???

10 th Muriel, 1093.

It had been a few hours since Kashi began drawing on the first canvass, but he was only nearing completion. His hands flew across the canvass at blinding speed, pencils giving form to his desires. He allowed his imagination to drift, buoyed Lunette’s calming piano tunes.

Kira lay on the piano in her puppy form, absorbed in a soothing nap. Usually, by this point, Kashi would have been wholly consumed by his work and forgotten to eat or sleep.

Ayumi once called Suzuki an obsessive demon for that behavior.

However, this time, for some reason, even though Kashi performed just as well as he did when 'obsessed,' he did not lose himself. He briefly glanced at Lunette, who was absorbed in the song.

As if sensing Kashi’s gaze, Lunette smiled, though she didn't open her eyes. Gazing at her, Kashi suddenly recalled something and paused his work.

Lunette opened her eyes, brows raised in question. "Have you finished already?"

Kashi shook his head with a wry smile. "The skeleton's almost done. This is the hardest part. Once I finish, it should be smooth sailing from there."

"Oh?" Lunette faintly smiled. "Will you tell me what you're drawing?"

"Nope," Kashi refused. "Consider it a surprise."

"Stingy."

Kashi chuckled as he took out Froy's earring from his inventory. "Speaking of surprises..." He tossed the earring at her, which she caught with a slight frown. "See if that does anything for you. I couldn't identify it."

Lunette glanced at the earring, then glared at Kashi with puffed cheeks. "Muu," she complained. "You could have given this to me in a more romantic way, you know?"

Kashi nervously laughed as he scratched his cheeks. "I-I'll keep that in mind."

Lunette could not help but burst out in laughter at the way Kashi fidgeted and glanced in every direction that wasn't her. "Pfft. Look at you so embarrassed." Her lips curled in a radiant smile as she said, "Kashi's first gift. I'll treasure it." And for the hell of it, she added, "Besides, we have plenty of time to mold you into the perfect boyfriend." She cocked her head to the side, and cutely tapped her cheeks. "I'll have to make you fall for me first, though."

‘Please don't mold me into anything!’ Kashi begged. But against this forthright girl, he for once could not find the words to say. "Th-That... Do you not get embarrassed."

"Haaa!?" Lunette stared at Kashi, eyes wide with disbelief. "Have you ever heard of a girl that confesses to her crush without being embarrassed?" She shook her head with self-pity. "It's that you know... that. The guy I fell for falls into the ultra-dense category. If I'm not proactive, who knows how many seasons will pass before we reach the hand-holding stage. Then we'll have to wait till the final episode before you fall for me—"

"Uh... Lunette, you're beginning to make no sense." Kashi called the girl from her tirade of self-pity. "More importantly, check that earring. I think it'll suit you."

‘More importantly, he says.’ Lunette grumbled inwardly, and her eyes flashed with hidden determination. ‘ Watch how I fix you when you fall for me! Hmph Hmph!’

Frankly, the songstress was not bothered about the earring. It didn't matter if it was a legendary item or a piece of crap junk item. She would wear it either way. After all, it was a gift from Kashi. Who knew when next he would give her something like this? But she could see the eagerness in his gaze, so she identified it.

Power Crystal (Legendary Mystic)

Suvron's Mark Enhanced

Epic  Legendary (Bonded)

Can Store up to 10 Songs

Wearer under Triple the Effects of Song for Song Duration.

30 mins Cooldown Period for each Song (Does Not Consume MP)

Mana stored in Crystal can be accessed during Combat

Mana Recharged Through Energy from Music (Outside Combat).

Current Mana Bank: 15342/20000 MP

...Of course, even the most chaste woman would admit that a diamond looked a million times better than a rock.

Lunette's eyes were the size of saucers as she stared at the crystal. To Bards, who were often likened to the infamous Midas (their song buffs only worked on others), the song buff was absolute murder!

