but now I get this? Explain the Elemental Integration thing¡­ Please. I am still dealing with a being of unknowable power. Politeness would be wise, if a bit forced.
(¦µ¦Ø¦µ) Hmmm¡­ nope! You could always buy that information from the temple, but I don¡¯t feel like telling you right now!
Are you high on something right now? Even for Malthan, this was getting kind of ridiculous. Maybe he¡¯s just having a random mood or something?
( ?¡ã ?? ?¡ã) I could be high on a lot of things right now. I think. I¡¯ve never really tried. ¦²(¡®???¡¯) I should go try that! See you in a week or so!
What? Wait, no! Bad god, no running off to get high, I need you to explain this to me! I tried to get his attention, but it was no use. Is he seriously going to try for a week to get high?! The fuck is wrong with the God of Madness?! Oh¡­ wait¡­ I silently facepalmed, before turning back to Lex. ¡°I¡¯ll figure something out about that ability.¡± Not sure how, since my gold reserves went down a black hole¡­ Wonder if Maeve would be willing to give me a loan? And wait¡­ if Malthan is gone for a week, does that mean I won¡¯t be getting any new system prompts for a week? How does this shit even work?! I knew that my item creation prompt was apparently something that he sent me, or else he purposely delayed it to prank me. Right now, I wasn¡¯t sure which was the right answer. If it was the former, then I feel sorry for the gods that have to constantly send out those random information windows all the time. If it¡¯s the latter¡­ I really want a chance to beat Malthan up someday. Either way, there was not much I could do at this point. With a wave of my hand, I pulled Lex from the ground, causing the ring to fly over and land in my palm. ¡°Alright¡­ let¡¯s get ready to head to the planet. It has been¡­ too long since we had a proper downtime. One that did not result in a murderous rampage, at least.¡± Thankfully, there was no response from the ring, which I slipped on my finger. After clearing up the last few signs of the enchantment process that remained in the room, I went ahead and left to go see if Celeste had contacted the girls yet. I really did not want to go down in my clone this time, but given what happened last time, I couldn¡¯t find a realistic reason not to. We may be on friendly territory now, but the Qu¡¯Lopti world might as well be considered a planet I owned with how they treated me, yet I was nearly killed there. In this case, paranoia was a necessary caution. Walking through the ship, it did not take me very long before I came across Sharon and Yin, who seemed to be hurriedly heading towards my quarters. With a smile, I called out to them before they could run too far. ¡°Hey, Celeste already got to you, I take it?¡± Yin nodded silently, while Sharon replied with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s right. The others are already getting ready. We were just going to grab some clothes to change into.¡± ¡°You planning to use the clones?¡± I asked, curiously. The two girls looked at each other, exchanging a bitter smile. ¡°I don¡¯t want to¡­ I mean, I trust the elves, but we already found out that the Empire can set up spies anywhere. For all we know, there might even be one in our crew. Because of that, Celeste has been setting up some extra security measures.¡± Sharon said, shaking her head and choosing not to elaborate further. While I was a bit concerned that there were extra security measures in place, Celeste spoke up in my mind to clarify things. ¡°Sorry, everything¡¯s been busy lately, so I forgot to tell you. I asked the girls not to say anything, in case of the worst case scenario. The only people that I can be absolutely sure about are you and Sharon, because of the special links between you and me, and the one between you and her. I imagine that it would be harder to impersonate someone like Yin, who is an ¡®enlightened¡¯ monster, but the possibility still exists.¡± That IS my wife you are talking about, you know? I said inwardly, earning my a small chuckle from Celeste. ¡°I know. And, if nobody tries to sabotage the ship or its crew, none of the defenses will activate. I only wanted to be ready in case the worst happened.¡± I could understand that¡­ though, I did think that our crew was safe. After all¡­ we haven¡¯t really had the chance to land for them to be abducted and replaced until now. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that it¡¯d be easier to get to any of the High Queens than it would have been to get to our crew. ¡°Well¡­ who all is coming on our trip? You said the others were getting ready too, right?¡± Sharon nodded her head when I asked that. ¡°Well, there¡¯s Tessa and Tokemi that practically begged to join us when Celeste mentioned it. So Tessa¡¯s mom is coming too. Aside from them, your parents wanted to stay on the ship for now. Apparently, your mom is working on a new technique at the moment. So, it¡¯s just us, Yo, Yang, and Celeste.¡± I gave a brief nod when she said that, though I might have twitched slightly when she mentioned that my mom was working on yet another technique. If I didn¡¯t have the cheat of overwhelming raw power with the elements, I¡¯d¡­ need a lot more techniques than I have. I considered stuffing my cheat items into my inventory, but that wouldn¡¯t really solve anything. I still need to work on my techniques whether I have the items equipped or not. Thankfully, I did have a technique up my sleeves, assuming I was able to get an understanding on how consciousness worked with Celeste¡¯s AI children. A self-sustaining army of elementals was¡­ quite the appropriate ¡®technique¡¯ for me. Okay, so maybe I¡¯ve given up on subtle control, alright? I¡¯m about as subtle with my magic as a meteor impact, and I can accept that. Pulling myself out of my own self-deprecating thoughts, I looked to the girls, only to see that they had already left to go to my room and grab their clothes. ¡°They walked off around the time you were thinking about nerfing yourself.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice chimed in my mind, making me twitch slightly again. ¡°What? Everyone else has all these awesome abilities¡­ I¡¯m a Xeno-Shifter druid, for crying out loud, and I hardly do anything related to my own class.¡± I cursed under my breath, turning around and walking towards the medbay. ¡°Aside from shapeshifting into a combat form in almost every battle. And studying every offensive, defensive, support, or movement power organisms have that you encounter. Did you think that you would be constantly shapeshifting as a regular trait when you picked the class? If anything, none of what you have now would be possible if you didn¡¯t first get the understandings of auras that you got because of that class.¡± Celeste spoke in a relatively harsher tone now, making me falter in my steps. ¡°Yes, you use the elements to fight more than your own shifting. But, that cannot be considered a fault in your strategies. Rather, you have yet to encounter a creature that has abilities that would be more useful than your elements to copy. Don¡¯t sell yourself short, John, you use your abilities decently. Maybe not to the best they could be, but you specialize in what you specialize in. You have great control over your shifting, so it¡¯s okay for you to brute force the elements.¡± Her tone turned a bit more supportive towards the end, as if she was trying to console me after a strict lecture. I could only nod my head in response. I knew on some level that she was right. Though, I didn¡¯t feel like I had really done the best I could with my shifting. Even among Sharon¡¯s companions, there were many with interesting abilities. I had already copied most of them, but had yet to figure out how to combine them into a better battle form than the one I currently used for fights. ¡°Oh, and one more thing.¡± Celeste began, and I let out a groan, thinking there was going to be a sequel to the rant. ¡°Once your grove hits the next step, you will probably have a lot more opportunity for your shifting. I mean, it¡¯s supposed to be its own universe, right? I imagine that includes natural life developing. If you can get enough time to pass in your grove, you might have hundreds, or even thousands of boss level monsters to study.¡± Strangely, that seemed to cheer me up. I wasn¡¯t entirely sure what would happen when my grove evolved. However, judging purely by the requirements, some things could be determined. Like she said, there was a good chance that life would be able to develop in my grove. With my Time Affinity, I might be able to speed it up enough that monsters and magical beasts are abundant. At that time, I could get practically any ability I could imagine, as long as it existed somewhere in that universe. Of course, this all relied on me having the universe grove, and right now that was still quite a ways away. At this point, it was unclear whether or not I would even get to it before the final battle. I wanted to just take time off from the war to let my grove finish evolving, but leaving the New Human Empire to continue their plans that long would be the equivalent of surrendering the war to them altogether. I got off track again, didn¡¯t I? I thought to myself as I arrived at the medbay, opening it to see the others already inside and waiting for me. The only ones not present being Sharon, Yin, and Celeste. ¡°Well¡­ I guess it¡¯s time for a vacation, after all.¡± Chapter 187: Time to Disembark I smiled to those gathered in the medbay, as Tokemi rushed up to me, wrapping her thin arms around me. ¡°There you are, dad! We were just about to take off without you.¡± She said as she looked up mischievously at me. It was hard to believe that she had not aged a single day since she was ¡®born¡¯. Her body looked exactly the same then as it did now. Even her hair, which had been cut a few inches shorter at her request a couple years ago had not grown back. It made me worried just how her life would be. With my magic, I could ensure that old age would not be a problem for me, but for her friends to all grow old around her, while only she remains in the body of a child. Even Tessa had already hit her teenage years, her body having long since grown past Tokemi. Seeing her embrace me like that, I could only smile slightly as I brought my hand down to pat her head. ¡°How¡¯s your training going, young lady?¡± I asked her while moving over towards the clone prepared for myself. I needed to put Lex on my clone before I forgot, or else I might accidentally leave him in the ship. ¡°Going alright, I guess.¡± Tokemi said, holding one of my hands as she followed behind me. ¡°I got another percentage for my affinity. And¡­ I think I¡¯ve worked out a cool little trick.¡± Suddenly, her eyes shot open, and she glanced at me with excitement. ¡°Want to see, dad?¡± I smiled, nodding my head as I put Lex on my clone¡¯s finger, then moved to sit in one of the free chairs. ¡°Alright, go ahead and show me. As long as it¡¯s not going to hurt anyone.¡± When she heard that, she nodded her head heavily. ¡°It¡¯s not an attack or anything like that. But¡­ I need to concentrate really hard to make it work.¡± Saying that, Tokemi closed her eyes, and I extended my mana senses to watch what was going on around her. I could easily feel a rush of time mana flowing towards her body for a split second, but then nothing. The time mana stopped moving towards her, but even more alarming was the fact that she disappeared! Not simple invisibility, any trace of her existence that I could detect with my senses had completely faded away. Out of the group, only Yo did not seem too surprised by this. Everyone else gasped in alarm, and we quickly began to look back and forth, hoping that she had simply teleported somewhere. However, roughly five seconds after she vanished, Tokemi appeared in exactly the same spot she had left from. When she reappeared, she let out a heavy breath, but grinned up to me as if nothing happened. ¡°Cool, right?¡± She asked in a confident voice, obviously eager to be praised. ¡°What did you just do?¡± I had to ask. I had a feeling that I knew, but I didn¡¯t want to voice my suspicions. Only for them to be proven true when she answered. ¡°I shifted myself a bit ahead. Umm¡­ it should have just been a couple seconds, right?¡± The baishiro asked as she glanced around, noticing the alarm on people¡¯s faces. ¡°I didn¡¯t go too far, did I?¡± Her face held a small amount of panic, as if she knew she made everyone worry. ¡°No¡­ no, it¡¯s okay.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but try to reassure her when I saw that scene. ¡°We just didn¡¯t know what happened. But, you can time travel? When did that become a thing?¡± Obviously, I knew that time travel was possible. If it wasn¡¯t, none of us would be in this mess. I¡¯d still be back on Earth as a NEET gamer, and Tokemi would have never even been born. But, this was the first time I had seen time travel outside of the Seeds. ¡°I guess about a week ago? I¡¯ve been working on it for a while.¡± Tokemi¡¯s face relaxed when she realized she wasn¡¯t going to be punished, instead choosing to brag about her work. ¡°You see, time mana actually changes its composition slightly over time. It took me a while to notice it, but when I did I started thinking. I studied the patterns for the changes, and when I was confident I tested it on Fluffums.¡± Fluffums was the name of her stuffed Qu¡¯Shin, the Qu¡¯Lopti version of a six-legged dog. And yes, it¡¯s pronounced cushion. ¡°I only meant to send him a couple seconds ahead, but got it a bit wrong. Only by a minute or two, though! I had to isolate the time mana inside his body, and then shift it all at once to what I believed time mana would look like in the future. It¡¯s¡­ not easy.¡± She then began mumbling the rest under her breath, crossing her arms behind her back and tracing a circle on the ground with her foot. ¡°The further away you go in time, the more changes there are to time mana. Right now, ten seconds is all I can really work with, unless I memorize time mana from the past.¡± Hearing that, I was just about to ask a rather important question, before she raised her hands up in front of her, waving them to stop me. ¡°I tried the whole traveling to the past thing with Fluffums. It¡­ well, it didn¡¯t go as I expected. I was hoping to end up with two Fluffums, since I could just change my mind and not send the original back after I got it.¡± ¡°But¡­ when I tried that, it kinda worked? Not really, though. I got Fluffums to go back about five seconds. But, when I changed my mind about sending the original back, he did it on his own! I don¡¯t know why¡­¡± At that, she sulked like a child that had its favorite toy taken away. I nodded, quickly switching over to my clone after her explanation. Once done, I slowly got up, and smiled over to Tokemi. ¡°Well, that would certainly be an interesting ability. But you have to always use it carefully. Time travel is very dangerous.¡± The girls around us all nodded heavily at that. We knew the effects of time travel first hand.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°Aww¡­ alright, dad. I¡¯ll save it for emergencies.¡± Tokemi said sullenly, though she still eagerly grabbed my hand when I got back up. Regardless of how old or young she looked, she was still not even six years old mentally and emotionally. Just the fact that she had figured out time travel was a testament to her natural skill with time. ¡°Good girl.¡± I said with a light chuckle. Tokemi really was a good kid. I¡¯d probably have to think of something later to help with her aging issue. Maybe using my magic to shapeshift her body to look older would help. ¡°Hey guys, sorry we took so long!¡± The medbay door slid open, and Sharon, Yin, and Celeste walked in. To my surprise, the clothes they were wearing were anything but normal. Sharon was wearing a blue, one piece swimsuit that practically only covered the front and her butt. On either side, it left off with straps that went around her back to hold it in place. On her head, she wore thick sunglasses and a domed, black hat with a wide brim. Instead of her usual sneakers, she was currently wearing sandals on her feat. Yin was wearing a two piece bikini, white with yellow lightning bolts pointing towards the center on both the top and bottom. Her hair was neatly combed back, with a unique hairpin. The length of the pin was shaped like a lightning bolt, with a decorative bird token on top of it. In her arms, she held a small, green purse. Like Sharon, she was only wearing sandals. Celeste was no better, wearing a pink one piece swimsuit. At the bottom of hers, she had a frilly skirt that went down several inches. In her hand, she held the wand we had gotten so long ago, the one that triggered the magical girl transformation. The wand seemed to complete the look, making her appear to be a magical girl even without the transformation. ¡°Did I miss something?¡± I asked as I saw the three of them walking in with swimsuits on. Celeste giggled slightly before she explained. ¡°It¡¯s easy, John. You didn¡¯t have a venue planned for our vacation, so I called up Maeve. She was happy to help us find a good beach to spend our time on. She even suggested a good store nearby for those of us without any swimming gear.¡± Several of the girls let out ecstatic cheers, not having had the chance to swim since we left the Qu¡¯Lopti homeworld. And, even though they had swimming pools, they were a rather short race, so most of them had only been able to enjoy the beaches, which happened to be teeming with monsters. However, there were three girls that seemed dismayed by the announcement. Namely, they were Tokemi, Yo, and Yang. Tokemi was the first to step forward, speaking in a small voice as she admitted to the group. ¡°But¡­ I don¡¯t know how to swim, though.¡± Because I had been so busy with the politics on the Qu¡¯Lopti world, I had not had the chance to take Tokemi to a swimming pool or a beach to properly teach her. And, judging from this reaction, it looked like Sharon or Yin hadn¡¯t either. In fact, Yang nodded her head abruptly, as if saying that was a problem for her as well. Well¡­ for Yang it really is understandable. If her wings got wet, she might sink way too easily. As for Yo¡­ ¡°Can I swim? I¡¯ve never really tried.¡± She had a pensive look as she thought about it. On the one hand, her original form was that of a water slime, so there shouldn¡¯t be an issue about her surviving in water. On the other¡­ she was, after all, a slime. It was entirely possible that her body would spread out like goop once she entered the water. Part of me was reminded about the ultimate evolution of the water slime, a path that Yo could have taken if we did not evolve her into a slime person. ¡°You should be fine. Start small, and if you feel like you can hold your body together, it should be good.¡± Yo seemed to be assured with my words, nodding her head. Though, her next words raised a very important point. ¡°Do any of us have money for the Gerin worlds? How are we going to buy suits for everyone?¡± Thankfully, Celeste came in with an answer. ¡°That¡¯s already been taken care of. Maeve is going to call ahead to the store, and let them know to expect us. We¡¯re shopping on her tab today, so it¡¯s fine.¡± When she heard that, I couldn¡¯t help but notice how Yo got a wicked grin on her face. ¡°Sweet.¡± Her only reply to Celeste. ¡°So, everyone ready, or are we waiting for someone?¡± I looked around, seeing that everyone was accounted for. ¡°I think we¡¯re good.¡± The people that had yet to get into their clones yet, namely Tessa and her mom, did so and we immediately left to head for the teleport bay. Beth spent the entire time reminding Tessa of the various rules she would have to obey while we were at the beach. This was especially important, given that sharks were the least of our worries. Tokemi kept holding my hand the entire way to the teleport bay, occasionally glancing to Tessa and her mom talking about safety. ¡°Dad, is the water really that dangerous?¡± She asked timidly. I shook my head, smiling down to her. ¡°Well, it depends. Most places, it shouldn¡¯t be. I doubt that Maeve would set us up with a beach that wasn¡¯t secure. You shouldn¡¯t have anything to worry about, as long as you listen to us.¡± ¡°Yeah, don¡¯t worry, baby sis!¡± Yo called out from ahead, her head twisting back like an owl to smile at Tokemi. ¡°If anything happens, we¡¯re all here. Our dad fights gigantic empires set on dominating the galaxy, you think he¡¯d be able to handle a little beach, right?¡± She gave a little wink in my direction before twisting her head the rest of the way around to look ahead again. Thankfully, her slime neck quickly adjusted so that it was not obvious she twisted it all the way. That would be a little bit creepy, to be honest. Her words, though, did seem to do the job and cheer up Tokemi. The small foxgirl nodded her head with a smile. ¡°That¡¯s right, dad¡¯s the best.¡± She said with a confident tone, making me feel rather proud of myself. Not just because my pseudo-daughter was praising me like that, but also because of how strong Tokemi herself was. Given her mastery over time, I wasn¡¯t even sure if I could beat her in a fight. That reminded me of one of the reasons that I wanted to go down to the world in the first place, so I looked over to Celeste to ask about it. However, she simply smiled, nodding her head. ¡°I went ahead and brought them. I figured we could all enjoy a day at the beach.¡± I was not entirely sure how an AI stuck on a soft stick could enjoy a day at the beach, but I had a feeling I¡¯d be finding out soon. By the time we were done talking, we had found our way to the teleport bay, and were ready to beam down to the planet. Chapter 188: Radical When we arrived down on the planet, we found ourselves in one of the high elf cities. High elves were known as the more urban elves, so their cities often formed large metropolises. And sure enough, we could see towering buildings of metal and glass surrounding us. The ground was made of smooth stone, similar to asphalt. However, there was no separation between the road for vehicles to drive through. That was not because they were not worried of safety issues, but rather because the high elves had a rather interesting transportation system. At every intersection, there was an escalator heading downwards. These led to a complex subway system, with exits throughout the entire city. Around us, we could see both humans and elves, as well as various other species that had appeared after Neo Life transformed a large portion of the human population. Some of them were surprised by our appearance, unused to people teleporting into their surroundings. However, as there had been no alarms issued, they probably decided it was unlikely we were an enemy. ¡°This should be the right city.¡± Celeste said, looking around. ¡°Maeve only gave me an address instead of coordinates, so we should be nearby.¡± Indeed, it was easy to smell the sea from where we were, so we were definitely in a coastal city. ¡°Let¡¯s head over there.¡± I pointed to the nearest escalator, where people were going in and out repeatedly. From the looks of things, we were at a rather popular transit point. The girls seemed to agree with that, especially Celeste who literally skipped forward. The rest followed behind as we got in line. Surprisingly, nobody really seemed to pay attention to our group, despite us having a winged woman and one made entirely of slime. Apparently, strange races were not really that strange here. Though, a few people did move to the side to make room for our party. When we arrived underground, we found a scene more representative of an actual street with a four way intersection. In front of us was a wide, white platform filled with people. Above us, on the roof of the ceiling on either side of the ¡®road¡¯ was a set of rails. In front of the platform, there was a green lit sign with the words ¡®Awaiting Transit¡¯ displayed on it facing either of the two roads our corner touched.. Soon, a loud sound echoed through the tunnel, and we saw a white bus pull up. When it stopped, the edge of the platform extended out to the side of the bus, and several people got off. After that, even more people got on the bus until it was full, leaving about half of the number that was there before. When the bus drove away, the green sign turned red, the words changing to ¡®Idle¡¯. I could hear someone off to the side let off a sigh before they hit a button on the wall, causing the sign to change back to its previous state. We ended up waiting another ten minutes before a second bus drove up. This one seemed entirely empty, so everyone from the platform was able to get on. Once aboard the bus, we noticed that a lot of the people stopped by a large map located on the far wall of the bus, pressing one of various buttons. The buttons were laid out in a grid pattern, each one representing an intersection station like the one we boarded from. ¡°Oooh, this is fancy.¡± Celeste said, walking up to the map when it was free. ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ This should be the right place.¡± Celeste pushed a button, and we went to stand off to the side to let other people choose their destinations. Once everyone was done, the doors to the bus closed and it began moving. One thing I noticed was that there was no driver for this bus. Also, on the map, there was a green dot moving along one of the lines, likely representing us. Every time we passed an intersection, the line connecting it would briefly glow yellow. When we finally stopped at one, the doors opened and a few people got out, before more came in again. This process repeated a couple more times, before Celeste called out. ¡°Hey, this is our stop!¡± At her words, those of us from our group piled out of the bus. ¡°Okay¡­ we just need to do that one more time and we¡¯ll get there.¡± She said with a wide smile. The elves¡¯ transit system was rather convenient. An evenly spaced grid of underground roads, with public transportation freely available. Like this, nobody would ever need more than two buses to reach their destination. After repeating the entire process again, we walked up the escalator at our final destination. When we exited, we saw a series of smaller buildings than where we had initially teleported down to. In the distance, we could even see the see down the road. It seemed that this shop was fairly close to the beach, which made sense considering what it sold. ¡°This should be the place.¡± Celeste said as she walked up to a particularly colorful store. While most around us were bland, with only colorful signs advertising their name and products, this entire building had been painted orange. Such a bright orange that it was practically an attack on my eyes. On the sign of the building was the image of a surfboard above a wave. Hanging off the back of the surfboard was a bikini top¡­ Finally, under the wave was the name of the shop, ¡®Wane¡¯s Wares and Wears¡¯. I had a sinking suspicion that this was, in fact, not an elf run store. A suspicion that was immediately proven true once we entered the store. ¡°Yo dudes!¡± A voice called out, speaking fluent english. ¡°The High Babe told me you guys would be dropping by. Feel free to pick what you want.¡± When I turned to look at the speaker, I regretted ever being born on that planet. The shopkeeper was wearing a loose fitting, button up shirt that looked like someone had vomited a rainbow onto it. His eyes were blocked by oversized shades, and both his brown hair and beard were braided into several rows. Please¡­ this is not the part of Earth culture I wanted to survive. Next to me, I heard Celeste giggle playfully as she saw the state of the shopkeeper, while Yo just gaped in awe. ¡°Way cool.¡± She said quietly, seeming to appreciate this kind of attire. ¡°Got anything for people of less¡­ substance?¡± Yo asked the man as she poked her face, actually sending her finger through her cheek and into her mouth to demonstrate her point. ¡°Wicked.¡± The shopkeeper, whose name I can only assume to be Wane, nodded approvingly at the slime girl. ¡°Maybe a one piece, dudette? Not exactly the normal deal.¡± Yo smiled nonetheless, moving to the section of the store dealing with one piece swimsuits. ¡°Uhm¡­ me?¡± Yang was the next to ask, though her voice was much smaller than Yo¡¯s. ¡°Hmm¡­ Definitely a bikini for an angel like you!¡± His words made the bird girl blush, though she nodded her head. ¡°Do you have any inflatables?¡± I asked, looking towards her wings. He made an ¡®ahh¡¯ sound, understanding my intention. ¡°Right, right. Back of the store.¡± Like that, one by one several of the girls asked for advice on swimwear. Some, like Yo, Yang, and Tokemi, it was because of their different body aspects. Others, like Tessa and Beth, it was more because they were curious what the fashion was like for elven swimwear.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Either way, each one went to the changing rooms to try on the outfits one at a time, though Sharon went back with Tokemi to help, while Yin went back with Yang. After all, it was the first time for either of them to wear a swimsuit. I¡¯m sure that even Yin had Sharon help her with it before they met up with us back at the ship. In the end, the girls all found swimsuits for them that fit. Yo was wearing something that I could only call a japanese schoolgirl¡¯s swimsuit, a one piece dark blue swimsuit that had a short skirt on the bottom. She stretched around in it happily, making sure that her body didn¡¯t leak out in any unwanted ways. Next to her, Tokemi also wore a one piece swimsuit, much to my surprise. Though, unlike Yo¡¯s, hers was black and had an open back, which went down just low enough for her tail to come out. Around her waist she was wearing a pink inflatable tube. This would be her first real experience swimming, so we all insisted that she get one of those. Also, it looked really cute on her. Yang also had inflatables, though they were two red ones on her arms instead. Her swimsuit was a bikini, like Wane recommended, pure white and small enough to be tempting to anyone that saw it. Yo seemed to be enjoying the view, casting looks at her every now and then. Tessa and Beth wore match red and white striped bikinis, standing next to each other. Tessa had picked up a snorkel and goggles to go with her swimsuit, while Beth had chosen a wide-brimmed hat. When she saw me looking at the hat, she smiled slightly. ¡°I don¡¯t really care for swimming much, so I¡¯ll probably just relax on the beach.¡± When Wane heard that, he made sure to give us six large towels, and three beach umbrellas. The umbrellas were about as colorful as his shirt, so I was hesitant to accept them, but Beth simply smiled as he did, taking them from him. At least they¡¯re free¡­ ¡°Alright, everyone¡¯s set?¡± I asked, looking around. For my own swimsuit, I had just picked a rather generic pair of green trunks. Like everyone else, though, I had switched my shoes out for sandals, with everyone storing their normal shoes in their inventories. When everyone agreed that we were ready, we thanked Wane one last time and left the store. Thankfully, we could already see the beach even before we entered the shop, so it was only a short walk to get there now. Seeing as none of us were actually low level, a walk like this didn¡¯t really impact us at all. Even Tessa and Beth had leveled up quite a few times just practicing their skills. Once we got to the beach, we found that it was surprisingly empty. It was to the point that I even looked into the air to make sure the weather wasn¡¯t going to be bad. However, the sky was perfectly clear. It seemed like it¡¯d be the perfect day to go to the beach. On the beach, I could only see a total of three people. One was a male elf sitting on a red chair a fair distance from the water, his eyes scanning the shore. If I had to call him something, it¡¯d be a lifeguard. Though, he seemed to have a much too serious expression, considering the place was practically empty. As for the other two people, I wasn¡¯t able to get a good view of them under the blue and white umbrella they were using for shade. All I could tell was that it was a pair of women, and that one seemed to be in her late teenage years, judging by the size. It wasn¡¯t until we all got closer that a voice spoke up from under the umbrella. ¡°That you, John? Took you guys long enough, I thought you might have gotten lost.¡± The taller of the two figures poked her head out from under the umbrella, turning back to look at me with a grin. Naturally, it was Maeve¡­ Which of course meant that the other one was¡­ ¡°Good evening, John¡­¡± A small voice spoke up from the other side, as Talia poked her own head out. Though, she seemed much more embarrassed to be here than the High Queen. ¡°I really wasn¡¯t expecting the two of you to be here.¡± I stated as I looked at them, and then turned an accusing gaze to Celeste. The pink haired Deus Ex raised her hands in a defensive manner. ¡°Don¡¯t look at me, she never said anything about coming here personally.¡± After saying that, she turned to look at the queens. ¡°How did you even get Talia here, anyways? Isn¡¯t her forest supposed to be on the other side of the planet?¡± Maeve grinned playfully as she stood up. She was wearing a risque silver bikini, one that barely covered up what it was supposed to. ¡°Oh come on, Celeste. We¡¯ve had enough time to pick up some basic teleport spells. Besides, little Talia here hasn¡¯t taken an actual vacation since she took the throne, so we thought it was long overdue.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but raise a questioning eyebrow at that. ¡°Are royalty even able to take vacations? Don¡¯t you need to manage things.¡± Talia looked like she wanted to speak up, but Maeve beat her to it with a dismissive gesture. ¡°We have aides to manage things for the day.¡± Sharon chuckled from the side, walking over to the queens. ¡°Well, I guess it¡¯s you that cleared the place out then?¡± Maeve nodded with a smile, to which Sharon continued. ¡°Well, at least we have plenty of beach to play in!¡± As she said that, she looked back at us, stuck her tongue out, and ran towards the water. With a tall leap supported by her high strength and agility, she brought her legs up to her chest to cannonball into the water roughly thirty meters from shore. If someone saw that scene back before everything changed, they probably would have called it impossible. Maeve simply laughed as she saw Sharon¡¯s antics. ¡°That¡¯s the spirit!¡± She called out, running towards the water as well. Though, her speed was far slower, showing that she likely didn¡¯t have that many levels to boost her ability. ¡°W-wait! Aunt Maeve!¡± Talia called out in distress from under the umbrella, finally standing up herself. What she was wearing was a green one piece swimsuit with leaf patterns covering it. ¡°That¡¯s not proper!¡± When she looked back, and realized we could all see her, she let out a yelp and crouched down to hide under her umbrella again. Shaking my head slightly, I looked over to Celeste as Yo, Tokemi, Yin, and Yang all began walking towards the water slowly. ¡°So, how are you going to help the others enjoy the scenery?¡± I asked curiously, waiting for her to show me what she has no doubt been waiting for. Celeste grinned, making a motion to open up her inventory. What I saw was her pulling out white metal boxes one after another, setting them on the ground. Once they were all out, she also retrieved a handful of soft sticks from her inventory, and plugged each one into one of the boxes. After that, the boxes seemed to shift, rearranging themselves as if they were made of liquid instead of hard metal. All of them, without exception, turned into the form of a child, no older than six or seven years old. Though their robotic nature was still obvious with the unnatural skin tones, glowing eyes, and lack of hair, it was a rather interesting sight to behold. ¡°I figure you can study them while they play on the shore a bit. This is the first time any of them have had a real body, so I wanted to let them enjoy it while it lasted.¡± She said, casting a soft smile at the dozen little robot children. As they didn¡¯t have souls, they couldn¡¯t be called Deus Ex, but they were still every bit Celeste¡¯s children. The only difference was that they did not have access to the system that now controlled the world. ¡°Is that alright with you, John?¡± I nodded my head, accepting the request. Honestly, doing my work while watching them play would probably be less boring on my end than simply staring at a pile of soft sticks. Furthermore, with them interacting with each other I could see how making conscious decisions affect their consciousness patterns. Soon, everyone was either playing in the water, relaxing on a towel on the beach, or playing around in the sand. Even the monster girls had begun to enjoy the water, with Sharon, Celeste, and Beth taking turns to teach everyone how to swim. It was fun listening to Celeste¡¯s explanation, as she tried to explain it from a more technical viewpoint that the girls couldn¡¯t understand. As for me, I sometimes switched between performing a deep scan of the consciousness of the AI children and playing with Tokemi and the others in the water. It was honestly the most relaxed I had felt since this war had began. Perhaps the only one that wasn¡¯t enjoying herself too much was Talia, who did her best to hide under her umbrella for over an hour after we arrived. Only after a good deal of coaxing, did Sharon and Maeve convince Talia to swim with them. And by convince, I meant they grabbed her ankles and dragged her, her arms flailing to try and uselessly grab something to stop her. To my surprise, once they got her in the water, she slowly seemed to enjoy herself more. She even swam laps around the beach with Tokemi, playing a game to see who could make it the fastest. Nobody had expected that, as the sun was starting to set, Sharon vanished beneath the water for a while. She was gone long enough that I even began to worry, only to have her suddenly appear in an eruption of water far away from the shore. She was holding a massive fish, easily three meters long, high above her head. ¡°Hey guys!¡± She called out to us with a wide grin. ¡°I found dinner!¡± Chapter 189: Drawing Life From a Stone While I was at the beach, I noticed several things. First of all, Tokemi acted very cutely when she was having trouble swimming, pouting her lips and clinging to whoever was teaching her. But that¡¯s not the point! The point is, when I was studying the AI children, I found that their consciousness was just too complicated for me to study. And it wasn¡¯t just that, because every second the patterns of the aura that represented their mind changed. From just them, even if there had been a hundred AI children to study, I wouldn¡¯t have been able to learn what I needed. The only way to get what I wanted truly seemed to be to get a fresh mind, one that has not had any time to adjust to making decisions. Then, at the moment of its creation, I could study it and get what I needed. I couldn¡¯t help but look towards Yo, thinking about how I created her. A newborn slime would have a very simple mind, more so than most monsters. Even after Yo evolved twice and became a slime person, her mind was fairly simple for a while. Once we were all ready to leave the beach, we gathered together and picked up everything we had brought with us. Talia had wrapped herself up in a giant towel, using it like a robe to hide herself from the world while the rest of us laughed. The queen of the forest was obviously not used to social situations like this, and while we weren¡¯t making fun of her for that, we couldn¡¯t help but find it amusing. ¡°Well, John, hope you and your people had fun today.