It’s been about a year since the biodome takeover.
Many things have happened throughout this time, though to Zeke, it felt so trivial that it barely passed through his periphery.
Most of it was because he couldn’t get over the fact that his progress as a Runist has slowed significantly, but he can understand that just chilling in town and passively killing monsters won’t suddenly get him super powerful like in a regular video game.
First off, everyone in Eve Glade had to prepare for the kingdom’s VIPs to come over to examine the Elemental Prison biodome. Their first task is to report to the kingdom’s vassals that not only did they conquer the biodome, but also got Bastion to defect from the Aetheric Federation to join an alliance with Eve Glade.
That alone was enough to get their attention. However, things got even crazier when it was revealed that the biodome contained a vast treasure that would probably spark a war between several other nations were it to be known.
It was actually something Zeke discovered himself during the times he and Mikella, along with the other soldiers, would explore with his unique title as King of the biodome. Even now, he felt a bit off having that title, especially when he has no memory of defeating the Weaver of the biodome.
Though that didn’t stop the others who witnessed that event recall it as though it was an epic fantasy.
Zeke wanted to see what else the biodome had to offer, and while it certainly offered a lot already in terms of monsters for loot, ores to mine, plants and fauna to collect, and other such materials for crafting–there was one more thing that made them pause.
Within the vast biodome, deep within its several layers worth of crystal plains and beneath the very mantle of the dome, there was a unique location that Zeke could tell by some magical instinct that it contained something important. After finding some rather strange entrances and caves to get to it, they were shocked at what they found.
It was inside a small cavern, though only in comparison to the rest of the biodome as it was large enough to house several apartments stacked on top of one another. Right in the smack dab middle of it on top of a glistening still pond in its own little world–a literal island where a single tree lay.
The tree was huge, containing several gemstones embedded in its silvery bark, but that wasn’t what impressed them. It was the fruits that hung on its branches that did.
Because all those dozens of fruits were true attribute fruits. It was, in other words, an attribute tree.
What happened next is something Zeke can only describe in a single sentence:
Everyone lost their shit.
It wasn’t just the soldiers that cried as though the heavenly lord had descended upon them, but the lords were also ecstatic that even Zacharia himself came around and roared in victory, bringing everyone else in his retinue to copy him like cubs to their leading lion. That still made Zeke shiver at the memory of Zacharia’s nearly manic look of delight on his usually stoic face.
It wasn’t just the lords–the officials of the kingdom nearly lost their composure when they received notice of the attribute tree, almost dropping everything in their schedule to visit Eve Glade straight away.
Then it was like a series of dominoes falling into place. The biodome having its own attribute tree wasn’t just rare–it was absurdly valuable to the point where countries would actually go to war for.
Even more important–thanks to Zeke’s barrier surrounding the town and the entrance to the biodome, it only made the value of the town a lot higher. Not having to expend horrific expenses to defend an out-of-place town with an incredibly valuable resource was equal to the gods of RNG ruling in your favor.
Due to that, several months were spent configuring the benefits given to Eve Glade by the kingdom. Of course, policies would eventually come from the kingdom itself due to this discovery. This meant that Eve Glade no longer has complete and total freedom to use the biodome however they want, but that wasn’t all bad according to Cloud and Val.
If anything, that means keeping an upkeep of the biodome is left for the kingdom, with Eve Glade taking the reins to ensure the coming and going of people stayed stable and profitable. Whether they would let the public freely use the biodome was another thing entirely, but the kingdom would certainly use this chance to get as many fruits as possible–in exchange, they have to pay Eve Glade a hefty fee in order to gain access to it. They did conquer the biodome themselves while staying off the invading force to receive the king title, after all–it was only natural to ask for such a fee.
Eve Glade went through a vast process of transforming the town to center around the entrance of the biodome, building new places for eventual visitors and keeping a list of the populace that would take the chance to go into the biodome, whether or not the goal is to get to the tree to get a fruit for themselves.
It completely transformed Eve Glade from some little town in the sticks barely getting by, a place for recluse from other major nations to stay and get away from the heavy taxes–into a wealthy town in the sticks that could pump out Journeymen left and right and can make anyone into a Journeyman for the right price.
All the while, the citizens that lived in the town throughout all this thrived like they were nobles.
Throughout all of this, Zeke and Mikella barely had any time for training as they had to keep the town growing at a decent pace. Cloud and Val personally didn’t want to grow the town too much, preferring to keep it exclusive rather than absorb as many people as possible. It would only just increase the work they have to go through, and all of the wealth from the economic income would only just go into the biodome for the kingdom to use in the end.
No, the lords just wanted to ensure their citizens that took the effort to get away from all the heavy taxes get exactly what they came for. So in other words, they have to keep a steady hand on any visitors the kingdom sends their way and make sure they go for the biodome only, not the town–unless they pay another fee to take advantage of the services inside, of course.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Apparently Mikella loved the idea to nickel and dime any dumb tourist that comes in without thinking ahead of the supply runs they have to make.
So for the following year, they had to keep the town safe while their own fighters kept growing steadily from the biodome’s benefits. This meant that Zeke and Mikella’s growth throughout the year was staggering at best.
And they were getting pretty antsy as they finally reached Level 60 in their classes, only to be met with this prompt.
> Level Up! You are now Level 60. You gain 6 free points (6 FP total).
>
> You have gained +9 DEX from your class.