Due to this limitation, Bards moved around in groups to gain the effects of other bards. With this crystal, Lunette no longer needed to fear moving solo.

Furthermore, that MP Bank! That was free, extra 20,000MP! With this, she did not need to worry about her MP forever. Especially as Bards naturally did not have high MP levels.

Lunette stared at the crystal, at a loss of how to react. Would 'thank you' be enough for something this grand? This was a permanent accessory she could use until the game ended!

Kashi noticed the several changes on her face and worriedly asked. "How's it? Didn't look like junk."

Junk? Kashi's words managed to drag Lunette out of her daze. She couldn't help but laugh as she rushed to Kashi and wrapped her arms around his neck. "If this is junk, then there are no treasures in the world."

Kashi's entire frame stiffened like a board, unsure of how to react. "Uh..." he managed in a throaty voice. "That means it's good, right? What're the stats?"

Lunette's lips curled in a mischievous smirk. "Se-c-ret ." She teased, amused by Kashi's wronged expression. Tightening her arms around his neck, she stood on her tiptoes and lightly kissed the stunned daeben.

It was only for the briefest of moments, barely two seconds even, but the great Elder Draconian, leader of the Hopeful Maggots and Conqueror of Nations, completely shutdown.

Lunette's felt the blood rush up to her cheeks as she rapidly retreated. Lunette’s flushed, beet-red cheeks rose and fell as she struggled to calm her breathing. Embarrassing! That was so embarrassing! She peeked at the daeben and almost burst out in another round of laughter at his listless gaze. Phew, at least Kashi did not see her embarrassing side.

Lunette took a deep breath then walked up to the daeben and patted his cheek. Luckily that managed to jumpstart his deep-fried brain. She chuckled as she resumed the act of the confident Onee-san character. The songstress placed a finger on her lower lip as she coquettishly complained, "A girl's first kiss is a sacred thing, you know. Consider this my thank you and also a loan. You've got to give me something of equivalent value later."

In a voice barely over a whisper, Kashi instinctively retorted, "...That was also my fi—" Luckily, he managed to catch himself. But it wasn't fast enough.

Lunette placed her hands on her waist and mock-frowned. "A guy's first kiss is not as sacred. Your first hundred might suffice as payment, though."

Kashi frowned. "Wait a minute. Why is a thank you also a loan? Does it work like that?"

Lunette's eyes widened in disbelief before they softened into apparent pity. She tapped Kashi on the shoulder and sighed deeply, "You're lucky I fell for you."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Kashi asked, but Lunette had already taken her seat and begun to happily hum something as she tapped a few keys on the piano, the earring already equipped. It seemed she was inspired and wanted to create a new song.

Kashi somehow knew this was the end of the conversation. So even though he wanted to know more, he could only return to the workbench and resume his drawing. He failed to notice the smile on his face as his pace increased. If someone listened very closely, they would have heard slight humming.

----------------------------------------

Nama Woods

"UOOO Virgin Power over 9000!"

Two men sat in the clearing in front of Fladnag's home, sharing a kettle of tea placed on a crystal table. Fladnag, dressed in his usual robe, placed his teacup on a saucer as he regarded the man next to him with a mocking expression. "As I am sure you can relate."

The man next to him smiled, and the world seemed to brighten along with his smile. The unbelievable handsome, personification of a Greek God—

"Stop lying," Fladnag snorted as he took another sip of his tea. "You below average looking virgin-san."

"O-Oi!"

I did not get to continue my objection as heavy gusts of wind interrupted the little get-together accompanied by telltale rhythmic beats of large wings. Fladnag looked up to see a blood-red dragon hovering above his home. Its size was too large for the clearing, so it could only hover above as a figure jumped down from its back.

Rider, with Zuri in hand, landed softly in front of the wizard. He cast an appreciative glance at his partner as she climbed into the skies with a petrified Hektor on her back to await his next call. Once the squall had died down, Rider let out a wry smile as he saw the two teacups on the table. By his side, Zuri peered at the wizard with suspicion. "Still playing with yourself, Flad-boy?"