¡± Maeve said with a wide smile, still in the bikini she had worn to the beach¡­ Even though we had already returned directly to her palace via teleport. ¡°We do hope that you¡¯ll be able to spend more days like this soon.¡± I gave a slight nod, thinking back to the day that we had at the beach. ¡°It was fun. Probably most fun I¡¯ve had in a long time.¡± Though, I had spent almost half the time analyzing complex aura patterns by way of creepily staring at robot children. ...Yup, Malthan really is gone for now, isn¡¯t he? That was totally a thought that he would have jumped at. Seeing me smile, Maeve nodded her head heavily. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll keep you updated on any progress reports we get about about the designs for your ship upgrades. Hopefully, they¡¯ll be of some use to you when you have to leave.¡± ¡°I hope so, Maeve. I really do.¡± From my estimations, we would need to raid at least one or two more bases of the New Human Empire, but it should not take too much longer to figure out where important locations like their main bases are at. And once we know that¡­ our current fleet is not equipped to handle a battle of that scale. After saying our goodbyes, we returned back to the Ariadne. For Tessa and Tokemi, it was time to put them to bed. The other girls all went off to do their own things as well, but Celeste remained behind. She had collected the robotic children¡¯s bodies and returned their minds to the soft sticks before we left the beach, and now she looked at me curiously. ¡°You weren¡¯t able to get what you needed?¡± No doubt, she had read my irritation over that fact, either from my thoughts or my face. I smiled, trying my best to reassure her. ¡°Not quite. I know what I¡¯m lacking, though, so it shouldn¡¯t take too much longer. I might be needing your help to analyze the information soon and help me build a three dimensional map.¡± Hearing that, Celeste smiled brightly. ¡°Sure thing, John. Just let me know what you need.¡± After saying that, she turned to begin walking back towards her own room. No doubt she wanted to return her children to their terminals, and hear what they had to say about their first experiences outside of a computer. ¡°Bye, mom!¡± The ring on my finger suddenly spoke up, reminding me that I still had Lex equipped. I had studied his consciousness as well while we were down there, but like the others it changed with every thought he made. I made my way back to the medbay, switching the ring over to my main body and leaving behind the clone. Next, I went to the hangar, my go-to for monster spawning. I could really do this anywhere, but the hangar was large enough that I would be able to handle any situation that could arise from my experiments. Once in the hangar, I sat down heavily on the ground. There was no real reason behind me sitting down, aside from it being one less thing my mind would have to keep track of. For this experiment, I split my mind in three using my augments. Two of the portions each held one tenth of my mental capacity, while the other held the rest. This made performing multiple actions extremely easy, especially when the actions of the smaller parts were simpler in nature. The first part of my mind had only three jobs. First, it gathered the water mana from the surrounding air, pouring it into a single point. This caused a Seed of Water to be created, yet the job did not end there. More and more mana continued to pour in, until a jelly-like substance began to seep out of the elemental seed. At this point, the slime had been officially created, and that part of my mind immediately called for Celeste. The moment the slime was born, the second and third parts of my mind began working. For the former, I utilized my control of time mana to isolate the slime, preventing any time mana from touching it and also freezing that mana type within the slime itself. This caused the slime to be frozen in time at the moment of its birth. However, doing this used a metric assload of mana. This was the third job of the first portion, to track my mana usage. According to what I was seeing, I could hold this state for fifteen seconds before I was out of mana. That meant that I was using almost five hundred mana every second, just to freeze a small slime. When Celeste focused on my consciousness, she did not waste any time asking questions. She could see what was going on, and immediately got to work. While the larger portion of my mind tapped into my Spatial Comprehension, Mana Sense, and even my Aura Sight skills, she was taking every scrap of information I could see and processing it into a three dimensional aura map. For fifteen seconds I stared at the slime, though under the effects of those skills it felt so much longer. And, when those fifteen seconds were over, I let out a deep breath, my mana exhausted. The slime fell to the floor, slowly growing until it could barely fit into the palm of my hand. It wobbled around slightly while I sat there, waiting for my mana to recover. It would take less than a minute for me to get back to full mana, but by that time it would have no doubt made some tiny decision that would affect its consciousness. I could only ask with a weary voice. ¡°Did you get it?¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I waited maybe three minutes before I heard a reply, starting to think that I might have overtaxed my implant. However, Celeste¡¯s voice eventually came through to me. ¡°I got it, John. I¡¯m sending the map over now.¡± Closing my eyes, in the back of my mind I could see the image. What she sent was the complete aura, which I was thankful for. For living creatures, and even living items like Lex, a consciousness touched every part of their being. To only see the consciousness without what it was attached to would only be half the puzzle. Leaning back, I laid flat against the ground as I worked on the image in my head. I had dealt with enough slimes by now that I knew their aura intimately. I was able to immediately strip away the nonessential components, leaving me with only the very basic consciousness. ¡°Save it.¡± I said quietly, mostly to myself. By now, my mana had long since recovered, so I repeated the process again. This time, I created a wind slime, which landed next to the water one. After the same fifteen seconds of study, it likewise dropped to the ground to sit next to its ¡®sibling¡¯. And again I studied the fundamental consciousness in its aura. I repeated this again for fire slimes, metal slimes, gem slimes, and even gold slimes. Though, for the last two I had to convert my own mana into the necessary element, which shaved a few seconds off the time I had to study. But, after half a dozen slimes, all studied at the moment of their creation, I had found it. At the core of every consciousness was a single spark. Whether it was the AIs, the slimes, or even myself. That single spark was what I needed, the seed of thought. Everything around it was a basic framework that varied from person to person, and even from moment to moment. But that one tiny part of consciousness was absolute. I compared it with every creature aura I knew, and even summoned some more monsters to check, but it was always there. Now, I had found what could be considered the essence of sentience in magical terms. And it was exactly what I was looking for. With a wave of my hand, I sent out a pulse of mana that destroyed all but the water slime. For that one, I planned to give it to Yo, thinking that she might like it. Alright, time to make myself a soldier. I closed my eyes and focused. The basic body was something I had long since planned. It was the same for almost every soldier, even though the elements involved would vary. They held humanoid appearances, and had only two abilities. They could absorb and control the elements that they were made of. At some point, I hoped to create a ¡®spawner¡¯, a creature with the sole function of making more of these soldiers. If I could put that in Lex¡¯s grove, then the army contained within it would only grow with time. However, such things were well beyond me right now. Elemental absorbtion and control were both abilities that I had studied before. But, the ability to create a very specific being? That was something entirely foreign to me. As this was my first soldier, I decided to go with something simple. A body made of stone that could hold everything together. Although it was not an organic, I still gave certain parts of its body abilities that mimicked similar body parts. On its face, I gave it stones capable of seeing by replicating the pattern for eyes. I did the same thing to grant it ears, and a mouth to project its voice. It did not need to eat, drink, or even breathe through the mouth, but it could project a voice. With the body complete, I relaxed my control of it¡­ Only for the entire thing to literally crumble down in a pile of stones. Noted, need to manually hold the body together while I put in the consciousness, or it would fall apart. I would not be giving these creatures souls, because it would not be very useful to them. At most, I might be able to make dungeons or spawning diagrams inside Lex¡¯s grove, but I was not even sure if the gods would allow a loophole like that. Even if they did, it would only get the army through the early levels. Instead, these would be like the robots before they transformed into Deus Ex. They can be technically alive, yet not have access to the system. Their power would be unbound by the concept of levels. Instead, they would only be limited on the amount of energy they could control. The second time I made the rock soldier, I made sure to hold it together while I planted that tiny spark of thought into its mind. Even though I call it a spark, it was much more complicated than that. An interwoven pattern of lines and shapes, yet it was the size of the head of a pin. If it hadn¡¯t been for Celeste¡¯s 3D map of the aura, I might not have been able to identify it as a common link in consciousness. Once the spark of thought had been planted in the soldier, I watched as the lines of consciousness formed, connecting to every single part of its body. Various patterns and shapes took hold, displaying its initial thoughts at birth, yet it remained motionless. Even when I released my hold over its body, it simply stood there. Okay, now what? I asked myself. There was no reason to assume that it had been born with a language. With creatures like Yo, they learned it over time. With Tokemi, it might have been part of the ¡®starting package¡¯ that comes with being made through the gathering of mana at a single point to form a catalyst. But, this was a being that had been built from scratch, right down to its very mind. There was only one language that this creature could possibly understand. So, as I spoke, I transmitted earth mana through my voice, using the mana itself to communicate. ¡°Raise your right hand if you can understand me.¡± The moment I said the command, the golem¡¯s right hand was lifted. It seemed to give no further thought, simply obeying the command as it was given. So, I gave it a more complicated order, one which required thought to perform. ¡°Tell me what you are.¡± This time, I was met with only silence. I could see the lines of its consciousness slowly changing. Each thought made it grow stronger and stronger, until the changes were vast and unpredictable. Though, even then they were still likely to be nothing more than the most simple of thoughts, compared to most creatures. I am¡­ born. This was the answer that was sent back to me, carried by earth mana. The answer surprised me greatly. I had expected ¡®I am a rock¡¯, ¡®I am alive¡¯, or even ¡®What am I?¡¯. Yet, it had chosen this wording. And that¡¯s correct, it had chosen that word. At first, I was worried that I might have created something that I could not control. However, any strong druid that used the right elements could easily crush these soldiers with a flex of their metaphysical muscles. Even Lex would be able to do so soon, especially if they were in his grove. Before it had the chance to develop its mind too much, I wanted to make sure this command was engraved deep into the earliest regions of its mind. ¡°From now on, you will obey the wearer of this ring, and none other.¡± As I said that, I lifted my hand, displaying the ring on my finger for the creature to see. I wanted to call this thing a golem, but even golems had souls. These were little more than elemental robots. But, they would make the perfect army. Chapter 190: They Grow Up So Slow, Or Fast? After I was done creating the prototype soldier, I began testing its intelligence more. First, I would ask it simple questions such as, ¡®What is one plus one?¡¯. However, I soon discovered that it lacked any talent for math. While robots may be able to perform thousands, or even millions of calculations in a single second, my elemental soldier could do no such thing. What he could do, however, was what it was designed for. When I created a clay pot in my grove, and brought it into my hand, I ordered it to copy that object. To my surprise, it did not simply create a clay pot in its hands. Rather, its entire body began shifting, rounding out and emptying until it became a clay pot itself. I thought that this was a rather useful ability, given the circumstances. If the soldiers could reshape their bodies at will, and were outside of the system¡¯s control, they could be considered effectively immortal. The only way to take one down would be to either cancel the negate the magic consciousness inside of them, use a powerful druid to destroy them, or to destroy every scrap of their body at once. ¡°Lex, do you think you¡¯d be able to copy what I¡¯m doing to create these creatures yourself?¡± I asked, looking down at the ring on my hand. ¡°Sorry, John¡­¡± The ring replied in a small voice. ¡°My control isn¡¯t that good¡­ I can¡¯t even see what you¡¯re doing to make them able to think like that.¡± ¡°Ah, no worries.¡± It seemed like his ability to monitor mana wasn¡¯t quite refined enough to handle the more complicated tasks like that. There was one way that I could get them to multiply, but it was beyond my control right now. From what I heard over my years with the Qu¡¯Lopti, there is a planet of naturally occurring slimes, rather than monsters. Though, they are often called gels instead of slimes due to their differences. Unlike slimes, gels have no core, and can only be damaged with energy attacks. However, the part I was interested in was their ability to split themselves apart after they take in sufficient nutrients. If I was able to get a gel sample, I might really be able to adapt that aspect to my army. Until then, however, I was stuck doing this the hard way. After I confirmed the soldier¡¯s intelligence, or lack thereof, I had Lex absorb it into the ring. Then, I began making the second one. This one had a metal skin, but its insides were made entirely of fire. When it was done, and its sentience was obtained, I waited. I wanted to see if it would be able to hold onto its non-solid body parts. Sure enough, the consciousness merged with both the metal and flame, resulting in the same state of unintelligent awareness that the rock soldier had. At this point, I was thinking that the prototype soldier¡¯s choice of words might have actually been a mistake, and that it did not even mean to use the word ¡®born¡¯. That, or it was able to recognize that it had just been born, but was not able to tell what it was, so that was the only answer it could give. After the second soldier, I began pushing out more and more. Each one I would spend roughly ten minutes to craft the body, and ten minutes to test the mind. I didn¡¯t want to let one slip into the army if their personality was uncontrollable. However, after the first few, I came up with an idea for how to communicate with them. That idea was to use Lex. By having Lex act as a translator, he could project anything I said to the elementals by communicating through mana. Then, if someone other than myself were to wear the ring, he would also be able to translate the response. Of coure, I was still able to understand what was being said while I was the one holding it, so there was no risk of betrayal. I continued like this, making three soldiers an hour, for the next two days. Although I had stopped to eat and sleep, there had been little else to worry about for the time being. As such, soon I was able to create a total of fifty elemental soldiers. While it was less than what I planned to make for the final product, it was the most that Lex could support. With fifty soldiers constantly absorbing and generating mana of their matching elements, Lex¡¯s grove was being taxed quite a lot. I even had to let him tap into the energy I passively absorbed in order to allow the grove¡¯s mana to regenerate at the same rate that it was absorbed. It was on the third day that I received a message from Celeste. ¡°Maeve just called, wanting to speak with you.¡± Okay, so it was a message concerning a message I was getting from Maeve, close enough. At the time, I had been playing Monopoly with Tokemi, and losing rather badly. Part of me suspected that she was using her magic to rig the dice rolls, but the other part of me didn¡¯t care, as long as she was having fun. Seeing the look on my face, the silver haired fox-girl frowned sadly. ¡°Business?¡± She asked, looking up to me with wide eyes. I nodded my head, laughing lightly as I reached out and stroke her furry ear. Although reluctant, she allowed her expression to melt into a comfortable one at the touch. ¡°I¡¯ll be back soon to finish. It¡¯s probably just a report I was expecting.¡± Tokemi nodded her head with a complacent smile, still enjoying the attention she was getting. At least until I stopped to get up, then she turned her head cutely to try to bring her ears closer to me. I could only let out another laugh as I walked over to the desk in my room. This report was likely nothing too confidential, or she would have reported that fact when trying to send me the message in the first place. As such, I had no issues with taking the call in front of Tokemi. Once I sat down, a holographic Maeve sitting atop her throne appeared on my desk. To my relief, she was NOT wearing the skimpy bikini from the other day, and was back to a form-fitting dress.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Thank you for taking my call, John.¡± She said with a light nod in my direction, though really she was just nodding at a screen that happened to be placed opposite of her throne on a high wall. I had the chance to see that a while back, so I knew of its existence. ¡°Is now a good time?¡± ¡°Is there something the matter?¡± I raised my eyebrow curiously. Asking if it was a good time, was there perhaps some emergency I was unaware of? However, she simply shook her head. ¡°Nothing like that. I simply imagined you might be busy tending to your ship and crew. I wanted to give you an update on the technologies being developed by the allied races for your ship.¡± Once again, I was relieved to know that nothing major happened. ¡°Alright, you can go ahead and tell me.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± She began. ¡°I only have received reports on a few of the plans, so I can only tell you that much. From the elves, we are preparing a life support system. This is our most advanced system, serving as both support and defense. While active, it passively releases an immunizing agent throughout the ship. This agent will make anyone that stays on the ship for more than one solar day immune to the ¡®defense¡¯ protocol for a limited period.¡± ¡°The defense protocol activates when the ship is placed under alert, and releases a nerve gas throughout the entire ship. For most races, this nerve gas will simply render them unconscious, only serving as a real threat to those with less resistance to such things. Of course, regular crew members will at that point be immune to the gas, and able to clean up any unprepared invaders. Given our technology, this was the best we could offer you.¡± As she finishes, she shakes her head sadly, as if she wished she could do more. ¡°Next are the kleptids. Their technology focuses on medicine even more heavily than our own, so they are working on a redesign for your medbay. While I am not privy to the more sensitive details, I can tell you a few things. The cloning technology of the kleptids far exceeds that of any other known race. With their help, you will likely never have to worry about running out of clone bodies. If I were to bet, they will likely also include better surgical equipment for you as well.¡± ¡°Now, the drakes. Their technology is largely incompatible with our own, because they mostly use organic technology. However, they are designing a neural cluster for you to use on the ship, that should vastly increase the performance speed of the main computers. This was the easiest technology that they could convert to a machine interface, so it was all that they could offer up.¡± Taking a deep breath, Maeve continued. ¡°Lastly, I have information about the dwarves. Using the data provided by you and your crew regarding the defense systems of the Empire, and the technology developed by the Qu¡¯Lopti over recent years, they seem to believe they have designed a weapon capable of breaching their shield ships¡¯ defenses.¡± After saying that, Maeve had a weary smile on her face for a moment. ¡°That¡¯s all the information I have, I¡¯m afraid. The rest of the races are keeping rather quiet about their plans. Likely, they are afraid that any information might wind up in the wrong hands, which is why even the ones I have knowledge on are so little.¡± I nodded my head in understanding. ¡°It makes sense. I¡¯ll be waiting for the rest of the reports.¡± I already knew what the Deus Ex were working on, as I myself asked them for it. Now it was just a matter of sitting still long enough for the ship to get fully upgraded, and hoping that the New Human Empire isn¡¯t ready to make their move yet. With how split their attentions were, and how few their original numbers, we should be safe for a while yet. However, I could never be sure with them. Maeve gave a slight nod, and we said our farewells. After the holographic screen disappeared, I heard Tokemi¡¯s voice calling from behind me. ¡°So, can we get back to the game?¡± She asked in a pleading voice. Mostly because she was close to winning, but still. I laughed, nodding my head again as I turned to her. ¡°Alright, alright.¡± I moved back to the bed, where we had laid out the game board. ¡°How¡¯s it going with you and Tessa?¡± I asked as I picked up the dice. She perked her head up slightly, though I could see her ears drooping. ¡°What brought that up, dad?¡± Well, that was slightly worrying¡­ ¡°Nothing really. There¡¯s just not many people around here your age, so I wanted to make sure that the two of you were getting along well.¡± While I moved my piece, Tokemi sighed sadly. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ okay. I mean, she¡¯s cool and all, don¡¯t get me wrong. And, her mom is fun to hang out with too. But¡­¡± As she spoke, her eyes fell more and more, until she was looking down at the bed. ¡°You wish you could grow up like she could?¡± I asked curiously. Tokemi didn¡¯t say anything, but slightly nodded her head. Even though she was still so young, she was already starting to feel the pain of her friends growing up without her. Especially for a young child, I couldn¡¯t imagine how much that must hurt. ¡°Well¡­ maybe you can?¡± I saw her ears twitch as I said that, while I handed her the dice. ¡°Dad? What do you mean?¡± Although she took the dice, she didn¡¯t roll them, looking at me with unmasked curiosity. In her eyes, I could see a faint hope. Hope that maybe she could stay with her friends longer, without a growing age difference separating them. So, I told her the thought I had. ¡°I¡¯ve been thinking about your situation¡­ I might be able to help you grow older in short bursts with my shapeshifting magic. It wouldn¡¯t be as natural, or as fluid as normal aging, but it would still let you grow up with your friends.¡± As I spoke, I watched the light in her eyes growing brighter, as if she had found the answer to her questions. ¡°Would¡­ would it hurt?¡± Now, that part I didn¡¯t know for sure. I had only rarely done shapeshifting changes to other people, and I always made sure that they were unconscious for it. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t, but I¡¯m not sure. If we put you to sleep for a few minutes, we should be able to fix it and wake you up in a slightly older body each time.¡± I really didn¡¯t want to do anything that would hurt Tokemi, as I did consider her more like a daughter of mine. Although I never really felt that attached to Yo despite her insisting on calling me her father, Tokemi was another story altogether. Tokemi thought about it for a few moments, and then smiled brightly. ¡°Please help me grow up, dad!¡± How was I supposed to say no to that? Chapter 191: Upgrades and Grow Up After we finished up our little board game, with Tokemi basically buying up every property on the board and leaving me penniless, we let the others know what we were going to do. This was a big change for her, after all, and they had a right to know. However, the most surprised reaction was undoubtedly from Tessa, who called us over a hologram as soon as I let her mom know what was happening. ¡°You don¡¯t have to do this, Mimi!¡± Now where did that nickname come from? ¡°We¡¯ll always be best friends, whether you get bigger or not.¡± She tried to reassure Tokemi, though the baishiro girl just shook her head with a bitter smile. ¡°I know, Tess. But I want to do this. I don¡¯t want to watch everyone grow up around me while I¡¯m stuck looking like a kid. Would you, if it were your choice?¡± ¡°Well¡­ maybe, for the free candy and cheap movie tickets¡­ But, I get your point.¡± Tessa said, lowering her head. ¡°Can I at least be there when it¡¯s done? Not many people get to watch their friends grow up right in front of them!¡± When she asked that, Tokemi glanced over to me, looking for my reaction. I nodded my head, signaling her that it was okay. ¡°Alright, Tess. Dad thinks it¡¯s fine. See you in ten, then?¡± She had a small smile on her face when she asked that, glad that her friend was being so supportive of her decision. ¡°See you in ten.¡± She agreed, and the two hung up their call. With the call over, Tokemi took a deep breath before turning to look at me. ¡°Okay¡­ what do we need to do?¡± She asked, her eyes starting to look uncertain. Giving it a moment of thought, I nodded my head again slightly. ¡°First, run down to the medbay to get one of the surgical gowns.¡± When I said that, she looked as if I told her I was going to cut her arm off, her face a ghastly white. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s just so that your clothes won¡¯t be damaged when you grow. One size fits all, and what not.¡± ¡°Ohh¡­¡± Her head bobbed up and down slightly as she agreed. ¡°I¡¯ll go get that real quick.¡± After saying so, I felt a surge of time mana around her, and she sped out of the room. Guess she wants to be sure she makes it back in time to meet Tessa before this all goes down. Sure enough, she had run all the way to the medbay and back in under thirty seconds, looking barely winded. In her hands were a large white gown, showing she had gotten what she went for. Seeing that, I smiled to her. ¡°Okay, now go ahead and get changed.¡± I said as I walked out of the room, giving her her privacy. A short while after I left the room, I heard Tokemi¡¯s voice calling me to tell me I could go back in. When I walked in, I saw her standing beside the bed, dressed only in the white gown that went all the way down to her ankles. Her hands were down at her sides, and she smiled up to me. ¡°Okay, what next dad?¡± ¡°Now, we wait for Tessa and them to get here. Just in case, I want to put you to sleep for the change, so that it won¡¯t hurt. And I¡¯m sure that you want to be able to talk to her first, right?¡± When I asked that, she nodded her head quickly. Thankfully, we didn¡¯t have to wait very long, because I soon heard a loud knock on the door to my room. ¡°Tokemi, John?¡± I heard Tessa calling in from the hall, obviously short on breath from having run so quickly to get here. ¡°You guys¡­ you in there?¡± Tokemi looked at me, and couldn¡¯t stop herself from laughing as she went to the door and opened it up. Tessa was standing there, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, panting for breath. ¡°Did I¡­ did I make it in time?¡± Tokemi grinned, shaking her head and pulling Tessa into a hug. ¡°Thanks, Tess.¡± ¡°Anytime, Mimi.¡± Tessa said quietly as she returned the hug. ¡°But really, we¡¯d be friends even if you stay a kid. But¡­ I get why you want to do this. I¡¯d probably want the same thing if it were me.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but clear my throat. ¡°Alright, you two. Ready to get this over with? It shouldn¡¯t take too long once we get started. Just go lie down on the bed and I¡¯ll get started.¡± Tokemi gave one last look to Tessa, before nodding and going to the bed, laying down on top of it. ¡°Okay, dad, I¡¯m ready.¡± She said, closing her eyes and smiling. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll begin.¡± After saying that, I brushed my hand over her forehead gently, casting a sleep spell on her. Tessa nervously moved to the other side of the bed to watch me, but there was honestly not much for anyone other than myself to see. Well, myself and a certain hitch hiker. Gazing into Tokemi¡¯s aura, I began my work. This was not a process of aging the body, but simply making it look older. Similar to how I had once made myself more youthful, yet if anyone used magic to scan my aura, I¡¯d probably appear a hundred years older. In the same way, I searched through her body, changing various little aspects. First, her body began to grow slowly, discomfort appearing on her face as I worked to make the changes easier on her. I healed any damage that appeared, making sure she stayed asleep the entire time. Soon, she had gained a full ten inches, growing to roughly five feet tall. Tessa let out a gasp as she noticed the change, quickly covering her mouth so as not to wake Tokemi. Next was her face, losing some of its roundness to become more angled. She still carried the look of a child, but not one as young as she had been before. When I was done, I went through one more time, making sure that all of the changes had been made properly, both on the inside and out. Only after that did I apply one last healing spell to remove any residual discomfort, before waking Tokemi with another spell. Tessa held her hands together in worry as she watched her friend slowly open her eyes. ¡°Huaahhh.¡± Tokemi let out a long yawn, uncharacteristic of someone that had slept for maybe ten minutes. Slowly, she brought her arms under her and propped herself up. ¡°I feel¡­ Hungry.¡± As she said that she brought one hand to her stomach. At the same time, she seemed to notice something when she looked down at herself, then glanced over to a certain area on Tessa, then back to herself, and frowned.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Nope, not doing that. I already helped Sharon with that issue once before, but I am not doing that for my little fox-girl daughter. Looking away and pretending I didn¡¯t notice her annoyed glare, I cleared my throat. ¡°Well, shall we go get something to eat, then?¡± Tokemi looked like she was just about to raise a complaint, when her stomach decided to raise one first. Looking down at herself again, she grimaced. ¡°You win this time, belly. You win this time.¡± Finally, Tokemi swung her legs off the side of the bed, surprised to find that her feet actually reached now without having to stretch them. Giving a small grin, she pushed herself up to a standing position, only to fall right back down. ¡°Okay¡­ dizzy. That normal, dad?¡± She asked with a slightly worried voice as she turned her head to look at me. I nodded in response, remembering back to the disorientation I felt the first few times I shapeshifted. ¡°You have to adjust to your new body. You just went through five years of growth in five minutes, so it will take some time to adjust. Thankfully, I was able to keep your muscles as strong as they were before, so you shouldn¡¯t have any weakness.¡± With that, not only Tokemi, but even Tessa on the other side of the bed let out a sigh of relief. The human girl walked over, taking one of Tokemi¡¯s hands. ¡°I¡¯ll help, okay Mimi?¡± She offered with a gentle smile, to which Tokemi nodded in thanks. Like that, the two girls began walking off carefully, one leaning against the other for support. The next few days were largely uneventful, with me spending most of my time watching Tokemi to make sure that she didn¡¯t have any issues with her slightly larger body. Thankfully, after needing Tessa to help her around for the first day, she seemed to be fine walking on her own, though she was still a bit unsteady on her feet for a while. After that had passed, things quieted down again. Though, it was only a couple days later when Celeste sent me a message. ¡°John, we¡¯ve got the data files from the various race representatives. Do you want me to summarize it for you?¡± Okay, I¡¯d just like to point out that these messages don¡¯t always come at the best time. For instance, when I happen to be in the middle of a shower and happen to hear a female voice in my head. That would count as ¡®not the best time¡¯. After jumping slightly, I groaned inwardly. ¡°Send the summary to my computer. I¡¯ll read it when I can.¡± There was a small, knowing laugh in the back of my head, but Celeste complied, letting me get back to my shower. When I was done, I walked out in a large robe and sat at my desk, pulling up the files that had already been transferred. She really had summarized it quite a lot, not going into many details with each file. Unsurprisingly, the Ha¡¯vosh had nothing to offer, as their race still refused to leave beyond their own system most of the time.
Dwarves: Weapon designs, likely effective against Empire shielding.
Elves: Life Support/Internal defense against organic invaders.
Halflings: More efficient maneuvering thrusters.
Drake: Biomechanical nerve wiring for increased processing speed.
Fairy: Adaptive shields, able to leach small amounts of energy from attacks to strengthen itself.
Deus Ex: Long-distance warp core. They finally finished it!
Humans: Modified impulse thruster.
Demons: Automated defense lasers to shoot down incoming fighters and missiles.
Kleptids: Medbay upgrades, largely for disease resistance and cloning stations.
Out of all of them, a few caught my eye right away. For instance, the Deus Ex¡¯s contribution, the device that we discovered blueprints for in our very first raid on the New Human Empire. The fact that they had finished it meant that we would be able to travel over extreme distances even faster than in subspace. The next one that caught my attention was the one from the humans. I couldn¡¯t help but call out. ¡°Celeste, what¡¯s with this one?¡± I asked out loud, my eyes focusing on the ¡®Modified impulse thruster¡¯ line. ¡°Ah, apparently that¡¯s the best they could do. With humans not having a proper foothold yet, they weren¡¯t able to design something too complicated. According to the footnotes, they actually exchanged a large sum of gold to the market for this blueprint. However, it¡¯s only slightly better than what we have right now, and uses more energy. So, I didn¡¯t want to call it an improvement.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice rang out in my mind after I called for her, before returning to silence. I wasn¡¯t surprised that there was nothing on the list from the Qu¡¯Lopti. After all, we already had their most advanced technology here in the form of the combining fighter squadrons. If we wanted to apply some of that technology to the Ariadne, it would be easier to just build a whole new ship. ¡°Have the Deus Ex tested the warp core yet?¡± I asked, looking forward to that one above all else. ¡°Up to a distance of five parsecs. The largest problem with that technology is the precise coordinates needed. The further away you¡¯re moving, the easier it is to miscalculate. Sadly, it¡¯s not as easy as pointing to a star and going there, because the light from that star had to travel for so long that it might not be in quite the same position anymore. So, they can do five parsec jumps at a time and land exactly where they want. Anything more than that and they have to aim for empty space.¡± I nodded in understanding. ¡°I see¡­ Still, that would allow us to get there much faster than before. How long will it take to get the upgrades installed?¡± ¡°Once you choose which upgrades to install, I can figure it up. Also, I would like to request permission to pass the designs to the Deus Ex as well. If we go into battle with only one ship that is capable of fighting them we¡¯ll only end up getting destroyed.¡± ¡°Alright, permission granted.¡± I agreed easily. ¡°And see if any of these can be applied to the Qu¡¯Lopti ships without compromising their other systems. Having the warp core alone will save us enough travel time to make up the modifications.¡± ¡°Okay, I¡¯ll get on it, and I¡¯ll let you know when I have a timeline.¡± Just as Celeste finished that, a window appeared in front of me. At first, I thought it might be someone using the friends list to contact me, until I saw the message.
I¡¯m back!
Chapter 192: A Good Idea? Oh great¡­ I thought to myself as I saw the prompt. I had forgotten that he said he would only be gone a week, and was getting rather used to the silence. It almost reminded me when he had all but vanished for several years. Ahh¡­ those were the days.
I heard that! And for the record, gods apparently can¡¯t get high. (¨s¡ã¡õ¡ã)¨s¦à ©ß©¥©ß Not for lack of trying, though!
Okay, didn¡¯t exactly need to know that. I shook my head as I got changed, wanting to get on with my day. It was unlikely that Malthan had anything actually meaningful to contribute aside from bored rambling. At times it made me wonder just how lonely the gods could be, given the sheer number of them.
I can still hear that! And you really have no idea! Now, let¡¯s see¡­ what new developments have I missed lately...
I was just about to say, or think, something possibly rude when another window appeared in front of me, cutting off my train of thought.
Wow, you had a boring week. Aside from your beach vacation and helping the fox get a bit bigger¡­ you did jack all, didn¡¯t you? Glad I spaced out then.
Do you have anything useful to say, or are you just here to torment me again? I thought inwardly, really hoping it was the former. Though, a part of me worried whenever Malthan did have anything useful to say to me. Only on rare occasions would it be something good.
Just figured I¡¯d pop in, see how things are going. It¡¯s bingo night, and I wasn¡¯t really interested in cheating again.
I couldn¡¯t help it, I facepalmed when he casually admitted to cheating. Just ignore him and he¡¯ll go away¡­ just ignore him and he¡¯ll go away. I repeated this mantra to myself over and over, closing my eyes tight. When I opened my eyes, of course there was another window there waiting for me.
Peek-a-boo. Also, nice job on the elemental robots. Way to cheat the system.
He¡¯s still there. Of course he¡¯s still there. I wasn¡¯t sure why I was hoping that he¡¯d take the hint, so I just finished getting dressed and opened up the door to leave the room.
Though, I probably would have trained them to merge into one supreme elemental warrior that held all of the combined elements. I mean, you¡¯ve definitely got enough of them there.
