Not enough light filters through the leaves and branches of the great tree beside my deck to make much of a difference in visibility. That doesn't stop me from holding up a small crystal to examine it better. It's only an eighth of an inch in size and brownish-orange in color. Two other, nearly-identical crystals sit on the table I'm seated at here on my deck.
I found the first one while gutting the squirrel which attacked me while I was marveling at the changes to my yard and gardens. As I removed its heart, I noticed there was an oddness to it and got curious so I cut it open. The entire heart was designed as if it formed around the crystal, so it didn't affect the organ's functions in the slightest.
When taking care of the other two squirrels which attacked me in the hour after that, I confirmed that they each have one of these crystals in them. I can't sense any Mana in them but they're definitely magical. Upon figuring out how to sense magic, I could sense a very tiny amount within the crystals, but only when I have them very close to me.
[Earth Maginiite] A crystal filled with raw earth magics. When planted in the ground, it improves the quality and health of nearby soil.
It's a crystal which increases soil quality. I'm not sure what to make of that except that it might be beneficial to my plants, if I stay here. Which I probably won't, but it might be useful if I leave here, too.
There are two paths I see before me at the moment as I set the crystal down with the other two. The first path is to leave here and group up with people I trust. Monsters apparently exist now and there's strength in numbers. For me, there are a few different options with that.
I take after my great-grandma a bit so I'm sure she's doing alright at the moment and has probably figured out at least a spell or two. She didn't raise me until I was sixteen but I know she can hold her own when she puts her mind to it. Meeting up with her wouldn't be a bad idea, though she might also be going to check on people like my brothers or my parents. Probably not my parents, but since my brothers live with them, they'd be included by default.
Tessa would be the best candidate for meeting up with. We weren't the best of friends but we were friends and I know she's not much of a fighter. She'd have zero shame in asking for help with protection. Her talents rest in other areas but she's still a survivor.
Since she lives close to Grandma, however, I'm sure Tessa will be going to her place, if she's not already there.
Another person I'd like to check on and make sure is safe is Lucas, a guy I ran into at the store a few days ago and almost hooked up with. Pretty cute but also pretty timid, I backed out because I wasn't sure how comfortable he was and whether or not he was agreeing to things because he was nervous and wasn't confident enough to just say he wanted to back out after seeing my size.
Lucas lives with his mom and step-dad, and his step-dad is apparently one of the instructors at the place that Logan takes martial arts lessons at. While Lucas doesn't know how to fight, his step-dad's a damn good fighter and Lucas mentioned his mom's learned as well. Unless either he or one of them wasn't home last night, Lucas is definitely in good hands.
It would also probably be weird if the almost-hookup showed up to make sure he was okay, but he does seem like a decent guy so it's natural for me to be a little concerned. I'm not wanting to check on him because of sex but because he seems like a decent guy and I'd like to at least be friends with him. Friends check on friends to make sure they're okay.
The only other person I can think of for me to try and group up with would be Dakota, who works as a cashier at a grocery store I've become a regular at but who I met the first time I picked Logan up from martial arts for his grandma. He can definitely hold his own and I know that he lives close to Grandma as well and that he knows where she lives. Chances are, he'll want to go check on her and make sure she's okay… and then get reminded that Death has probably accepted that he can't touch her and only visit for drinks.
For me to check on any of them except for Lucas, I'd have to go to a pretty different part of town. Lucas is about halfway between here and the nearest of the other three as well. With my car not working, I'd have to walk and that would take time.
I wouldn't mind that normally except for one problem: the monsters. Killer squirrels are coming after me in my own backyard. It's entirely possible that setting foot outside will result in something else attacking, something stronger and more dangerous.
Better to be prepared for that than to go on the street and end up dead. At least things are relatively safe here in my back yard for now, and I even have food beyond just what's in my fridge and storage thanks to the Mana Flood. If I knew how to make water, ice, and light with my magic, that would be even better.
Though for light, I could also light candles using matches. I do have a decent amount of each of those in storage. An entire shelf stack is devoted to candle storage.