"Hmph!" Fladnag snorted as he waved his hand. The crystal table, chair, and tea set vanished. Eyes narrowed in a dissatisfied glare, he inquired, "What do you want?"

Rider pointed at Zuri. "I need you to open Nama Woods. She's going to train there." If Kashi were there, he would have been confused as the two were clearly in Nama Woods. However, these two men knew what Rider meant.

Fladnag's brows furrowed, his expression unwilling. "Do I have to? It is always a pain to close it back up." He glanced at Zuri. "What is so special about this gi—Oh! I see: [ Beast Soul Possession ] . I see why even you personally made a move." Fladnag sighed. "If it's this much, I suppose you shall keep asking until l I open it."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Fladnag discontentedly cursed under his breath and then called out. "Yanakal!"

"Master." The earth trembled as the massive tree stepped out from within the woods. Surprise flashed within those wooden eyes when it saw Rider. "It has been a long time Supreme One." Yanakal's gaze widened even more as he examined the little girl. "This girl, she has the smell of the forest."

Zuri, meanwhile, was, for once, dumbstruck. There had been far too many surprises in the past few hours. Flying on a dragon at nearly the speed of sound and now this gigantic tree. A part of her began to see this grey ojii-san differently. Maybe he would show her more weird and exciting things.

"My gratitude in advance," Rider replied with a polite nod.

"Supreme one, hmph!" Fladnag cursed under his breath. "Hmph, you still need my help, don't you, Oh Supreme Being." Fladnag did not care that Rider could perfectly hear everything he said as he turned to the great Treant with an irritated gaze. "Close down the forest. I'm about to open the gate."

Outside Nama Woods, a group of adventurers was arguing amongst themselves. Someone had posted online that he had seen Kashi enter this forest as a beginner. And it was after the daeben came out that he started spreading his legend. After the reports were verified, many people began creating new 'spare' accounts to enter Nama Woods in hopes of encountering some hidden quest. Unfortunately, everybody who entered died without fail, most of whom did not even know how they died.

Right now, those adventurers were arguing over whether to enter with their higher-leveled accounts to increase their survival rate. Both sides posed arguments against each other, and when the strife seemed to reach its boiling point—

RRRUMBLE!!!

The adventurers stumbled as the earth trembled beneath them. One of them who had a high sense of danger, screamed, "BACK! BACK!"

The petrified adventurers retreated quickly as several ten-meter-thick, brown tree trunks broke out of the earth along the perimeter of the forest. Upon closer inspection, the trunks looked more like the roots of a tree, but the adventurers shuddered to think what kind of tree could be this massive to have such enormous roots. These trunks stretched across the entire perimeter of Nama Woods, entwining each other to form a gigantic wall that seemed to reach the clouds.

The adventurers could only weakly stare at each other as they realized they had been arguing for nothing. The forest was closed off. No one needed to test the integrity of the trunks to know they would never be able to break it.

After this incident, the Adventurers’ Guild classified Nama Woods as a SSS Danger Zone with strict prohibition.

Within the forest, the culprits were either unaware or unconcerned by the commotion caused by the barricade.

Yanakal, with a rare fatigued expression, listlessly pulled its primary arms out of the ground. A large number of leaves withered and fell off its branches, accentuating a sickly appearance. "It is done," Yanakal said with a hoarse whisper, speaking even slower than usual. It was a great effort for it even to talk.

"Mmm," Fladnag confirmed with a rare benevolent expression. "My gratitude, old friend. Rest and restore your vitality."

"Mm," Yanakal nodded. It took a step backward and then dug its legs into the earth. Its roots seemed to connect with something as a green glow immediately covered its entire body.

Yanakal closed its eyes as its body rapidly expanded at a frightening speed. Soon, a tree over a hundred meters tall with a trunk of about thirty meters radius occupied the majority of the clearing in front of Fladnag's home.