And stopped dead in my tracks when I saw the last message. I hadn¡¯t even considered the idea of them combining like that. Why would I, each one was its own entity, and their thoughts could potentially conflict when they try to join together. That would prevent them from merging into a single being. Though, with how simple-minded they were, that might not be an issue. I furrowed my brows as I considered the possibility that Malthan had given me a good idea. The fact that it might have even been on purpose worried me even more. However, this time there really was no window that appeared. ¡°Celeste, I need a training ground. A big one.¡± I said out loud, still standing in the doorway to my room. ¡°Oh?¡± I heard her inside my mind again, a surprised voice that made me think she hadn¡¯t been paying attention during my little exchange with Malthan. ¡°How big?¡± ¡°As big as possible. Malthan gave me an idea.¡± There was an exaggerated and horrified scream echoing in my mind as I said that, making me raise my eyebrows in surprise. ¡°Sorry, couldn¡¯t resist. Hmm¡­ I think I¡¯ve got a place that would work. You don¡¯t need your own dedicated planet or anything, right?¡± When I shook my head slightly, she continued. ¡°Good. There¡¯s an island off the coast of Gerin 6, it was abandoned after Genesis due to monster activity, and they never got around to reclaiming it. As long as you don¡¯t mind a few monsters, that should be a perfect training ground. The next best thing would be an uninhabited world or the moon.¡±Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Monster island works fine.¡± I shook my head, accepting the suggestion. I doubted that there would be anything down there that could pose an actual threat to me, especially with the fifty soldiers there as well. If there was anything like that, it would have to be at the world boss level, and there was no way that they wouldn¡¯t notify us of a monster like that living on the planet. While I walked to the medbay to get into the clone body, I went over the details of my idea with Celeste. Like myself, she seemed surprised that Malthan actually came up with and shared a good idea. One that could give a massive power boost if it worked properly. After all, one elemental soldier was already powerful. Fifty of them combined into one would be nearly unstoppable. After switching Lex over to my clone body, I had myself teleported down to the island that Celeste designated. Sure enough, when I arrived, I saw a host of monsters crawling around the ruins of a wrecked city. The streets had been torn open, revealing the transit system beneath, while large, doglike creatures wandered around. It was rather unusual that they were all the same species of monster, but I could only assume that they were the dominant creatures to remain after the city was destroyed. Each one could come up to my shoulders on all fours, with glistening blue fur and four golden eyes. ¡°Celeste, do you have any records on these creatures?¡± ¡°Checking¡­ Nope. They weren¡¯t included in the information I got when I was looking up wolf evolutionary lines. Most likely, they are just a species not part of that evolutionary tree, for some reason.¡± ¡°Probably because they¡¯re ghosts.¡± I said with a groan as I noticed one of the blue wolves casually walking through the shattered remains of a stone wall. Even if they weren¡¯t ghosts, they definitely weren¡¯t normal wolf monsters. ¡°Yeah, that would do it. Will make for an interesting fight, though! You and fifty undying elemental soldiers against¡­ Three thousand, six hundred, and seventy five ghost dogs! I gotta go make some popcorn.¡± I half expected a reply from Malthan to appear after that, but again he remained quiet. Much to my relief. ¡°Alright, Lex. Start bringing them out.¡± I said with my brows furrowed. While I wasn¡¯t concerned that the wolves could actually kill me or the soldiers, I wasn¡¯t quite sure how I could kill something that casually phases through walls. There were some obvious methods to try first, but we¡¯d have to see how things go. In response to my command, I felt a fairly powerful mana build up on my finger, before a trail of flame appeared in front of me, solidifying into the shape of a person. Afterwards, more figures began appearing, made of stone, metal, light, shadow, even some made from plants and the flesh of beasts. And then came the combination soldiers, those that were composed of between two and five elements. When all fifty had appeared, the ghost wolves finally took notice of my presence. Or, more specifically, the flaming/glowing/sparking presence of the small army that suddenly appeared on the street. There was a series of angry growls as they began to turn to face me en masse. Some of them phased up through the street, or through nearby walls to stand horizontally. ¡°Kill them.¡± I commanded, waiting to see how the elemental army would act. After a moment of hesitation, there was a flurry of action. Those with solid bodies transformed themselves into numerous spikes that flew at individual ghost wolves. Those made of energy forms expanded and turned into a sea of light and shadow. Perhaps the most unimpressive of this were the plant and animal soldiers. The plant soldier simply stood there, the flowers of its eyes watching the ghost wolves, while the animal one used its fleshy body as a battering ram. Every now and then it would grow one of its body parts to ridiculous sizes to smack at a wolf, only to have it harmlessly phase through. As the ghost wolves approached the plant soldier, my opinion had to suddenly change. Thick vines began to sprout up from the street, cracking the pavement as they attempted to wrap around the bodies of the wolves. Though again, the wolves simply phased through after a momentary struggle. I nodded my head slightly as I watched the battle. These wolves were pretty strong, under normal circumstances. When I allowed one to attack me due to seeing that they did no real damage to my soldiers, I felt a brief pain as it passed through my arm. Curiously, I checked my experience and noticed a very slight decline. So they attack souls. Well, that explains why this isn¡¯t going anywhere. ¡°Darkness, Fire, Lightning, Light.¡± I called out to four types of elementals, letting Lex translate my words into the appropriate mana types. ¡°Kill them. Everyone else, back off.¡± From my brief observation, I noticed a few things about these wolves. Namely, only energy damage is guaranteed to do damage to them. Whenever they feel physical pressure or register an incoming attack, they turn intangible. However, they have no real defense against energy based attacks. And since their only two methods of attacking seem to be soul devouring and physical attacks, they can¡¯t do anything against the elemental soldiers. I watched as the elementals struck out, over a dozen of them taking action to flood the field with their various affinities. Sure enough, I could hear the screams of the wolves as they were torn apart, unable to fight back. Soon, their survival instincts had kicked in and they began to run away. ¡°Don¡¯t chase them.¡± I said preemptively, not wanting to let the elemental army get too far away. Instead, I watched as the elemental soldiers reformed their original bodies, moving to stand in the same positions that they were summoned. I felt a smile cross my lips as I gave a brief nod, satisfied with their performance. ¡°Now, today we are going to be practicing a new technique.¡± I spoke, not waiting for an answer I knew would never come. ¡°I will be picking out two of you, and you will combine to form one body. You will act as one entity, sharing your powers with each other.¡± There was only silence after I spoke, though I knew that Lex had translated the words to them all. Sighing, I randomly pointed to two of them. One was the very first elemental soldier, the one made of stone, while the other was one made entirely of metal. As soon as I had pointed to them, they did not even wait for me to tell them what to do before following the instructions I set out previously. Their bodies broke apart in chunks that flew together, twisting and fighting with each other as they attempted to form one solid body. What emerged when it was done was a creature roughly one third taller than either of the originals, its body a spiral of layered metal and stone. Raising my eyebrows slightly, I decided to give an order to test it. ¡°Raise your right arm.¡± There was a metallic groaning sound, followed by the cracking of stone as the arm fell apart, immediately pulling itself back together. When it reformed, it was about a third of the way up, and immediately broke again as it tried to move. They aren¡¯t synchronized¡­ My next attempt was with two mixed-element soldiers. One that was light and lightning, the other that was lightning and fire. If believed that the shared element should make the joining more stable, not to mention that they were both energy bodies. This time, when they raised their arm, there was a small explosion of light and fire that caused its form to become blurred for a long moment. By the time I was able to see it clearly, it had raised its arm. However, as soon as I had it move again to lower the arm, the same miniature explosion happened again. They need a stabilizing force¡­ This idea was a good one, and by Malthan I was going to make it work! Chapter 193: Order to Chaos No matter which of the fifty soldiers I chose to combine, they all had similar problems. Their minds were not completely synchronized, causing their bodies to fall apart as soon as they began moving. My next test was to have three or more combine together, and have all of them listen to the commands of a single soldier. That worked somewhat, but had limitations of its own. Whenever the soldiers all shared a common element, they were capable of moving almost fluidly, only demonstrating slight synchronization issues. However, if one of them did not have an element matching the controlling soldier, then there was a lag in its movement while it waited for the order to be passed along by another soldier. If one of them did not share an element with any of the others, then it would not act at all. I considered making a fifty-first soldier, one that was designed to be the leading component in the fusions. However, there was a problem with that, as Lex¡¯s grove had not developed to the point where it could sustain any more than was currently present. So, I could only either alter one of the existing soldiers, or come up with a different method. Looking through my character window, I contemplated to see whether or not I had any means at my disposal to get the effect I wanted.
Name John Hulett Race Wood Elf
Titles Vengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship Captain, Creator of Baishiro Fame 100,000
Level 207 98% Class Druid
Advanced Class Xeno-Shifter Deity Malthan
Health 2000/2000 Health Regen 0
Mana 4500/4500 Mana Regen 124.2
Strength 100 Wisdom 300
Agility 69 Intelligence 450
Dexterity 70 Charisma 35
Vitality 200 Luck 25
Points Remaining
Earth 90%If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Fire 89% Wind 89% Water 89%
Lightning 88% Light 89% Dark 88% Plant 88%
Void 88% Metal 88% Magnetism 88% Plasma 88%
Gravity 88% Time 60% Animal 76% Gem 69%
Gold 81% Luck 26% Order 23% Bone 70%
As I looked through my list of affinities, one of them stuck out for me. Order¡­ Honestly, I had never used Order successfully before, but I knew what it did. I had once tried to use it on an annoying Qu¡¯Lopti, hoping that the order mana would make him listen to me, or at least calm down and stop being so erratic. Instead, what happened was that he became even worse, his control over his body and mind intensifying. Since then, I had tried to use that element on myself on multiple occasions, but each time there was only a minimal effect. My brain had long since been modified with the aura implants to grant me a better control over myself, so adding in the order mana did little else other than to distract me. Here, however, it might just be what I needed. Yet, how was I going to make it work? Unlike the elements that I made the soldiers out of, order has no form. It is not an energy, a solid, it can¡¯t be defined physically. Besides that, Lex does not have the proper element in his grove, so I couldn¡¯t create a soldier with that element whether I wanted to or not. Then, do I use the order element on them while they are combined? Doing so might work, but at the same time would require my constant attention, leaving me exposed to enemy attacks. Then, what could be done¡­ Thinking about it, I only came to one possible solution. Looking to the air, water, and darkness soldiers, I spoke to them. ¡°Merge with me, let me serve as the core. You will allow your abilities to be controlled by myself.¡± This was a fairly heavy gamble, and the merging process could potentially rip my body apart if they tried to meld into me in the same way they did each other. That is why I started with the less solid soldiers, to reduce that risk. And, as I expected, I was soon bathed in water, shrouded in darkness, and lifted by the wind. There was a small pulling sensation on my body at first, making me think that they really were about to rip me apart to try to follow my order, yet soon that subsided. When they seemed to realize that my body did not come apart as easily as theirs did, they settled for wrapping around me, merging into a strange mixture of elements with me at the center. What I ended up as was rather unusual, to say the least. With a body made almost entirely of water, hollow eyes of wind looked out to the surroundings. On the back of the body of water was a cape of flowing shadows. In my mind, I could feel each of the three trying to probe at me through the elemental mana, trying to give up the control that I asked of them. However, I was not sure how to accept that. In order to not drown, I made myself quickly grow gills along my neck, that way I would not be in danger from the water body I found myself in. Next, I reached up my hand in front of me, hoping that the soldiers would mimic this reaction. However, the water body remained motionless. Even when I poured out order mana to try to increase the degree of control, it would not match my movements. What next¡­ I thought to myself, before I brought myself back to the three connections trying to form with my mind. This time, I decided to reach out to them as well, using the same mana types that they called to me with. Immediately, a massive change emerged within me. My mind connected to the three elemental soldiers, my sight passing through the hollow eyes of wind. This suddenly felt like my own body, but at the same time not. After all, there was no sense of touch beyond what my body normally felt. Even though my new feet were standing atop the ground, I could only feel the water surrounding me. With a thought, my right arm of water slowly raised up, though I could see it trembling slightly as it did. Okay, now comes order. I decided, and began adding order mana into the connections that had been formed with the three soldiers. Quickly, the trembling stopped. My arm seemed to become almost solid, steady even as I swung it back and forth with a few experimental motions. With a thought, I saw the water of my hand become ice, and then it formed into a spear. Swinging my arm, I launched the spear of ice from my arm, ¡®feeling¡¯ it travel through the air to land on the ground a few meters away. Somehow, I could still clearly sense it as part of my body, even though it had been separated. And with another thought, it flew back to me, melting to rejoin my body. This is so weird¡­ I did my best to get used to the situation, deciding to test out my control over the other two elemental soldiers at my disposal. Focusing, I felt the shadow cape twist, wrapping around my body and causing me to sink downwards. Soon, I had fallen completely beneath the surface of the pavement, much like what happened when I trapped people within a shadow prison. Yet, this time I was able to clearly see up above, as if there was a window facing the sky above me. More surprisingly, there were similar windows scattered around me. The landscape looked empty, only eerie darkness as far as I could see, with the only changes being the various windows facing upwards. As I walked through the empty space, I noticed that each window was a shadow. I also noticed that the window I originally started beneath vanished as soon as I began moving, likely indication that my own shadow disappeared once I decided not to surface through it. Picking one of the larger shadows, I pulled myself up and back to the surface, and began performing a few more tests. I was able to easily create spears of shadows, blades of wind, or any other physical embodiment of the three elements I was currently made of. The only thing I had to really worry about was that my true body was still visible, floating in the center of my chest. Unlike the elemental soldiers, that was still a considerable weak point. Nodding my head, I decided to continue exploring the possibilities of this. Pointing to the metal, light, and earth soldiers, I spoke up again. My voice sounded odd, cracking as if spoken through a fan. ¡°You three, join me as well.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but worry as I saw the stone and metal soldiers breaking apart, moving to merge with my water body. However, like the previous three they did not try to pull me apart too strongly before giving up and simply forming an elemental armor around me. This time, I actively tapped into the links that they sent, controlling them to reshape into a more fitting body. What I looked like this time was slightly strange. Instead of a body made primarily of water, stone was the main element now. Though, the stones were cracked and broken into large chunks, with streams of water flowing between them. I still kept the cape of shadows, but the eyes this time were brightly glowing lights. As for the wind and metal soldiers, I relocated them to the chest of the large elemental body. Using the metal soldier as a shell, I filled it with wind to create a breathable cocoon. Like this, my true body had a measure of defense, but that was not all. Scattered pieces of the wind soldier¡¯s body flew around my larger form, shards of metal forming claws along my hands. Again, I performed a few tests to make sure that I could control it, before I took a deep breath. My voice now was deeper and hollow, as if speaking through a pipe. ¡°Okay¡­ the rest of you, join in as well.¡± This was the ultimate test, and if it worked I would have a new trump card to use in my fights. One even more powerful than Celeste¡¯s body armor form, yet having the requirement of needing a wide area to use. Sure enough, I soon felt many more connections forming in my mind, causing me to be stunned for several minutes. It was like listening to fifty people trying to talk at once, and trying to understand what each of them were saying. Needless to say, it was not an easy task to do normally. Taking a deep, calming breath, I steadied myself and began sorting the connections by their elements. This way, rather than dealing with fifty voices, I only had to handle a handful. Then, I connected to those links in the same way as I had before, though doing so caused a much higher consumption of mana. While I was able to draw out the small amounts of mana that the fifty soldiers naturally produced in order to make up for that part of the connection, I had no way to compensate for the order mana I was using, aside from my own reserves. And, having to sustain such a large body, this caused my mana consumption to gradually overtake my recovery speed. Though, I could probably still maintain this form for quite a while if I wanted to, since manipulating the elements is done using the mana from the soldiers rather than myself. Taking a deep breath, I sent a bit of wind mana out to form elemental eyes that let me see what I looked like now. My body was now fully ten meters high, looking like an avatar of battle. The only flesh that could be seen was my head, hidden beneath a massive helmet. My eyes held within them a deep red light, shining like torches. My chest appeared to be covered in two layers of armor, one stone and one metal with a sleek, skintight look. Each of my four limbs were made of stone, glowing red lines visible along them like hidden veins. Lightning danced across my body, while flames rose from my hands and feet. My back still held the flowing cape of shadows, but it was now much larger to match my new size. I could feel water pulsing through me like blood. Finally, the plant soldiers had wrapped their bodies around my waist and wrists, becoming a belt and a pair of bracers made of vines. My true body was curled up in a ball, hidden within a metal shell inside my chest. I knew that, with a single thought, I could control any of the elements within me with an ease I had never felt before. It was like I had truly become an elemental. An elemental capable of controlling ten different elements. ¡°Okay, now that¡¯s cool.¡± I heard Celeste say in my mind, a voice of genuine surprise and excitement. I had to say, I did agree with her. Chapter 194: Witty Title Here Before leaving the ruined city, I decided to test out some of the power that came with this new form, which I decided to call the Elemental Titan. In my tests, I found that I could not only move the different elements as I wished, I could even completely swap them. For instance, after I created a large metal greatsword in my hands, I was able to change its composition to shadow mana. In exchange, the cape on my back stiffened slightly, becoming similar to a metal cloth. Once I was done, I took a deep breath and focused. ¡°Now, separate.¡± I commanded, carefully severing the connections that had been established between myself and the fifty soldiers. This was the part I had been most worried about, honestly, aside from the initial merger. There was the distinct chance that the elemental soldiers would rip through my body or crush me as they were leaving. To prevent this, I exerted some control of my own elemental abilities to create a ¡®safety bubble¡¯ around my body. This way, they should not be able to so easily push through. And indeed, although some pressed against the bubble, they ended up taking the path of least resistance to seperate. From the outside, it looked almost as if the elemental titan had exploded, pieces of it flying everywhere to reform into fifty different humanoids. Where the titan had once stood, my body slowly descended to the ground, accompanied by the wind elemental soldiers that were the last to depart. The transition of seeing through the elements and seeing through my own body was fast, but also disorienting. It took me several long moments after landing on the ground to gain my bearings again, after which I opened my status window again. As I had expected, it only took a few seconds to refill the little mana that I had spent in the titan form. If I continued to level up, or increased my affinities even more to hasten my mana recovery, I might even be able to sustain the form indefinitely in battle. ¡°Lex, put them all back in the grove.¡± I said as I looked down to my finger, seeing the ring that rested there. I felt a pulse of mana sweeping out, an order to the soldiers to return to the ring. Like when they came out, they turned into streams of energy that rushed around my body, pushing themselves back into Lex¡¯s grove.
So, totally great idea, right? RIGHT?
Yes, yes Malthan. It was a very good idea. You can stop pouting now. I thought back to how Malthan had suddenly stopped speaking up after suggesting the titan idea. The only reason I could think of for him to suddenly go silent was the thoughts I had after he presented the idea. Why a god would pout over the thoughts of a mortal, I had no idea. I could only chalk it up to his madness.
I wasn¡¯t pouting! I wasn¡¯t! I was¡­ uh¡­ distracted! The Goddess of Breasts walked by, so it took me a bit to get back to you, that¡¯s all.
Uh huh¡­ sure. While I sincerely didn¡¯t believe him, I also didn¡¯t want to push the issue too much. Annoyance or not, Malthan was still a full fledged god. If he wanted to destroy me, there was probably any number of ways he could go about it. ¡°Celeste.¡± I called out, trusting that the more helpful of my mental hitchhikers was still listening in. I felt a small nudge in the corner of my mind, showing me that she was still there. Though, she was likely distracted and unable to offer her full attention. ¡°I¡¯m ready to come back up. Also, do you have an estimate on the upgrades yet?¡± ¡°Working on it.¡± She replied, her voice seeming to come from far away. ¡°Hold for teleport.¡± Rather than an immediate response like I was expecting, the teleport only came several long moments later. When it finished, I was standing in the medbay in front of my true body. Celeste was standing, motionless, off to the side, her eyes looking unfocused. It was only when I began moving that she reacted, blinking a couple times and looking at me. ¡°Sorry, there is a lot of work going into these repairs. We¡¯re basically remaking the entire ship, aside from the hull itself and some key systems.¡± I nodded my head in understanding, switching out of my clone and back to my true body. ¡°Would it help to use the automatic upgrade system?¡± I asked as I grabbed the ring from my clone, turning around to see Celeste¡¯s eyes shining. ¡°That would probably be able to take care of one of the upgrades at a time, and would lessen the workload. See if you can apply any of the upgrades to the ship, since all of the blueprints are already saved in the computers.¡± Smiling slightly, I opened the ship management window and did just that, looking at what options were available. ¡°Looks like I can select them.¡± I wasn¡¯t really too surprised there. Even when Celeste had been creating the blueprints for more advanced systems using technology from the future, the only time when the system rejected an upgrade was if it was too far of a leap. Each of the systems here were only slight upgrades, or additional features to how a component functioned.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Alright, then. You¡¯ll probably only be able to do one at a time. The best one to start with would be¡­ the nerve wiring. Initially, we were going to have to completely pull out over half of the panels on the interior of the ship to upgrade the wiring, which would take longer than the upgrade itself.¡± That did make sense, and the wiring was the most important aspect. With it upgraded, the other upgrades should be able to run more smoothly. At least, that¡¯s how it seemed to me. After the upgrade had been selected, I was given a message saying that it would take roughly five days for it to finish, which seemed to catch Celeste by surprise. ¡°Really? That¡¯s faster than I expected.¡± She said after seeing the window through my eyes. ¡°That should speed the process up by a couple weeks, I think.¡± As she spoke, Celeste seemed to be doing a few calculations in her head, nodding to herself every once in a while. ¡°So, how long should the entire process take?¡± I asked curiously. While we didn¡¯t have too much of a choice but to get these upgrades, I didn¡¯t want to give the New Human Empire too much time to build up whatever plans they had prepared. ¡°Before, we wouldn¡¯t have been ready for a couple months, almost until your grove was completed. But now, we should be able to shave about half of a month off of that. The most important systems are the warp core, the weapons, and the shields. Everything else is secondary, but we can¡¯t work on it while we¡¯re on the move. To get caught in a fight while our medbay is out for upgrades would ruin us.¡± ¡°So¡­ about six weeks, then.¡± I said with a small groan. I could somewhat overlook the time spent in the upgrades due to the addition of the warp core, which would allow us to almost instantly arrive at any location. That alone would make up the time lost after just a few trips, given that it tended to take quite a while to travel between systems. The question was, what should I do with these six weeks? With the elemental titan, I had a trump card that should be able to give me confidence to fight just about anything. Well, as long as I didn¡¯t try to take on an entire battleship by myself, because that would be an almost guaranteed suicide no matter how well equipped I was. Work on new skills? I might be able to do that, but the question then becomes what kind of skill I wanted to work on. My only real idea for that had been the elemental soldiers, and I had already taken that as far as I could. While it seemed a bit wrong, it just didn¡¯t feel alright to leisurely spend the six weeks with my wives and Tokemi, knowing that the war was still waiting in the background. It felt strange to be thinking that now, but I had the need to do something. Celeste apparently either heard my inner turmoil or saw it on my face, because she smiled slightly to me. ¡°Just take the time to relax, John. By my calculations, it would have taken us three weeks normally to arrive at the next base we have mapped out. Assuming that they haven¡¯t finished their own warp core project, then we don¡¯t have to worry too much about them attacking us in this time.¡± I nodded my head at that, agreeing with her words. ¡°Speaking of, what are the chances of them doing something like attaching the warp core to a weapon? Would they be able to send things through like that to directly attack?¡± As I asked that, Celeste knit her brows together. ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so? It¡¯s hard to say for sure. I mean, theoretically it is possible. But, they would have to have the exact spatial coordinates in relation to their current position. Even I would need a good five minutes or so to calculate the exact coordinates from here to a specific location on this world¡¯s moon, let alone a world in a completely different star system.¡± ¡°If they were going to use it like that, the more likely choice would be to create a large power source, and attach the warp core to a planetoid or a large asteroid. If there was sufficient energy, it might be able to move an entire celestial body.¡± As she spoke, her words became more uncertain. ¡°If that was the case, then they could potentially move their headquarters to an area of remote space, beyond what we are capable of reaching with normal subspace methods. With the warp cores, they could easily bring their ships back from that remote region to launch repeated hit-and-run attacks.¡± I raised my eyebrows at Celeste as I listened to her ramble on, which drew an embarrassed smile from her when she looked up. ¡°It¡¯s what I would do, anyways. Whoever gave them this technology must know its full potential. If they are going to do something like that, we really do need to find their base before they are able to finish the warp cores. Thankfully, their progress in the base we found before suggested they were still a long ways away from fully creating one.¡± ¡°There¡¯s not the chance that they had multiple bases working on the same project?¡± I asked dubiously, afraid that they might be further along than we thought. However, Celeste shook her head. ¡°Not logically. I mean, if you have ten research teams focusing on one subject, but they aren¡¯t allowed to communicate with each other, then it is no different from just having one team working on it. From the information we recovered so far, it is likely that each research base has one or two specific objects that they are trying to engineer. For that one, it was the warp core and the AI implants.¡± ¡°I see.¡± I said, sighing slightly. ¡°Well, I¡¯m going to go figure out how to relax. Maybe invite Tokemi and the others over for another board game or something.¡± I said with a slight smile. As much as it surprised me, Tokemi seemed to enjoy playing board games far more than she enjoyed watching shows that Celeste had downloaded before leaving earth, or playing the Qu¡¯Lopti¡¯s video games. Celeste giggled slightly at that, nodding. ¡°Alright then. I¡¯ll take care of managing the upgrades. You focus on taking care of the family.¡± She said, smiling gently at me as I left the room. Okay¡­ Now to find the others. I thought to myself, bringing one hand up to my ear to call for Sharon. ¡°Where are you guys at?¡± I asked simply, connecting to her comm. ¡°Hmm?¡± A reply came back after a short while. ¡°Ah, sorry. Yin wanted to take Yang and I out for a bit. The upgrade work was starting to bother Yang, so we¡¯re down on Gerin right now.¡± I raised my eyebrows slightly at that, finding it rather sudden. ¡°We¡¯re visiting Talia right now. Why, is anything the matter?¡± Well, if they¡¯re with Talia, everything should be okay. I thought to myself, before shaking my head. ¡°No, it¡¯s nothing. Celeste said that we¡¯re stuck here for a month and a half, so I was just calling to see who was free.¡± ¡°Ohh, really?¡± Sharon asked in surprise. ¡°Huh, didn¡¯t think it¡¯d take that long. Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be back up soon. Tokemi wanted us all to be back in the ship for dinner tonight, since this is her first time ¡®growing up¡¯.¡± She said in a light tone. ¡°She¡¯s treating this almost like a birthday.¡± That thought made me smile a bit, nodding my head subconsciously. ¡°Not surprised. Well, I¡¯ll see you guys when you get up here.¡± I said, moving to head towards my quarters. Six weeks... Chapter 195: The Dreaded Calm The next six weeks were¡­ how to put it gently¡­ They were hell. My own personal, living hell. In these six weeks, I learned things about myself that I never knew. Things about myself that I never wanted to know. For instance, I found that I am no longer capable of doing nothing. I mean, I am not physically capable of it. For years, I have either always had something to keep me busy, or I would quickly find something to do so. And I never questioned that! Keeping busy made me happy. But once I slowed down¡­ To put it mildly, I was a wreck.
That is putting it very mildly...
Shut it, Malthan! Anyways, where was I? Oh yes¡­ It wasn¡¯t so bad the first couple of days. It actually felt rather nice to take a break and relax. But after that, I began to get twitchy, unable to stay alone in a room for very long. I found myself roaming the halls, talking with anyone that would listen just to have something to do. Repeatedly I tried to offer help with the upgrades, but due to a lack of training it that area I was turned down. A few times, I sparred with Kismet, until he stopped accepting the matches. I mean, he is the most skilled shadow manipulator we have, but sparring loses its purpose when I can just shut him down with brute force at any time. Playing games with Tokemi helped for a while, but I kept trying to distract myself with mental exercises during it, so the games quickly became less fun. Finally, I turned my desperation for activity towards the Gerin system. Over the course of six weeks, I managed to clear out eighteen dungeons, get rid of three world bosses on uninhabited planets or moons, and set up six anti-spawn barriers. Even that really only took five weeks, before Maeve reported that there was nothing left for me to help with. ¡°Oh come on, there has to be something.¡± I pleaded to the hologram of the High Queen, who sighed dramatically. ¡°Sorry, John. All of the dungeons that are left are the ones that we use to train our men. With your help, the last of the cities we had been working to protect now have the spawn barriers. Aside from that, there are no other boss monsters that we have detected in the system. There¡¯s just nothing left for you to help with.¡± Maeve replied, shaking her head. This was not the first time that we had this conversation, but it was probably going to be the last. Before, she had to ask each of the other High Queens for jobs that they could give me, but now we had run out of people to call. ¡°Maybe I can scout out potential worlds in other systems, or enchant some items for the queens.¡± I paced back and forth, trying to come up with something to keep myself busy. I could already feel my palms starting to shake, my nerves kicking in. ¡°We¡¯ve already got a couple of scouting ships patrolling nearby systems to look for suitable worlds. As for enchanted items¡­ I appreciate the sentiment, John. I really do, but we have people working on that. The safety of the queens is naturally a high priority, so we have hundreds of elves devoted to exactly that task.¡± I shook my head, trying to offer up an argument. ¡°But--¡± ¡°John.¡± She spoke in a more stern tone. ¡°You¡¯ve done enough. Your ship should be ready in just a few days. After that, you can go back to the war. Our equipment is taken care of, but what about your crew? I¡¯m sure some of them are lacking protective gear, and they¡¯re going to need it on the front lines.¡± By the time she finished speaking, there was a knowing smile on her lips. And that¡¯s how it came to this, with me spending my last week of vacation pumping out magical weapons and armor. I finally had something to do with all of the bows, staves, and leather armors that Yang had been producing in her free time. Of course, I still spent time with my wives, and Yo and Tokemi. But during those times I would be keeping my mind busy, planning out what enchantments I would make for each specific crewmember, and who I would give intelligent weapons to. Given my breakthrough in understanding sentience, I no longer required Celeste to risk one of her children in order to create an ego weapon, as I was able to create one on my own now. Sadly, there were still times when I was left just sitting around. Either I was waiting for more items to be brought to me to enchant, or as was the case now¡­ I ran out of crew members to make gear for. I had thought about using my free time to cultivate my elements these last six weeks, but that felt a bit redundant. After all, with the ring and staff combo, my elements were able to cultivate themselves. Any increase that would be gained by my own efforts would be negligible. Are you sure you don¡¯t have any quests I can do in the neighborhood? I asked my final hope, Malthan. As long as it didn¡¯t take me out of the solar system, I was even willing to run errands for him for these last few hours until everything was completed.
For the Nth time, John, no! There aren¡¯t any quests related to my domain that you could do within the Gerin system for the next three hours.
I couldn¡¯t help but curse under my breath. When had I become so restless? Back on Earth, I spent entire days just lazing around, pretending the outside world didn¡¯t exist. Now I could barely go a few hours without trying to find something to occupy my time. ¡°Uhm, about that¡­¡± Celeste spoke up inside my mind, quickly attracting my attention. However, before I could even think anything, she hastily added. ¡°No, I don¡¯t have anything I need your help with.¡± ¡°Okay¡­ then what did you want to say?¡± I asked, lowering my head. ¡°Well, I think I know what caused this little¡­ Can I call this a malfunction? I really want to call this a malfunction.¡±This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Should I take offense to that? I feel like I should take offense to that!
Shut it, Malthan. ¡°Okay¡­ go ahead.¡± I urged her, happy to at least have a conversation of some importance to occupy myself. ¡°Well, you see¡­¡± She hesitated, as if trying to find some way to approach the topic. ¡°I think it has to do with your little¡­ accident a few years back on Hydra.¡±
Ohhh¡­ Yeah, okay, that makes sense.
No it doesn¡¯t! ¡°What do you mean?¡± I heard a sigh within my mind, before she continued. ¡°When you were trapped for a hundred years within the time bubble. I think it might have had a lasting effect on you that we never noticed. A bit of trauma that didn¡¯t heal.¡± I knit my brows together as I thought back to that event. I had considered myself to be completely recovered from that. I mean, the only real change I felt for a while was how I would panic if the room was too still. But even that got better after a couple of years, thanks to Sharon and Yin and a bamboo fountain we put in the room. Though, thinking back to it now, it did make a sort of sense. As far as I know, that incident was the last time I had ever really done nothing for such a long period. I would spend weeks just thinking to myself and trying to get a feeling for time mana. And when Celeste had made herself shut down for a while to pass the time, I had truly been alone in my thoughts. ¡°Okay¡­ so, maybe that is the cause. Even if it is, it¡¯s not like we can do anything about it, right?¡± I mean, apparently this has been going on for five whole years, and I had only really noticed it now. ¡°Well, we could put you through some therapy, and it might help in the long run. But, for the short term¡­ No, I can¡¯t think of anything that would help.¡± I nodded slightly at Celeste¡¯s words, taking a casual glance at the counter of my workstation to make sure that there wasn¡¯t anything else I could enchant and hadn¡¯t noticed. ¡°And it¡¯s not like it is exactly a bad thing, right? I mean, I am being productive. Nothing wrong with that.¡± ¡°Well¡­ That¡¯s not entirely true.¡± She said, and I could feel that she was shaking her head. ¡°Yes, you are being very productive, but after a certain point that makes you neglect your relationships.¡± Well, if that didn¡¯t feel like a bucket of cold water being poured over me, I don¡¯t know what would. And she did have a point, one I realized long ago. Because I kept so busy, I couldn¡¯t spend as much time as I wanted with Sharon, or with Yin, or Tokemi, or anyone else. And now that I had all the time in the world to spend with them, I couldn¡¯t take my mind off trying to find things to work on. ¡°Oh¡­¡± I said simply, lowering my head again. The only solace I could find was that they were so understanding. Now that I took the time to think about it, they had every reason to just drop me for all but ignoring them these few years. Maybe they understood the cause of this all along, and just didn¡¯t want to bring up the past trauma? ¡°I don¡¯t think they figured out what caused it, no.¡± Celeste said, shaking her head. ¡°But they definitely noticed the change. And, while I can¡¯t say that they enjoy it, this is one of the benefits of having two wives that also love each other.¡± I nodded my head slightly at that. Could I make it up to them? And if so, how? This wasn¡¯t something that I could just fix on a whim. Even Celeste said that there wasn¡¯t a short term solution. Mulling over that thought, I decided to check my grove, seeing how much time was left before it went to the universe stage.
Time to completion: 00:09:02:38:12.21
Aside from the timer, the first thing I noticed was that the black hole had already swallowed the entirety of my grove. Even the void itself had been eaten up. All that was left now of my grove was that single black hole, packed dense with all of the combined mana and matter that had existed in my grove, as well as all of the mana that I had absorbed over the last several months. Of course, this also meant that Sharon¡¯s grove should be entirely gone now as well. And she probably doesn¡¯t even have access to it anymore. For the next nine days, it would be a bit hard to consider her a druid, aside from her animal companions. Malthan, are you sure that--
For the last, time, I¡¯m sure! There is no quest that I can give you at this time! Stop asking! If it makes you feel any better, I can pull some strings and see if I can get you a bit of insider information, would that make you happy for the next few hours?!
...Maybe. After thinking that, I had to wait for a few minutes, tapping my foot against the floor rhythmically as I thought about what that meant. Perhaps it wasn¡¯t really against the gods¡¯ rules to share that information, but it was considered impolite to do so without consulting the god in charge of that domain?
Okay, finally. It cost me an extra seat at poker night, but I got the approval. You better be thankful for this. While I love playing strip poker with those beautiful goddesses, that doesn¡¯t mean I want to invite some wrinkly old man to the game.
Yes, yes, I¡¯m very sorry for your loss. I nodded my head repeatedly, trying to get him to spill the beans on what information he had for me.
Tsk. Anyways, I am not able to tell you much. But, I can say this. When your grove evolves, have Sharon close by. It won¡¯t do any harm to her, and that way it will give both you and her the greatest benefits. There, happy?
