The white cone of light separates into ten smaller spheres that are slightly brighter than fireflies, before they slowly gain shape to reveal various different species of albino colored owls, dogs and jellyfishes. Though the latter aquatic forms cutely flopped onto the ground and gave a little twitch before shapeshifting into one of the other two forms. They each approached me and gently roost, nuzzled or wrapped around a different part of my armor, each visibly causing their own tiny patch of cleaned armor.
It felt like a few minutes passed before they were satisfied with the state of my armor and began to idle nearby.
"Could you guys help me carve out these monster cores?" I said to them out loud, feeling elated by their gentle disposition, even though I know that a command through the mana imprint would have garnered the exact same results.
At that, half of the creatures came together into a larger luminous sphere before revealing a winged spider with two bladed feet and another eight that sports four different tips that come in pairs. I can see barbed, furred, pointed and pincered, which is weird but, hey, its magic!
The spider approached the nearest roach, flipped it onto its back and started hacking at it before retrieving the core with one of its pincers and depositing it near my feet. Rinse and repeat. I watched it work for what felt like a few minutes, but might actually be much longer, judging from how much mana I regenerated. I spent another hundred mana to summon another eight and left them to it.
Meditation… but the skill failed to trigger.
I kept trying a few times, panicking. Losing the one skill that speeds up my resource regeneration would be a big hit for me. Damn! I looked around and finger-combed my hair in frustration, as my eyes crossed the five creatures summoned through Weal, they each shuddered as though disturbed by the unrest in my heart. That worked as a metaphorical slap and woke me out of my emotional turmoil.
I need to calm down, so I decided to stop for now and check my, 'Updates, summarize the battles please!'
** DING **
Skill level up, Visualization 9 > 10
Skill level up, Sneaking 6 > 7
Skill level up, Mana Sense 8 > 9
Skill level up, Sneaking 7 > 8
Skill level up, Mana Manipulation 13 > 14
Skill level up, Mana Sense 9 > 10
Skill level up, Sneaking 8 > 9
Skill level up, Taunt 1 > 2
Skill level up, Taunt 2 > 3
Combat summary
Enemies slain:
Goblin lv 5 x 8
Goblin lv 6 x 1
Goblin lv 7 x 2
Goblin lv 8 x 4
Goblin lv 9 x 2
Goblin Bandit lv 10 x 1
Goblin Warrior lv 10 x 1
Goblin Scout lv 11 x 1
Goblin Warrior lv 11 x 1
Elite Goblin Berserker lv 12 x 1
Hobgoblin lv 15 x 1
179 syscred and 2084 exp awarded
Skill level up, Fear Resistance 3 > 4
Skill level up, Fear Resistance 4 > 5
Skill level up, Mana Manipulation 14 > 15
Skill level up, Heavy Armor Proficiency 3 > 4
Skill level up, Fear Resistance 5 > 6
Skill level up, Unarmed Combat Proficiency 1 > 2
Skill obtained Evasion
Meditation lv 6 mutated into SYMPHONY lv 3
Skill level up, Evasion 1 > 2
Skill level up, Unarmed Combat Proficiency 2 > 3
Skill level up, Dagger Proficiency 4 > 5
Skill level up, SYMPHONY 3 > 4
Skill level up, Evasion 2 > 3
Skill level up, Heavy Armor Proficiency 4 > 5
Skill level up, Evasion 3 > 4
Skill level up, Unarmed Combat Proficiency 3 > 4
Skill level up, Dagger Proficiency 5 > 6
Skill level up, Pain Resistance 5 > 6
Skill level up, Evasion 4 > 5
Skill level up, SYMPHONY 4 > 5
Skill obtained Harvest Fauna
Skill level up, Harvest Fauna 1 > 2
Combat summary
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Enemies slain:
ShadowRoach lv 5 x 51
DarkRoach lv 6 x 29
AbbysRoach lv 8 x 4
461 syscred and 3433 exp awarded
You are now level 4
Congratulations. You have created a new Novice rank spell. As its creator, the spell will grow with you as your understanding of it grows.
Please name the spell.…
Skill level up, Visualization 10 > 11
Skill level up, Mana Manipulation 15 > 16
Oh~, 107 enemies total, it wasn't a pleasant experience but the gains sure do make a guy happy! My two new skills are Evasion and Harvest Fauna, whereas my Meditation mutated into SYMPHONY? That's probably why I couldnt use it earlier, but a skill mutation, not because I lost it, what a relief. Though why is it written in all caps?
Anyways, level 4, get!
Now, take care of the new spell, check out the new skills, then... Looking at the harvesting Weal-spiders to check their progress, at the same time, noting all the corpse and gore. Maybe another two hours before they're done, gonna go next door away from all the muck and get comfortable.
---
"Uwaahhh"
I moan in relief at finally settling down on a soft bed in the adjacent room, my Trilattic Swarm lay on the floor beside me while cosplaying a cube. This bed is totally worth the effort! I had to locate and salvage a decent one from the former Gobs nest, move it here and clean it up with help from the five weal-life, yep calling it that from now on, that has been keeping me company. Fortunately, my strength of ten was more than enough to move the single bed. We even walked the extra mile and got several fluffy pillows and some sheets.
I had taken some time, maybe thirty minutes all in all, to get the bed and prepare the room. First, I checked out this room next door from the nest using one of my disks, and made an entrance through the wall with Shape Stone, I used some of the concrete I had to move out of the way to seal the room's original entrance, it looks amateurish, but who cares, I don't! Safety before looks.