Rider's eyes carried a hint of melancholy as he watched Yanakal's transformation. "Truly a descendant of Yggdrassil."

"Hmph," Fladnag snorted with a hint of hatred in his gaze. "If it wasn't for that murderous asshole, how would he be in this state."

Rider wryly shook his head. Among the seven chosen by Aerith, without a doubt, the ones with the highest amount of hatred for Razznik would be the wisben godchild Merilanya Faladhen, and the genius mage of Berring Pass, who abandoned his old name to only be known as Fladnag.

Merilanya, even after all these years, never revealed the real reason for her deep hatred, but Rider knew Fladnag's hate developed as a result of Razznik's near extermination of the Treants.

Fladnag, with no regard for the hybrid's thoughts, stamped a bony white staff against the earth. Massive undulations of visible mana burst out from his body as he chanted in a frantic tone, "Mirror my soul, hide my spirit. Open the gates, unveil the truth! [Reversal!]" All the mana erupting from his body suddenly rushed into the staff, then like water through a pipe, gushed into the earth.

A tiny circular mandala with golden inscriptions written in ancient characters, formed around the staff. The mandala, which initially had a faint appearance, began to grow thick and vivid as mana poured into it.

Looking at this tiny formation, Rider nodded silently. Indeed, no matter how many times he saw it, it was still impressive the amount of power contained in that small inscription.

At the critical juncture, Fladnag paled as he twisted the staff and ordered, "[ Release! ]"

Countless outer rings explosively formed around the circular mandala, only stopping after they had covered the entirety of the enormous forest. Fladnag, Rider, and Zuri were forced to shut their eyes as golden brilliance erupted from the mandala. The brightness died down in a few seconds as the outer rings retreated into the staff.

Fladnag panted and opened his eyes as the staff disappeared from his hand. "It is done." He looked over at the forest, whose trees had suddenly grown over seventy meters in height. Out in the distance, a massive head peeked out from within the blanket of densely packed trees, lazily munching on the tree leaves.

Zuri's eyes widened with an innocent wonder. Without a word to the weird ojiisan and the grey ojiisan, she scampered off into the thickets, scaling a tree with the expertise of a forest monkey. It was clear that these moves had been firmly ingrained into her muscle memory as she effortlessly traversed the maze-like treetrunks and branches, occasionally gazing at the several beasts on the earth below.

Rider made no move to stop her but instead regarded Fladnag with appreciation. "I will trouble you to look after her."

"Too much trouble," Rider humphed.

Rider shook his head as he looked to the massive tree by Fladnag's side. "Please."

Yanakal tiredly opened its eyes. "That girl has the smell of the forest. I would protect her either way," Yanakal promised.

"Thank you," Rider said with a short bow.

"What about the other kid?" Fladnag suddenly asked, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Rider looked into the clouds, where Hektor lay on his partner. "I intend to train him."

"Hoh?" Fladnag muttered in amusement as he lazily took a seat and reclined in his chair. "You personally training someone? Of us all, you were the one who stuck by 'Do not Interfere!' the most. What changed?"

Rider glanced at Fladnag. "I could say the same about you. I met your protégée."

"I got impatient," Fladnag shamelessly admitted. He shrugged, knowing that Rider would not answer his question. He waved his hand, and the tea set and table appeared next to him once again. He poured himself a cup of tea then took a generous sip. After savoring the taste, he asked, "The kid. Where do you plan on training him?"

"Drake's Grotto."

Fladnag's hand visibly froze. He stared at the man across him with a mixture of wonder and fear. "Are you mad?"

"The last person I want to hear that from is you."

----------------------------------------

Second Under.

Crystal Dome (to be named shortly.)

12 th Muriel, 1093.

Two days had passed since Kashi started drawing. Whether as a result of instinct or impatience, on the second worktable were several completed paintings carelessly stacked upon each other. Since he finished the first work, his speed and obsession shot up considerably, till even Lunette could not manage to bring him out of his obsessed mode. Luckily, she had some fruits on hand, which she would worriedly toss at him at intervals so that he doesn't starve himself to death.