I nodded my head again, actually very happy to hear this piece of news. The evolution of my grove had been a frequent thought for me over these last six weeks, as the deadline was constantly growing closer. ¡°So¡­ how much time until the upgrades are done?¡± I asked, noticing that I had again run out of topics to keep me distracted. ¡°Haahh¡­ Two more hours, John.¡± Celeste said with a small sigh. Chapter 196: Back to Business! ¡°Are they done yet?¡± I asked, tapping my foot impatiently. It had been at least two hours since she gave me that timeframe, right? ¡°...Yes. Yes, John. They are done.¡± Celeste said, letting out a long sigh of relief. ¡°Remind me never to suggest you taking a week off again.¡± ¡°Great!¡± That single bit of good news made my mood instantly brighten. ¡°So, how long till we can go?¡± I heard a dark and sinister chuckle from inside of my mind. Every word she spoke came out like an evil villain¡¯s taunts. ¡°Well, first we have to recall all the crew members that went planetside for their time off. Then, we need to do the calculations for our first warp jump, and make sure everyone is synchronized so that we don¡¯t accidentally appear inside of each other. So¡­ about a day, give or take? Depending on how long it takes the crew to say their goodbyes and pack their belongings to resume the voyage.¡± By the time that Celeste was done, I felt my face losing all color. ¡°But¡­ you said two hours!¡± I shouted out to the empty bedroom. ¡°Yeah, I did, didn¡¯t I?¡± She asked, a grin in her voice. ¡°I guess it¡¯s a good thing I went ahead and called for everyone to return to their ships yesterday. Once we do the spatial calculations, we¡¯ll be able to move out.¡± ¡°...That was unexpectedly mean of you.¡± I said, slapping my face with my hand. ¡°I deserved it, didn¡¯t I?¡± ¡°Yup.¡± She replied simply. ¡°Consider it payback for asking ¡®Are they done yet?¡¯ every two minutes¡­ For the last three days.¡± ¡°It couldn¡¯t have been that bad, right?¡± I glanced side to side in guilt, not really wanting an answer to that question. ¡°I have it all recorded. Would you like to see the highlight reel?¡± Celeste asked, a grin in her voice. Of course, I had been on the ship, so it was only natural for her to be able to have a recording of me. ¡°No, that¡¯s fine¡­ Anyways, go ahead and let everyone know that we¡¯ll be ready to launch once the fleet is assembled. I¡¯m heading to the bridge now.¡± Eager to finally be able to do something aside from pacing back and forth in my room, I quickly got changed and made my way out of the room. ¡°I already did, John. They should be waiting for you by the time you get there.¡± She commented in a gentler tone before going silent, likely making her own final preparations. I couldn¡¯t help but smile at the forethought she put into this. Then again, I had likely annoyed her beyond enough to make her want to get this over with as soon as possible.
Huh? What? Are we going now? Great, finally!
Yes, yes. I vaguely responded to Malthan, once again amazed at how he could spend so much time paying attention to me. From what I had heard from Celeste, Sharon, and the others, this was definitely not the norm. Maybe it was just because it was Malthan, and he had too much free time. However, none of the others ever had hardly any communication with their patron unless they were at a temple or in the process of a quest from their patron. I guess I can just think of him as special. Then again, if I thought about the domains Malthan governed, that could also explain how he was able to just spend all his time communicating with mortals. I mean, he doesn¡¯t really have to do any work for chaos to remain chaotic, or for insane people to stay insane.
I do plenty of work! I just can¡¯t tell you about it. Rules are rules. ¡¥\_(¥Ä)_/¡¥
I silently nodded, doing my best not to mentally comment on that. Instead, I made my way towards the bridge quickly. Along the way, I saw various people walking along the hallways, inspecting every corner of the ship. Some even carried with them handheld scanning devices. Since the repairs were just completed, no doubt this was so that they could check the integrity of the ship, and make sure everything was ready for launch. ¡°Are there any repairs that weren¡¯t able to be fit in within the timeframe?¡± I asked curiously as I continued making my way forward, trusting that Celeste was paying enough attention that she would notice if I asked her something. And sure enough, a response came only a few moments later. ¡°Aside from the human propulsion system, we managed to get everything in. Of course, we haven¡¯t had any time to field-test the upgrades, but the individual systems had already been tested by their various designers. Unless there is some unpredictable clash with specific systems, there shouldn¡¯t be anything unexpected.¡± She assured me, causing me to nod my head slightly. ¡°Good. I wouldn¡¯t want to find out at the last minute that our shields won¡¯t come online.¡± I groaned at the thought, shaking my head rapidly. ¡°Are the other ships all equipped with what they can use, too?¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. This time, the answer that came was a tired sigh. ¡°Everyone¡¯s got the warp core. And the Deus Ex ships borrowed the shield designs to upgrade themselves. However, there wasn¡¯t enough time and resources to upgrade all of their weapons. They did pitch in to create a second cannon for the Executioner, so it doesn¡¯t have to rely on its positron cannon to do damage.¡± I nodded my head again at that, before turning the corner and opening the door to the bridge. Immediately, I saw a group of beastmen stand up, along with one mischievously grinning Deus Ex and an eager elf. Before they could say anything, I immediately opened my mouth. ¡°First person to say ¡®Captain on the bridge¡¯ or to salute gets to stay home.¡± Ackbar was, naturally, not that happy to have his usual antics interrupted, but he was used to it at this point. As for Celeste, she just clicked her tongue in annoyance, as if I had ruined her prank. Moving forward, I went to my very own, comfy captain¡¯s chair. However, I noticed a slight change compared to before. There were now two additional seats, one on either side of my chair. Glancing to their occupants, I waited for an explanation. The first to speak up was naturally Sharon, who was seated to my right. ¡°What? You didn¡¯t expect us to just always be standing next to you, did you?¡± She asked playfully. ¡°It kept bugging us that we couldn¡¯t always be here on the bridge with you, since the ship shakes too much in a fight. So we had Celeste install a couple of chairs for us.¡± Next up, was Yin¡¯s wonderfully eloquent answer. ¡°No controls¡­¡± She said with a slight pout, poking at the arm of her chair positioned directly to my right. Like she said, neither chair had even a single button. Though, they did have a lever down at the bottom, but going by the design of the chairs, that was just to recline it. That¡¯s right, there are now recliners on the bridge. Holographic television screen, recliners, easy food down the hall. I am starting to feel like this is history¡¯s best mobile home living room. I gave a small sigh as I sat down in my chair, reaching my arms out to either side to pat the arms of their chairs. ¡°Well, let¡¯s do this then.¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Celeste, begin calculations. Pull up the spatial coordinates for the nearest known New Human Empire base, and place us three parsecs from the destination.¡± That should be plenty of empty space for us to land in, but still be close enough that we could quickly arrive via normal subspace travel. My biggest concern was stray asteroids, or space monsters. The last thing we needed was to appear in a nest of abstracts by mistake. Celeste nodded, closing her eyes and interfacing with the ship¡¯s computers. ¡°I already did the preliminary calculations. There is a 90% chance that the target location contains an enemy base. However, due to differences in gravitational fields, it is recommended that all ships jump at the same time. Otherwise, the destinations might vary slightly, and accidental collisions would be a serious risk.¡± ¡°Alright. Have everyone prepare their jumps, and set a countdown.¡± As I spoke, I felt a delicate finger poking my left hand. Looking over, I saw Yin looking at me with a serious expression. ¡°Speech.¡± She said, nodding her head as if that summed up everything. But I don¡¯t wanna! I retorted inwardly, but nodded my head after a slight groan. Speeches were important. Need the dramatic build-up for morale and whatnot. Though, our fleet consisted of mostly unfeeling robots, completely loyal evolved animal companions, and midgets that act like they never graduated high school. ¡°Fine, fine.¡± I turned my head back to the front, ignoring the small thumbs up exchanged between my two wives. ¡°Patch me through to the fleet.¡± I ordered, bringing my hands to my sides as I stood up. It took a moment for the connection to be set, but after the communications officer¡­ I think her name was Skyla? It¡¯s hard to remember names when most of the crew changes out on a regular basis! Anyways, this one was evidently an evolved turtle, judging by the shell covering her back like a backpack. When Skyla gave me the thumbs up, I began my speech. ¡°Ahem. Attention everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed the vacation. Hopefully, it is the last one that we will have before this is all over.¡± Both because I hoped that this wouldn¡¯t take too long, and I doubted my sanity could survive weeks of doing nothing again. ¡°We are once again going to be heading into enemy territory. However, this time we are prepared. Before, we suffered some losses when we first engaged their ships, due to not being able to understand and predict the level of technology that they were going to be using.¡± ¡°This time, everyone has been outfitted with new systems specifically designed to fight against the New Human Empire. From what I understand, each ship should now be more powerful than it was before by a large margin.¡± Except for the Qu¡¯Lopti, but let¡¯s just let them power up through the power of imagination. ¡°Now, we can fight them, and we can win.¡± ¡°For each base we hit, our primary goal will be to discern their main base of operations. For that matter, myself and the primary landing party will be descending to whatever base we come to. Our objective will be to access their systems, your objective will be making sure we don¡¯t get nuked from orbit. Honestly¡­ That¡¯s probably the harder of the two jobs.¡± I gave a quick glimpse at Celeste, who gave me a thumbs up, before once again addressing the fleet. ¡°Now, with that out of the way¡­ Sons of Chaos, launch.¡± Not wanting to be hit by sudden shifting or anything like that, I abruptly sat down as I gave the order. Who cares if it ruined the image of a professional captain, I¡¯d rather have that happen this way than if I stumbled back by accident. Seeing that, Celeste had a slight grin on her face, but nonetheless hit the final command to launch the ship. The experience was¡­ strange. Not only was the ship surrounded by an array of multicolored lights, but even the interior of the ship was. I could barely see Sharon and Yin next to me beyond the bright lights that blocked my vision. And then, in the next instant, those lights were gone just as quickly as they had arrived. ¡°Report, Celeste!¡± I called out, reaching a hand up to my head, feeling a mild headache coming on. Not likely from any side effect of the transfer, but just from the blinding lights flashing in my eyes. ¡°Uhm¡­ Destination reached.¡± Celeste spoke up after a moment. ¡°Distance to target, three and a half parsecs. Though, and this is just a suggestion, but it is ill-advised to use that when we are going to be closer to the target zone.¡± Looking around, I could see what she meant. I wasn¡¯t the only one that had suffered from the sudden blast of the powerful lights. Almost everyone in the bridge was showing at least minor signs of pain in their eyes. ¡°Duly noted. Proceed forward at sublight speeds until everyone recovers from the jump. Status on the fleet?¡± ¡°Everyone arrived successfully.¡± A dog-eared man called out. ¡°The Executioner was a few seconds behind, and appeared a couple dozen kilometers behind us. But, nobody is reporting any damage.¡± He said as he rubbed his eyes, looking at the screen. ¡°Understood. Okay, let¡¯s get moving, then.¡± Chapter 197: Impossible Plans The journey to the outpost we had located wasn¡¯t long. After giving roughly a half hour for everyone to recover from the rather unusual phenomena I had a conversation with the Deus Ex, wondering why they did not mention that little side-effect. The answer I got back was¡­ something I should have expected. ¡°It was not within our predictions that organics would have difficulty after experiencing the warp.¡± The commander of one of the vessels joining us spoke in a calm tone. ¡°Apologies, but we were not aware that such displays of light would hinder your people.¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ okay.¡± I said with a sigh, shaking my head. It was still believable that they had yet to learn everything about us. No matter what, they have only been dealing with organic lifeforms for a few years, and most of that they have still been focusing on themselves. ¡°Very well. Now, perhaps we should discuss a battle strategy for when we arrive?¡± The commander suggested. ¡°I would like to do that. However, we aren¡¯t quite sure what the full power of any of our vessels are. The best that I can offer is to attempt to use the new weapons to take out the assault ships, and then move on to the shield ships. Aside from that, we will need to assess the situation as it occurs.¡± The Deus Ex commander pondered that for a moment, before nodding his head. ¡°Very well. Judging by your ship¡¯s previous capabilities, we should be entering scanning range of our destination within minutes.¡± I gave a silent nod at that as the call abruptly ended. Our scanning systems were already top of the line, something that Celeste had pulled from future schematics, so they weren¡¯t among the systems that had been upgraded while we were at Gerin. Of course, that also meant that they had not been improved, but they were still all that we would need. And sure enough, it was only a few minutes later when the dog-eared beastman spoke up. ¡°We are within range of long distance scans now.¡± After that, he hit a few buttons, waiting for a moment before delivering the report. ¡°I¡¯m detecting numerous large energy signatures in the vicinity of the planet. It is impossible to give an exact estimate at this time, but judging by the previous readings, there should be between three and seven enemy ships.¡± ¡°How long until you can get a detailed reading?¡± I asked, looking towards him. ¡°Fifteen more minutes, sir. But, by that time they will likely be able to detect us as well.¡± I nodded when I heard his report, turning and pressing a button to transmit my voice to the fleet. We were still roughly a half hour away from our destination, so there was plenty of time for a warning. ¡°We are approaching our target zone. In an estimated thirty minutes, we will begin the attack. It is advised for all non-combat personnel to seek a safe area.¡± Well¡­ safe area was fairly relative at this point. I mused to myself. If the ship explodes, there really won¡¯t be anywhere safe but the escape pods, and those would be shot down before there was any hope of actually getting away. The safest place would simply be somewhere away from the exterior of the ship, where they wouldn¡¯t have to worry about getting injured if the ship shook in the battle. Leaning back in my chair, I took a deep breath to calm myself. This was going to be an important battle, but not the biggest that we would have to face. Judging from the preliminary scans, there was almost no way that this was their primary base of operations. Otherwise, there would be far more energy readings. Instead, this was important for a different reason. This would be the first battle that we had using our new ship systems. No matter how many simulations or theories we made, however many strategies, it all meant nothing in the face of an actual combat test. Though¡­ just to be safe. ¡°Celeste, how long does it take to charge the warp cores and input the necessary coordinates?¡± She looked at me curiously for a moment, before making a sound of understanding. ¡°Ahh.. Well, to sum it up, no. You wouldn¡¯t be able to use them for a hasty retreat if things turn bad. It takes at least thirty seconds to power the warp cores, after which they need to be used within one minute. Longer than that in the Deus Ex simulations, and the cores begin to degrade. As for the calculations needed, that depends on the distance, but they would generally take longer than the charging process, and would need to begin first so that there was time to enter the coordinates.¡± I nodded my head a bit reluctantly at that news. I had been hoping that we could simply designate a safe point and warp away if things got bad. However, if it would take almost a full minute just to charge the core, that meant it would be impossible to use in the middle of a battle. After all, just a few seconds can be enough for a bad situation to spiral out of control. With that out of the way, I simply waited patiently, tapping my foot impatiently while we approached the site. Think that¡¯s a contradiction? Well, it¡¯s the best you¡¯re going to get! I was already started to feel annoyed by the long wait, but at least it wasn¡¯t as long as it seemed. ¡°Sir, we have a more detailed image of the situation now. Shall I display it on the screen?¡± The dog-eared beastman spoke up suddenly, and I nodded quickly in response. Moments later, a holographic image appeared at the front of the bridge. On the image, we could distinctly make out the form of a planet, though the details were a bit blurred. Likewise, around the planet, there were five vague white shapes. Judging by their characteristics, I assumed two to be shield ships, with the other three being assault ships. This configuration made the most sense, as well, since it allowed the two shield ships to accurately defend the assault ships in a fight. Finally, off behind the planet, I could vaguely make out a metallic ring hovering in space, likely the warp gate that the New Human Empire set up here.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Are there any unusual energy readings, such as from the moon or the planet? Anything that would suggest a hidden surprise?¡± Although this base was a bit better defended than the first one we hit, I wasn¡¯t sure if that was because it was an important location or if they had simply had more time to reinforce their bases. If it was the former, than they might have set up a situation like the last place we hit, where they installed a station nearby to destroy the planet. Or, they might have simply placed a bomb within the core of the planet, or something like that. However, that all depended on how important this base was to them. If it was just a normal research center, than that would be best for us. Of course, the first research station we found had been hidden by a holographic field literally the size of a planet, so I wasn¡¯t prepared to dismiss anything. ¡°I¡¯m not picking up any unusual energy signals. Aside from the orbiting ships, there are simply negligible readings from the surface, likely to be whatever base they have set up at this location. Wait, hold on, there is something.¡± He said with a slightly surprised voice, hitting a few more keys before the image on the screen shifted. This time, the image excluded the planet, and focused on the ring of metal around the planet. I thought that he was about to point out the obvious warp gate, but then the image zoomed in further, to the top of the gate. Just above it, there was another metallic shape, far smaller than a ship. ¡°I am picking up energy readings and intermittent transmissions from this structure. From its design, my best guess is that it is a communications relay.¡± That was¡­ surprising. Typically, I would expect them to use the system communication for long distances. For there to be a structure relay, it could only mean one of two things. Either they had already perfected warp travel to the point of having transmissions capable of traveling such distances, or they had other bases within a short distance from this one. ¡°Okay, guys. We have a new secondary objective.¡± I said with a small grin on my face. ¡°After we take out the assault ships, I want someone to secure the communications relay. With any luck, it will have either a black box, or even just coordinates for the areas it transmits to. Either way, it will help us narrow down more bases.¡± After saying that, I got in touch with the Deus Ex. After the commander¡¯s face appeared on the screen, I immediately asked. ¡°Do your people have any way to interrupt the transmissions from that structure during the fight?¡± If they could jam the transmissions, they could prevent the relay from requesting aid or warning whatever other settlements were nearby. However, the Deus Ex simply shook his head. ¡°I am afraid that is not within our capabilities. After analyzing the available samples of technology that the enemy employs, it is highly likely that they utilize advanced forms of magic in this relay. We still do not fully grasp the possibilities behind such applications, so it is impossible for us to create a means of fully disabling the relay unless we have a deep scan to show us the required information. However, even for your ship, such a scan could only be achieved when in close proximity to the device.¡± That was¡­ unfortunate. ¡°I see¡­ Well, it was worth asking.¡± Without the ability to jam their communications, there was only a few things that we could do. Turning to Celeste, I once again gave out instructions. ¡°Celeste, I want you to stay behind and command the ship for the battle. I need you to make sure everything goes smoothly.¡± given her nature, she probably knew more about this ship and its abilities than I did, especially after these new upgrades. She opened her mouth as if she was about to protest, but I didn¡¯t give her the chance. ¡°I¡¯ll be going down with Sharon, Yin, and Yo once we get within range. While we are down there, you need to make sure to take out the enemy assault ships, disable the warp gate, and preferably retrieve the communications relay.¡± None of these objectives were any less important than the others, so I could only leave this job to her. Celeste hesitated for a few moments, before nodding her head reluctantly. ¡°Alright, John¡­ I¡¯ll do it. But, does that mean I get to sit in the chair?¡± A small, mischievous smile formed on her face as she asked that. She knew how much I liked this chair. ¡°...Fine. You can sit on the chair while I¡¯m gone.¡± I said, shaking my head with a slight chuckle. ¡°Keep the ship safe for me.¡± After saying that, I stood up, followed by the two women at my side. ¡°We¡¯ll be hitting the area soon, so we¡¯ll go ahead and get in the clones.¡± No way in hell are we going down in our real bodies when there is the threat of the ships simply bombing the site from orbit. Celeste nodded her head at that, clearing her throat and stepping up. I could hear her beginning to give out orders as we walked out of the bridge. On our way to the medbay, I went ahead and called Yo, letting her know the plan. She said that she would meet us there. To my surprise, not only Yo, but even Yang was waiting for us when we arrived at the medbay. I looked at the bird girl with a complicated expression, knowing that I couldn¡¯t take her with us even if she wanted to go. She had a crafting class, not a combat one, so she wasn¡¯t really that suited for fighting. Even if she did manage to use her voice to turn a group of assassins into living meatballs. She seemed to understand something from how I looked at her, and shook her head, a small smile forming on her lips. ¡°I don¡¯t want to go with you, Master. I just want to see you all off.¡± As she spoke, she stepped up towards Yin, giving her a tight hug. I could see Yin¡¯s face soften at Yang¡¯s show of affection. It really wasn¡¯t normal for her to see us off like this, and for a moment I questioned it. However, a quick check of her with my senses told me that there was absolutely nothing strange about her, whether it was her aura, soul, or whatever. At most, she just appeared to be worried about us. After Yin reached up and patted her on the back, I heard her speak in a quiet voice. ¡°We¡¯ll be back soon.¡± She said, reassuring her sister. Yang only nodded, stepping back before giving similar hugs to the rest of us. ¡°Master.¡± She called out to me before I could access my clone, stopping me after I sat down. When I looked at her curiously, she smiled slightly. ¡°I¡¯ll give you something good when you get back, so be safe.¡± Pardon me while I go drag my mind out of the gutter. Even if she spoke some rather¡­ suggestive words, her tone and expression did not hint at anything but a sincere gift. Most likely, she had crafted something good and wanted to show me. As such, I nodded my head with a smile. ¡°Show me when I get back then.¡± And thus, the dramatic moment was ruined after I got in my clone, only to sit up on the medical bed behind Yang. Coughing awkwardly, I stood up and made my way to the door, hearing Sharon laugh slightly behind me. ¡°Well, we¡¯ll be off then.¡± After that, then we finally moved to the teleport bay, waiting for the ship to drop out of subspace. Of course, I didn¡¯t feel like just sitting there and waiting. Celeste, mind sharing vision so I can see what¡¯s going on until we leave? Chapter 198: Tables Turned As I watched through Celeste¡¯s eyes, I could see the five ships displayed on the monitor of the bridge. As I had expected, three of them had the metallic rings circling them indicative of an assault ship. As for the other two, they matched the model for the shield ships we had seen previously. ¡°All ships, commence attack!¡± Celeste called out from the captain¡¯s chair, her eyes trained on the screen. After her words fell, there were various responses, such as the Qu¡¯Lopti flights assembling or the Deus Ex cannons charging. ¡°Prepare to fire the new gun on the closest assault ship once their shields go up.¡± She gave the warning to the nearby Ackbar, who nodded his head heavily. As expected, when the majority of the ships on our side started shooting their weapons, the hexagonal shields quickly appeared in place around our target ship. It was at that moment that I felt a cold smile forming on Celeste¡¯s lips. ¡°Fire the main cannon!¡± She ordered loudly. On the screen, the empty space seemed to turn white for a brief moment. There was a wide flash of formless energy, which immediately focused itself into a concentrated beam, targeting the blue hexagon directly between us and the enemy ship. When the beam made contact, it did not stop, it did not even treat the shield as being there. The only thing that happened was that the beam changed its color from white to blue after passing through the shield. And like that, the first ship fell. It did not explode in a brilliant blaze from the detonation of its white hole like the ones we had fought before. To my surprise, the white hole actually began to shrink and dissipate before our eyes, vanishing completely before the ship itself exploded into countless pieces. How did you do that? I asked Celeste curiously. Before, the ships exploding had always been a major threat, as just one had the power to destroy nearby planets. ¡°I¡¯ve been studying the structure of these ships since our first encounter.¡± Celeste spoke to me mentally, as the remaining two assault ships trained all of their rings on us. ¡°There are a couple of weak points I theorized and programmed into the targeting computer. Now, this is going to sting a bit¡­¡± As her words ended, the world was once again bathed in light. Two massive beams fired directly at the Ariadne, colliding with our shield. ¡°Feedback stored energy to strengthen the shields!¡± She ordered, even as the ship began to shake slightly. ¡°Shield generators three and six are down! Shield strength down to 70%.¡± Ackbar called back after reading the damage on the screen, his face grim. If just two of these ships could get rid of 30% of our shields in the first blast, we were in for a rude awakening when we found their main fleet. ¡°Target the second ship, all guns!¡± She said before closing her eyes. Despite the situation, I could hear an almost excited tone to her when she spoke mentally to me again. ¡°Want to see a new trick I¡¯ve been working on?¡± Before I could ask what she was talking about, she had started. ¡°Reality Break: Limitless Silver Sands, stage two.¡± Oh god, she developed that skill even more?! Don¡¯t tell me that it has that same naming sense¡­ ¡°Infinity Hive.¡± Although she had still not opened her eyes, I could hear a gasp from some of the crew members. Looking up from my actual body, I could see faint silver specks flying through the vent only moments later, before some more words entered my mind through Celeste¡¯s ears. ¡°Shield generators three and six are¡­ back online. Shield at 85% percent!¡± Celeste chuckled slightly, finally opening her eyes. ¡°Fire the main cannon again!¡± She ordered, before turning her thoughts to me. ¡°I figured out a way to take advantage of all of those metallic clones in my grove. I can use that skill to convert them into my Limitless Silver Sand, though I am unable to move my main body while controlling them. And naturally, they can¡¯t perfectly replace the rare materials used in the ship, so the shield will be a bit weaker until we get time to repair it.¡± As she finished her explanation, the second assault ship had fallen. ¡°Qu¡¯Lopti flights, take out their warp gate! Deus Ex, beginning moving on the communications relay! Let¡¯s give this last one some more targets.¡± It¡¯s a good thing her words fell when they did, because I could already see the rings surrounding the final assault ship moving into position to attack again. But this time, the target was not us, but the planet. However, that changed immediately when the other ships began moving. This was only natural. They wanted to destroy the base on the planet to prevent us from getting the research materials, but that was not our only objective. If we destroyed the warp gate, this region of space would be cut off from their main forces. Stalling that for just a few minutes would let them have reinforcements. On the other hand, if we capture the communications relay, we will have access to the locations of other nearby bases. The ship seemed to hesitate for a split second before the metallic rings spun into motion. Two of them targeted the Qu¡¯Lopti ships, two on the Deus Ex, and the last one on a rather unexpected target, the communications relay itself. ¡°Shit.¡± Celeste cursed, probably the first time I have heard her say that in¡­ ever, as far as I could remember. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect them to go that far.¡± After she said that, the three beams of light shot out. While the Qu¡¯Lopti ships were agile enough to avoid the beam locking onto them, the Deus Ex had to endure it with the power of their shields. Yet, there was no defense for the relay, as it was instantly obliterated under the force of the beam. ¡°New plan.¡± Celeste said reluctantly. ¡°Qu¡¯Lopti flights, pull back. Deus Ex, do your best to disable the warp gate without destroying it. If we can¡¯t find their nearby bases, then we¡¯ll just take the transit data from the gate.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Understood, Vice-Captain.¡± Several voices rang out over the channel as the ships moved into action. At the same time, they began firing on the final assault ship, while the two shield ships began moving back, as if to retreat. ¡°Are we going to let them get away?¡± Ackbar asked, looking up to Celeste. ¡°We can¡¯t stop them both.¡± She said, shaking her head. ¡°Any tactical information that they could share about us would have been sent as soon as we destroyed their first ship. Just be thankful that they are choosing to preserve precious resources for future fights, rather than going on a suicide run to ram their planet base.¡± After she said that, the final assault ship met the same fate as the first. ¡°How long do you need in order to disable the warp gate?¡± She asked nervously. ¡°Two minutes should suffice.¡± Came the Deus Ex¡¯s honest answer. ¡°We merely need to identify and surgically target key power stations.¡± Celeste nodded her head, seeming to fall into thought. ¡°Okay, go ahead then. It should take them at least five minutes to get reinforcements through the gate, hopefully. As for normal subspace travel, we should have a few hours at the very least.¡± After that, she turned towards the pilot of the Ariadne, just as the two shield ships disappeared into subspace. ¡°Get us within teleport distance of the planet, the landing party is waiting.¡± After that, I decided to cut off the link between Celeste¡¯s senses and my own, turning to meet the rather curious looks of the women around me. ¡°We won.¡± I said with a smile. ¡°But, once we get down there, we need to act fast. With the battle already over out here, they¡¯re probably going to have armed whatever self destruct device their base has by the time we arrive.¡± Thankfully, I wasn¡¯t bringing Lex with me, or this would be a lot worse than it was right now. ¡°Once we get down there, we are going to run straight in, guns blazing.¡± Metaphorically speaking, of course. ¡°Forget about finding any research data this time. There¡¯s probably not going to be the time for that. Instead, try to find a researcher, and if that fails grab a guard. Anyone that doesn¡¯t look like a store-bought entity. We can interrogate them after getting back to the ship.¡± Sharon and Yin nodded with small smiles, while Yo pumped her fist. ¡°Alright, finally a good fight!¡± She grinned, her mouth literally splitting from ear to ear. ¡°Don¡¯t expect too much.¡± I said with a chuckle. ¡°The last base we hit had terrible security, remember?¡± Hearing that, Yo nodded her head, her expression downcast. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯re right. Maybe they¡¯ve got something special here, though? A secret anti-you weapon?¡± I really hope not. That would make things troublesome. I thought silently, before Celeste¡¯s report came in. We were close to the planet now, close enough to teleport down. And judging from the energy readings, she confirmed that they were overloading their reactor, building it towards a meltdown. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± I said with a smile, and the others all nodded. Not long after that, a bright light surrounded us, before a loud alarm could be heard from every direction. Once again, we had been teleported down to the world, just outside of the complex. However, something was different this time, causing me to furrow my brows. I couldn¡¯t feel any of the elements around us. They were using the same trick that they had showed me back at the start of this war, preventing me from using my druid powers to control elemental mana. And looking at the expressions on Yin and Sharon¡¯s faces, they felt it too. Shaking my head, I converted a layer of skin on my hand into slime, shifting it into the form of the sword that I had neglected for so long. In this kind of situation, I was the most disadvantaged. Both Sharon and Yin had powers that could be used outside of elemental manipulation, whereas it had become my specialty. However, there was still more I could do, which I began preparing as Sharon crushed the wall of the base with her bare hands, forcing it open for us. I assumed my battle form, thick draconic scales covering my body. There was the brief sensation of my insides rearranging to fit this form, but afterwards I was ready. When the three of us charged in, we were immediately met with laser fire from the human guards. For the others, this was fairly normal, but it was rather annoying to me. Even with the scales, I still felt the heat of the beam on my skin. This was the first time I had taken actual damage in a battle in a while, and I was not really that pleased with it. However, before I could charge in to pay them back for that, they had already fallen to the ground. When I looked at them again, I saw that their heads were suddenly facing the wrong direction, causing me to send a look over to Yin, who shrugged lightly. Aside from Yo, who didn¡¯t need to care about elemental mana, Yin was likely the least affected by the lack of elemental manipulation. Shaking my head, I looked towards the next door, just in time for Sharon to pry it open. However, as soon as she did, she was sent flying back by a beam of light that squarely struck her chest, making her cry out in pain. ¡°Oh no they didn¡¯t!¡± Yo said with a dark growl as she dived through the opening that Sharon had made, while I ran over to Sharon in order to heal her. ¡°I¡¯m alright, John.¡± She said with a small cough, some blood at the corner of her mouth. Nonetheless, she struggled to her feet, only accepting a small heal. ¡°Time is of the essence, remember?¡± Chapter 199: Divide and Chaos I could only nod my head at Sharon¡¯s resolve to continue forward. She was right that we were short on time, as I had just said a little while ago. Sadly, since we knew that everything was likely to blow up in our faces soon, we didn¡¯t have time for her to meet up with Priscilla to combine. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s go.¡± Inside the room that Sharon had opened moments before, Yo had assumed the form of a massive three headed dog. There was a literal fire in her eyes as she viciously ripped to shreds the large robot that was likely responsible for the blast that knocked Sharon down. I could see chunks of metal flying through the air as the three heads tore into it. Every now and then, it would try to fire another blast at her from various parts of its body, but those seemed completely ineffective against Yo. It was only a matter of time before she ripped out something vital, and the robot stopped moving altogether. Although it had once appeared to be large and humanoid, it was now nothing but a pile of discarded scrap. As Yo walked towards the next door, her body seemed to explode in green slime, which rapidly reformed to create her humanoid appearance in only a second. However, her eyes were still set in a sharp glare as she looked to the two doors that lead further into the base. ¡°Where do we go, dad?¡± She asked, her voice still dark. I was tempted to say that we should split up to cover more ground, but that wasn¡¯t really a logical decision here. We were looking to capture someone to interrogate, and the only way to do that was my Toybox power. Or¡­ ¡°Yo, when you absorb creatures, you get their souls, right? Does that include memories?¡± When I asked that, she turned to look at me curiously. ¡°Somewhat. I can see their memories when I eat them, but I usually just spit the memories out.¡± She answered, unsure where I was going with this. ¡°Alright. Then, you take Yin and go that way.¡± I pointed towards the door on the left wall. ¡°I¡¯ll go through the other one with Sharon. If you see anyone that looks special, just¡­ don¡¯t ¡®spit out¡¯ the memories that could help.¡± She seemed a bit surprised by my decision, but nodded her head nonetheless. Yin looked at me in concern, but still followed Yo to the door, using a blast of her mental prowess to rip it out of place. Once they left, that meant it was only Sharon and I remaining. She couldn¡¯t help but turn to look at me. ¡°You sure you¡¯re alright with her eating people?¡± I thought about her question for a moment, but shook my head in resignation. ¡°Not really. But, we are going to be killing them either way. Either they die to us, or to the explosion they are trying to set off. Either way¡­ this is war, and they¡¯re the enemies.¡± I said this more to remind myself than her. ¡°We need that information if we¡¯re going to get out of this situation.¡± Sharon hesitated, but ended up nodding her head. Taking a few steps forward, she reached the door we had chosen. ¡°Alright. But you picked our two powerhouses to go off on their own. This is going to get a bit harder with just the two of us.¡± She admitted with a light smile. While her words may have sounded like she was worried, the expression on her face showed that she enjoyed the challenge. ¡°I know.¡± I nodded. ¡°You worry about the doors, leave the fighting to me. I want to test something.¡± I glanced down towards the slime sword in my hand as I said that, and she seemed to understand. ¡°Alright. One door, coming right up.¡± She said with a grin, metallic blades forming along her wrists. She stabbed those blades into the door and let out a shout as she spread her arms wide, forcing it open. Once again, I was forced to accept the results of her spending so many of her stat points in strength and dexterity. However, once the door was open, it was my turn. To make this work, I converted my entire arm into slime, before splitting it into countless threads. Using my Spatial Comprehension skill, I was able to accurately send all of the slime threads through the door, bypassing Sharon. Once inside, each one turned into the same sword that I had been wielding moments before. There was a brief cry of alarm from within the room as it was turned into a sea of green blades. I could feel each one that made contact, and knew that there had been two guards within the room. Seeing as I was safely able to use the past tense to describe that, Sharon and I both walked into the room after I returned my arm to normal. ¡°Huh, nice.¡± She said with a nod. ¡°Might want to wait till we scout a room out first, but it seems pretty effective.¡± While she was saying that, I swayed on my feet slightly. While controlling the threads wasn¡¯t too hard, the act of pushing enough mass into them to create all those swords was something that left me momentarily drained. ¡°Yeah, no¡­ I¡¯ll figure something else out.¡± I decided. If it was the last room, and our only goal was to kill, then this would be an okay tactic. But with the sudden loss of strength that came after it, it was not worth it to use repeatedly, especially when we were looking to eventually capture some people. Sharon looked to me with concern before the two of us went forward again. Once more, there were two doors within this room that we could choose. However, this time we had no intention of splitting up, so we simply chose the door that was facing opposite of the base¡¯s original entrance. It was safe to assume that the actual research would be conducted near the core of the facility, while the outer areas would be for things such as guard stations. In the next room, Sharon and I charged in together. This time, there were three human guards, along with another of the humanoid robots. Now that I was able to see it before it was being destroyed, I was finally able to confirm their appearance. Tall, over seven feet, with four white arms. Each of the top arms ended with a four-fingered hand, while the bottom arms both ended with a gun barrel-like shape. Though, that same shape could also be found in its stomach, head, and both sides of its chest. Wait, did that mean¡­ If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Hahah! Seriously!? I got shot by nipple lasers!?¡± Sharon laughed strangely as she walked into the room, and I felt a shiver going down my spine. This time, the robot was looking at a door to the left when we entered, so it didn¡¯t blast us the moment the door opened. That was¡­ probably a mistake on its part. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but see the resemblance between these robots and the aliens that had served as grunts in the previous bases. If not for the fact that I had seen the robot¡¯s insides while Yo was ripping the last one to shreds, then I might have had some rather morbid ideas about where they came from. I considered securing one of these robots to take back for Celeste to study, but I quickly gave up the idea of it being this particular one. Almost the instant that Sharon stepped through the door, the robot turned to face her. In a flurry of motion that I wasn¡¯t sure she was capable of without Priscilla¡¯s help, she appeared in front of the robot with the angriest smile I had ever seen on a woman. Her arms seemed to dance through the air as crisp sounds of metal striking metal filled the room. By that time, even the three human guards had begun acting, and turned their rifles towards Sharon. However, what kind of man would I be if I let someone shoot my wife? I mean, seriously? Pointing a finger at each guard, I sent them stabbing forward as slime blades to skewer each of them. While filling the room with slime blades may be something I can¡¯t easily repeat, creating three blades like this is a much different story. By the time that I was able to look over at Sharon, her arms were still moving wildly. With each slice, sections of the robot would fall off of its frame. While it looked like she had already disabled it, as it was no longer showing any signs of movement, she simply continued slashing it apart until I cleared my throat. ¡°Short on time, remember?¡± I reminded her gently, before pointing my hand towards the next door. She let out a small huff as she kicked the robot down to the floor, moving to the door. ¡°Alright, fine. But I reserve the right to vent my frustrations.¡± She said with a wicked grin. I could only chuckle at that, nodding my head. However, soon Celeste¡¯s voice spoke up over our comms. ¡°We¡¯ve captured the warp gate, guys. Give us a few minutes to an hour, and we should have a direct link to every gate the Empire controls.¡± She reported happily, before her voice turned seriously. ¡°Also, be warned, I estimate you have two minutes before the reactor explodes down there. If you have any intentions of saving those bodies, make sure you are outside the base within that time limit. I¡¯ll be ready to teleport you guys up if you exit.¡± After hearing that, Sharon and I looked at each other and nodded our head. We had two minutes left, and this whole trip was a waste if we did not at least capture someone. Though, it did felt nice to get to stretch my legs like this, but it somewhat lost its appeal since it wasn¡¯t really that long since I was fighting in order to clear up the planets in the Gerin system. ¡°Next guy we see?¡± Sharon asked, getting another nod from me. Most of the guards we had seen so far had the exact same face, meaning that they were likely all purchased through the markets as disposable characters. Adding onto that the fact that there were no alien slaves in this base, and it seemed like something was fishy. At the very least, I wanted to get someone who might know what this base was researching before we left. ¡°If only I could use the elements, I could dig us through straight to the research areas.¡± I groaned in regret. Sharon sent a small smile my way as she proceeded to demolish the next door. Behind it were not the guards that we had expected, but a long and empty hallway lined with more doors. Though, given the fact that these doors were all opened, I felt like it was a safe bet that there were guards stationed inside, ready for ambush. ¡°Please let there be someone that has their own face... ¡° I sighed as I walked forward with Sharon. As expected, the moment we began moving forward, dozens of laser blasts were aimed at us from people poking out through the open doorways. Notices of minor damage continued to appear in front of me, though I simply ignored them as I continued walking, letting Sharon take up position behind me. It wasn¡¯t often that I got to play the role of the tank, so I was going to do the best that I could. However, it seemed that our hopes were for naught. For the last two minutes while we slaughtered our way through the base, we did not see a single person that had a unique face. While I did manage to capture a robot for Celeste to study, I wasn¡¯t able to find any researchers. I could only hope that Yo had more luck than we did. Still, we continued going on until a blinding white light filled our vision.
