Zoe took a deep breath and dove down under the water. A network of tiny tunnels filled the ocean floor, holes dug by clams or fish, or whatever else might live down beneath the waves. She covered herself in earth and lifted up above the ocean.
The swell was mild, small waves licking at the edge of the beach. It reminded her of home, living on the coast. Maybe she’d come back one day, build herself a little beach front home to relax in when she needed some time away.
Though, for that matter, Zoe wondered if she’d even be able to make it back home in a reasonable time. Home was south east, and there were many roads leading around the Injellar kingdom which would take her somewhere she could at least get directions from.
But with how far she’d gone, and how far she moved with each teleport, missing a road as it wound through the dense forests wasn’t too unlikely. She may as well try and find her way back home to say hello again and then head off somewhere else. Maybe she could go south and explore what was even further than Gafoda. Would there be another desert over there, an ocean just beyond where she’d been before?
Zoe shrugged and teleported back up to the sky. She wasn’t even sure where she lost track of the road. Was there a road when she got to the desert? Some packed in sand that lead her to that first village she found nestled into the dunes? She wasn’t so sure when she thought back to the desert. A vast red desert, sand as far as the eye could see. But a road?
She started Cosmic Stepping to the south east, across the fields of flowers and bushes. Small animals hopped around far below her, looking like ants crawling along a colourful drawing from so far away. But there were no signs of people, from what she could see. Kilometers flew by below her with each teleport, and she never saw even the faintest sign of civilization. No roads, no buildings, no mines or garbage piling up.
For kilometers as she travelled, the wilderness was just that — a pristine view of the world without human intervention. Had the animals out here ever even seen a human? It was beautiful, in a way. She’d always stuck to the main roads, hugged along the cities and at best visited small villages.
But out here, in the middle of nowhere, she might be the first person to ever lay eyes on these specific flowers. The first to ever see the waves lap along the beach out here, to see the families of rats and moles that carved their way through the fields.
It was so easy to forget sometimes, that she was in a world where humans weren’t on the top of the food chain. The world wasn’t conquered yet. It wasn’t subjugated, forced to bend to humans’ ire or will. In time, would that change?
Would Zoe in her long life watch the wilderness be chipped away at, the beautiful forests and fields destroyed to make space for civilization? Or was there balance here? If people continued expanding, would more fire elementals arrive to tear them down, leaving cities in ruin?
She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Was it right to just sit back and allow the world to be ripped apart? Would it be right to stop it from happening? Would it be right to help it happen faster?
If in another thousand years she couldn’t fly away and see an oceanfront view untouched by humans, or a field of flowers then would she be happy? Would she grow spiteful of people for what they’d done to the world?
Zoe wondered how long she would even consider herself human. When she was an ancient relic, would she still think herself the same as the humans who lived? Would they even call themselves human, anymore? Would the system keep them in track, or would the system update itself to reflect their new term for themselves?
The fields of flowers below her transitioned to flat red sands as she continued flying through the sky. The towering dunes from before were nowhere to be seen, the odd oasis she’d grown used to seeing in the distance a thing of the past. A few Cosmic Steps into the desert, and all she could see was a flat red desert with not a thing of interest. No footsteps left behind in the sand, no critters crawling around just below the surface as far as she could see.
Did anything live here, at all? Maybe far below the surface where water might be, she supposed. But on the surface, it felt eerie. A silence she hadn’t heard in years, since she first got her Vampyric Senses. There was nothing more than the sound of her own heartbeat and the gusts of wind that scraped grains of sand along the surface of the desert.
Would there be dungeons out in the middle of nowhere, Zoe wondered as she Cosmic Stepped across the red desert. Dungeons that nobody had discovered yet? Would she get some kind of bonus for being the first person to discover them, to clear them?
Maybe if she took the Dungeon Crawler class she would have. But was there some benefit to being the first without a specific class? She hadn’t read anything about it, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t. It could be that everybody who had ever cleared a dungeon for the first time just didn’t share that information publicly. Or maybe every dungeon that was known about had already been cleared so long ago that nobody even remembered now.
A few minutes later the red sands transitioned to a familiar sea of trees, forest as far as the eye could see. Hills in the distance speckled with trees, and still no signs of a road or any other civilization. Zoe continued travelling south east as best she could for a while.
The sea of trees below her changed as she travelled. The large and colourful deciduous trees were replaced with taller green coniferous trees as she travelled further east, and after another few minutes she found a road that poked through the canopy not far to the south.
Zoe teleported above it and continued following the road to the west. Soon, she was floating above a familiar wooden city by the name of Darpi and smiled. She flew around and continued down the road to the east.
She soon passed the village she visited, and for a moment thought about stopping in to say hello again but decided against it. Maybe in a few years she’d come back, but somehow the idea of being a mysterious stranger who stopped in and solved one of their problems only to disappear made her more giddy than she was willing to admit.
When she passed the Springs of Gir, she wondered about the purpose of the productive dungeon. When she cleared Moaning Point or Kliggig, she was given a reward, but there was nothing at the Springs of Gir. No path that even made sense to her as a means of clearing the dungeon. There was no big bad, no boss waiting at the end for her to show up and fight.
At least, she didn’t think there was. There was a boss, but in more of a managerial sense than anything else she supposed. One day she’d meet them. One day she’d force her way into those tunnels below the springs and figure out what was going on. Maybe that was the point, maybe productive dungeons were just normal dungeons with pleasant facades.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Or maybe that would just be terribly rude of her. Zoe shrugged and continued towards Flester’s ruins and Foizo. It had been a few months since she was last back, and she was excited to see what had changed. Would they have changed the roads to meet up with Foizo instead of Flester’s ruins yet?
