A single horse-drawn cart approached the Eternal Village at midday, swaying across the uneven terrain as its wooden frame creaked in protest.
Three people sat side by side at the front of the vehicle, seemingly oblivious to the fresh fish aroma wafting from the cargo behind them.
Today, Beri had relinquished supervision of the vehicle to her daughter, with Sayer positioned beside her for support.
Despite his initial transgression of withholding information from the village, Sayer had since proven himself exemplary. At the East Lake post, he was consistently first to rise and last to retire, always eager to assist and conducting himself as a perfect gentleman around Alise.
While Beri remained uncertain of Sayer’s intentions toward his daughter, the young woman steering their delivery was far from naive. Alise understood perfectly well what Sayer wanted… And she welcomed it!
A subtle smile playing on her lips, Alise cast furtive glances at Sayer, occasionally biting her lip with an obvious interest in her companion.
Though Sayer wasn’t perceptive enough to catch all the signals, he’d realized his opportunity would come, eventually. Thus, he too wore a smile, illuminated by the strong midday sun, both of them seemingly forgetting their third companion.
That third member, Baynard, observed their silent flirtation with barely concealed contempt. Couldn’t they find another time or place for this? It was irritating to endure their meaningful glances while being treated as invisible!
Yet Baynard maintained his silence, focused on his purpose. After considerable effort, he’d finally achieved his initial goal of returning to the Eternal Village’s core to deliver fish and collect supplies for the lake post.
As the village grew larger on the horizon, he gradually tuned out the couple beside him, his attention fixed on the place where he hoped to find his answers.
The village had expanded significantly since his arrival. The area where Sarre and Arnald’s houses once stood was barely visible now, obscured by a three-meter-high stone wall that needed only a few sections to be complete. From Baynard’s current vantage point, the wall blocked most of his view into the 5,000-square-meter expansion, revealing only the tops of the new internal structures.
He could make out the peak of the village’s new warehouse, the Council building, and the nearly completed observation tower, primarily constructed of metal. In the area’s center stood a small tower, the Memory Altar. The villagers held their beliefs dear, and Elia had insisted on enhancing their gathering place of faith, where inhabitants could worship their gods and seek ancestral protection.
Baynard, who didn’t share the locals’ beliefs, ignored this spiritual space. He knew the village’s economic power—which he suspected enabled them to import food from beyond the Barren Hills of Deepshadow—didn’t stem from divine intervention.
Their group covered the final two kilometers to the village, passing through the bamboo gate into the original settlement area after a cursory check by the guards.
Sayer and Alise greeted villagers and guards along their path, talking in loud voices about how nice it was to be there, how things were at the lake and the like. They had a very open and integrated culture, capable of allowing even personal questions between people who were practically strangers to each other.
Baynard maintained his silence until they reached the village warehouse, where he quietly assisted in unloading their fish cargo.
The task proceeded efficiently—their bi-daily delivery wasn’t particularly large. Within ten minutes, their wagon stood empty, soon to be refilled with supply bags by other villagers.
Sayer engaged in conversation with his brother-in-law, now a warehouse worker, while Alise had vanished, seizing the opportunity to reconnect with local friends. Living primarily at East Lake these days, such visits offered rare chances for her to maintain village ties.
Left to himself, Baynard wandered toward the central flowerbed, listening to the chatter of the villagers as he walked, rather sweaty.
An elder offered him fresh water, which he gratefully accepted, releasing a satisfied “ah” after drinking.
“Thank you, ma’am.”
The old woman responded with a warm smile before walking away.
“... We’ll have new clothes soon, Sayer. The village’s new sheep are at the shearing point.”
“Don’t we only have two sheep? That shouldn’t be enough for us to have new clothes.”
“Nonsense. One sheep is pregnant. We’ll soon have lambs!”
From his position, Baynard marveled at the village’s ability to sustain breeding animals.
‘That’s remarkable,’ he mused, settling beside the central flowerbed—only to freeze mid-motion.
His gaze fixed upon the black soil, clearly recently watered, where small green shoots emerged at a size visible without strain.
‘That?’ His hand trembled as he pointed toward the growing life, his eyes widening as his heartbeat quickened irregularly.
‘Those are plants! Plants growing in the black soil of the Barren Hills of Deepshadow!’ The realization struck him like lightning, momentarily erasing all awareness of his surroundings and what he was doing.
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A few days later...
[Quests] [Progress] [Save the Eternal Village] 11/20 [Magic Farm] 57/61 [Exotic Animals] 1/5
Jonn reviewed his quests, noting the new points he had gained after Eliot’s recent promotion to Apprentice status. It was similar to what had happened two days prior when Elia had successfully reached level 1 and became a mage.
He stood in his old house beyond the village walls, watching Eliot seated on the ground, gradually coming to terms with his new reality. Beside him, Elia beamed with pride for her fellow villager.
While Elia was happy for her fellow villager, grinning from ear to ear, Jonn saw his quests in his vision, noting the progress he had made recently, including the village’s two new animals, two chicks that had already hatched at level 1, as the chicken princess had done previously.
I’ll complete the [Magic Farm] quest soon if no new animals join the village… A shame. This quest provided valuable attribute points while it lasted.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He looked at his status, which now had much more advanced physical points than the ones he had just a few days ago, a fruit of his training with his enchanted armor.