You have died. Good job.
That message was never one that I enjoyed seeing, but after it passed I found myself waking up in my true body aboard the ship. Nearby, I heard several gasps as the girls woke up at the same time. Looking around, I found that Yo still had an annoyed expression on her face, though it had calmed considerably since when we split up. ¡°Any luck?¡± I asked her, hoping that the two of them had been able to force their way deeper in than we had. Thankfully, she nodded her head, making a somewhat difficult expression as she spoke. ¡°Two researchers.¡± She answered. ¡°Kept their memories, though they are getting annoying. Hope you can find what you need quickly.¡± Yeah, I hope so too... Chapter 200: Author-Samas Depression After getting back to the ship, I had Yo report to Celeste in order to have those memories extracted and searched for relevant information. While I could probably do so myself, Celeste is a better obvious choice for this, given that she would be able to better understand any technical information uncovered. As for myself, after ¡®dying¡¯, I made my way to the bridge. ¡°Damage report.¡± I said as I arrived, looking at the crew members who were busily looking at their terminals. ¡°Three shield emitters were damaged in the fight, captain. We have the materials to repair them, but it will take time.¡± After hearing the report, I nodded my head. ¡°How long?¡± We were on a rather tight schedule as things were, if I wanted to have this all wrapped up before my grove underwent its next evolution. ¡°If we get the Deus Ex to help us with converting the raw materials into the proper components and have them help with installation¡­ three days, maybe.¡± I felt my eyes twitch slightly when I heard that. ¡°Alright¡­ Do it.¡± I said with a low groan. We didn¡¯t know when we would be finding their true main base, but any base that we went to through their warp gate would likely be heavily defended. We couldn¡¯t afford to go in without all of our systems working at their top performance, especially not our shields. Receiving the order, they began placing calls to the various nearby ships to ask for help in expediting the repairs. As for me, I gave a slight glance to the countdown for my grove. I wanted to be sure to know just how close we were cutting it.
8:12:34:21 Remaining until Grove Evolution
I was just about to breathe out a sigh of relief when another window appeared, which almost literally made me cough up blood.
Oh great, the God of Writing got depressed again, so any time-based notifications may be a bit screwy. Sorry everyone, we¡¯re sending out the correct information now!
What¡­ how does that even happen?! I thought the system was automated. Don¡¯t tell me that one god in particular is responsible for managing the entire timeline for every system notification. That would be ridiculous.
Of course not, John, that would be silly. He does, however, have to keep track of the different variables that alter major plot points-- I mean, major events in history. And when he forgets one¡­ well, things can get a bit wonky. You can¡¯t really blame him, it¡¯s your own fault this time! That ring and staff combination was an unseen variable that he completely forgot about because you never do anything special with them!
My ring and staff? Well, obviously he wasn¡¯t talking about Lex. So, I looked down to my finger, and remembered the ring that Yin had given me from her first patron mission. I had really had it for so long that even I had forgotten about it. Not to mention the staff that combined with it to allow me to cultivate mana at a constant rate without needing to meditate. Shaking my head, I checked the countdown once again. Given the amount of mana being pulled from the staff and ring into my grove, that notification from before was obviously meant for me. I didn¡¯t know how much time it shaved off, so it was better to check it myself.
0:02:31:18 Remaining until Grove Evolution
Honestly, I felt like crying at this point¡­ From over a week remaining, I now had barely two and a half hours!? ¡°Sharon, meet me at Airlock B as quickly as possible.¡± I sent the message over comms, before turning and running out of the bridge, leaving more than a few surprised gazes behind. ¡°John, what¡¯s going¡­ oh, my¡­¡± I heard Celeste¡¯s voice in my mind, no doubt she either overheard my transmission or felt my mental distress. ¡°Be safe, John.¡± She said in a softer tone, likely knowing what I was about to do. ¡°I will. You keep the ship safe while we¡¯re gone.¡± I said aloud as I ran, not caring at this point if anyone heard me talking to myself. By the time I got to the airlock, which I chose because it was the closest one to the bridge, Sharon was already there waiting for me. Judging by her rough breathing, and the slight sweat on her forehead, she had ran straight here as soon as she got my message. ¡°What¡¯s going on, John?¡± She asked hurriedly, while I pulled her forward with me into the airlock. ¡°You know I can¡¯t breathe in space, right?!¡± ¡°I¡¯ll explain on the way.¡± I said quickly, activating my aura sight to temporarily change Sharon¡¯s race, and my own, to a void elf, in order to allow her to survive in the vacuum that we were about to enter. Only once that was taken care of, and the airlock was opened did I begin explaining what had happened to Sharon. ¡°Malthan fucked up my grove timer.¡± I told her, speaking through void mana so that she could hear me. ¡°My grove evolution is coming now, not next week.¡±
Hey, it wasn¡¯t me! It was Author-sama¡¯s fault! He forgot about your extra absorption passive!
When I said that, ignoring the complaining window that appeared, I saw her face visibly pale, realizing the implications behind it. ¡°Why¡¯d you pull me along, then? I thought you had to do this alone, like all your other evolutions?¡± She sent back, her tone panicked. ¡°Malthan told me before that it would be best if you were with me when this happened.¡± Though how much I wanted to believe him, I wasn¡¯t sure. So far, he hadn¡¯t strictly lied to me as far as I could tell, but he never really told me the whole truth either. ¡°He said that it wouldn¡¯t hurt you, but we need to get as far away from the fleet as possible.¡± When she heard that, Sharon¡¯s face grew calmer, and she nodded her head. With her assistance, we increased the speed that we were flying away from the fleet. If possible, I would have liked to take us through subspace to get farther away, but Sharon did not have a way to protect herself in there like I did. As we flew, the ship gradually became smaller and smaller behind us, though even after two hours we could still easily see our fleet in the distance. When two and a half hours passed, the countdown finally hit zero. While feeling a surge of mana from within me, I saw another message appear in front of me.
0:00:00:00 Remaining until Grove Evolution. Please stand by while the big bang commences.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Unable to tell just how much of that was serious, I soon felt another surge of mana. This one, however, was not coming from me. Instead, it was coming from Sharon, and seemed to resonate perfectly with my own energy. Light began to warp around us as the mana distorted everything.
This is the best part. Go watch your grove, you two lovebirds.
When I saw that message, my eye once again twitched. Glancing off to the side, I saw that Sharon had a surprised reaction on her face, likely meaning that the window had appeared for her to. She looked up to me, giving a faint nod as she closed her eyes. For some reason, I could almost feel her looking into my grove, so I decided to join her. What we saw when we looked in was¡­ beautiful, to say the least. The black hole that had condensed the entire grove into a single ball of matter had erupted. In its wake was stardust, scattered as far as the eye could see. And seeing as we could see everything in the grove, that was quite a distance. A distance which was constantly expanding, moving outwards at a speed we could barely even comprehend. Within that mass of stardust, we could still sense the mana of the universe, but there was so much more than normal. I could sense mana types that I had never felt before. Not only of Order and Chaos, of Light and Dark, but there were other mana types hidden within the streams of glittering dust. Yet, that was far from the end of the show. The last mana type that I felt released from the black hole, the one that had been pulled to its very core, was time mana. And when it washed out to cover this new universe, everything changed. Sharon and I could see as whirlpools of light seemed to pull the stardust together, condensing it into spheres of fire and stone. It was like watching the creation of the universe in fast forward, as more and more rocks collided with one another to form planets. But that wasn¡¯t all. The mana of the universe kept expanding outwards, further and further. It didn¡¯t stop at one solar system, or even one galaxy. The entire scene was captured within mine and Sharon¡¯s view, as we watched the cosmos itself taking shape. Galaxies formed and collapsed, planets burned, and life took root. I couldn¡¯t even count the number of planets within our grove that contained life, but not just because there were too many. Time was still moving forward, faster and faster. Species were born and went extinct in the next second. Billions of years seemed to pass as we watched, before finally everything settled down. Time slowed to a crawl, and we were finally able to get a good look at our grove. Even counting the number of galaxies seemed impossible, as they dotted the vast expanse. Each galaxy holding over tens of billions of stars, many of which had their own planets revolving around them. ¡°Wow¡­¡± I heard off from my side, surprising me. I had never heard Sharon¡¯s voice like this when we were both looking into our groves before. Floating next to me in the emptiness above the center of creation, was an ethereal, and very naked Sharon. She was looking down at a nearby galaxy, which seemed just so small from our perspective. When she looked up, and found me next to her, her eyes were as wide as saucers. ¡°Does this mean¡­ both of us?¡± She seemed to ask, before a message as large as a dwarf star appeared some distance away from us, a hanging blue panel in the sky.
Congratulations! Sharon and John Hulett, you are now the proud owners of your own universe. Due to your connected groves, both of you are treated as equal owners of this new universe, and are able to control all that exists within it. But that¡¯s not all! With great power, comes even more great powers. As owners of a Universe Grove, each of you have access to three perks. Universe Ownership: Within your universe, you can be seen as a God. Universe Mana: All mana types have been compressed into one, granting access to the manipulation of all things, in and out of the grove. Your mastery of this new mana type will be based on the mana types you had mastered until now, and their affinities. Universe Reserves: By burning the endless void of your universe, you can receive a limitless supply of mana from your grove.
Two of those perks, I had expected. I had burned my grove before to provide extra mana, and an infinite universe would give me infinite space to burn¡­ As for being a god within my universe, that just seemed obvious. Even before, in a normal grove, the druid who owns it is all but a deity. However, the new mana type surprised me¡­ Without hesitation, I opened up my character sheet, in order to see these new changes for myself.
Name John Hulett Race Void Elf
Titles Vengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship Captain, Creator of Baishiro, Universe Ruler Fame 100,000
Level 208 21% Class Druid
Advanced Class Xeno-Shifter Deity Malthan
Health 2000/2000 Health Regen 0
Mana 4500/4500 Mana Regen 9000
Strength 100 Wisdom 300
Agility 74 Intelligence 450
Dexterity 70 Charisma 35
Vitality 200 Luck 25
Points Remaining
Universe 57%
The first thing that I noticed was obviously that my list of elemental affinities had decreased to one. However, soon I noticed my mana regeneration¡­ A full nine thousand mana every second. That meant I could refill my mana twice every second. And that was probably only because it was the limit on how fast I could take energy from my grove. Glancing over to Sharon, I saw that her cheeks had puffed up cutely, her arms crossed in front of her. ¡°12%...¡± She mumbled to herself, likely reading her own affinity. I couldn¡¯t help but smile. Sharon had never had the number of affinities I had, nor the level of mastery with them, so it wasn¡¯t surprising that her affinity with this new element was so low. ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± I said with a smile, holding my hand out for her. Now that this situation was taken care of, we had friends to get back to, and new changes to explore. Now¡­ we could finally be considered to have the strength to win this war. Chapter 201: A Universe of Possibilities After feeling the new surging energy within myself, Sharon and I took a look around. Our surroundings had not changed since before the grove evolution began, so we could still see the fleet off in the distance. As we were about to begin flying our way back there, a thought crossed my mind and I reached out to grab Sharon¡¯s wrist, stopping her for a moment. When she looked back questioningly, I merely shook my head before closing my eyes. There was something that I wanted to try first. So, instead of flying ahead, I pushed my mana sense out as far as it would go. Before, it could just barely cover half of the Ariadne, but to compare my current level of energy to back then would be a mistake. And sure enough, not only was I able to sense the Ariadne from my current position, my mana sense actually continued to expand further and further, encapsulating entire planets. It did not stop until it had wrapped around the entire solar system. Only at that point did I get the feeling that I could not push it any further with my strength. However, even this was enough. Using my mana sense, I was able to accurately target an area with my will, and sent a bit of energy streaming out from myself. Within moments, it formed into a circular portal in front of Sharon and I, the other side showing the exterior of one of the Ariadne¡¯s airlocks. Since we were still in the vacuum of space, I couldn¡¯t exactly open a portal inside the ship, or else I would risk the atmosphere being vented. Nonetheless, this made the trip back much faster. Sharon and I stepped through the portal, and I sent a message to Celeste to open the airlock for us. ¡°Huh? You¡¯re back already?¡± Celeste asked, surprise in her tone. Just how long were we gone? I wondered to myself, though her answer came in response to my thoughts. ¡°It¡¯s been about four hours since you ran off with Sharon. However, the vortex only disappeared a couple minutes ago. We were all expecting to have to wait a couple more hours before you arrived.¡± Hearing her explanation, I nodded my head. Soon, the metal door in front of us opened up, and the two of us stepped inside. As the atmosphere filled the room, I let out a sigh of relief and quickly adjusted mine and Sharon¡¯s races back to our normal wood elf. I wasn¡¯t that surprised to find the transition much easier to accomplish now, and we were back to normal by the time the interior door opened. ¡°So, just how much of a boost did you get?¡± Celeste asked the two of us curiously, speaking over the comms this time so that we could both hear her. ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Sharon spoke up first, shivering as she felt her surroundings starting to warm up after moving deeper into the ship with me. ¡°I¡¯ll have to look through the grove for a while. But¡­ I should have enough companions for whatever kind of situation we get in.¡± She muttered, unsure of herself. I couldn¡¯t really blame her for that. Even with our powers to quickly look through our grove, it was still an infinitely expanding universe. There could be any type of lifeform in our grove, but we have to actually know where to find it in order to do anything about it. I could select a galaxy at random in the grove, and maybe look through a hundred planets a day. It would still take me thousands of years to even finish going through that one galaxy. Though, I might be able to just cut it down to one year if I ignored all of the unlivable planets, but still. That is just one galaxy, and we don¡¯t have enough time for her to fully catalogue everything. On the other hand, once she is able to identify enough powerful creatures within the grove, she¡¯ll be basically unstoppable. Assuming that there are some creatures with a minor control of time in her grove, even I would lose the certainty to defeat her. ¡°Well, what about you, John?¡± Celeste asked, her question directed at me now. ¡°I should be able to take on one or two of the New Human Empire ships on my own now, I think.¡± Considering that I was able to tank a couple of shots from them before, I might be able to entirely nullify their beams now. However, I wouldn¡¯t really know until I tried. ¡°And, if I¡¯m right, I should be able to provide a measure of defense for our fleet in the next battle.¡± Compared to Sharon, my benefits were more immediately apparent. With my greater elemental control, having the universe grove vastly increased that. Though, I did turn to look at her with a smile. ¡°Let me know if you find anything interesting in your search.¡± I said to her. While she could absorb the residents of our grove to increase her power, I could also copy their abilities onto myself to perfect my battle form. Likely guessing my intention, Sharon nodded with an exaggerated sigh. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯ll go ahead and get started. Try not to disturb me for a while, if possible.¡± She said, shaking her head as she turned to take a different path, heading towards my quarters instead of the bridge. ¡°Alright. Now, what have you learned from Yo, Celeste?¡± I asked, a much more serious expression on my face as I recalled what I had tasked her with after our latest mission. ¡°Nothing good¡­¡± She answered, a touch of hesitation in her tone. ¡°I can say for certain that they have a Xeno-Shifter on their side, or at least someone with comparable skills. And I think I¡¯ve figured out one of their main plans.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but raise an eyebrow in question at that. However, she did not immediately answer me. Instead, she told me to meet her and some of the other senior officers at the War Room so that she could explain it all at once. With a shrug of my shoulders, I turned around and began heading towards that area instead of the bridge. When I arrived, I found that Celeste, Ackbar, Yo, and holographic representatives of the Qu¡¯Lopti and Deus Ex pilots were seated and waiting for me. ¡°Why do I feel like I just walked into an intervention?¡± I asked with a curious expression. ¡°Huh?¡± Celeste asked with a confused smile. ¡°No, nothing like that. You were just the last to arrive. If you would take a seat?¡± She shook her head, pointing to the one remaining seat in the room. ¡°Figured it would be easier to only go over this once.¡±If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. With another shrug, I moved to sit in the spot provided, as Celeste got up to stand at the holographic display in the center of the room. ¡°Okay, so, in our first few raids of the Empire bases, we discovered some interesting pieces of technology. First, there was the warp core, which we have already reverse engineered and adapted to our own fleet. Next, there was the artificial intelligence implant, which resembled an advanced futuristic technology.¡± ¡°This time, we have these robots.¡± As she said that, an image of the robot that we fought during the raid appeared, the four armed one that enjoyed shooting lasers. ¡°However, this was not the facility¡¯s production goal. Rather, this location was a simple supply base. But these robots, combined with information obtained from the memories of scientists that Yo ¡®acquired¡¯, have revealed some startling information.¡± After saying that, she took a deep breath, though I didn¡¯t really see the point in it besides building dramatic tension. ¡°These are the Orik, the same race that we had previously encountered. However, they appear to have been converted into Deus Ex after receiving the implants we had previously discovered. Likely, this is the upgraded form of their warriors, as each one has a power equal to someone around level one hundred and fifty.¡± ¡°According to the information gathered, these are to be the foot soldiers of the Empire. Their original planet has a size much larger than that of Earth or any of the inhabited Gerin planets. With this, their initial population was well over a hundred billion. Thankfully, one of the scientists acquired had knowledge of their homeworld, as he was one of the original Empire members.¡± She added that final bit with a bitter smile. ¡°In their initial attack, they wiped out thirty percent of the population as a show of force to cow the rest into submission. From there, they captured ten percent for use as their gold farms, and distributed the rest among their bases as slaves.¡± She explained, before a vaguely humanoid figure with a question mark on his head appeared next to the image of the robot. ¡°Ever since then, they have been slowly cycling through the Orik population, sending them to an unknown facility, where they are implanted with the ¡®control chips¡¯ and then converted into Deus Ex. Like this, their initial personalities are completely erased, and they become obedient tools for the Empire to command. The scientist in question did not know the location of the ¡®conversion¡¯ plant, but his memories did allow me to narrow down the location of their main base.¡± As she said that, she replaced the holograms in front of her with that of a large planet being orbited by three moons. ¡°This is the Orik homeworld. Due to the size of the planet, the Empire was unable to construct a proper base, as most of their members could not withstand the gravity. Instead, they have their base on the largest moon orbiting the planet, with is roughly ten percent smaller than the Earth.¡± Saying that, the hologram enlarged to show the moon in question. ¡°This scientist had not been to the base for over a year, so his information about their defenses is likely to be obsolete. What he does know is that there are three fully automated shipyards in orbit around the planet, constantly producing the ships we have seen until now.¡± At this, Celeste seemed to move away from what she knew was there, to what she suspected. ¡°Given the time that they have had to prepare, I expect that there will be a number of turrets defending the base. Or at the very least, a large portion of their fleet. This was what had always worried me before when considering this attack, because we simply can¡¯t deal with too many of their advanced weapons at once. Initially, I had been concerned that attacking their main base without the combined force of all of the allied races would be suicide.¡± ¡°What has changed?¡± The Deus Ex captain asked in a monotonous voice, staring straight at Celeste. No doubt, he still calculated our odds in the coming battle to be exceptionally low. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad you asked, Xeta.¡± Celeste grinned happily, before turning to look at me. ¡°First, according to our good captain here, he has the confidence to block multiple stacked beams from their ships. That increases our defensive potential be a significant margin. If I understand right, he should be able to unleash attacks at roughly the same level of strength.¡± ¡°As for the second deciding factor, it is the warp gate that we have acquired. Previously, I had thought it impossible to approach from a distance without first being detected, so there was no possibility for us to have the element of surprise. However, with the warp gate things change. Even if they know we are coming, we can arrive at any time we want without them knowing when we are coming.¡± It was at this point that the Deus Ex, who is apparently named Xeta, spoke up again. I¡¯m not going to even comment about why I don¡¯t know every single one of them by their face when they all look the exact same. ¡°Could they not simply have their guns aimed constantly at the portal, prepared to fire whenever we come through? Claiming this as an element of surprise does not seem quite logical.¡± ¡°Well, that is true. However, I have an idea that could still give them quite the shock.¡± She said with a wide grin, turning to look at me again. ¡°John, your mana sense got a major upgrade, right? That¡¯s the only way you could get back here so fast, unless your evolution included a new teleportation power.¡± I hesitated for a moment, before nodding my head, finally having a turn to speak. ¡°That¡¯s right. From our position, I can currently cover this solar system with my senses.¡± She seemed a bit surprised when I reported the extent of my improvement, but that only seemed to give her more confidence. ¡°How quickly can you store a ship inside your grove?¡± She asked, almost excited to hear the answer. Raising my eyebrows, I looked questioning at her, before closing my eyes. First, I wanted to make a safe area within the grove for the ship to arrive in, so I gave a large area of empty space an atmosphere. That way, even if the atmospheres don¡¯t carry over, there won¡¯t be any dangers. Afterwards, I stretched my mana senses out and targeted the smallest of our ships, one of the Qu¡¯Lopti flights. With a brief moment of exertion, I was able to wrap my mana around it, and send it into the grove. I am unsure how it looked to those nearby, but I saw the ship simply pop into being within my grove, as if it had teleported there rather than being slowly constructed from mana like I was used to. When I opened my eyes, I saw everyone focusing on my, their eyes wide. Well¡­ aside from the Qu¡¯Lopti representative who was no longer present. ¡°That fast?¡± I responded to Celeste, a slight smile on my face. ¡°Uhm¡­ okay, bit more than I expected, honestly.¡± She said in a quiet voice, before shaking her head rapidly. ¡°Do you think that you would be able to survive long enough to summon the entire fleet, if you stored them in your grove like that?¡± It was a risky plan, alright¡­ However¡­ I nodded my head after giving it some thought. ¡°It shouldn¡¯t be hard.¡± If it was just surviving, I could temporarily stop all attacks with a wall of time. ¡°Just so long as they don¡¯t have a larger version of the ¡®anti-druid¡¯ field surrounding their gate. I¡¯m not sure how useful I would be in that case.¡± Celeste nodded her head at that. ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be able to, I hope. Otherwise, you¡¯ll need to flee outside of its range before you act.¡± Well, that¡¯s true. At least I¡¯d be able to survive with my own abilities long enough to escape its effect... Chapter 202: Swear to Me! For the next three days, while the repairs to the ship were being made, Sharon and I spent the time in our room, enjoying the fruits of our labor. No, we were not passionately embracing one another, though we were both sitting on the bed. Instead, the two of us were deep inside the grove, doing our best to catalog what we could in order to increase our abilities for what was to come. In order to make sure that our findings didn¡¯t overlap, the two of us picked two separate galaxies to investigate. Even on the remote chance that creatures evolved similarly, there shouldn¡¯t be much that ended up exactly the same. The odds were high that neither of us would even find a planet with intelligent life before the time was over. In order to maximize my ability to search, I partitioned my mind into five segments. Each segment would quickly scan one particular region of a chosen planet, before compiling the information all together in one neat list. Normal plants and animals were of no interest to me. I only wanted the exceptionally powerful, or those with abnormal abilities. Thankfully, being the master of the grove made the search proceed much faster than normal. However, it still ended up taking roughly ten minutes per planet. Though on a side note, I did manage to find one particularly impressive scene during my brief look at the galaxy. A pair of lunar titans, giant constructs like golems which originally took the shape of a planet¡¯s moon. Earth¡¯s own moon became one like that. But no, neither of these were that titan, obviously. I even did a brief check to make sure that the galaxy did not even look vaguely similar to the Milky Way. When I found the pair of lunar titans, they were violently clashing in the atmosphere of a gas giant. Every now and then, one would rip chunks off the other to devour, causing one to shrink and the other to grow. Out of curiosity, I accelerated their battle to watch it in fast forward, and it seemed to last for three full weeks before one titan had completely devoured the other, growing to twice its original size. Now that would be a great weapon to throw at the New Human Empire, if I could control it.I made sure to note down the existence of the titan for Sharon, to see if she could do anything with it. Unfortunately, its only real strength I could see was its size, and there was no way that I could become something that big, even with my insane amount of mana. You can only stretch a person so far. Anyways, for the planets I visited, I only targeted those that had life on them. Out of the galaxy I selected, that was still over a billion planets. Even without sleep, I was only able to barely scan and compile lists for over two hundred planets within the first day and a half. I could have spent the rest of the time continuing to scan, but Sharon and I had agreed to only spend half the time searching, and the rest of the time sharing notes about what we had found. ¡°So, how many did you manage to get?¡± I asked Sharon as I saw her opening her eyes shortly after me. She gave me a bitter smile in response, shaking her head. ¡°Around a hundred and twenty, I guess? I stopped counting the boring ones. And, there were only a few creatures that actually seemed interesting. You?¡± She asked, looking at me a bit hopefully. ¡°Two hundred and thirty-seven.¡± I replied, looking at the list I had compiled. ¡°And, there were a few that I thought you should look at too. Most importantly¡­ I found a lunar titan.¡± Her eyes lit up when she heard that, and she quickly placed her hands on my shoulders. ¡°Tell me where!¡± She grinned broadly, no doubt thinking of the kind of transformation she could achieve if she merged with a lunar titan. I chuckled faintly, nodding my head. ¡°I tagged it, so you should be able to spot it pretty easily.¡± Something that I had found out during my search was that I could imbue a special type of mana into a creature or location, and then it would light up in my senses whenever I went to look for it again. I didn¡¯t know what to call this type of mana, though, so I just labeled it as tagging. She looked at me confused for a moment, before nodding. ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll take a look at that region later. Hopefully, I can make a deal with it.¡± Her words caused me to faintly shudder as I recalled her method of getting creatures to be her animal companion¡­ and now she had the power of a god to back it up. ¡°On my end, I found two creatures that really screamed ¡®share with John¡¯.¡± She furrowed her brow, lifting her hand up and causing an image to appear above it. The image depicted a creature that looked like an armored golem, skin made entirely of reflective metal. Otherwise, it was bipedal with two arms and two legs. ¡°This one I almost mistook for an elemental at first, until I saw one getting killed. They are actually organic creatures that have developed a layer of flexible metal on their skin. This metal changes from case to case, and seems to be based on their diet, since they actually eat ores.¡± At first, I wasn¡¯t sure why she was showing me this, until she finished with that last detail. If the metal is changeable, then that opens up a variety of possibilities. I could easily find nearly indestructible metals within the universe to substitute, which could give me a perfect armor. ¡°Okay, what¡¯s the other one?¡± I hurriedly asked. Sharon smiled slightly, before changing the image. This time, what appeared seemed to be a clump of mist. For a moment, I thought she had simply not finished forming the image, until she began speaking. ¡°I almost overlooked this one, thinking it was a weather pattern. Their bodies seem to be a cluster of airborne cells that communicate with each other over short distances. I thought it might be good for stealth or avoiding deadly attacks.¡± I nodded my head, agreeing with her. ¡°Yeah, it would. Probably not as useful as the other one, but it would definitely work.¡± If I can copy the ability of the metallic skin, and find a suitable metal to use for it, then I will have a guarantee of being able to survive the upcoming plan. ¡°I made a list of creatures that I thought you might find interesting in the grove. You should be able to find it pretty easily. I¡¯d tell them myself, but¡­ there were surprisingly a lot.¡± She had less requirements for something suitable to use, after all. Though, I was curious to see how she would react to a dead planet being turned into a giant stone tablet. Since I had tagged all of the creatures that would be of interest to her, we decided to have her first show me where the ¡®cloudkin¡¯ and the ¡®steel skin warriors¡¯ were located. Once we found them, I quickly tagged a few as well before coming out of the grove.Celeste, I called out into my mind. ¡°Huh? Done already?¡± She asked curiously, her voice ringing inside my head. She still sounded excited after the display from the other day, though she was evidently trying to calm herself. ¡°Did Sharon not manage to find anything?¡± No, she did. I just need to ask you to check something for me. If you don¡¯t have the information in your records, then check the market for it instead.After I said that, I could feel her curiosity piqued.I want to know the strongest metal in existence. As close to indestructible as possible, and I need to know the conditions it appears in. ¡°Uhm¡­ Alright. Give me a minute to run down to the temple, and I can give you an answer. I don¡¯t have absolute records for things like that.¡± She quickly denied, though there was a bit of confusion in her tone. ¡°Are you wanting to reinforce the hull of the ships of something?¡± While that was certainly possible, I was not experienced enough to do so without damaging the ships themselves.No, Sharon found an¡­ interesting creature. If you can find me that information, I will have a hundred percent assurance in the battle later. If ever there was a moment when one could hear exclamation marks, this would be it. Without even seeing her, I could tell that she was now moving much faster. It was only another minute before a report came in. ¡°John, I need two hundred and sixty thousand gold coins for that information¡­ Double that payment if you want a top five list instead, though¡­ there is a secondary payment method instead for the list.¡± ¡°Oh? What is it?¡± I asked, curiously. ¡°Your staff. Quite specifically, ¡®John¡¯s Staff of the Minor World¡¯, signed Malthan.¡± She explained. ¡°So, half a million gold coins, then?¡± I confirmed. I had some things that I wanted to try with the staff before I was just willing to give it back like that.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Aww, come on man. The staff is useless to you right now, isn¡¯t it? Your grove is as evolved as it can get, there¡¯s no benefit for you to keep it anymore for that.
The way you word that makes me think it might have another use.I responded mentally, before pulling the staff from my inventory. It¡¯s true that I didn¡¯t need it to evolve my grove anymore, but I still wanted to keep it around. Maybe melt it down and--
No! Absolutely not! Did you already forget the warning label!?
