Since it is my first time trying it I select a bunch of different things to try. Not only do I plan to spoil Ekard but I also want to see if the dishes from the pouch taste the same. Yui won't care but Sarah might get mad if she were to find out the goddesses stole all her recipes.

When Ekard and I dig in we are both delighted by the flavors, which are exactly as they should be. Compared to my cooking I'm pretty sure Ekard thinks he has gone to heaven. Especially once I give him some desserts to try as his reward for saving me.

Ekard eats until he can't eat another bite, by then he is looking decidedly round. He rolls over onto his back and almost immediately starts snoring, it is adorable. Once he is asleep I clean up the mess and then sit back to relax with some mead.

Since I have nothing else that I need to do I start planning what I want to do after leaving the underground. While I want to unify the beastmen so that they can start becoming a nation, at the same time I am afraid doing so will limit my freedom. I don't want to spend the rest of the time before the invasion playing at being king.

However, if I wait too long to unify them then the beastmen won't be able to fight together. My best bet is probably to unify them now and put someone else in charge so I can still adventure. After all, I still need to get stronger if I am going to fight the five demon lords.

At this point I am fairly sure I could take on one demon lord, but not all five at once. That is assuming that they haven't gotten too much stronger since I last saw them. They will have gotten stronger after killing Lord Dra, but I am not sure how much stronger.

So it is better for me to get stronger just to be sure I can handle them. If their alliance hasn't fallen apart then very likely I will have to deal with all five of them at once. To do that I am going to need to be a lot stronger than I currently am.

Not to mention I still want to go down beneath the elven city and kill the primal spider. She is most likely even stronger than the five demon lords combined and that's not even counting her army. Yet if I want to kill her I will have to do it before the demon invasion begins.

Also, at some point I need to forge an alliance between the human nations. I refuse to let the beastmen be the only ones to bear the cost of the demon invasion. The humans will need to do their part, but that is sure to be a huge hassle.

The kingdom and Illium are on my side, but the Free Union and the empire are unknowns at this point. Once I am the beast king and can negotiate with them directly I will find out their positions. Until then there isn't much I can do, a lot is going to depend on how they react to the beastmen becoming a nation.

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Although, if I end up waging war against the empire to free my people things will get even more complicated. Or they could get simpler, if I conquer the empire then the Free Union is unlikely to want me as an enemy. Then again, ruling over the empire would be an unimaginable nightmare of politics and paperwork.

Thinking about that is getting way too far ahead of myself, making plans for that is useless right now. There are far too many factors and unknowns that can change between now and then. I am mainly thinking about it right now to avoid becoming bored while waiting for Lizzy.

*DING*

Core Upgrade Progress: 100%

Core Upgrade Completed!

Rank 8: HP +200, SP + 500, New Ability: Lightning Field!

Lightning Field

Level: 1

SP Cost: 200 Covers an area in lightning.

Area 30 feet. Damage 10-20/5 seconds. Duration: 2 minutes.

'Wow, I ranked up that fast?! This is awesome!'

Once I am outside I need to modify my plans a bit, wandering around is now important. Since this gift from Mother Wolf has helped me so much I need to fulfill her request. That means I need to wander around and help a bunch of mana beasts become sacred beasts.

Maybe I can do that on my way back to Illium instead of using the portal to go back. After all, I didn't set a time limit for my return, so I won't get in trouble for being late. In fact I can probably find that bear she mentioned on my way to Mercy.

Taking out the map I take a better look at it to see what other beasts are either close or on the way to Illium. It turns out there is another beast I can reach on my way to Mercy, it's only a little out of the way. Looking at the map if I head to Illium normally I can seek out three or four more.

Five or six new sacred beasts should make Mother Wolf happy, at least I hope so. So that will be the new plan once Lizzy comes out of her cocoon. The other beasts shown on the map will have to wait until later adventures.

Looking further down on the map I am happy to see a decent number of beasts in the beastmen lands. When I am going around to the clans I should be able to awaken all of them. The beasts in the Free Union and the empire will probably have to wait quite a while.

With those decisions made I finally pick up the sleeping Ekard and head to bed. For once Ekard sleeps through the entire night without waking up. It seems stuffing him till he can't move is a good way to get a decent night's sleep.

Not that I really need to sleep, but when I do sleep, getting woken up is still annoying. After breakfast Ekard is hyper and it takes me a few hours of playing with him to burn off the extra energy. Once he has eaten some lunch it quickly becomes nap time which leaves me with nothing to do.

To avoid being bored I get up and move a decent distance from Ekard. Then I try out my new lightning field to see how it works, which is fairly simple. It creates an area where the ground is electrified and has little lightning bolts dancing all around.

It doesn't have to be centered on me, so I can set it anywhere I want within line of sight. Unfortunately, it is bright and somewhat noisy, so there is no chance of using it as a trap. Still in situations where I am surrounded it would be very useful, especially since lightning heals me.

The damage isn't much, but it will add up quickly if someone doesn't get out of the field. The damage will probably also increase once the level of the ability goes up. I will have to remember to try it out the next time I get into a fight against multiple opponents.