>
> You have gained +9 INT from your class.
>
> You have gained +9 SPI from your class.
….
> Due to achieving Level 60, you are now able to advance. However, you must meet the requirements to fully advance to Journeyman. You will no longer gain any more experience points until you advance to Journeyman.
>
> The requirements are as followed:
>
> -Advance or evolve 5 General Skills to Rare rarity.
>
> -Reach the maxed level of 3 Class Skills.
>
> -Attain at least 3 Titles.
This was borderline ridiculous for Zeke. If it weren’t for the biodome and the crazy circumstances before that, he knew he wouldn’t even get half of these requirements by this point.
Granted, this was supposed to get him to advance to Journeyman, which only further explained how difficult it is to get there and why some people would prefer to become half-Journeyman for the slight benefits it brings.
The title requirements surprised him a little. Granted, they bring unexpected boosts, but whenever he gained one, he just put it to the side, only bringing it up to his mains status page if the effects were to his liking–so in this case, both he and Mikella put on Overachiever to gain some extra XP during this mad rush for leveling.
It was only realizing that titles have the ability to increase their effects by the number of titles. For example, Overachiever allowed them to gain more experience by a simple 1%. By having more titles on hand, they can earn an extra percent for every title. It wasn’t a lot, especially since the amount of XP can’t really be seen on their status page, it only made more sense to include titles in the requirements for advancing to Journeymen.
Having three titles was easy for them, but it was the first two that got them to scratch their heads. Leveling class skills were already difficult enough as it is as it isn’t malleable like General skills. Still, he also understood that just like advancing to Journeyman, the class would also evolve into a higher stage, which makes sense.
But the amount of time it took to level these skills was mind-boggling, which only made it worse as their time was spent ensuring the town’s safety. So, it took them nearly a whole year to finally get up to this point.
Zeke breathed slowly, trying to calm down his beating heart from the excess activity he undertook. Sweat riddled his very being as he faced his opponent with mild trepidation and anticipation.
Mikella stood in front, her stance perfect and her gaze steady as a rock. There were barely any scratches on her unlike his own wretched state, but there were signs of exhaustion as her energy levels were decreasing–as expected considering how high he raised his Kinetic Perception skill.
Then, before getting caught up in his own thoughts again, he acted. Dashing forward, he launched a palm strike with every fiber of kinetic energy into it. But as expected, Mikella parried it away with the swing of her wooden sword.
Normally, this would be a painful reaction for Zeke as his hands were naked except for the Gloves of Sanctuary he still had on–but there was none. There were some tricks he learned to keep his hands and feet safe even when facing against bladed weapons. A wooden weapon was nothing for him at this point.
The two clashed together in a heated exchange, bouts of swings and blows that made the air ripple from the intensity behind each strike. Mikella’s body moved gracefully, her eyes glowing bright yellow as she struck him with enough force to break his conjured barriers into pieces. No matter how high level his Barrier Craft skill was, Mikella would always find a way to break them. But at this point, Zeke had put aside their defensive properties and instead just focused on keeping her at bay, to take further control of the battle.
Another few seconds of harsh exchanges later, Zeke spotted a chance and pivoted into a roundhouse kick, but he kicked nothing but air as Mikella vanished. He looked up to see Mikella high in the air, spinning like a top as energy gathered around her sword.
Electricity formed and slammed down on the ground, but not at Zeke. He already saw this multiple times and braced himself with a barrier as Mikella used the electricity like a hook, proven by her increased mastery in lightning magic, and pulled herself straight at Zeke with a Heavenly Strike-powered sword attack.
The two clashed, both sword and barrier collided to create a dust cloud explosion that covered the entire battlefield. Had they been in any ordinary field other than the training ground in Eve Glade built specifically for training, it would’ve created a crater the size of a school bus.
Zeke groaned, his vision swimming after the explosion, and only then he realized that he messed up. His barrier just couldn’t protect himself against Mikella who used gyrational power to enhance her Heavenly Strike. That spin from earlier was to empower her just enough to get past his barrier, which was only empowered for a normal Heavenly Strike.
The decision making was too fast for him to react. Then again, Mikella had proven time and time again just how talented she was in battle as she stood in front of him, looking battered and bruised.
However, a smile that still made his heart race flashed across her face as she loudly declared.
“Guess I won,” Mikella grinned. “And guess what–I leveled up my skill!”
Hearing that, Zeke widened his eyes in exhilaration. But just when he stood up to his feet to congratulate her–a notification dropped into his vision.
He smirked a cocky smile; “You’re not the only one.”
“No way…” Mikella started to laugh maniacally, her eyes widening. “We did it! We both made it!”
Mikella forgo any sort of conduct and rushed after Zeke, embracing him hard to which he reacted the same, holding her tight and spinning her around.
The two made it. They finally reached Journeymen after that last bout. But just when the two were taken into their own little world–
An applause of mass proportions shocked the two to stop their merrymaking. Zeke watched in embarrassed horror that not only the soldiers watched their fight without him knowing, but a plethora of citizens watched with glee as they heard the news, clapping and whistling at their success. In his mind, it looked like the entirety of the former Eve Glade was watching them without him realizing it. How did that happen?
All the while, Zeke looked back at the equally embarrassed and blushing Mikella, but in all honesty, it didn’t matter.
The entire year of training, formulating, and finding their path forward has finally culminated into this. So they have every right to celebrate.