My thoughts were interrupted by Malthan, reminding me of something that I had originally seen a long, long time ago. Which wasn¡¯t really nearly as long ago as it sounds.
Staff of the Minor World This object was created as a collaborated effort by all of the elemental gods. If you melt it down for scrap, you will have their wrath to deal with. Don¡¯t say you weren¡¯t warned. Special effect: Elemental mana source(All)
Okay¡­ so the combined wrath of every elemental god. Noted, don¡¯t melt the precious staff. Can I do other things to study it, at least?Maybe I could figure out how its enchantments worked, so that I could increase my own understanding.
Not gonna help, man. That thing was made with god energy. It doesn¡¯t even follow the same laws of enchanting that you¡¯re used to, so unless you were willing to devote the next thousand or so years staring at it, I doubt you¡¯d find anything.
...You¡¯re just making excuses to get me to return the staff now, aren¡¯t you?Well, at least he wasn¡¯t asking for the ring back¡­ that one had quite a bit more sentimental value to it.
Maybe, but they are still true! And we don¡¯t want your engagement ring.
Okay¡­ fine¡­ I¡¯ll return the damn staff.I said with a groan. It was easier than making half a million gold currency from my grove. With a sigh, I opened up a portal that led me directly to the temple, where I met a surprised Celeste. ¡°Did you get the money already?¡± She asked, her eyes wide. Even with an entire universe at my disposal, getting that many coins was unreasonable that fast. Though, I should set up an automated line for it somewhere to create a nice sized stockpile. After the war is over, I¡¯ll think about it. ¡°No, I¡¯m using the staff as payment.¡± I grimaced as I said it. In fairness, the staff was likely worth far more than a half million gold coins. But to me right now, its value was low. Celeste, hearing that, nodded her head and backed away to let me at the temple statues. To no surprise, the most prominent statue placed in the center, surrounding by blue mood lighting¡­ was the statue to Malthan. This was not my choice, as the statue kept appearing again every time I tried to change it. Anyways, I opened the market and quickly found what I was looking for.
List of Almighty Metals - Top Five By purchasing this item, you will receive information on the top five most indestructible metals in all creation, as well as the areas they typically appear in and their special traits. Price: 520,000 Gold Alternate Price: Your Staff.
¡°For the record, I do this under protest.¡± I said as I offered the staff up to the statue, whereupon it glowed with a bright light and shattered into nothingness. At the same time, information began rushing into my mind, causing a light headache as it did. Thankfully, I did not ask for the top hundred, or else I might be unconscious. Anyways, after the headache was over, a blue screen appeared in front of me, summarizing the knowledge that had been given to me.
1. Dark Steel Metal formed in the heart of a black hole after absorbing countless materials. One cubic inch of it weighs as much as an entire planet. However, the metal is completely indestructible, possessing almost absolute density.
2. Blue Silver A special metal formed in the heart of a galaxy. Each galaxy produces only one vein of Blue Silver, located at the innermost planet. This metal has absolute resistance to energy, making it impossible to forge. Its resistance to physical attacks is also among the best.
3. Chaos Heart This metal exists at the very heart of the universe. Once taken away, there will never be more of it. Chaos Heart devours any and all energy or matter that it comes into contact with. Including its user. Especially its user. DON¡¯T CHOOSE THIS ONE.
4. Lifeblood The most common among the top metals, but nonetheless difficult to obtain. Lifeblood is found in the core of every planet. However, removing it will cause the planet to slowly crumble and break apart. Each planet holds roughly ten grams of Lifeblood, and this metal has the ability to survive a supernova.
5. God Steel You can forget about obtaining this one. We put it on the list because it exists, but only in the items that we personally hand down. The only significant portion of god steel in the universe was your staff, and now you don¡¯t have the temptation to melt it down anymore.
Malthan¡­ was I just trolled?
Nope, it was all entirely true. The market doesn¡¯t lie. It¡¯s not allowed to.
So, I should choose the cha--
John, I swear to me if you choose the chaos heart, I will go down there and bitch slap you so hard, your children will inherit the bruises for generations to come.
Fine¡­ But it¡¯s not like I was going to melt down the staff anyways! Okay, maybe I was, but not for the materials!I justified mentally, before looking over the list. Dark steel was immediately out. Finding it wasn¡¯t the issue, but its weight would be a problem. If I created a layer of that over my own skin, I would no doubt crush myself into a fine paste under its weight. That left only blue silver, and lifeblood. As for blue silver¡­ I was wary about its ¡®absolute resistance¡¯ to energy, worried that might include the mana used to disable the transformation. I would not want to go through all that trouble just to wind up permanently in that form. Which naturally left only one metal. ¡°Let me know when the repairs are done, Celeste.¡± I nodded towards her with a smile, before moving back towards my room with another portal. Although the information given about the five metals was quite comprehensive, it did not include their auras, which was what I actually needed in order to do what I wanted. Still, I had no shortage of planets that I could burn to get a sample. And it didn¡¯t take long after I entered my grove again to find a dead rock floating through space. With a thought, it crumbled into dust, and with a slightly harsher thought the dust scattered into nothing. Soon, all that was left was a small red shimmer, a stone the size of a grain of rice.I am really glad I¡¯m not taking the time to actually make something out of this.Now, all that was left was to memorize the aura patterns I needed, and I would have a truly unstoppable battle form. Chapter 203: Harbinger of War The next two days passed in relative silence. Most of the time I spent perfecting my new lifeblood armor form, and integrating it into my battle form. While I can¡¯t claim to be completely indestructible, there shouldn¡¯t be anything at this point in time that can hurt me faster than I can heal. At least, not unless they do soul attacks. I have yet to find a foolproof method of defense against that. Anyways, I stood alone in the vastness of space, the great ring of metal in front of me making up the warp gate. The fleet and everyone in it had already been moved into my grove, so it was time to begin the operation. Even with these new powers, I wasn¡¯t quite arrogant enough to think that I could take on the entire enemy fleet by myself. Before going into the grove, Celeste had installed an ¡®auto-dial¡¯ feature into the gate, which would cause it to open a path to their main base without an activation signal after a set amount of time. That way, I didn¡¯t have to have someone out here with me in order to start the process. So I stood there, waiting as the blue light gradually filled the ring, steadily forming the portal. No, I am not just stalling for time. I¡¯m not nervous. This is just the biggest fight of my life, and I am walking into a firing squad composed of ships the size of small countries! Okay, maybe I am a little nervous. It doesn¡¯t help that Malthan seems to have been paying extra attention to me lately.
Hey, you can¡¯t blame me for that. You¡¯re about to take on the enemy! The big bads! The harbinger of the God of War himself! And I brought popcorn!
Not helping!I thought inwardly, before flying into the portal once it was fully formed. There were a number of things I had worried about when it came to this plan. One of which proved to be quite the issue. As soon as I appeared on the other side of the warp gate, I found myself staring into the barrel of some VERY big guns. There were numerous assault ships, and off the top of my head I counted at least ten, their firing rings all aimed in various directions, as if preparing for an entire fleet. Without hesitation, I flew directly up as soon as I came through, glad to see that there was nothing preventing me from connecting to the elements here. However, I was not able to fly quickly enough, as all of the assault ships immediately focused their fire on me, bombarding me with lasers that could probably destroy a small moon. And this, folks, is where the problem comes into play.
The hammer of nope is smiting you. -400 Health
No, not the damage. Even with all of them shooting together, it would take a few rounds, or sustained fire to completely get through my armor. The problem was the force that came with the blast, which shunted me back through the portal before I could get out of the way. No.I muttered to myself in my head.That¡¯s not happening. Gritting my teeth, I flew back into the portal before they had time to close it, and saw them preparing to fire again. However, this time I decided to take a less direct approach. In front of all of their views, I blinked out of existence, choosing to enter subspace to avoid any more blasts. Yet, even the subspace region was not what I expected¡­ Mostly because it was not empty. In normal subspace, there would be shades of red, black, and blue making up the emptiness around me. Here, however, I found a planet. Or at least, I thought it was a planet, until it moved.Okay¡­ so I found their FTL guard dog.I shuddered, as two giant eyelids separated. What I thought was a planet seemed to be the largest Abstract I ever knew existed. Its basic shape was a giant eye, but beneath the lid were countless eyes, mouths, and stretched limbs joined together, all reaching or looking outwards.I¡¯m just gonna go now¡­No reason to stick around and see what it does to guests, so I flew a bit to the side and popped out of subspace, just far enough to put me outside the range to be blasted back into the portal. Now that I had a moment to breathe, figuratively speaking, I was able to see the full scope of the area around me. Fifteen assault ships, five shield ships, and six construction satellites surrounded a massive planet. Orbiting the planet were a number of moons, one of which seemed to be covered in plants and water. However, I couldn¡¯t help but draw my attention towards the construction satellites. Five of them seemed to be slowly working on either an assault ship, or a shield ship. However, the sixth was far bigger. It was actually built around one of the moons, and I could see various devices drilling into the moon, working to convert it into something else. What they were making, I couldn¡¯t say. But, given the amount of resources invested purely in the construction satellite, I knew it had to be important. And, it was around that time that the ships managed to lock onto me, sending another concentrated blast my way. This one, I was more prepared for. Before the ships had the chance to fire, I had erected a barrier of time in front of me, causing time itself in a fixed area to slow to a halt. Like this, even if the attacks moved at the speed of light, they would not be able to reach me. This was the first time I had really felt the effects of my increased mana control and regeneration since the birth of my universe grove. Even though the time barrier cost an insane amount of mana to maintain, it was not even making a dent in my mana levels. This gave me plenty of time to get out of the way, while the blasts were being held in stasis.Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Well, let¡¯s move on to step 2.I thought, spreading out my mana sense. To my surprise, I was actually not able to cover this solar system with my senses. Not because I was being restricted, but more because it was too big. I could see a giant, bluish white star in the distance, yet my mana could not reach it. It was simply out of range. Still, I could more than cover this planet and the area around it. And it only took me a moment to lock on to several areas surrounding the New Human Empire fleet.Surprise! In only a brief moment, energy surged from my body, forming into the Sons of Chaos fleet ships. The Qu¡¯Lopti flights were already in their robot forms, weapons primed. The Deus Ex ships opened fire immediately upon taking shape, while the Ariadne waited for just a moment before doing so. ¡°Glad to see you brought us to the party after all, John. She was getting worried.¡± Celeste¡¯s voice appeared in my mind, drawing my attention to the only other person in the fleet that was NOT in a ship. As it turned out, Sharon had a lot more leeway in her transformations than I did, as hers involved merging her body with a companion, rather than altering her own body. While the rest of the fleet waited, she had sat atop the Ariadne in the form of a void elf. But now that she was here, a grey light surrounded her, and she grew¡­ and grew¡­ and grew. Her final size was definitely not as big as the original lunar titan, only roughly a tenth of its size, but that was still bigger than any ship in either fleet. I could see a toothy grin on her face as her hands slowly reached down, clasping around one of the shield ships and shattering it in her palms. Originally, I was thinking that I¡¯d have to help out with this fight, taking on one or two of the ships to take the pressure off the fleet. But, now that I saw Sharon getting to work, I realized that was no longer necessary. If anything, I might get in her way, and it¡¯d be hard for her to notice something smaller than a flea by comparison. I could very well find myself squished. Celeste, find me somewhere that I can make things explode.I knew that the Deus Ex would have a few key targets in mind, but before she could even get to it, a blue screen appeared in front of me.
Oh, oh! Me, I got this!
Got wha-
Quest Issued!
Beyond Infinity Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Extermination The Champion of War has plagued the Galaxy with his conquests, enslaving primitive races and using them to further his galactic agenda of domination and destruction. Go punch him in the dick! Also, kill the bastard if you get the chance. Time Limit: The rest of your natural life. Reward: Beyond your wildest dreams Failure: Only if you die
And, like the very first divine quest I had received, I had an innate sense of where the leader of the New Human Empire was. Not in any of the ships fighting my fleet, but on the moon I had noted previously to be inhabitable.But really, ELEVEN star difficulty? I thought the scale only went up to ten!
Well, we just kicked it up to eleven!
...Fine, fine. Let¡¯s get this over with.I thought inwardly, choosing not to argue with a god when there were bigger things to worry about. Okay¡­ maybe not bigger, smaller things to worry about. Things small enough for me to actually be capable of worrying about them. Activating my Toybox portals, I soon appeared atop the moon in question. Judging by the fact that he was sitting at a table, enjoying what appeared to be a cup of tea, he was not too worried about the battle overhead. Stanley Martin was a tall man, a few inches taller than me, and even bigger than I remembered. However, at the same time, he also seemed older. His fading black hair was now mostly white, his face full of wrinkles. From beneath his tinted glasses, I could catch the sight of yellow eyes with vertical slits, similar to those of a cat or a lizard. ¡°Good evening, John.¡± He said, without ever looking up from his tea. When he did look up, however, his words abruptly stopped. ¡°So nice of you to-...¡± He paused as his eyes landed on me. I could see a slight twitch from his eyelids as he looked at me. ¡°Something wrong?¡± I asked with a small grin, still in my blood red metallic form. ¡°That¡­ is lifeblood, correct?¡± He responded, seeing me nod. I could hear a small growl coming from the base of his throat as he set down his tea, finally standing up. ¡°Okay. We do this the hard way. I beat you to within an inch of your life, and then I don¡¯t stop.¡± Martin was wearing black, baggy clothes, making it difficult to see his skin underneath. However, from the sheer size of him, he should be in better shape than anyone of his apparent age. Still¡­ he shouldn¡¯t really be a match for me, right? Yet, even though he knows about the lifeblood armor, he still seemed quite confident that he could kill me. ¡°Oh, and by the way.¡± He said as he began slowly walking towards me. ¡°This entire moon has a mana-redistribution field covering it. So, don¡¯t count on your manipulation abilities saving you.¡± Okay.. that¡¯s just not fair. And, as I thought that, I took just a brief moment to confirm, attempting to feel the mana around me. And, in that brief moment where I realized he was telling the truth, he vanished from my view. I felt a strong impact in my sides, and found myself lifted up off my feet, thrown by the force of the strike to fly away.
Outta the park! -500 Health
I saw the message appearing in front of me, amazed that one punch did more damage than over a dozen ships worth of laser blasts. Orienting my body, I landed down on my feet, my legs digging long trenches at least a dozen meters long before I finally stopped. Looking up, I found whatshouldhave been Stanley Martin, human general. Instead, the skin of his hand shattered, revealing sickly green flesh and bone beneath it. His body hunched over unnaturally, spikes seeming to poke through the back of his baggy shirt. ¡°Oh, crap.¡± I muttered, realizing that this quest actually deserved its rating. Chapter 204: The Death of a Hero At this point, it was fairly obvious that the human, ¡®Stanley Martin¡¯, was not the man standing in front of me. What was standing in front of me was by no means human, even if it looked like it was trying to wear a human skin. So¡­ what was he? As I tried to figure this out, I kept my eyes trained on him, waiting for that moment when he moved close enough for me to strike. I might not be his match in terms of physical combat, but that was not my only option for battling. Yet, my efforts were in vain. Before I even noticed him moving, I felt a pain in my chest. Somehow, he had crossed the dozens of meters faster than my eyes could see, and landed another punch on me.
Ragdoll physics enabled! -1000 Health
Oh, fuck!This was double the damage he had inflicted before, and I instantly shattered one of the scales hidden beneath my red armor, restoring me to full health. However, this time, I wasn¡¯t able to stop myself from bouncing along the ground several times before coming to a stop. Okay, options! I can¡¯t take him to subspace, that requires being able to touch him, and I¡¯m not even sure where we are in relation to the abstract right now. My element manipulation is sealed and--oh god he is getting uglier by the second.As I got myself back to my feet, I once again saw him walking in the distance. Judging by how far away he was¡­ did he seriously just punch me over a mile away?! Anyways, the skin around his right arm, as well as both of his legs had completely shattered at this point. Even the shirt sleeve and pants he was wearing had gone with them. His fingers were long and chitinous, his limbs long and narrow. From what I could see at this distance, his legs were actually digittrade, rather than the normal humanoid model. However, another thing that changed was his head. His face looked like it was peeling off, a helmet of sleek chitin forming over it. Scraps of his flesh fell to the grass, until even his eyes had been covered by his natural helmet.Okay, the less human he gets, the more powerful he becomes. If he doubles in power again, I am dead with one strike¡­ ¡°Lex, bring them all out!¡± I shouted, holding up my hand. Although my clothing and equipment was also covered by my lifeblood armor, it was clear that the message went through. Streams of mana originated from my hand, spreading out in every direction to form my fifty elemental soldiers. ¡°You have a Worldforce Army?¡± The creature posing as Stanley asked, a hint of surprise in his voice. ¡°No matter, they won¡¯t be able to help you here.¡± Before I was able to question how I was able to hear his voice over this distance, I saw a fine line of dust rising along the ground, leading¡­ directly behind me.Okay, you REALLY have to stop doing that.
Block it with your back! -1200 Health
Okay, using another of those scales now, as I bounced along the ground again, this time thankfully finding something to stop me early. Sadly, what I found to prevent my continued free-flight was a mountain, which I seemed to find myself buried in. I let out a pained groan as I tried to pull myself out of the rubble. My elemental army was no longer in earshot, and they were nowhere near close enough for me to send orders. By the time I pulled myself out of the stone wall, Stanley was already standing there in front of me. This time, both of his arms held the thin, chitinous form, and he had a long, spiked tail behind him that extended several meters.Oh, fuck. ¡°Klax¡­¡± I muttered under my breath, remembering the warlike race I had briefly encountered way back in NeoLife. Yet, they should be on the other side of the galaxy. Even if they adapted instantly to the game world,thisshould not be possible. Although his chest was still largely human, the rest of him was undeniable. Even the back of his head had begun to elongate. As he opened his mouth, glistening drool leaked out. I heard a series of harsh guttural tones while his voice translated into my mind. ¡°We never did like that name.¡± Part of me wanted to do nothing more than jump in a portal to the other side of the planet, and order Celeste to nuke this moon from orbit. It¡¯s the only way to be sure. Yet, I had no doubt that this thing either had a way to stop me, or was able to survive such a blast, with the strength it had shown thus far. Stanley reached down, his six thin fingers gripping my head and effortlessly lifting me up. ¡°You¡¯ve done well to make it this far, John.¡± His clacking voice echoed in my mind as I felt his fists slowly tighten. ¡°But this is the end for you, and your little army.¡± Just as I began seeing the damage numbers appearing, my lifeblood armor being crushed like tinfoil, another voice echoed out, this one from the air above us. ¡°Not so fast, jerk! Reality Break - Limitless Silver Sands¡­ Deus Ex Machina!¡± Stanley¡¯s head tilted up in surprise as a giant cloud of silver appeared above us. I would recognize that skill name from anywhere, but why she was here instead of commanding the fleet I didn¡¯t know. Before Stanley could crush my head, the cloud formed into a single, giant shape. The figure was obviously that of Celeste, her pink hair falling down to her waist. Yet, right now, the normal bracelet cannon she typically wore was fully extended, its barrel only a few feet above our heads. ¡°Do you trust me, John?¡± She asked into my mind.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Fry the bastard.Seeing as I couldn¡¯t nod, and my head was gripped too tightly to talk, my thoughts would have to suffice. And before the thought even finished, we were engulfed in a golden light. I felt the grip on my head loosen, but instead I was driven into the ground beneath me from the force of the blast.
Friendly Fire! -200 Health
That¡¯s not going to do much.I warned mentally as I saw the damage number in the window in front of me. Yet, it was enough to get me out of its grip, which was at least something.And why did you never tell me you can turn your clones into a giant mech!? ¡°Talk later, dying now!¡± Her rather worrying answer came back a moment later, causing me to open my eyes and pry myself out of the ground. What I saw was a fully transformed Klax soldier, its claws dug deeply into the giant Celeste¡¯s thigh. With one angry howl, it ripped her leg clean off, leaving her barely able to balance¡­ at least, until his body spun in midair and kicked at the stump, sending her falling onto her back. The fact that a three meter alien could casually rip apart the leg of a fifty meter tall mech was¡­ worrying to say the least. Thankfully, this mech was made with Celeste¡¯s silver sands, so the detached leg shattered, quickly flying back to its stump and reforming.I don¡¯t even want to know what the requirements to use such an overpowering skill is. Shaking my head, I looked to the distant elemental army, which was standing motionless without having received an order.Celeste, buy me some time. Just keep him busy, and I¡¯ll be back to help soon. ¡°Well, I¡¯m trying!¡± Came her hurried response as she kicked at Stanley, only to have her foot caught. With a savage twist, her entire foot broke off, and he cast it aside. ¡°Try to hurry up, though! This isn¡¯t easy!¡± With that as my cue, I quickly opened up a portal to bring me back to the army. Although I can¡¯t transform mana, or utilize the mana from my grove to do things thanks to the formation, it seemed these guys weren¡¯t affected. After all, they were living elemental mana. ¡°Lex, communicate with them for me! Tell them it¡¯s Titan time.¡± Once my voice had finished, I could feel a pulse of mana spreading out from Lex, which bounced off each elemental soldier to create a network of transmissions, passing the message along over short distances to prevent the message from dissipating. And once the message had been sent, the various elemental soldiers all broke apart and surged towards me. I found myself in the familiar inner shell of steel, tapping into the mana attempting to connect to me using order mana. I could feel new arms and legs forming of fire and stone as my form took shape. The cape of shadows billowed at my back. I might not be able to control the elements on this moon, buttheycan. And I can control them. Honestly, summoning the elemental soldiers was a gamble, because I wasn¡¯t sure if they would even be able to hold their form within the formation set up. But if they did, it meant that the formation had no real effect on them. Thankfully, my gamble this time won out. When I opened my eyes, I found myself assuming the form of the elemental titan. Sparks danced along my broken stone skin, fire visible through the cracks. Not wanting to waste time appreciating my new appearance, I turned and saw Celeste and Stanley fighting in the distance. Well, really it was just a case of Celeste trying to fight back while body parts were constantly ripped apart and regenerated. By now, it seemed to be a race of which could happen faster¡­ and Celeste wasn¡¯t winning. ¡°Any time now, you know!¡± I heard her calling out to me in a panicked tone as I began to rush over. Each thunderous step caused the ground to shake beneath me, so it was no surprise when Stanley noticed me. His head snapped to face my direction, and his hands actually stopped ripping apart the giant Celeste as a harsh tone sounded out through the area. ¡°How?!¡± His words came out. ¡°Which one was it!?¡± I could sense the elemental mana being distorted as he charged rapidly towards me. I still had trouble tracking him, even in this state, but the mana didn¡¯t lie. Raising my foot, I wasn¡¯t surprised when he caught it, undaunted by the flames surrounding the limb. Before he did anything, my foot shattered on its own, fire and stone wrapping around him to form a tight cocoon. Even then, that only lasted a moment before it shattered from his strength, his skin tinted light orange from the heat. ¡°Which god was it, you insect!?¡± Ironic, considering who was wearing the chitin here. Nonetheless, he jumped up towards my chest and kicked. He seemed surprised when his foot did not find the bundle of metal hiding my real body, which I had already hidden within the shadows. ¡°The Worldforce Army is one thing, but the Titan?! This is a clear violation!¡± I wasn¡¯t even able to understand what he was talking about anymore, until Celeste mentioned a name I had all but forgotten. In horror, she looked at the relatively smaller Klax, muttering in a barely audible tone. ¡°Abzul¡­¡± It was then that I remembered. Stanley Martin, Champion of the God of War¡­ and that god¡¯s name was Abzul.Okay, this is just so not fair, Malthan! You sent me down here to kill a god!? Without even having my universe mana! Surprisingly, I didn¡¯t get an answer back from that complaint, but Abzul tilted its head towards Celeste. ¡°That¡¯s right, and I¡¯m sick of this!¡± As he spoke, his body began growing slowly. ¡°Countless eons of the same shit, but no more! They want to break the rules, then fine! Let¡¯s break the fucking rules! This whole fight is nothing but a farce!¡± Soon, he was just as big as Celeste, his fingers wrapped in a golden light. With an unearthly roar, his hand slashed down towards me, faster than I could react. By the time I even realized what was happening, I felt the shadows I was hiding in being torn apart, my true body ripped to pieces in a moment.
God doesn¡¯t like you. -500,000 Health
You have died.