You have received a Quest! [Quest Type]: Travel [Requirement]: Visit a System Shop [Reward]: 100 syscre; 1 [Starter Pack] In order to assist with humanity's reconstruction efforts following the destruction and alterations caused by Earth's magical energy running rampant, System Shops have been added to the world. They can be located in communal places, as well as replacing locations which once served as similar hubs. Though most of their stock is basic, it is all made of items from materials which will not deteriorate from the ambient magical energy in the air.
I'm not sure if this Quest appeared because of my thoughts or if it's something everyone was given at the same time. Either way, it's given me a little bit of important information.
Less important for the current moment, but whoever designed the System may have done so to actually help us out to some degree. The System isn't something that just 'exists', it was definitely constructed by some sort of being or group of them. There's no other way I can think of for a System Shop like this to exist.
More importantly than that for the current moment is that the last sentence is a little bit concerning. It's definitely the Mana in the air that I'm feeling as a viscous and prickly sensation all over my body and which is causing the burning inside of me. That's just damage it's causing to me, which doesn't seem to affect plants.
I'm going to guess that things it altered were fine while that which it didn't aren't. That would be why the squirrels are now monsters rather than dead – they were changed instead of harmed. Why that happened to them, I'm not sure, but it's still early into this whole thing.
What's concerning about this line of thought is that if I'm right about it, then that also means that constructed items will deteriorate from the ambient Mana. Cars, tools, houses, clothes… the containers for my stored foods. Maybe even the stored foods themselves and not just their containers.
I really hope I'm wrong about this and it's just me worrying over nothing but if I'm not, then my entire storage will be gone at some point and not from use. The deterioration doesn't seem to be too fast as I haven't noticed any signs of it yet and it's already been a couple of hours, but it's definitely going to happen.
This notice provides some degree of hope, however, and I decide that a trip out of the neighborhood will show me how bad of an idea walking across town is in my current state.
After a moment of debate with myself, I scoop the earth maginiite up and slip it into my pocket, then grab my emergency backpack and pull it on. The bag is lighter right now as I didn't replace the stuff I pulled out due to them being useless. There might be a System Shop nearby and I hope the space in the bag is enough for whatever is in the [Starter Pack].
My wounded shoulder protests a bit when I pull on the bag but I ignore it and clip the knife onto a belt loop. Ready to go, I enter my house, then leave through the front door, making sure to lock up on the way. Just because no one has tried to break in yet, that doesn't mean no one will.
Out front, I can see more of the effects that the Mana Flood had on plants. All of the lawns are taller now and the trees are definitely larger. There were three in my front yard; two on the right-hand side when facing the street and one on the left, close to the driveway.
Slightly-exposed roots for the one close to the driveway used to stop about five feet from the asphalt. Now, those same roots break up part of the driveway and the trunk of the tree itself looks like it stops about six feet from the asphalt.
Lining the front of my house between the sidewalk from the driveway to the front door and along the rest of the front on the other side of the door from that is a flowerbed. It had stones and native grasses and plants in it, and the part closest to the driveway had a small shrub. All of those have grown enough to completely obscure the rocks. The same goes for the flowers that were planted in them as well, now in full bloom.
The hedges in front of Logan's and Greta's are taller and thicker now, completely obscuring the front of their house apart from the garage and roof. They're even longer now as well, extending past the end of the house and nearly reaching the property line between our lots. On the other end, they've broken through the driveway and cover up part of the garage.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Just as with the plants in my backyard, the hedges have fully regained their lives, as have the trees in my front yard and the one in theirs. The lilac bush in front of theirs has also grown taller and thicker, flowers and leaves covering it.
A magic circle forms in front of my hand as I aim it toward the garden bed in front of my house. My spell finished casting before the squirrel's did and slams into the creature's head. It's knocked off the shrub, which is about waist-high on me now, and tumbles to the ground.
"One shot is all it takes for you guys, huh?" I ask as I walk over to the creature. "Will the System Shop buy you?"
There's only a twenty-minute or so walk to where I suspect one might be based on the information the Quest notice gave me. If there's not one there, then the squirrel's going to only have around an hour of death at most before I dress it and it's cold enough out here that it's probably fine. At least, if I factor in potentially needing to fight more monsters on the way, which I will probably have to do. This will be a lengthy trip to walk when factoring in monsters, but I'm hoping it's worth it.