She stopped by early on in her stay at Darpi, though she just Cosmic Stepped into her empty cavern from as far away as she could so didn’t think it counted much. As much as she loved her friends, she didn’t want to get bogged down with chatting and catching up when she was busy working on a new class.
In a few more minutes, Flester’s ruins were visible on the horizon. The towering trees that made up Kaira library standing heads and shoulders above everything else in sight. She squinted as she looked at the library. They looked odd. Different, somehow. More colourful, maybe? Had somebody painted something on them?
A few more Cosmic Steps and she was floating at the outskirts of Flester’s ruins, staring at the towering trees with her mouth agape. The trees weren’t painted, but covered in a thick blanket of mana so dense Zoe couldn’t pick apart individual wisps of mana. The light pulsed in and out, growing brighter over a few seconds and then dimming over a few seconds as the trees seemed to breathe in the mana.
Zoe floated towards the trees, flabbergasted at what she was seeing and utterly confused at what it meant. How was the mana doing that? Why was the mana doing that? She looked over to Foizo and in a couple Cosmic Steps arrived in her cave.
Emma was outside tending to a garden Zoe hadn’t remembered seeing when she left. Wooden boxes were lined up in rows just outside the entrance, filled with dirt and various green leaves. Small waist high saplings surrounded the small garden, trees that were planted and might one day provide some shade and fruit.
Ollie and Fennel were both in Emma’s room. Fennel sat at the window staring out, watching Emma as she smiled and waved. Oliver lay on the foot of the bed, his small body rising and falling with each sleepy breath he took.
Zoe teleported outside next to Emma. “Hey.”
“Ah!” Emma jumped and then pressed her hand to her chest as she took a deep breath. “You scared me!”
Zoe laughed. “Good.”
“You’re home?" Emma asked.
“Maybe. I was going to stop by and say hi then head south, but what’s going on with Flester’s ruins?" Zoe asked. ”The mana on Kaira library was intense.“
Emma nodded. “Yeah, that’s what people have been saying. Something’s happening in Flester’s ruins and we’re just hoping to ride it out. Some people have left for Korna already, but most are still sticking around. Hopefully it’s nothing too bad, but what can we do, y’know?”
Zoe nodded. “Right. Makes sense, I guess. You think it’s becoming a dungeon, maybe? It kinda looks like a dungeon, now.”
“That’s what people are saying. I dunno. Maybe? Can a city just become a dungeon like that, though?" Emma asked.
Zoe shrugged. “Maybe? I mean there are other ruin dungeons, maybe they were all once real cities? Be easier than having to make an entire ruin for the system, I guess. Or whatever it is that makes dungeons.”
Emma nodded. “I guess. You gonna stick around to find out then?"
“Probably, yeah.” Zoe answered. “If Flester’s ruins become a dungeon, I wanna be here to see it happen, honestly. Seems like a process that would be very difficult to actually watch.”
Emma laughed. “Yeah, I don’t imagine most people have ever had the opportunity to see it. But maybe some wizard has just holed up inside and is doing experiments, you never know.”
“Has Diana checked it out?" Zoe asked.
“Yeah, I think so. You’d have to ask Joe to be sure though. But right now they’re saying it’s weird, but risk is low of harm coming out to foizo by it. Mana’s not leaving Kaira library, and it’s not coming from over here either.” Emma said.
“Where is it coming from, then?" Zoe asked.
Emma shrugged. “Wouldn’t say. Not here, though. Just collecting mana in Flester’s ruins, maybe?”
Zoe nodded. “You started a garden?"
“Mhm. I had a nice garden back at my tower and I’ve missed it, honestly.” Emma said. “Hope you don’t mind.”
“No, not at all. In fact, I just got a new class that could help out if you want.” Zoe said.
“Oh? What’s your new class?” Emma asked.
“Elemental Shaman. Lots of healing and nature stuff. But I can grow plants pretty quick with it.” Zoe said.
“Never expected you to take a dedicated healing class.” Emma said. “You’re always by yourself.”
“Yeah, but it’s different and, eh. Honestly there were probably better options but I can do this with it.” Zoe said and focused on her Nature’s Assistance skill to summon another leafy bowling ball.
Emma watched her with a puzzle expression as nothing happened for a moment, and then tilted her head a bit as the skill summoned the assistant. “What’s that do?"
“Heal people, or things. Just living things thought. Can’t heal like a broken rock or something.” Zoe said.
“And you can just leave it here while you go off?” Emma asked.
Zoe nodded. “Yup. Don’t know how long it lasts, but yup.”
“Can you make multiple?" Emma asked.
Zoe nodded.
“Do they heal much?" Emma asked.
Zoe shrugged. “Never really tested it’s healing abilities, definitely should have done that while I was testing the other skills. Probably not much at its level though.”
“Well, if they stick around for a while I would like you to leave me a bunch. Does it do much as an enchantment?" Emma asked.
Zoe shook her head. “No it’s not a portable healer enchantment, unfortunately.”
Emma nodded. “Right. Well anyway, if you can grow stuff quick then grow these trees. I wanna get some fruit for dinner tonight if that’s possible.”
Zoe laughed and swapped out her Elemental Growth skill for Elemental Creation then flooded the saplings with mana. They grew far quicker with Zoe’s mana bolstering their health, reaching to the sky and spreading their branches. In just over half an hour the first tree stood over Zoe and Emma, with familiar red fruits sprouting from the branches.
Settling down and starting up a garden came far sooner than Zoe expected, but she smiled as she looked at Fennel pawing at the window in Emma’s room. Exploration could come later, once whatever was happening in Flester’s ruins was sorted out.