Jonn Irondoom
Level 3 (40.02%)
Health: 679/679
Mana: 2,001/2,001
Stamina: 665/665
[Attributes]
Strength 54.5 (+5) Agility 58.9 (-4) Dexterity 55.8 (+10) (+10) Constitution 67.9 (+5) Endurance 66.5 (+8) Intelligence 200.1 (+5) Wisdom 189 (+6) Charisma 39 (+10) Luck 37 (+6)
But losing the [Magic Farm] quest won’t significantly impact my growth. The current growth rate of our animals and improved village food production will soon yield the equivalent of 10 mana units per daily feed, which is the same as 1 attribute point daily. That should be enough to make up for losing the quest.
Beyond his armor training and increased mana consumption, Jonn had begun meditating with the red mana crystals from Count Francus’ cave. The results proved impressive, with minimal adverse effects. His magical understanding and power had grown substantially, his {Resistance} to fire had strengthened, and he sensed an imminent qualitative breakthrough.
For all that, the impending conclusion of the quest bothered him little. He smiled watching Eliot rise, more focused on the potential their group now held with two additional mages.
“This feels incredible,” Eliot marveled, examining his hands, experiencing that surreal power that made him feel invincible—as if he were the strongest being in existence.
Elia understood that euphoric sensation, having experienced it herself days ago. However, after brief training with Jonn, she’d learned how false that feeling could be. But she remained silent, allowing Eliot to savor his post-advancement joy.
“It certainly is,” Jonn said to his friend, happy to have more mages on his side. “That feeling will increase with time, but have the humility to know your limits. However, test yourselves. There are many things you can learn on your own.”
Both Apprentices regarded Jonn in the torch-lit interior of that early evening.
Now Jonn’s old house had changed a little, lost the items that had been stored there until recently and become emptier, more like a meditation room for them.
The mana concentration here exceeded that of surrounding areas near the village, but unlike the toxic mana pervading the Barren Hills of Deepshadow, this was pure and less hostile to non-mages.
“Now that we’ve advanced a level, do you intend to set off to solve the problem with the beasts to the west?” Elia asked after digesting Jonn’s advice.
“Yes, I’ll leave in a few more days. It seems those beasts aren’t as good investigators as that eagle tried to make them out to be... But I can’t delay my journey to them much longer. The danger of one of them coming to us and destroying us is still too great.”
Jonn’s words sobered his companions, who met his gaze intently.
“How can we help you with this? Will we go with you?” Eliot asked, willing to take any risk for his village.
“No, you’re staying here.” Jonn instructed as he handed them the {Spell} books he had. “I have here some special methods of using mana, which are known in the mage world as {Spells}. Study them and learn things in your free time. The best thing you can do now is to get used to your mana and learn methods of using it for the good of the village. These {Spells} are a start, but you might develop skills on your own. Some animals in the village have already done this, so don’t doubt your capabilities.”
The two nodded like respectful students to their teacher. Simultaneously, they picked up the {Spells} books and leafed through them.
Unfortunately, Jonn couldn’t see Eliot’s and Elia’s {Elemental Abilities}, so he couldn’t tell them where to start. He wasn’t worried, though. Eliot wasn’t exactly a clever fellow, but he had an undeniable affinity with archery. Elia, on the other hand, was quite intelligent, and he expected good news about her in the future.
“Continue being careful and work with our people if I fail. I’ll do my best to prevent the end of the village, but be prepared.” His serious tone sent chills down their spines.
This wasn’t the first time Jonn had spoken like this, but now that he was so close to acting, Eliot and Elia couldn’t help but worry more.
Fighting dark thoughts, Elia promised, “Don’t worry about us, Jonn. We’ll do our best to keep the village standing. We’ll give our lives if needed to give our people a chance.”
“Take care and come back,” Eliot added. “The village needs you more than it needs us.”
Jonn nodded to them. “And keep watch on that other problem. The animals are more alert after my warning, but you never know. New dangers could appear.”
Eliot and Elia remembered what happened days ago—two villagers had disappeared.
They were transporting supplies in a village wagon when they stopped to rest and were never seen again. When they didn’t return, the entire village mobilized. Then, Eliot eventually found the horse and wagon hours later at their last known location. Jonn used Annabelle to question the horse, but found nothing useful. Even after days of investigation, they still had found nothing.
The villagers’ theory was that it could have been a kidnapping, which was making the residents of the area particularly worried. Sarre had hypothesized that it was the enemies at work in Lost Treasures.
But no one knew for sure. For the moment, Jonn didn’t think it was anything terrible, as he had received no system alerts suggesting real trouble, but he stayed alert and wanted his companions watching for similar incidents.
“We will,” Eliot and Elia said in unison.
A moment of weighted silence followed before Jonn announced their last task for the evening. “Let’s visit the cave where I talked to you previously. I’ll teach you its mechanisms and introduce you to our captive eagle.”
They set off with torches in hand, heading through the darkness of the region to the destination they had only heard about from Jonn.
At the site, he showed how to navigate the defensive mechanisms without triggering traps, showing them the armory and rest area in the cave’s initial chambers. Finally, he led them to the eagle’s containment area, where their prisoner, now fully healed, awaited.
“The coward returns,” the eagle’s feminine voice taunted, mocking Jonn’s delayed fulfillment of his promise. “Come to show me to your friends? Marking them for death too, coward?”
Eliot and Elia were impressed by the eagle’s ability to articulate, not yet used to this kind of dialog. Even Annabelle didn’t speak as well, nor did she have the same level of interest in talking to them as this creature seemed willing.
Jonn ignored the verbal barbs and said, “Prepare for our departure, eagle. We’ll follow through with what I promised you in 10 days.”
“Oh?”