Then it was the bed, cleaning and finally the new side entrance was resized so that it's positioned near the ceiling and is only about the size of a horizontal rugby ball to give the weal-owls access to transport any harvested core. I even summoned another batch of ten to help with transporting them into my new room. The disk that was used to scout this room is now a ring on my finger, while the other one I left as is so I can keep an eye on the other room.
All these modifications have further decreased my dwindling mana pool.
---
I close my eyes and trigger SYMPHONY and once again check my System updates.
'Will-o'-Weal'
Would you like to make Will-o'-Weal available on the CredStore?
This one I know, also it's a support spell, so no reason against it. 'Yes, thanks.'
Please set price…
'Natives from the old Earth, which doesn't include any new sapients that appears since the planet expanded, 100 Creds. The rest of the multiverse, 1000 creds please, thank you!'
Affirmative, it was nothing
I want the spell more easily accessible to us fellow earthlings, but also not too cheap that any lazy ass can get it. Whereas I believe the aliens out there are richer than us, so a slightly higher price should be fine, besides, it isn't all that expensive compared to other Novice spells.
Eventually taking my eyes off the blue box containing the System's answer to my appreciation of it, something I deem surreal enough to continue ignoring, for now. I decided to Inspect my new skills, which is also when the phone in my pocket started to ring
Taking it out of my pocket, I check the screen to see an unsaved number on the screen, swipe to answer...
"Hello?"
"Zane! Why haven't you been answering my texts?" Can't mistake that voice for anyone other than my sister.
"Sorry ci Tif, been kinda busy you know. I was actually about to check them soon." Tiffany Prayoga Hartono, my sister, I call her cici which means older sister. She inherited my mother's cooking skills and had been working for several years as a breakfast chef for a five star hotel in Jakarta before meeting her husband, Awan, one day during breakfast when the guy visited her hotel for a business deal. He produces and supplies wine in bulk to various hotels and restaurants. I stopped listening when they mentioned love at first sight. Meh, probably just the bacon, sausages and eggs talking... So, numbers exchanged, they soon dated, then got married and had a child. The kid was around two years old last time I checked, cute and cheeky.
"So we heard," I hear my dad say. "Fighting Goblins and making new spells, and… urr, getting into fights."
"How are you doing now? Where are you?" My mom's concerned voice came through the speaker.
"Yeah, a lot has happened. I'm currently at Capital Chambers Mall, had to fight off several pests and prepare a camp, but it's all done now." I told them, severely downplaying what happened. "I was telling the truth about replying soon."
"Mommy who'zat?"
"Mini this is your acek Zane, come say hi." Tif said to her daughter. Acek is what we use to address our uncle.
"Yes mommy… Hi acek, are you visiting soon? It's boring here, can you please bring us some toys? Or ice cream, or cake, I would also love some pokemon stickers! pleaseeee~" She gattled.
In the background, I can hear more kids shouting out what they want at her. "Cookies!" "No please find my meow-meow," "I want my ball." "My teddy pleasee~," "I want some chips!" The list goes on, and on.
"Okay, go play with your friends… Sorry about that," Tif says. "They're bored out of their mind in this shelter, we have plenty of food and water, just there is not much fun stuff for the more energetic. It's also a little crowded but we still have some bits of privacy once in a while."
"No worries, I kinda miss her now that I've heard her voice." I chuckle, "is anyone giving you trouble? If you yell CredStore in your mind, you will see a shop that sells various items you might need, mom and dad should have some creds with them. Also, have them share the spell wi.."
"Zane… ZANEE!!" My rapid speech was cut off by ci Tif. "We know, geez. There's no one giving us trouble. The store, we kinda found out about when mom and dad got the pop ups about your contract thingy. Why didn't you give me some too?... Just kidding! I could just ask them to get me what I want."
"Yes, what you sent us was a perfect business opportunity for us and also one of the reason for our continued survival." My dad intercepted. "Thanks Zane. Nobody here could've afforded them even with the discount, but I managed to broker a system contract with the military. By providing them the armor in advance, each personnels involved will individually pay us for their armor in a flexible weekly interest-free installments, depending on their income for the week. Though I sold them for even cheaper than your discount, since that gets priority treatment. They sold for 400 Creds, we'll send you 20% when you arrive." His voice slowly lowered into a whisper, then grew back up, "thanks to that spell, the guys can safely go out and forage or fight off the occasional attacks."
I grin at his antics. "Nah dad, don't worry, you guys can keep it. Use it to get Tif and Mini something they need from the store. I've got more where that came from. Though do remember to check the spell out, I gave it an upgrade." I answered. "Oh, by the way, do you guys need me to find something from out here for when I'll eventually come to visit? Besides toys and snacks." And then added with a whisper, "don't tell anyone, but forget the pets, they're probably mutating."
"No, nothing comes to mind, just get here safely okay. And don't rush, but the faster the better." My mom told me, before my dad said. "Maybe if you could get me some good drinks, the kind thats for adults only." He chuckled awkwardly at my mother's clearly audible, tsk.
"Zane, I want some fresh ingredients! Fresh meat, fresh veggies and fruits if you can find them!" Said the cook.
"Alrighty, no promises, but I'll do my best. toys, snacks, alcoholic drinks and fresh produce." I repeat for them, I am currently in a mall, inside a supermarket. The call ended after a few more small talks, my mood lifted at hearing their voices.
Back to business, 'status.' First, I allocate 1 point in Intelligence, then Wisdom, and finally on Will. Checking how much each attribute boosts my maximum mana pool, noting that Int seems to add the most out of the three. The last two I add to Constitution, still trying to stay alive here. The last encounter only serves to further cement that notion.
Now then. I have been itching to check out SYMPHONY and the new skills! ‘Inspect.’
** DING **