Kashi's brush carefully perfected a slight blemish on the final painting. When he finished, Kashi weakly tossed Rosario's Brush into the air and exclaimed happily. "I'm done!"

Kashi happily examined the painting as he caught and then returned the brush to his inventory.

As an artist, Suzuki mainly dealt with abstract art, motifs, and character drawing, so this project had been a spot of a challenge for Kashi. Fortunately, Kashi combined all his knowledge from past games and movies to compile this complicated project.

Yes, with these, even if Aygor was as dumb as a brick (no offense to bricks), he should still be able to understand Kashi's intention.

Kashi carelessly placed the final piece on the other stack as he prepared to call Aygor. However, the moment the canvass made contact— BOOM!

Unprepared, the enormous pressure flung Kashi to the ground.

Nearby, Lunette and Kira, startled by the explosion, hurried over to Kashi's side in apparent shock.

Their eyes focused on the workbench, where Kashi's paintings were absorbing vast amounts of mana and rotating around each other. Suddenly as if by some magnetic force, all the paintings began to converge on the largest of them all. The very first charcoal pencil Kashi had called a skeleton.

Lunette and Kira could now clearly make out the paintings. Most resembled concept art of cities and caves, but they could not see the connection. However, the largest canvass held what looked like a blueprint. Only, they were not sure of what.

Kashi felt a fluctuation of mana to his left and turned to see Aygor materialize next to him.

The dwarven god was not like Kira and Lunette. His eyes scanned the swiftly rotating canvases, and he wryly smiled. "This is your wish?"

"That is correct," Kashi said with a crafty smirk.

Aygor shook his head. "You know this does not fall under my jurisdiction."

"No, actually it does," Kashi refuted with a confident smile. He pointed at the paintings which had begun 'entering' the 'skeleton.' "That is an artifact."

Aygor's eyes twitched. "Artifact?"

"Artifact."

"That big?"

"Artifact." By this point, the ‘skeleton’ had absorbed all the paintings. Kashi received a prompt, which made his eyes grow wide with disbelief, but he closed it. Right now, he needed to convince this stubborn god.

Aygor shook his head. "I am not sure this counts."

"It does."

The painting on the final canvass suddenly changed. It depicted a massive octagonal city with an enormous castle at its center. The image suddenly zoomed into the castle, amd then went beneath it to represent sprawling dwarven underground civilization.

As if wishing to prove its uniqueness, the painting suddenly released sprawling lights that merged into a 3-D image above it.

It very clearly depicted an enormous surface level city and a dwarven city underneath it, connected by a few entry points.

"No matter how you look at it, that is a city," Aygor muttered. "That is the domain of Ger—"

"Nope," Kashi firmly refuted. He pointed at the 3-D image like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Artifact. Look closely."

Aygor squinted his eyes and inspected the 3-D image. Unbelievably, the entire construct was connected without a single gap. There were also several gears throughout the city whose master controls were situated at the castle at the center. Indeed, looking at it from that angle, one could argue it was an artifact controlled by an owner.

Aygor could not help but wryly chuckle. This damned daeben played him!

But a god had a god's pride. Aygor would not so easily give the daeben everything he wanted. With a defeated, yet slightly amused sigh, Aygor relented, "I will craft the skeleton, the castle, and the passages. Further refinement will have to be done yourself."

Kashi smiled. Well, this was within his expectations. Convincing the god that the houses were also part of the greater artifact was quite a bit of a stretch. However, just this much was good enough. The dwarves were the best at construction, after all. "Deal."

Aygor chuckled as his hammer appeared in his right hand. "After so many millennia, [ Apparition of the Gods ] shall appear once again on this earth. Hopefully, Dad does not scold me too much."

That night, the entire planet would once again shake in fear as a result of the Hopeful Maggots.