I felt my consciousness beginning to fade as I saw that message, distinctly aware that this was not a clone¡­ there was no taking this one back. Yet suddenly, the world seemed to freeze around me. Even my scattering thoughts somehow remained, long after I had died. ¡°Yeah, no.¡± I heard a casual, vaguely familiar voice ringing out, echoing against itself as the world responded. Before I could even think to mutter the name of the god that had come just a moment too late, a voice appeared in my thoughts, one distinctly not my own.You just sit there for a minute, Johnny boy. Us grown ups have to have a chat. Chapter 205: Fashion Disaster With my mind held in place by some strange energy, I found myself unable to do anything but watch and listen. When Malthan appeared, the world froze. Whether it was my own shattering body or Celeste pushing herself to her feet in the distance, they both froze in place. The only things able to move in this space were Abzul and Malthan. ¡°I should have known it was you, bastard.¡± The carapaced god clacked out, spitting a venomous green glob on the ground. ¡°It¡¯s not just me.¡± Malthan corrected, his voice eerily calm. At that point, more figures began to walk out from the void behind him, each one shattering reality around them as if it were glass. Some of the figures I recognized from the records Celeste had shown me, some were entirely new to me. However, each one of them I knew to be a god, like Malthan himself. In total, nine figures appeared behind Malthan. The ones that I recognized included Aria, the elven Goddess of Fashion, the petite Goddess of Life that Malthan had once shown me¡­ Aria¡¯s face was distorted in a mask of fury, while the little goddess had a grim look on her face, her solid green eyes narrowed. From the seven others, one stepped forward. This was an alien goddess, but I did not know her race. Her skin was black, with flames rising from her hair. At first, I thought she would be the Goddess of Fire, until she began talking. ¡°Abzul. You have been judged guilty of abuse of power in order to slaughter the champion of another god. You have surpassed the limits imposed by the system in order to accomplish this. Do you have anything to say in defense of yourself?¡± So, probably a justice themed goddess, then. Abzul¡¯s black lips pulled back as he snarled. ¡°Why don¡¯t you ask your little Chaos God, hmm? He clearly broke the rules long ago!¡± The woman glanced over to Malthan, and then looked back to Abzul. ¡°Explain yourself.¡± Abzul nodded his head slightly, standing at his full height to glare down to Malthan. ¡°I can overlook the Worldforce Army being present. He¡¯s a Xeno-Shifter with a talent for manipulating elements, so he might have been able to create those himself. But the Primal Titan?! You know damn well that has never appeared for at least another three hundred years! There¡¯s no way that he had the power to create that on his own!¡± Malthan kept his calm smile as he listened to the accusations. ¡°But he did. And there are a dozen other gods who can attest to it.¡± He glanced over towards the flaming goddess, who nodded her head in response. ¡°Malthan speaks the truth. I myself witnessed this feat. The guidance offered by Malthan in this case has already been deliberated among the others, and was found to be within the limits of the rules.¡± ¡°Then what of his lifeblood armor? Even as a Xeno-Shifter, he would have to have destroyed entire worlds to find the sample he needed to form that!¡± Abzul retorted, though he was clearly shaken that his first accusation failed. What the hell is up with the worldforce army or primal titan? I feel like I¡¯m missing something, and I don¡¯t like it! This time, it was Aria who spoke out, a smug grin on her face as she looked at the klax god. ¡°That is easy. He got it from his universe grove. Don¡¯t tell me your accusations are this flimsy?¡± Somehow, Aria¡¯s words struck deeper than anything else that had been said. ¡°How the hell does that mongrel have a universe grove!? It¡¯s not even been ten years! Unless he used a universe-level device, it¡¯s impossible! And that itself is against the rules! So explain that to me!¡± Getting really annoyed with people talking about me like I¡¯m not even here! ¡°Oh, gladly.¡± Malthan said with a laugh. ¡°He has people who love him, quite a lot actually. One even sacrificed a godly favor to enhance his strength.¡± Malthan snapped his fingers, and a particularly gory part of my body exploded, a golden ring rising up from the floating flesh and blood. ¡°A ring that enhances element absorption rate. Plus a lucky little staff that gave him the mana types he needed. And to top it all off, he was crazy enough to lock himself in a time dilation field for nearly two hundred years to study time mana!¡± Malthan couldn¡¯t help but tilt his head back and laugh uproariously at that. ¡°But¡­ but¡­¡± Abzul stepped back, trying to find another way to defend himself. ¡°That¡¯s not how things are supposed to go¡­¡± Finally, the Goddess of Life spoke. ¡°Thirteen.¡± Her voice drew Abzul¡¯s attention. ¡°This is the thirteenth test. Every time, a Champion will rise to stop your little wars, and either he will fall before you, or you before him. But this time, you broke the rules, and activated your full strength to kill. Why?¡± Hearing her cold tone, Abzul¡¯s face grew vicious. ¡°You want to know why, brat? I¡¯ll fucking tell you! How long has it been since the First left? How long since he became so disappointed that he could not bear to watch? If even he has given up hope in this system, then what point is there? We might as well let everything return to the dust!¡± ¡°That is not the way of things.¡± The flaming goddess spoke out, shaking her head. ¡°While misguided, you have cause for your actions. You are aware that the punishment for unleashing divine strength is destruction, so you shall be given only one chance.¡± Malthan chuckled darkly when he heard those words. ¡°If you can defeat your accuser, you may retain your existence. You will be cast down to the mortal realm, and forced to live out your days, but you will survive. Otherwise¡­ you will perish here.¡± Abzul turned to look at Malthan. It was hard for me to read his expression when his face was covered by the slick carapace mask, but he was trembling. Even though he showed no respect for the Goddess of Life, he seemed¡­ almost afraid of Malthan. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry bug breath. You don¡¯t have to fight me.¡± He then turned towards the flaming goddess. ¡°Hiren, I wish to allow another to fight in my place. Is that permitted?¡±The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. The various deities tensed up at this moment, but there was one who showed the strongest response. Aria snapped her head to the side, her eyes wide as she looked at Malthan. ¡°As long as she agrees to it.¡± The flaming goddess said, nodding her head. ¡°Malthan¡­¡± Aria started to speak, seeming at a loss for words. ¡°Just go, kick his ass.¡± He said, shaking his head with a small smile. Abzul¡¯s body seemed to visibly relax when he learned that Malthan was not going to be fighting him personally, and then even more so when he learned his opponent was Aria. ¡°The clothing goddess wants to fight the God of War? Oh, this will be good!¡± Aria turned to send a sharp glare at Abzul, slowly walking forward. Her iconic blue dress slowly began turning red, flames starting to rise from it. ¡°Haven¡¯t you ever heard of a fashion disaster, you overgrown cockroach?¡± Abzul simply scoffed at that, tilting his head back and screeching as golden light formed around his body, seeming to become a glowing armor that adhered to his form. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you call yourself, I¡¯m not going to lose to a runt like you.¡± Pay close attention here, John. I heard Malthan¡¯s voice echoing in my mind again. This might be your only chance to see a real battle between gods. Though¡­ I don¡¯t think it¡¯ll last that long. After I heard him say that, I couldn¡¯t help but turn my attention to the fight. It was easy to guess that the golden light was some divine skill that Abzul had learned. Yet, Aria showed no signs of releasing a similar skill. She simply let the flames flicker about her outfit as she casually walked towards him. Can she really fight that¡­ I began to wonder, as Abzul unleashed the same level of speed as he had displayed in our fight, vanishing and reappearing behind Aria. His claws, wrapped in golden light, descended upon her, and yet she still made no move. There was a crisp sound of metal striking metal, and I saw Abzul¡¯s claws stopped inches away from Aria¡¯s head, the golden light unable to touch her. Wrapped around each claw was a seemingly harmless white cloth, yet it perfectly restrained his movement. I could hear grunts of effort from Abzul as he tried to pull his arm back, unable to move. In the end, he actually forced himself back, ripping off three of his own clawed fingers to do so. Green blood fell on the ground, and he let out a hiss of pain as he recoiled. ¡°My turn.¡± She spoke in a low voice. When she lifted her hand, countless threads seemed to materialize around her, floating up and twisting together to weave a giant tapestry in the sky. ¡°You achieved ascension by devouring the heart of a Divine Dragon. Let me show you what it means to ascend in a skill.¡± Slowly, the tapestry formed into an actual image, a completely lifelike image of Abzul, his blood still dripping down from his severed claws. ¡°Divine Tapestry, Essence Burn.¡± Aria snapped her fingers, causing a small flame to form on the bottom corner of the tapestry. ¡°I have woven your body and soul into this picture. When it burns, so do you.¡± The fury in her voice sent chills through my mind, but also confused me. Abzul finally seemed to realize the trouble that he was in now. His body tensed up, and he lunged at Aria again in a desperate attempt to quickly finish her off. His tail, wrapped in golden light, surged at her like a holy spear while his uninjured hand once again tried to take her head. ¡°Unravel.¡± She spoke a single word, and the light around Abzul¡¯s body shattered. His claws were once again trapped in that protective white cloth that seemed to come from nowhere. But, what really seemed strange was his tail. Although it had stopped, there didn¡¯t seem to be any reason for it. But soon, it began to distort, thin lines of it broke off, like countless threads being plucked from a piece of cloth. Seeing this, Abzul didn¡¯t hesitate to cut off his own tail with his injured hand, ripping out another two of his claws to free himself from the strange cloth protecting Aria. By now, the fire on the tapestry had spread to Abzul¡¯s feet, and a corresponding black flame appeared there on the real Abzul. Even as he jumped back again, the fire would not leave him. His severed tail continued to unravel until there was nothing left, while the fire crept slowly along his body. ¡°You¡­ how the hell do you have this kind of power!? You¡¯re not an ancient one! You¡¯ve barely been here a hundred cycles!¡± Aria smiled calmly as he asked that. ¡°I already said it, didn¡¯t I? I¡¯m the Fashion Disaster. All things can be woven, and all things unraveled. That is the meaning behind an ascendant skill.¡± Wait wait wait, so let me get this straight¡­ The skill that Aria is using now¡­ is fucking Tailoring?! How the hell is this Tailoring?! I felt my mind trembling as I realized what was going on. Aria didn¡¯t release a golden light like Abzul because she didn¡¯t need to¡­ her very clothes were her godly powers¡­ That¡¯s right, Johnny boy! Malthan¡¯s voice echoed in my thoughts again. I haven¡¯t seen her this pissed since some idiot destroyed her home planet. As we thought to one another, the fire continued to spread along Abzul¡¯s body. His leg had already been reduced to ash, leaving him howling in pain on the ground as his other leg began burning. I really thought he¡¯d put up more of a fight. ¡°Oh well.¡± Malthan said, shaking his head. Turning to Hiren again, he spoke up once more. ¡°The result of this fight is obvious. I request that we repair the damage that he caused when he broke the rules, and return my champion to his previous state.¡± Okay, hold on, since when have I been your champion?! I still don¡¯t understand that! For a moment, I thought he was going to ignore my thoughts, before he actually answered. Of course you are! Do you really think I am bored enough to talk at length with every single one of my people like this? I mean really, have a bit of self-awareness and think about how often you had a god on speed dial. I¡­ could not refute that. It was true, and even I had thought many times before that it was strange how he spent so much time talking to me. Well, what does being your champion even mean? We¡¯ll get back to that later, after we get you your body back. Hiren nodded her head. ¡°As is the rules, you are right to request this. Narlom, if you would be so kind?¡± At this moment, yet another god seemed to walk onto the stage. I recognized him as the God of Time, the mostly-human god whose statue I had once created on the Ha¡¯vosh homeworld. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Let¡¯s just wait till this fight¡¯s over, and I¡¯ll bring your precious little human back.¡± He said, grumbling. Different from the appearance of his statue, he had a long, twisted beard and held a gnarled staff in his hand that he used to support himself. ¡°Ah, right.¡± Malthan turned towards Aria, who was still slowly burning Abzul¡¯s tapestry. ¡°Hurry this up, will you?! We¡¯re waiting on you so we can bring John back!¡± Aria jerked her head up slightly, before nodding her head. ¡°Ah, sorry! I¡¯ll be done in a moment.¡± By now, Abzul¡¯s four limbs had all been turned to ash, but he was still writhing in pain as his torso slowly burned. ¡°Sorry, but looks like we¡¯re cutting this short.¡± After she said that, she swiped her hand up towards the tapestry, and drew a line with her hand. The image of Abzul, followed by Abzul himself, was suddenly cut in half from that simple action, his movements coming to an abrupt halt. ¡°Okay, all done here!¡± Chapter 206: God of Exposition Narlom stretched out his staff, and I watched as my ring flew out from Malthan¡¯s grasp, back into the mess he had retrieved it from. Next, the gory mess itself seemed to come back together, gradually forming into a hand. I saw as time began to rewind, the ruined elemental titan coming back together as if it had never been blown apart. I felt something tugging at my mind, yet a stronger force holding me in place. Nope, can¡¯t have you going and reverting like that. Would take so much longer to explain things. I heard Malthan¡¯s voice yet again in my thoughts. What ever happened to the blue screens of annoyance? Anyways, soon I saw the titan standing ready for battle, frozen in mid stride as it charged towards the giant Celeste. Nodding his head, Narlom seemed satisfied with this result. ¡°Alright, it¡¯s done. Once everyone heads back, space will repair and time will resume.¡± He spoke lazily, as if he didn¡¯t care to say any more beyond that. With a slight wave, he turned and walked through the shattered space he had appeared from. Like he had said, as soon as he stepped through the hole in the world appeared to mend itself. ¡°You all go ahead.¡± Malthan called out to them with a smile. ¡°My champion¡¯s got some explanations to hear, and a mountain of questions to ask.¡± Hiren flinched at his words, as if about to retort, until he spoke out again. ¡°You know he¡¯s already earned the qualifications. Explaining things to him now is entirely within the rules.¡± She hesitated, but nodded a moment later. ¡°You are correct. But, take care of who may overhear. I would not wish to have to judge you, Malthan.¡± Her voice seemed to turn soft after she said that, like she was an old friend of his. ¡°I know, I know. I¡¯ll take all the usual precautions.¡± He assured her, after which she reluctantly left with the others. Only Aria stayed behind longer, clasping hands with Malthan and passing him something. When he felt it, he blinked in mild surprise, a grin growing on his face. ¡°Shoulda known. You head on back, kid. We¡¯ll be there to join you soon.¡± Aria nodded her head slightly, turning and running into one of the last two regions of shattered space, as if she couldn¡¯t wait to get back. Seeing that only his own little door to the beyond remained, Malthan spared it a brief glance. ¡°Close.¡± The single word shook my mind even more than the previous battle, as if something about it was¡­ wrong. Space warped around the shattered region, covering it up as if it had never existed in the first place. With that, I suddenly found myself back in my body, inside the titan. Unable to adjust for the sudden momentum, I tripped and fell face first, sliding several meters before coming to a stop. ¡°John¡­¡± I heard Celeste¡¯s confused voice. ¡°Where did Abzul go?¡± Okay, so clearly she wasn¡¯t privy to what had happened. ¡°And why is there a Qu¡¯lopti sitting on your head?¡± ¡°Ah, this¡­¡± I tried to figure out how to explain, sensing that Malthan had found a new perch when I had fallen down. However, before I could, Malthan himself spoke up. ¡°Hey, toots! Nice to meetcha face to face! I¡¯m Malthan, lord of chaos, bringer of madness, and often purveyor of cheese. I¡¯ve got a few words for Johnny here, so would you mind sending the real you down here for a minute first? Before things go too far.¡± His words seemed to have a hidden meaning to them, and Celeste flinched as she heard it. Nonetheless, she nodded. A few moments later, there was a white light that appeared in front of me, and the normal Celeste appeared. Well¡­ not really. Her human-like appearance was completely gone, replaced by the vague, expressionless robotic body she had long ago. A quick scan told me what had happened¡­ Celeste didn¡¯t have her soul anymore. ¡°What..¡± I started to ask, before she turned to look at me. Thankfully, her voice seemed unchanged. ¡°Deus Ex Machina. It¡¯s the final form of my personal skill. In order to use it, I have to sacrifice my entire soul to temporarily imbue it into the construct formed from all of my spare bodies.¡± She glanced back towards the slowly standing Celeste. ¡°It will degrade over time, likely within a few hours.¡± ¡°But¡­ why?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask, looking between Celeste and¡­ well, Celeste. Malthan didn¡¯t seem to have a problem staying rooted on my head as it turned. ¡°What do you mean why, silly?¡± She asked, and even without expressions I could tell that her voice sounded happy. ¡°If you died, the rest of us wouldn¡¯t last much longer. But, if you lived, isn¡¯t there still the chance for me to get my soul back? This isn¡¯t some noble sacrifice or anything like that. I¡¯m totally expecting a new soul.¡± I nodded my head slightly as she said that. ¡°Then, what did he mean about things going too far?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ not sure.¡± She answered, her voice uncertain. ¡°Maybe she thought you¡¯d panic if you saw the big me start breaking down?¡± Malthan nodded his head, as if to confirm that guess. ¡°Alright. Now that that¡¯s taken care of, back to the ship with you. There are still some stragglers up there, and I¡¯ll be borrowing the big girl.¡± He said, snapping his finger. Not only the original Celeste, even the big one suddenly vanished from my view, replaced by the massive, towering form of Sharon merged with the lunar titan. Malthan let out a sigh as he saw her looking around in confusion. ¡°Revert.¡± His word echoed through the world again, and I watched Sharon suddenly shrinking down into her normal appearance. ¡°Speaking of which. Shouldn¡¯t you be turning back to normal now too, John?¡± Not so eager to experience whatever power he was using to fuck with reality, I hurriedly ordered the elemental soldiers to return to the ring. Thankfully, when they did so, Malthan did not continue sitting on my head¡­ instead, as the rush of mana pushed him away, he gently landed on the ground. ¡°That¡¯s better¡­ Now, we¡¯re still missing someone.¡± This time, when he snapped his fingers, it was Yin that appeared. She looked around in confusion, much as Sharon was, until the two of them saw each other, and then me. ¡°John¡­ what is happening?¡± Sharon was the first to ask. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure?¡± I answered, looking towards Malthan. ¡°Before all of that. Yin.¡± He called out to her, walking over to the confused Yin. ¡°Do you want to be with Sharon and John, no matter what happens or where they go?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She instantly replied, as if the question did not even require any thought. ¡°Even if it means leaving Yang?¡± ¡°...¡± This time, she seemed to hesitate, before nodding her head again. ¡°Yes. She is not alone anymore.¡± The words seemed more difficult for her to say, but she was still determined. ¡°Good. I like you.¡± Grinning, he reached out his hand, grabbing hers before she could react and placing something in it. When he pulled his hand back, I saw a small cloth badge, in the form of a curved black teardrop with a white dot near one end. The old Earth symbol for Yin. ¡°Hold onto that, and you¡¯ll be able to listen to what I¡¯m about to tell these two, kay? Kay.¡±Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Saying that, he turned and walked a short distance away, before facing us. ¡°Congratulations! The three of you now qualify to become lords of the lower realms, wielders of unimaginable power, and eternally bored out of your mind!¡± He said, lifting his thin arms up into the air as he grinned broadly. ¡°Uhm¡­ pardon me? What?¡± I questioned as I looked to the god who seemed to have taken a dose of his own insanity. ¡°Now, John, that¡¯s just rude. I¡¯m being totally serious. You all passed the requirements!¡± He raised his arms up once again, before lowering them with a sigh. ¡°Okay¡­ more explanation needed. Where did I put my expositional presentation? Screw it, we¡¯re doing this the old fashioned way. By the way, John, Celeste can¡¯t hear any of this, I blocked her off for now. Rules and all that.¡± I faintly nodded my head, remembering the words Hiren had left Malthan with before going ¡®home¡¯. ¡°Okay¡­ so¡­ about that explanation?¡± ¡°Right, right. Anyways, there are a lot of ways to ascend to godliness. Most of them just require time before someone naturally finds the way. Like old Zuuly. We kept waiting on someone to appear when it was his turn, and he managed to stumble upon a half dead divine dragon. Being the hungry, starving monster he was, he ate the beast and became the God of War. Other methods include reaching the Godly tier in any skill, or growing a universe of your own to rule in as practice. That¡¯s where you two come in.¡± He said, pointing to Sharon and myself. Okay, so that¡¯s what he meant when he said that it¡¯d be a good thing for her to be there when it evolved¡­ not just shared ownership, then. ¡°Right, John.¡± He nodded towards me, obviously eavesdropping on my thoughts. ¡°As for you, Yin. Through matters that would take too much time to explain, but I¡¯ll be demanded to do so anyways, that badge of yours holds the divinity of Abzul.¡± ¡°When a god has their divinity stripped due to breaking the rules and offending another god, that god gains their divinity and has the right to hand it out to whoever sees fit. I saw fit to give it to you, enough said about that. So, moving on.¡± He clapped his hands, no doubt not wanting any of us to question his words yet. ¡°Why am I becoming a god? What does it mean for those I care about? What kind of food do gods get to eat? I¡¯m glad you didn¡¯t ask that, because I¡¯ll answer anyways! You see, it¡¯s a tale as old as time, a song as old as--whoops, almost went off track there.¡± He said, looking towards Sharon and Yin accusingly. Well, one of them is technically an evolved animal, and the other is quite the beauty¡­. ¡°Way back in the future, trillions of years from now, there existed a powerful being. His race had long since evolved pass mortal bodies, becoming one with the universe itself to gain eternity. But, eternity only lasts so long. He saw death on the horizon, the heat death of the entire universe. The stars were going out, darkness fell, questions were asked, and I¡¯m making too many references.¡± Malthan briefly slapped himself, getting himself back on the topic. Why do I get the feeling that he doesn¡¯t talk to new people often. ¡°In order to save the universe itself, as well as his own immortal soul, this being tapped into the hidden powers of his race, separating himself from the universe. After that, he existed above the universe, to the left of the universe, beyond it, however you want to put it. He was in a realm all his own, but he was not without power. He used his power to initiate a grand ¡®reset¡¯ of everything. The big red button for all of creation.¡± ¡°Hidden inside his own little world, he was unaffected by the universe being born anew. He created a plan to save everyone. To create more people like him, and use their powers to prevent the end of time itself. So he chose someone from the myriad of galaxies, someone he found worthy. And then they did it all again.¡± ¡°After the first couple gods appeared, they noticed that with each reset, the universe itself forgot about everyone that lived in the realm of gods. They would not be born again, their children would never appear, etcetera. So, they began devising a system by which to choose gods, preparing them for this grand mission. That was when the First released a portion of his power into the universe. The ability to alter reality itself intertwined within all of creation, forming what is now known as magic.¡± I glanced around to Sharon and Yin, and found Sharon desperately opening her mouth, trying to speak. Yet, her words would not come out. Okay, so no interruptions after all, then. ¡°With the creation of magic came monsters, powerful beasts formed of this new energy. This created an even greater danger to the people of the universe, so they had to¡­ revise things.¡± ¡°In order to properly raise the beings of the world to fight the monsters, while also giving birth to the gods that the First sought, they systemized everything. They assigned levels and classes, various restrictions in order to keep everything in check. This is the game-like system that you know now.¡± ¡°Time passed, yada yada, more gods came in. But soon, many gods began to focus on the journey more than the destination. After the first thousand or two, they stopped worrying about the end of time. After all, they can reset time whenever they wished, so why is it a problem for them?¡± ¡°More time passed, and more gods came in. Soon, people forgot all about the original goal. Right now, there are maybe a handful of gods that even know about it.¡± And you¡¯re one of them¡­ ¡°And I¡¯m one of them. So, eventually the First simply faded away, either leaving for some higher world, or simply returning to his own place in time. We¡¯re not really sure, since no timeline has ever made it that far before getting the big red button treatment.¡± At this point, I had to speak up, and was surprised to find my voice even worked. ¡°Wait wait wait, you¡¯re saying that each timeline gets deleted whenever the new gods or whatever come in?¡± I looked back towards Yin, who suddenly had a panicked look on her face. ¡°What? No, ah, sorry. Maybe I should call this one the big blue button? We only take one god, or one batch of gods in cases like this, from each timeline before their purpose is fulfilled. From now on, even if someone meets the requirements in this timeline, they can¡¯t ascend. And once you three do, this timeline will go into the archives.¡± I looked back to Yin again, and saw her raising her hand. ¡°You can speak.¡± Malthan told her with a nod. ¡°You can¡¯t, yet.¡± He then said, looking to Sharon, who returned the glance with a glare. ¡°Can¡­ can we visit the archived timelines¡­ like you are doing now?¡± Yin asked, her voice shaking. ¡°Of course you can!¡± Malthan answered with a wide smile. ¡°You can come back and visit Yang and the others from time to time. And, since this is the timeline in which you came to power, you won¡¯t be as restricted as we are.¡± Yin nodded her head with a relieved sigh. ¡°Now, to answer Boobs McGee. Yes, I¡¯ve still been hearing all those noisy comments, I¡¯ve just been ignoring them so that these two could hear the explanation. No, John did not kill Abzul. He totally could have, if Zuuly didn¡¯t break the rules. The Primal Titan is damned near invincible against a warrior type like him.¡± ¡°As for why he did all of this? Yes, you can stop asking now. After the First went away, some of us noticed his absence. Zuuly was one of them, and he began coming up with a plan to bring down the system. If its creator had given up hope, why bother, right? He took all of the most advanced technology and tactics from various timelines in order to create massively overpowered ships, all for the purpose of making an unstoppable fleet that would essentially neuter a timeline before it could produce a god. You see, we have to borrow the burst of energy that comes with the ascension of a new god in order to hit that big blue button. No new god, no button.¡± ¡°This was his thirteenth attempt to basically destroy everything. In the other twelve, he failed for various reasons. Either a champion appeared strong enough to kill him before his plan was complete, or someone in a completely different galaxy managed to meet the conditions to ascend before he got to them. But, he had always been a good sport about it before, taking a few dozen cycles to adjust his plan before trying again. I guess he got fed up with it after thinking that John here cheated.¡± Malthan said with a shrug. Sharon finally stopped trying to talk, nodding as if she had gotten her answers. ¡°So.. the reason why the Qu¡¯lopti were in danger of being destroyed before¡­¡± I glanced at Malthan curiously. If I followed his logic, then there was naturally a time when that didn¡¯t happen. ¡°Right. The guys that were able to pull everyone together already went up. We have a really high compatibility with this system, so my race produces gods pretty easy.¡± Malthan explained with a smug grin. ¡°But¡­ that means that once everyone who can has gone up, the rest are just a bunch of retarded children. Still, they almost always manage to discover the different systems all on their own. They just get killed when they meet other races¡­¡± I nodded my head slightly as I heard that. ¡°Okay¡­ So what happens now?¡± ¡°Well, first of all, there¡¯s this little trick we always pull on the new gods to help them get acquainted with all of these concepts.¡± Malthan explained. ¡°Consider it a hazing ritual. Pardon the headaches. Talk more soon!¡± With that, he snapped his fingers. The next thing I knew, my vision had gone black. Chapter 207: The Eye of Time A light groan escaped my lips as I opened my eyes, momentarily at a loss for where I was. I could feel something soft beneath me, so it definitely wasn¡¯t still on that moon. Of course, those thoughts lasted for barely a moment before I quickly brought a hand up to my head, feeling a splitting pain that seemed to want to hammer its way out of my skull.
Wakey wakey, sunshine.
I saw the message appear in front of me, though I really wanted nothing more than to immediately dismiss it. Sadly, it did not follow my wishes this time, and persistently remained. It was at this moment when I realized my location, back on my bed in the Ariadne. However, I was¡­ not alone. I could feel the presences of both of my wives next to me, each one casually draping a leg over me.Okay¡­ I can accept how we all got back to the ship¡­ but why are we all naked!?
I thought it¡¯d be more fun this way?
Well it¡¯s not!I retorted, shaking my head.Celeste, can you hear me?I needed to make sure whether or not the connection between myself and the AI had been restored. ¡°I¡¯m here, John.¡± She answered. ¡°Still waiting on that soul, by the way. After Malthan dropped you three off, it didn¡¯t take long to finish up with the couple ships left behind by the empire. We¡¯ve just been waiting for you and the other two to wake up.¡± How long were we out? ¡°Oh¡­ about five hours now? But, you should check your messages.Someonekept blocking my connection with you whenever a new one appeared, but you should have a few that popped up.¡± I could tell that she was annoyed for forcibly being kicked out of my head. Nonetheless, I did indeed open up the messages I had missed, curious what I would find.
You have leveledall the wayup.
Quest Complete!
Beyond Infinity Rank ¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï¡ï Extermination The Champion of War, the God himself in disguise, has been slain through your efforts! Reward: The Eye of Time
Quest Accepted!
One Small Step For John Unranked Delivery In your final steps to Godhood, your beloved patron has tasked you with going through the highlights of your journey, and seeing how your actions have altered fate. Next Stop: The Closest Mirror Reward: One Giant Leap for John-Kind
Well, that first message was certainly¡­ not what I was expecting. Part of me wondered just what ¡®all the way up¡¯ meant, so I opened my character sheet.
Name John Hulett Race Wood Elf
Titles Vengeful Heart, Amateur Brain Surgeon, Spider Slaughterer, Starship Captain, Creator of Baishiro, Universe Ruler Fame 100,000,000
Level 999 99% Class Druid
Advanced Class Xeno-Shifter Deity Malthan
Health 2000/2000 Health Regen 0
Mana 4500/4500 Mana Regen 9000
StrengthUnauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. 100 Wisdom 300
Agility 74 Intelligence 450
Dexterity 70 Charisma 35
Vitality 200 Luck 25
Points Remaining 3955
Universe 60%
...Really?
Hey, levels don¡¯t really matter anymore for you three, right? Now that the three of you are the big bads of the timeline, why not let you enjoy the little bonus that comes with it?
Now I started to wonder what would happen if someone reached level one thousand on their own. Would they just naturally ascend to being a god, or would there be some hard limit? Either way, my internal questioning was interrupted by a groan coming from my left. It seemed that it was Sharon¡¯s turn to wake up. ¡°John¡­? Where are¡­ ugh¡­¡± She brought her hand to her head as she began talking, likely suffering from the same pain as I had when I woke up. ¡°We¡¯re back in the ship. Everything¡¯s been taken care of, I guess? Check to see if you missed any messages while you were out.¡± I gave her the quickest possible rundown, glancing over to making sure that she was okay. As soon as I did, however, my vision seemed to flash with a golden light. I saw Sharon, back when she was still human. Living alone in a giant house. She seemed to go through a fairly normal day-to-day, until suddenly things began to change. Her body split in two, one continuing its normal routine while the other answered the door to accept a new delivery, the silvery capsule that I recognized as a Seed. From there, the images seemed to deviate far more, splitting up in a number of different directions. Some of them became elves like the Sharon before me, some of them stayed humans, and one even turned into a catgirl. However, most of them suffered the same fate¡­ For the images that had split off to receive the Seed and begin playing NeoLife, they almost all died from a massive black dragon rampaging in the area she lived. As for the ones that had not entered NeoLife, they still lived relatively calm lives for the next few months, before chaos began to ensue. It was hard to get a clear picture of what was happening, but goblins and slimes had begun appearing around her, and people using magic. Most of the different versions of her had been killed by that point. The only ones that had been left unharmed were either lucky ones that met powerful strangers, or those that stayed forever within NeoLife, hiding there from the ¡®real world¡¯. After I saw the deaths of countless different versions of Sharon, my vision flashed with gold again, and I saw her staring up at me from the bed, a confused expression on her face. ¡°John¡­ what was that?¡± I noticed that her right eye had turned golden, shining slightly as it looked at me. ¡°Uhm¡­ Quest rewards?¡± I answered, still not completely sure myself. To me, the strangest thing wasn¡¯t those visions, but my near absence from them entirely. The only time I ever appeared was when she happened to choose a wood elf, and we briefly met during training. Still, I rolled over and looked at Yin, wanting to get whatever this was over with. Again, there was a flash of golden light. This time, however, the visions were much¡­ simpler. Yin had begun her life as a lovebird, after all. There were a few different versions, but most of them simply ended up being eaten by giant snakes or larger predators. Only one managed to attach itself to someone through the same method Yin and I met, but even that one was killed soon after. Malthan¡­ just what is this?I asked inwardly, though I already had a fair guess.
Welcome, new god-to-be, to the Eye of Truth! This illustrious new power has been embedded within your body, and cannot be removed! So don¡¯t bother trying! Until you ascend to godhood, you will see the previous versions of everyone you know! Of course, this only applies to those who you have had an actual influence on, but given the circumstances that is still quite a lot!
Then¡­ why were there so many versions of Sharon that didn¡¯t have the Seeds, and NeoLife?
Ah, that? It¡¯s quite simple, really! The race of the previous ascendant determines where the Seeds will appear in the next world. You and Sharon both chose elf-related species, so next time we get to see some more elf action! Think of it as a tutorial period to give one species a bit of an advantage before all hell breaks loose.
Okay, not exactly what I had in mind. Part of me wondered what would happen if an evolved monster became the god. Would the Seeds simply appear on the world the monster was born on? ...Not feeling like answering this time, huh? I roused Yin from her sleep, and had Sharon explain things as I went towards the bathroom. I had a quest to continue, after all¡­ and a pretty good idea why it wanted me to find a mirror, after what Malthan said. Sure enough, as soon as I looked into the mirror, my vision flashed gold once again. Though, unlike when I was watching Sharon¡¯s past lives, mine seemed to be split right from the start. On the one side, I had the me who lived alone in nice house, playing games for a living. The other side was where things seemed to get weird. In it, I wasn¡¯t living alone at all. My parents were there, as well as a redheaded woman I had never seen before. Judging by my interactions with her, we were fairly close.Girlfriend? No, it doesn¡¯t make sense for us to be living with my parents. The images began splitting again with the arrival of the Seeds. In the scenarios where I was alone, I would choose a variety of different races, seemingly picking at random. Yet, in the other versions, we would always pick the same race. A pair of high elves. The woman always became a crafter, while I would vary between wizard, fighter, or druid. After mana flooded the real world, things naturally began changing. In the scenarios where I was alone without NeoLife, I tended to die by some monster within the first few months. The other times when I was alone, I would join an organization and fight to protect people, until I was left behind by the ships leaving the planet to abandon the world and most of its population. After that¡­ well, naturally I died by some abyssal horrors. In the other versions of history, things were different. My family had always stuck together, whether we were with or without the Seeds. Sometimes we died due to a random monster, but other times we would make it through. Most often than not in these versions, we managed to get our own ship to leave Earth, going and living among the elves. Still, death was inevitable. I saw myself being killed time and again, either by monsters, men, or time itself. Only when I had fully witnessed my past lives did I come back to myself, just to find myself sweating above the bathroom sink, staring into the mirror.Malthan¡­
Hmm?
Did I ever have a sister?Given the apparent relationship between myself and the woman I saw in my timelines, we had to have been family. And¡­ I seemed happier in those worlds. Though, maybe I shouldn¡¯t say that since every time I met Celeste in those timelines, we ended up dating. That¡¯s going to make things awkward later¡­
You really expect me to know the family situation of every single creature over countless different timelines? I mean, really? How am I supposed to know that?
He had a point, though I couldn¡¯t help but feel like he was hiding something. Yet, part of me did not envy those timelines. Yes, I had lived together with my family for so long, but I hadn¡¯t met any of the people that were now close to me. Whether it was Tokemi, Yin, Yang, Yo, even Sharon. None of them played a big role in any of those timelines. With a sigh, I exited the bathroom, only to be greeted by a surprised looking Yin, and an annoyed looking Sharon. ¡°This is Malthan¡¯s fault, isn¡¯t it?¡± Sharon asked, sending a glare upwards, as if hoping it would reach him. ¡°Well, according to what he said before, this is supposed to be some kind of tradition? So¡­ yes, it¡¯s his fault.¡± I nodded my head, unable to find an excuse to defend him. ¡°I take it you both got the ¡®rewards¡¯ and the new quest?¡± When I asked that, they both nodded their heads. ¡°It¡¯s¡­ strange.¡± Yin admitted. ¡°What now?¡± ¡°Well, first there are people that we need to talk to about this.¡± Namely one young time-fox-girl who is going to be very upset when she heard the news. I was not looking forward to this conversation. Chapter 208: Loose Ends After finding Tokemi, and explaining the situation to her¡­ her reaction was pretty much what I had expected. She looked at me with big, watery eyes, her body trembling. ¡°Do¡­ do you have to go?¡± She asked, her voice shaking. I could only nod my head in response. Even if there wasn¡¯t some calamity even that would occur if we put this off, no doubt Malthan would make our lives a living hell until we finished his little quest. ¡°Sorry¡­¡± Before I could finish apologizing, the young fox girl threw herself at me, burying her head into my chest and sobbing loudly. ¡°But¡­ but I don¡¯t want you to go, daddy¡­ Can¡¯t you¡­ can¡¯t you stay? You and my moms¡­ we can all just stay together, right?¡± She cried out, not able to lift her head to look at me. Now who¡¯s making the loli cry, Malthan¡­ I thought internally, shaking my head. ¡°I can¡¯t, Tokemi.¡± I spoke softly, bringing my hand up to gently stroke through her silver hair. ¡°But I can come back and visit you as often as possible.¡± ¡°P...promise?¡± She sniffled slightly, finally looking up at me with her tear stained cheeks. When I found her, I was momentarily surprised that the ¡®Eye of Time¡¯ didn¡¯t activate, but then I remembered something. The quest that created her was to give birth to something that had never existed in all of time. This should be Tokemi¡¯s only timeline, unless someone later makes her like I did. I had a soft smile on my face as I looked down to her. ¡°Promise. And that goes for Sharon and Yin, too.¡± Even if we had to leave to become gods, Malthan had already said that we could return to this timeline whenever we wanted. Tokemi stared at me for a while, as if trying to tell whether or not I was being honest, before nodding her head slightly. ¡°O..okay. But¡­ can we all stay together¡­ at least until then?¡± As she asked that, her arms tightened around my waist, like she was afraid to let me go. ¡°Alright, Tokemi, we can stay together.¡± I accepted with another nod. ¡°How about we go meet with the others?¡± I asked, and she nodded her head again. Reaching down, I took her hand in mine and began walking back towards the room where I had left Yin and Sharon. By the time I arrived, only Sharon was left in the room. No doubt Yin wanted to go and talk to her sister like I did with Tokemi. When Sharon saw the girl walking with me, her eyes held a trace of guilt in them. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Tokemi¡­ I didn¡¯t think something like this was going to happen.¡± ¡°It¡­ it¡¯s fine, Mommy.¡± Tokemi shook her head, pulling her hand from mine before running up and jumping into Sharon¡¯s arms, wrapping her own arms around the woman¡¯s waist. ¡°Just¡­ just visit all the time, okay? Don¡¯t forget about me¡­¡± ¡°Silly child, how could we ever forget about you?¡± Sharon asked, her eyes watering slightly as she patted Tokemi¡¯s back. ¡°We¡¯ll come back and visit all the time, just you wait. We¡¯ll be here so often you¡¯ll get sick of us.¡± Her words seemed to draw a small giggle from Tokemi, though I could still see the tears at the corner of her eyes. ¡°It¡¯s a promise.¡± She said, her arms tightening around Sharon again. ¡°Where¡¯s Momma Yin?¡± She asked, looking around curiously as she finally noticed that there was someone missing from the room. ¡°She had to go talk to Yang first.¡± Sharon answered softly, still looking down at Tokemi. This time it was my turn to speak up. ¡°You didn¡¯t have anyone to tell?¡± She smiled slightly, shaking her head. ¡°The only people I really have left are you guys. Jeeves is still working at that space station, and my only other family would be you, Yin, and Tokemi.¡± ¡°Ah¡­¡± I had almost forgotten about Jeeves. After we established the space station around the Qu¡¯Lopti homeworld, he had surprised us all by choosing to stay there and work as a waiter, as opposed to continuing with Sharon. It was that incident that let me get a better look at what the AI companions from NeoLife really were. Each companion was exactly what the person needed when they received it. For me¡­ I received a best friend. In the previous timelines, I saw situations where the relationship between Celeste and I had been basically that of lovers, but it seemed like she had never even considered such a thing a possibility in this timeline. In the truest sense, she was born to be a good friend. For Sharon, perhaps because of her loneliness and need for someone to take care of her, Jeeves took a role more similar to a butler. Yet, unlike Celeste, Jeeves wasn¡¯t able to continue his role forever. After Sharon met us, and her circle of friends expanded, he said that he was feeling less and less needed. Not in a bad way, he was actually happy about it, because it meant that Sharon no longer needed someone to take care of her. So, he chose to take up a different life, serving others at a restaurant. According to him, the Qu¡¯Lopti needed someone to take care of them far more than Sharon ever had. Though, I¡¯m pretty sure that bit was just a slightly disguised insult to the Qu¡¯Lopti. Either way, we hadn¡¯t seen him again after leaving that station. And unless our quest took us back to that world, it was unlikely we would again. Though, knowing Malthan, he probably planned for us to visit Qu¡¯Lopti at some point.
Yup! It¡¯s the next stop on your list, after all! You can take care of that on your way back to Gerin, so it¡¯s no real problem.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.