If there is a System Shop there, then the cold will help preserve the squirrel even if there's a crowd present. Whether or not I can sell it for some money doesn't matter because of that.
Using some of the twine that was in my bag, I tie the squirrel's hind legs together, then slip the twine through a loop on my shorts and tie it there.
I don't see a single living person on my way to the suspected System Shop location, but I do come across some bodies. At the end of the street I live on are the corpses of a man and a woman in their thirties and a girl in her mid-teens. While I didn't interact with them much, I do know that they were a nice family.
Their bodies are pale and the blood on the ground isn't steaming in the cold anymore. This didn't happen too recently. Definitely today, of course, but not from them trying to find a System Shop. Based on their injuries, they weren't attacked by the squirrels shooting [Stone Bullet]s. Slashes cover their bodies and their throats were ultimately ripped out. Whatever it was, it also went after their eyes.
Why would the attacks be focused on the upper parts of their bodies and their arms, though? The arms are probably from trying to block the attacks but-
A sudden feeling of being watched fills me and I slowly look in that direction. Perched in one of the many trees of this neighborhood is a hawk. Its brown feathers are sprinkled with light blue and its gaze says I'm food.
The bird's mouth is open and a greyish-white spell circle is forming in front of it. As soon as I saw the hawk, I knew it was what killed the couple and their daughter and began casting [Stone Bullet] even before registering the spell circle it was forming.
A screech begins to sound out after a few seconds but my [Stone Bullet] is already on its way toward the hawk.
For a moment, my entire body freezes up as the sound and pain fills my ears. Then my [Stone Bullet] strikes the hawk and the bird's spell ends. I'm still paralyzed from the screech spell as the bird is knocked out of the tree, blood spraying forward a little from the impact spot.
Not slain, the bird attempts to stop its fall but still crashes into the ground. I struck it straight in the chest but seem to have clipped part of its left wing. The paralysis ends as the hawk returns to its claws and I immediately begin casting another [Stone Bullet]. My casting is clumsy, however, and my movements are sluggish.
By the time I've aimed at the hawk, it's already halfway through casting that screech spell again. Fortunately, my [Stone Bullet] shoots off before it finishes and less than half a second of the screech is let loose. I'm paralyzed again but the bird doesn't get up from being thrown by the hit.
You are now a Level 2/50 [Elemental Mage]. +10 Mana +0.003 Mana Regen +1 Magic +1 Mind +1 Skill Point +1 Attribute Point You have gained 1 EXP.
At least I have confirmation that the bird is dead, even if I can't move. I do my best to try and break free by sheer willpower but that doesn't seem to work. It's shorter this time, and I make sure to carefully check my surroundings for other monsters before approaching the hawk's remains.
Whatever that screech spell was, it didn't just hurt my ears and paralyze me, it had a lingering effect after the paralysis wore off. That's annoying.
I use more twine to tie the hawk's legs together, then hang it from the same belt loop as the squirrel before continuing on my way, making a right at the intersection. As I walk, I apply the Attribute Point to Magic and use the 2 Skill Points to boost up [Stone Bullet].
[Stone Bullet] is now Level 2. Casting Time: 3 seconds → 2.7 seconds
There was no decrease to the cost to cast the spell, but at least I know what boosting a spell's Level does. Reducing its casting time is huge as even the smallest fraction of a second can make a difference in a fight. It's possible the hawk wouldn't have even gotten the second screech spell off if I had a Level 2 [Stone Bullet], even with my casting being slowed somewhat by the screech's effect.
I pass by some more bodies as I walk down the street. A man and a woman around thirty, with a pair of boys who look seven and four. They're scattered out a little as if they'd been running when attacked. While I don't know them, I did see them going for walks from time to time. Their wounds look like they came from that hawk as well.
A squirrel attacks me as I turn down another street, but dies with a single [Stone Bullet] to the head.
The street I live on is toward the back of the neighborhood and the street which leads out of this part of it is two past but parallel to mine. That's the street I'm on now, and it leads to another street parallel to these ones, and if I take a left from there and then the first right, I can walk straight to the main road, which is where my destination is.
I'm not even out of this section of the neighborhood and I've already taken on three monsters. Two of them were easy as the squirrels seem to be rather weak beasts, but that hawk was concerning. At least it's dead now and I'm not seeing another. I'm definitely keeping an eye out, though.
By the time I exit the neighborhood, I've come across seventeen dead people, a dead chihuahua that looks like it was attacked by a hawk, and I've killed a total of six squirrels and two of the screeching hawks.
Taking a left onto the main road, I walk past the house that's beside it and which has a tree-and-shrub wall between it and the sidewalk. With the accelerated growth caused by the Mana Flood, the natural privacy wall overhangs the sidewalk so much I have to walk on the road.
Since there aren't any cars going around due to them not functioning, there's at least that danger missing. I'm not relieved about it, however, as it was replaced by an even worse one.
Right past the house with the bushes and trees surrounding its side and back is the start of a parking lot for a business that's been many things over the years. A dance studio, a martial arts center, an antiques store, a small emporium, and I think even a tutoring place at one point. It's currently abandoned and the parking lot needed some fixing-up before the Mana Flood boosted the grasses growing in cracks in it.
I was expecting that to have been converted into a System Shop but it looks like that's a bust. However, the gas station down the street from it looks vastly different now so I walk toward that, passing by a power station on the way.
Between the gas station and the power station is a small gully and the stream that flowed through it is now much larger. It was barely a trickle before but now stretches four feet in width and is flowing toward the tunnel it disappears into under the road with plenty of ferocity.
The gas station has definitely changed – the entire lot has changed with everything that was there now gone. No vehicles, no building, no pumps or pump shelter, no signs, no dumpsters… nothing that was there before. Not even the asphalt which once made up the lot is present.
Instead, the ground for the property is covered in smooth, slightly-polished light grey stones with dark blue markings decorating them. In the very center of it is a building ten feet in height and made of the same stone as the ground, complete with the dark blue markings. Stretching twenty feet out from the roof on each side of the building is a shelter made of the same stone as well, complete with the dark blue markings. The building and its shelter-roof look to be made of a singular stone rather than many smaller ones put together, unlike the ground.
Though it seems like the property is larger than before, that could just be because of how there's a central building now rather than the fuel pumps in one corner and the actual convenience store towards the opposite corner. Gas stations tend to have pretty large lots already. At least, the ones around here do. It's possible this structure takes up more space than the gas station and its lot, but I don't think it was necessary even with all of the extras it has.
Around most of the edges of the lot are rectangular flower beds made of wooden slats with metal frames holding them together. Growing from the soil of them are flowers, grasses, and small shrubs. The planters are spaced close together with only one gap in them that I can see – an eight-foot-wide opening at the front of the lot. Spaced out here and here throughout the new version of the property are circular plants with small trees growing out of them, along with more grasses and flowers at their base.
Benches made of the light grey stone but lacking the markings are spread out along the sides and back of the lot but not the front, and a few tables of the light grey stone are visible on the back side of the lot. Some trash can-like stone structures are set up near the tables and benches, probably meant as a form of garbage disposal for guests.
With the seating and scenic setup, I'm guessing that food can also be purchased here and this is more than just a store but possibly even a safe zone.
Rather than a doorway leading into the building, which looks to be around forty feet on each side, there's an opening at chest-height. The opening is about three feet in height and stretches thirty feet along the length of the front. There's one more on the side I'm coming up on, so there's probably one on the other side and possibly one on the back.
I enter the lot and approach the counter at the front window. There's a walking space back there before there's another wall, though it's not a space meant for people to walk in and there's no entrance or exit I can see unless one wants to go through the window opening.
Standing behind the counter are five humanoid figures, each one looking masculine in build but also as if made of a paler version of the stone the structure was constructed from. They don't appear to have holes for their noses, ears, or mouths, though their eyes are the same dark blue as the markings on the building and ground. No uniforms or clothes on any of them, but with the counter and wall, I can't tell if they're featureless down there or if the masculine build continues.
That's not really important, but I am curious on how detailed their creator was with them.
"How does this work?" I wonder aloud.
"Welcome to the System Shop, Carter Elm," the worker in front of me says, his voice mostly androgynous but slightly male. "How may I assist you today?"
I guess I just talk. That should make this easy.