Great, so he¡¯s still watching after all. I sighed, shaking my head as I noticed that. Tokemi was still being held in Sharon¡¯s arms, the two holding each other. ¡°Hey, John?¡± I suddenly heard Celeste¡¯s voice in my mind. ¡°Before we go anywhere else, think you can take care of my little issue? It¡¯s really uncomfortable not having a soul anymore.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but chuckle slightly. Sure. In truth, doing this for Celeste was actually very easy for me now. With a thought, I pulled her mechanical body into my grove, on an uninhabited world populated by fairly powerful monsters. I didn¡¯t even need to strictly enter the grove myself to do this at this point, and several dozen monsters near her died, their souls siphoning away into herself. Afterwards, I brought her back out where I had pulled her from. ¡°Thanks, John! I¡¯ll need to rest for a bit again to get everything adjusted, and then I should be back to normal!¡± Well, she¡¯d probably have to start leveling up from scratch again, but otherwise at least she was back to being a Deus Ex. The following days were spent in relative silence. Although Abzul had been killed, we still had to go around and make sure to round up all of his remaining followers in the New Human Empire. Otherwise, they could use the knowledge that he brought back from whatever timeline he used to eventually lead another war, at a time where I might not be around to stop it. Thankfully, there was something that made the problem easier to solve, strangely with Malthan¡¯s help. Since I hit what is apparently the level cap, I was able to massive boost my abilities. Right now, I was no longer limited to just scanning one solar system. If I tapped into subspace to speed things up, I could scan up to an entire parsec away, making our search fairly easy. We spent a full week taking care of that, while Celeste acclimated herself to her new soul again. Once that was all taken care of, we got to work on our final quest. The first stop, Qu¡¯Lesh, went fairly smooth. When we arrived, the three of us plus one Tokemi were sitting in the bridge. The moment we saw the planet, all of us had a flash of gold, and saw the history of the various timelines. In truth, it was like Malthan had said. At first, the world was fine. The people who had any sense were able to control those that currently ruled the world. But, one by one they ascended, the world slowly devolving into what it was now. From what I saw, this was one of the few timelines when someone came along and actually saved them from their fate. And most of the times when someone did, their old habits would just act back up after that person was gone. Really, a doomed species¡­ While we were there, we stopped off to visit old friends. Sharon met up with Jeeves to tell her about what happened, and the Qu¡¯Lopti flights that had been loaned to us for this war were finally able to return home. However, we kept this visit brief, in order to avoid long, drawn out goodbyes. When we left Qu¡¯Lesh, we had far less people with us than when we had been traveling before. The Deus Ex had returned to their world with the aid of the warp gate, leaving the Ariadne as the only ship from the Sons of Chaos that remained. Initially, we had wanted to use the gate to go to Gerin, until we saw the destination for our next stop on the quest line. Upon our arrival to Hydra, I was surprised to find that the world had changed significantly since I last left. The previous black spot surrounding the demon dungeon had grown massively. It now seemed to cover nearly a third of the land mass on the planet. And apparently, the vision we were to see this time was specifically for me. I saw how the world would normally progress, a tiny seed of mana eventually turning it into a jungle of carnivorous plants. Every now and then, someone would come along and alter the image, but it largely stayed the same, until I hit the current timeline. I had managed to land on the world, and accelerated its growth well beyond the norm through dungeons, while also placing the demons there. Near the end of the vision, I was shown someone who was currently fighting down on the planet below. Not a demon, but a woman made of plants. She seemed¡­ so familiar. It took me a moment to recognize her, because she appeared thousands of years before her time. A woman made of foliage, angrily lashing out at the demons who were trying to consume her home. She commanded giant plants with special abilities, and even summoned the Nature Wyrm that had given me trouble when I crashed here before. Arianne¡­ I thought to myself hesitantly. I had once made her an offer, to take her away from here and let her see the world beyond. Yet, she had refused, not willing to leave her family behind. And, in this case, her family was the entire planet. I didn¡¯t have the strength to accept that kind of request in the past, but what about now? Focusing, I exerted my will to wrap my mana around the world. I worked with the essence of the universe itself to extinguish the demons, causing them to scream in agony as they were ripped apart from their very core. The black region of the world, showing where they had burnt and terraformed the land, seemed to shatter at a visible rate, greenery quickly growing back where it had once been impossible to do so. I even managed to see Arianne herself, who stared in confusion as a pride demon disappeared from in front of her. She looked around, not sure what had happened while I rooted the demons out from every corner of the world. They were created by the dungeon, and so they would be eliminated with it. In the past, I had owed my survival in this world to Arianne, so in a way I saw this as returning a favor. To those on the ship, they saw the healed planet turning into particles of light that swarmed at the ship, disappearing into my body as I moved the entire planet itself into the grove. For those on the planet, though, it was likely they never even noticed the transition, as I did my best to put them in a location with roughly the same characteristics as where they had been originally. Sharon looked over to me curiously, likely not knowing why I had done what I did. I smiled to her, shaking my head. ¡°Just paying back an old debt.¡± She seemed to accept that answer, and we quickly moved on from the empty space, finally moving towards Gerin. This time when we arrived, we saw mixed visions. Gerin could be seen as a main system, a place where the Seeds could often spawn. Like Earth, there were timelines in which it became absolutely overrun by monsters. In one, the entire system had fallen to ruin when the sun acted the same as our moon. After gathering the mana from the entire system together, it had taken the form of a Solar Titan, a being far more terrifying than even the Lunar Titan that I had seen. In other timelines, they lived a fairly peaceful life, not interacting with other worlds for generations. Although there was chaos when the mana initially spread, it was nothing like what would happen when the Seeds themselves appeared in this system. However, it didn¡¯t seem that we were able to leave quite so fast here. ¡°John! You made it back!¡± An excited message was broadcast to our ship from the planet below, and we all saw Thalia¡¯s excited face appearing on the screen. ¡°We¡¯ve been waiting for you!¡± Chapter 209: Moving On Apparently, we had taken too long getting back to Gerin. At least, that was the popular consensus. ¡°Come on, John! Everyone¡¯s waiting.¡± Thalia called out with a laugh, wearing a sparkling green dress as she walked in front of me. After we had arrived, they called us down to talk, everyone wanting to thank and congratulate us for defeating the empire. From what was discussed, they had long since planned a festival in our honor, but were simply waiting for us to return to kick it off. However¡­ I really didn¡¯t seem to be in the mood for such a festival. I was happy, yes, but there was something else. As I looked around, and saw everyone celebrating, the Eye of Time was constantly activating. I saw the lives and deaths of countless people time and again. I was reminded with every face I saw that none of this was going to last. Soon, we were going to ascend or whatever, and they would all start their lives over as if none of this had happened. Yes, this timeline would be archived like all the rest, but just how many times will they relive the same life before it¡¯s all over?
We¡¯re working on that.
I blinked in surprise, not having expected Malthan to be eavesdropping on my thoughts again.What do you mean? I thought the First or whatever he was left?
He did. The system he created was flawed. No matter how many gods we create, the end of time itself is still the ultimate inevitability for this universe. The system he made won¡¯t change that.
Now this was weird. Malthan almost seemed to be taking this seriously.Then what are you talking about? Isn¡¯t that the entire plan?
Not quite. You¡¯ve gotten this far, so I can tell you. There are those among us who still remember the initial goal, and who still agree with it. But, we all think the First went about it the wrong way. His idea was to change this universe so that it never has to end, but that¡¯s impossible. The universe itself won¡¯t allow any meddling to that degree. So, we are trying something different. Something we think has a chance of success. That¡¯s where Champions come in. Whenever a champion ascends, their god borrows a bit of power to gain another domain. It¡¯s like getting two gods with one.
I felt myself growing somewhat annoyed by how he started to explain, and then abruptly stopped, as if purposely building suspense. Right after I thought he was taking this seriously, too. Thankfully, another message appeared in my vision soon.
Hey, I am taking this seriously. Someone just walked by and grabbed my attention. Anyways, we still need to gather a lot of gods to get our plan to work, so we¡¯re following the same general idea that the First laid out. But, instead of Project Genesis, this is Project Exodus. Once we get enough gods, and have enough power at our disposal, we plan to superimpose the universe onto the divine realm that the First created. This realm is outside the confines of time, so the end that he had in mind is still able to be achieved, just through a different means.
So¡­ the great big plan, the reason people still search for other gods¡­ is to create an entirely new universe?A bit surprising, but from what I¡¯ve understood so far, they should still be a long ways away from that.Then, what happens to all of these archived timelines?Surely, they didn¡¯t plan to merge them all into one. The sheer number of people copied over each other would be disastrous.
They¡¯re going to stay in the archives, John. The original homes of all the gods. Until the end of their lifetimes, they will be preserved. And each archived universe had so long to live. By the time it dies, the god in charge of it would have had time to come to peace with it. Everyone they cared about would have been moved over. They might still be mortal, but their descendants will never have to fear running out of time.
I nodded my head slightly, before I felt a tug on my hand. Tokemi was looking up from beside me, a curious expression on her face. ¡°Is something wrong, daddy?¡± She asked as we stood waiting for one of the elves¡¯ subways. ¡°No, nothing¡¯s wrong, Tokemi.¡± I shook my head with a small smile, but then couldn¡¯t help but wonder.What about her?Tokemi was timeless in the truest sense, time held no power over her. She could theoretically survive until the universe died around her. And she would always be alone¡­ Unable to age, even if there was another of her species someday, they could never have a child.
Tokemi is¡­ special. She¡¯s unique. I¡¯ll ask around for you. Right now, this realm can only support gods, but once we are ready for the final stage, I¡¯ll see if we can bring her over. If it¡¯s her, there won¡¯t be the problem of crossing timelines. She¡¯s just got to survive in this timeline until then.
Well, that did help a little. At least I had a way of keeping my promise with her. I let out a long sigh, moving onto the train that arrived to take us to our next destination for the festival. The festival itself was a big party, and I¡¯m sure that there were a lot of people having fun. Even Tokemi seemed to be enjoying herself, dragging me around to watch parades, play games, or just find something to eat. To me, however, that one day felt like it was every bit as long as the time I trapped myself in the bubble of time. Anywhere between months and centuries passed by every time I looked at someone new. Going by what Malthan had said, I must have affected all of their lives, even if it was just by ending this war. But seeing them all die hundreds, if not thousands of times¡­ It made the event far too morbid for me to truly enjoy. Later, when I met up with Sharon and Yin, I saw similar expressions on their faces. They were solemn despite the joyous festival. ¡°John¡­ can we go?¡± Sharon actually took the initiative to ask that once we were alone. Her voice was steady, but I could see her eyes beginning to water. ¡°Whatever ascension, let¡¯s just get this over with. Like he said, we can come back any time. But I don¡¯t want¡­ to see this anymore.¡±Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Although Yin remained silent, she too nodded her head in agreement. Without saying another word to anyone else, we began moving towards the shipyard. Tokemi was still coming with us, but we just didn¡¯t want to see any more people. To our surprise, we actually found Celeste waiting for us. Her appearance had returned to its normal self, with her flowing pink hair and happy expressions. ¡°Hey guys. Figured you¡¯d be heading this way soon, so I prepared something for you.¡± She said, motioning off to the side. We had been planning to take a shuttle up to the Ariadne and quietly leave with Celeste piloting the ship, but she seemed to have a different idea. Off in the distance, a familiar ship sat parked. One that we had not seen in ages. Our original ship, the Seraglio. It was the one ship that we really all contributed to creating. Standing in front of it were four people. My mom and dad, holding hands and smiling warmly at us. And then there was Tessa and her mom. As we walked closer, we could see that Tessa¡¯s eyes were watering, barely restrained tears held in the depths of her eyes. I could understand her, a little bit. When I found her, she was a scared elemental, who wasn¡¯t able to communicate with anyone. In most timelines, after the Seeds appeared on Earth, that is how she died, treated as a monster. Maybe seeing me go now was hard on her. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Tess. We¡¯ll be back soon.¡± Tokemi said with a smile, reaching out to comfort Tessa after we drew nearer. ¡°You better, Mimi¡­¡± She nodded her head heavily. ¡°And John¡­ thank you for everything.¡± Turning towards me, she bowed her head deeply. ¡°Yo and Yang are already inside.¡± My dad said as he walked up to us. ¡°There¡¯s not enough room for everyone to go with you, but we figured they deserve the spots.¡± Originally, the ship had only been made to hold myself, Yin, Yang, Sharon, Yo, and Celeste. It really wasn¡¯t built to carry too many people. ¡°Thanks¡­¡± I nodded my head towards the two of them, before moving towards the ship. There was an oddly echoed bark coming out just as the airlock opened, and a small dog jumped out to tackle us. Well¡­ a small dog with two heads. ¡°Chrome. I haven¡¯t seen you in a while, buddy.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but smile slightly as I recognized the little mutt. But he wasn¡¯t the only one in a hurry to greet us. A winged cat shot out from the airlock as well, flying a circle around Sharon before happily landing on her head. Sharon laughed, reaching up to stroke the cat¡¯s wings. ¡°Hey Jasmine. I missed you.¡± She spoke gently, picking Jasmine up and pulling her down into her arms. Jasmine happily snuggled into Sharon¡¯s embrace, and we all shared a soft smile as we went inside. ¡°We¡¯re ready to go anytime, dad!¡± Yo was already sitting in the cockpit by the time we arrived, Yang standing a short distance behind her. It was strangely nice to see the old ship, without any of its upgraded technologies like the Ariadne had. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m driving.¡± Celeste said as she entered behind us, closing the airlock after she did. ¡°But yes, we can leave anytime.¡± I looked over to Yin and Sharon, who nodded their heads in agreement, before turning back to Celeste. ¡°Let¡¯s do it. Take us up, number one.¡± I smiled slightly, feeling as the ship lifted up off the ground. As we were leaving the atmosphere, we received a transmission that was apparently going out to all ships in the system. ¡°And now, to commemorate this occasion, High Queen Maeve has asked us to play a special song, We Stand With You.¡± After the announcement went out, I heard a familiar melody, a recording of a song I heard before. Soon, Celeste¡¯s voice sang out through the broadcast. ¡°Moving on, is the hardest thing, the hardest choice, you¡¯ll ever make¡­¡± I looked over, and saw a sad smile on Celeste¡¯s face as she listened to that song again. ¡°Jumping to subspace.¡± She spoke in a softer tone than normal. Soon, we were flying through the vast emptiness of subspace, the world around us distorting as I used my powers to accelerate the ship. The journey to Earth lasted only a few hours under the enhanced speed, moving dozens of times faster than the ship normally could on its own. And when we arrived, we saw what had become of Earth. The land burned, the oceans boiled, and giant monsters flew through the air. A quick scan was all it took for me to discover that there was not a single human living on the planet anymore, even though most of them had been left behind when the colony ships left.
Last stop, kids. Since John¡¯s the main character here, let¡¯s finish this up at his place.
I saw the message appear in front of me, and glancing over to Yin and Sharon told me that they had seen it as well. ¡°Think you can find my old house?¡± I asked Celeste, who looked at me in confusion, before nodding her head. No doubt, Malthan was stopping her from seeing these messages still. To no surprise, my house had been destroyed, as had most of the city. Oakland had fallen into the ocean with the rest of California. But as we watched, a golden light surrounded the area it had once been, briefly returning it to how it was in the past. I saw my house reassemble itself, rising out of the sea with a small patch of land. ¡°I think we¡¯re being invited.¡± I chuckled, looking to the others. We all knew what came next, so I dropped down onto my knee and looked at Tokemi. ¡°You be a good girl until we get back, okay?¡± I asked with a smile, and I could see the tears forming in her eyes again as she threw her arms around my neck. ¡°We¡¯ll be back as soon as we can. Who knows, we might even be waiting for you when you get to Gerin.¡± ¡°...Promise?¡± She asked, and I could feel my shoulder growing damp as she buried her head in it. ¡°If he doesn¡¯t promise, I will.¡± Sharon said, reaching down and patting Tokemi¡¯s silver hair. ¡°And have I ever lied to you?¡± ¡°No¡­¡± She shook her head, finally willing to pull herself back away from me. ¡°Just¡­ come back soon.¡± We all nodded our heads to her at that, before I opened up a portal to send us down to the planet. To my surprise, it was Yin that spoke first when we got down to the lawn. ¡°This was not on the scan¡­¡± She said quietly, drawing mine and Sharon¡¯s attention to three Seeds that sat on the patch of land. Unlike the normal silvery appearance of the capsules, these seemed to be made out of gold.
Congratulations to John, Yin, and Sharon Hulett for earning the qualifications to ascend to godhood. If you enter the prepared Seeds of Divinity, we will happily welcome you to our realm, your new home.
The three of us looked at one another, and nodded, moving to enter the capsules. ¡°See you on the other side.¡± I told the two of them as the lid began to close. My vision went white for several long moments, before I found myself standing on a stone street. Towering buildings stretched out as far and as high as I could see. People of every race walked about, some interacting warmly with others while some kept to themselves. A short distance ahead, I saw a familiar blue alien arguing with the Goddess of Justice that I only recently came to learn about. ¡°Oh, come on, Hiren! You know I had Cosplay reserved as my third domain! I even had a deal with Carl to trade for Ambiguous Foreshadowing!¡± He flailed his arms as he shouted out, acting as if he¡¯d been wronged. ¡°Rules are rules. The new Gods may choose their own domain, but the God of War is no longer with us. As the patron of the newly ascended, it is your responsibility to take the mantle.¡± Hiren had a playful smile on her face as she said that, the strict image she had shown before all but shattered. ¡°But¡­ Chaos, Madness, and War¡­ Nobody is going to like me! If I had Chaos, Madness, and Ambiguous Foreshadowing, I could still play it off!¡± He crossed his arms in a huff, seeing he wasn¡¯t going to win this argument. It seemed that the two of them hardly even noticed that we appeared. However, there was a third character that did. A woman that ran towards us in a dead sprint, a wide smile on her face. I had always known her as Aria, the elven Goddess of Fashion. But now, after I saw those visions, another name seemed to fall from my lips as she wrapped her arms around me. ¡°Alice.¡± Her eyes seemed to light up as I said her original name, nodding her head happily. ¡°Welcome home, John. I¡¯ve been waiting a long time. Or, should I call you Falenel now?¡± She asked, and I looked around just in time to see Sharon and Yin materializing around me, taking in the scenery. ¡°I¡¯ll help the three of you get adjusted. There¡¯s so much to tell you¡­¡± She laughed, reaching down and grabbing Sharon and Yin¡¯s hands, before turning to run off towards a nearby building, where we would be living our new lives. Still, in the back of my mind, I could hear that song playing. ¡°Walk your path, just never forget. You¡¯re not alone, and those beside you, walk with you every day¡­¡± Epilogue: Maybe There Is a Happy Ending ¡°Mom! Dad!¡± Tokemi called out to us as she ran into our embrace, happy to see us again. How long has it been since we ascended? It was hard to keep track. So many things had changed lately. Time was¡­ harder to track now. Of course, this wasn¡¯t our first time coming down to see her. Tokemi no longer looked like the cute and adorable little girl that she had been when she was created, nor the cute and adorable little pre-teen that she was when we ascended. Now, she had taken on the image of a fully formed adult, after spending time studying her own aura shifting abilities. ¡°Hey baby, how¡¯ve you been?¡± Sharon asked with a smile, reaching up and gently patting Tokemi¡¯s hair, making the fox girl smile happily. ¡°I¡¯m good. What about you guys? How¡¯s the next world treating you?¡± She asked, looking between myself, Sharon, and Yin. All three of us had managed to descend this time, so it was somewhat of a special occasion. Right now, Tokemi was really the only one left who we knew in the world. Everyone else, whether it was my parents, Yang, even the elves had all gradually passed away over time. Naturally, I had kept those close to me alive as long as I could by lowering their ages, but that wouldn¡¯t last forever. Yang was the first, deciding that she had lived a long and happy life after over two hundred years had passed since we ascended. She had no regrets, and passed away with a smile on her face, happy that her sister had been with her in her final moments. After that came my parents, who decided to do so for similar reasons. Yo and Celeste had at one point formed an adventuring duo, choosing a life of action over the slow crawl of day-to-day monotony. Unfortunately, they had an encounter with the lunar titan while exploring the space near Earth. When we discovered that, Sharon flew into a rage and destroyed the titan in body and soul. Only Tokemi had chosen eternity. And for that I was thankful. We still didn¡¯t know how long it was until she would get her chance to join us, but we had told her about the possibility. It seemed, that was enough to let her make up her mind. She decided that she would wait however long it took. When I was done reminiscing, I noticed the playful smile on Yin¡¯s face. ¡°John¡¯s champion¡­¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t get me started on that.¡± I let out a small huff, shaking my head. As the new God of Impossible Odds, I had chosen Ackbar to be my champion. However, wouldn¡¯t you know it¡­ he ended up getting eaten by one of the elves¡¯ giant carnivorous rabbits when it mutated into a monster. Sharon, the Goddess of Cuteness, was laughing her ass of when she saw that. What is it with me and rabbits?! ¡°Are you still seeing¡­ what was her name?¡± Tokemi asked as she looked at me.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Jorel.¡± I answered, nodding my head. ¡°And yeah, she says I¡¯m making good progress.¡± The side effects of being trapped in the time bubble for nearly two hundred years had already made it nearly impossible for me to stand being idle before we ascended, so the long waits before anything happened now was a hell for me. Thankfully, I was able to get regular appointments with the Goddess of Mental Trauma, who it turns out was a pretty good therapist. ¡°Speaking of champions, though¡­¡± Sharon said, glancing over to Yin. ¡°Isn¡¯t yours about to be born soon?¡± We had gone through a couple iterations of the timelines so far, so Yin decided to place her bet on someone that would be born after the reset. She ended up with a rather peculiar domain, one that I had never expected to be free. The Goddess of Hope nodded her head happily. ¡°Right. Next month. She shows promise.¡± Yin smiled as she said that. ¡°What about you?¡± She asked as she looked towards Tokemi. ¡°I¡¯m doing good, really!¡± She grinned as she spoke. ¡°And¡­ I¡¯m not alone. I wanted to show you guys something.¡± We always descended to the same place, the fields in the Qu¡¯Lopti world where we had lived for those few years after Tokemi was born. It felt like a special place to us, and the Qu¡¯Lopti treated it as a holy sight, always making sure it was well preserved. Tokemi grabbed Sharon and Yin by their hands, and began dragging them away, motioning for me to follow. She only walked a short distance, leading us behind a towering tree that had grown over the years. Behind there, sitting patiently, was a small boy. Like Tokemi, his hair was silver, and he had a similarly colored tail extending from the base of his back. His body was draped in a black robe as he hastily stood up to greet us, bowing respectfully. ¡°Grandpa, Grandmas. Hello.¡± He spoke in a quiet tone, keeping his head lowered. Seeing our confusion, Tokemi took the chance to explain. ¡°It took me a while, but I found the method to create more Baishiro.¡± She then shyly turned her head away. ¡°I¡­ plan to keep it small, just a few to let me have company when you guys aren¡¯t here. If possible, could you ask about getting them in, too?¡± I was about to agree, but naturally Sharon beat me to it. ¡°Of course we will! How could we just make you leave behind your family like that? I¡¯ll talk to the guys up top once we go back. Now, why don¡¯t you invite this little one over, and we can have a proper picnic together?¡± As she said that, rather than waiting for Tokemi to invite him, she reached down and scooped the little boy up in her arms, taking the initiative to move back to where we had been before. Seeing as we were actually having a picnic now, I took the liberty of creating some fruits for us. After that, Tokemi told us what she had been up to. For the most part, her life had been one of loneliness, aside from our frequent visits. However, she has also become an object of worship herself within this timeline. Not only is she the child of the gods, but she is herself the strongest being in this timeline, with almost complete control of time itself. Looking at her, I could see that her level had stalled in the lower eight hundreds. After our talk, Tokemi and I watched as Yin and Sharon played with Jokken, her son. I glanced over, and saw a warm smile on her face as she watched the scene. ¡°I know what you want to ask, dad. And yes, it¡¯s worth it. No matter how long we wait, it¡¯ll always be worth it. So I¡¯ll wait as long as I need to.¡± She spoke without ever looking at me. She placed her hand down on mine, and her smile grew slightly. ¡°One day, we¡¯ll all be together again as a family. There¡¯s nothing worth waiting for more than that.¡± Announcement: Amazon and Layers! This is just one last announcement to go out for all of those following this story. Volume 4: Endgame of World Seed is now available at Amazon. At the same time, I have also begun posting the chapters I have saved up for Layers of Hell on RRL. You can find that at the following link:http://royalroadl.com/fiction/13820/layers-of-hellThis tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. I have roughly a dozen chapters of that story saved up, so I''ll be scheduling them to post daily for the next two weeks, and hopefully by then I''ll be able to write both it and World Keeper more regularly. Announcement: Slowly but Surely Okay, so I want to thank everyone who showed their support after the previous announcement. For those who didn''t read the last one, I''ll summarize it here. Due to some bots infiltrating the Amazon Unlimited system, a very large number of authors have been mass banned recently, including myself. Our accounts have been terminated, and we can no longer make an income from Amazon. I am currently trying to get my account back, but until then I am seeking out alternatives. The first, and hopefully one that will see some serious use, is Patreon. Following the suggestions of a few of you who came to a new Discord I set up(link in the bottom note), I set up a Patreon with various levels of pledges. These pledges can unlock early chapters, a Patreon-only chat channel in the Discord, even the potential to suggest future systems, characters, and events! Of course, I reserve the right to exercise creative control, as this is still my story obviously.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. I am not going to require anyone to pledge. This story will still continue to be posted on RRL, once I finish the five backlog chapters for the Patreon and can fully deliver on those pledges. I have just finished the first backlog chapter, so there are only 4 more to go! Announcement: The Sun Emerges From Behind the Clouds!! Yes, the title is cheesy. I don''t care! I GOT MY ACCOUNT BACK! I didn''t want to make a third announcement within two days, but after getting the email that my account was back up, I couldn''t help it. My account is back, my books can be sold once again, and I can keep earning royalties. HOWEVER! I am leaving the Patreon up. I removed all of my books from Kindle Unlimited, in order to prevent another issue such as this, so I still need the Patreon to pad my income and keep my bills paid. However, I can be a lot less nervous about it, which is a wonder for me!Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Now! I will still be taking a brief break from posting chapters of World Keeper on RRL, so that I can fill up the backlog to give the promised rewards to Patreons. But now that I don''t have to be so nervous about it anymore, I can share the Patreon link with everyone https://www.patreon.com/karami92 ALSO! I will be including a poll with this chapter! I want you to read over it carefully! Now that I am taking my books off of Kindle Unlimited, the Keeper''s World side stories no longer have an exclusive contract with Amazon. This means I can give them away either here or on Patreon! Chapter 1178: Red Dread In the middle of the elven port city of Cau Bungha, there was an inconspicuous toy shop called ¡®Elf on a Shelf¡¯. This store had been around for quite some time, and dealt in handcrafted dolls for children. Although the store itself was not all that popular, it had never shown any signs of financial trouble. Though, this could easily be attributed to the fact that the storeowner was a god, allowing them to pay with their own divinity. This god, William Dyson, was a kitsune God of Collections. This wasn¡¯t that uncommon of a domain, as many people believed that they would be able to gain extra divinity if they gathered a meaningful collection that people acknowledged. For most, these collections took forms like magic cards, artifacts, or monster pets. Whenever anyone asked William what he collected, he said that it was his dolls. One day, the bell above the door rang to signal a customer, and William lifted his head with his trademark smile. ¡°Greetings! Welcome to Elf on a Shelf! Feel free to look around at your leisure!¡± The customer, a redheaded lycan, gave a big, toothy grin. ¡°That¡¯s fine. I already know what I¡¯m looking for.¡± William looked at the customer, a flicker of recognition in his eyes, though he quickly concealed it. ¡°Of course, of course! What would you like, then?¡± Naturally, William recognized the Red Shadow, having observed him in secret in the past. However, he had never revealed his true appearance to the man, and had ensured that nobody alive among the ninjas knew what he looked like in the present day. However, the Red Shadow¡¯s eyes were locked onto him, his grin stretching out as if to split his face in two. Crimson smoke began to drift away from his body, and William felt as if his ki was being seized. ¡°You are going to be the greatest gift to the Lady in Red.¡± William clicked his tongue, realizing that there was no point in playing dumb. ¡°Now now, no need for violence.¡± He said, snapping his finger. A white light flashed through the room, and he began to casually gather his things after feeling that his ki was no longer being targeted. ¡°Looks like I¡¯ll need to set up somewhere else. Perhaps Hanbei would welcome me. Surely the psycho wouldn¡¯t dare touch the territory of Elisae.¡± He muttered to himself, heading out the back door. ¡°Why not?¡± The voice of the Red Shadow spoke again, causing William to freeze. He was certain that the Red Shadow wouldn¡¯t be able to respond for at least a few more moments, so long as he didn¡¯t make any hostile actions. ¡°Did you think you¡¯d be getting away that easily?¡± ¡°I had certainly hoped.¡± The Collector, William said with a long sigh. ¡°Look, buddy, I have no desire to fight with you, and I¡¯m certain you don¡¯t really want me to get serious. Let¡¯s just end things here, and let bygones be bygones.¡± In truth, William would indeed like to add the Red Shadow to his collection, but he knew that it was incredibly unlikely to happen. In order for someone to be added to his collection, they needed to be in a state where they couldn¡¯t resist him. If their energy flowed too chaotically, it would break the ability before it fully settled. Meanwhile, the Red Shadow¡¯s energy was in a constant state of activity. Perhaps that¡¯s why he overcame White¡¯s light, because he is constantly in danger¡­ from himself. William thought it over, while his opponent simply cackled. ¡°Quite the opposite. I want your blood, Collector. And, if I have to raze this entire city to the ground, I¡¯ll get it.¡± As he said that, his ki began to spread out, the remaining dolls on the shelves seeming to dissolve. The counters, the ceiling, and even the windows all began to liquify, dripping into viscous puddles. Seeing this, William¡¯s eyes narrowed. He kept his mouth closed, and suddenly everything in the shop was back to normal, though the Red Shadow was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Let¡¯s see how you like swimming in a star.¡± He muttered, quickly turning to leave the building. He knew that teleporting the Red Shadow into the heart of a star wouldn¡¯t hold him off for long, so he wanted to be long gone by the time he arrived. Just as he had left his store, and was preparing to use his powers to disappear, there was an explosion from the store behind him. A pillar of flame rose up into the sky, incinerating everything in the vicinity. Screams echoed out around the town, several citizens caught up in the intense wave of heat. Those with mortal bodies were instantly scorched, leaving black outlines in their wake. Once the pillar faded, the Red Shadow stood there, flames licking off of his skin. ¡°You¡¯re not getting away that easily.¡± He said, though William could hear the sirens approaching. The police would be here in moments, so he had to get away to avoid being caught up in this mess. ¡°I disagree.¡± He said, waving his hand. Immediately, his body faded from view, appearing on a deserted island. Once there, he let out a long breath of relief. ¡°That madman surely can¡¯t follow the Lost Wanderer.¡± However, a moment later, a blood red portal opened in front of him, and William knew that he had spoken too soon. ¡°I already locked onto your ki.¡± The Red Shadow said in a menacing tone. ¡°No matter where you run to, I will follow. What more do you have to show me, great collector?¡± He asked with a sadistic grin. In truth, William had grown rusty when it came to direct combat. He had retired from the life of a career ninja long ago, and now focused on growing and maintaining his collection. That said, he was far from weak. In exchange for the condition that his targets must not resist being added to his collection, he had gained the ability to use the powers of anyone in his collection for himself. His personal favorite was the light of the White Shadow, which had served him well when it came to erasing his tracks. However, it would seem that the Red Shadow had come prepared to counter that power.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. In that case, let¡¯s see how many powers he can counter. William thought to himself, before lifting his hand. ¡°Open the Gallery.¡± Golden light descended from above, thousands of tiny figures arranged on dozens of swirling shelves. There were members of every race, and even many monsters were counted among his collection. Each of these figures was special in one way or another, and many of them were famous. Because of this, William was able to leech off of their fame to increase his own divinity The figure of a robed human began to glow, and the ocean around the island rose up, transforming into a many-headed serpent with golden eyes. The Red Shadow let out a laugh, lunging for the serpent as his ki formed massive, clawed hands behind him. These hands reached out to grab the serpent, ripping its heads off while nimbly dodging the creature¡¯s strikes. While William had grown rusty in his retirement, the Red Shadow was in constant battles. He lived to fight, and thus his innate combat prowess was far above that of the Collector. ¡°Is this all you¡¯ve got?! At this rate, you won¡¯t even be a worthy sacrifice! Maybe I¡¯ll offer up your toys instead!¡± William grit his teeth, his fists clenched at his sides. Another figure lit up, this one an elven woman. Suddenly, a large, third-tier magic circle appeared to cover the entirety of the island. ¡°Disappear within the emptiness.¡± He commanded, and a black light shot down. This was the signature spell of an elven archmage known as the Key to the Abyss. Once used, this spell trapped a target within a spatial field where all energies were neutralized, left to drift in endless nothingness. Despite the unlikelihood that the Red Shadow would be able to escape this prison, William activated another figure. This one was a black-boned skeleton wearing a crown made of finger bones. The island began to crack beneath William¡¯s feet, hordes of skeletal figures rising out of the ground, green flames burning around them. Sure enough, a red portal opened a few moments later, and the Red Shadow stepped out, looking completely unphased. Before William could ask how he had escaped the abyss, his answer came in the form of dozens of similar portals opening. From each portal, another Red Shadow emerged. I need to identify his real body, or this will never end. He thought to himself, sending forth his undead horde while trying to recall if there was anyone in his collection with the skills to help him here. Meanwhile, his undead horde was being quite literally dismantled, reduced to nothing but piles of broken bones. Unfortunately, the Collector didn¡¯t have access to a god that had the Ki domain or anything similar. If he did, it would be a simple matter to defeat the Red Shadow. Without a word, the Collector channeled the power of the King in Silence. This was undoubtedly one of the strongest pieces in his collection. It was also how he had saved his shop and sent the Red Shadow into a star earlier. His eyes flashed, and the front line of enemies suddenly turned to stone, only to be broken without a care by those behind them. Furrowing his brow, the next wave dissolved into water, but still more portals emerged. How many avatars did he create!? The Collector thought to himself in desperation. As that thought crossed his mind, he felt his body jerk, a sickening crunch coming from his chest. Looking down, he saw a hand piercing clean through his body, wrapped in red energy. Divinity leaked from the wound like blood, the Collector¡¯s eyes were wide. ¡°Oh, great Lady in Red. I have found the promised sacrifice.¡± The man standing behind William spoke in a reverent tone, his ki flooding through William¡¯s body and tearing it apart from the inside. ¡°Accept this humble offering, this collector of the unique.¡± As the Red Shadow finished his prayer, the skies above shifted, turning blood red. Seeing this, the Red Shadow¡¯s eyes lit up with glee. ¡°She has accepted my prayer!¡± He called out, laughing like a madman. ¡°The great goddess has acknowledged my faith!¡± William¡¯s eyes shook as he looked at the phenomenon in the sky, before a pillar of red light crashed down onto the island. From within the pillar, a small figure in a red dress emerged, her crimson hair flowing behind her. Similarly red eyes locked onto the fighting duo, annoyance evident in her gaze. ¡°I have done my best to ignore you all this time.¡± She said coldly, as one by one, the avatars scattered through the islands began to pop like balloons. ¡°Your wickedness knows no bounds, and your sanity was lost long ago. I have not acknowledged your faith. I¡¯ve been trying to figure out what to do with you for years. For a while, I thought that ignoring you was the best answer. Maybe you¡¯d get the hint. But no, here we are.¡± William tried to speak, but his words wouldn¡¯t come. He was still channeling the King in Silence, so he was unable to speak. Scarlet glared at him, snapping her fingers. William vanished, appearing next to Scarlet, the hole in his chest rapidly closing. Afterwards, she turned to look at the Red Shadow again, who was frozen in place, his body unable to move. ¡°You disgust me. Any punishment I could ever think to give, I knew you would only see as a blessing or a trial. The one time I looked into your mind, I felt sickened by the thoughts I saw. But now? I don¡¯t care! I don¡¯t care if you like the fact that you¡¯re going to die. But I will not be absorbing your ki. I wouldn¡¯t want your energy even if I was on the verge of death. I will feed you to the most horrific beasts in creation, and let them have your ki. Maybe then you¡¯ll realize just how pathetic you are.¡± Scarlet stretched her hand forward, clenching her fist. Space seemed to ripple around the Red Shadow¡¯s body, Vaguely, black tendrils covered in triangular teeth could be seen emerging from the ripples in space, before the man¡¯s body completely disappeared. After dealing with him, Scarlet turned to look at William, her eyes narrowed. ¡°As for you. Don¡¯t think we¡¯re not aware of you. If you don¡¯t want to join him, there are some people that you will be releasing from your collection. Otherwise, they¡¯ll all get released when you die, anyways.¡±