Mewtwo returns from his solo expedition after a few hours. In this time, I have managed to turn most of my chips into casting molds and then into manasteel chips. The price for a chip is surprisingly low, only a ninth of an ingot per chip. I have already converted most crafting related chips. I have also upgraded the backpack chip to diamond tier and then remade it out of manasteel. I will need to find a way to make one out of diamond to get the next tier, but checking the recipes again seems to suggest a simple coating would suffice.

I have also gotten a bit further with the mystical agriculture quests. I have fully unlocked the tier one seeds. Bonsai pot chip is made and already working. It took a good chunk of our resources resources, but inferium production is now ongoing. The current speed is slow, but I have some ways to upgrade it. For now I only have a single slot, but reading through the tutorials for that chip, I have learned that each seed slot has its own accelerator slot, or more exactly slots. I only have one right now, only accepting inferium tier accelerator because It is a tier one chip. However, each subsequent upgrades will unlock a new slot for the next tier of growth accelerators.

Finally, while the manasteel was melting, I have tripled the amount of endoflames for faster mana generation. I have also managed to supply a bit more mana to our pool with my band of mana. As I am not damaging either my tools or armor, the mana generated by the band of aura is merely stockpiling, so I decided I might as well use it.

While this was happening, I have been preparing the next steps for the actual seed creation. The infusion altar. Similar to the runic altar in function, it is also slightly different in construction. First of, it needs eight pillars named infusion pedestals surrounding it so one can put the items to infuse. Then a single prosperity seed must be placed on the altar. To finally initiate the process, mana has to be supplied. The cost is far lower than most of our previous recipes, but still a good reason to continue expanding the mana generation.

I am in the process of finishing the pillars for the altar when Mewtwo enters the clearing.

He is a sight to behold. With the a rainbow discs of crystals almost as tall as him rotating behind him, he almost appears godly in some way. The strange black glossy pieces of material held further out do make it a bit menacing. As are the diamond ores held in between.

Wait! Wow he found diamond! I had given up on ever finding them naturally. That will be useful later.

As Mewtwo approaches, each of the six different colors of crystals begin to fly separately and form neat little piles next to the arcane crafting table. He has gathered so many of them, but will it be enough for all our needs?

Mewtwo leaves the diamond ore in its own pile next to the cottage and then approaches with the glossy blocks. And I finally identify them. Obsidian.

"Holy Trio you have found obsidian." I whisper.

Well... Less found and more made. I... He stops, as if thinking about something. It's just water and lava... could I... His thoughs are barely audible.

Mewtwo frowns as he focuses. A stone rises from the ground, and he splashes it with a stream of flames. The ground below starts to bubble as his mastery of earth makes itself known. The summoned rock slowly melts into a puddle and as it does, Mewtwo then summons a small ball of icy water. With the hiss of dissipating steam, hardened rock is left behind. I look at Mewtwo in confusion, as he does the same to his puddle of hardened lava.

Why did it not work?

"Uh... you alright Mewtwo?" I question him, still trying to understand what he is attempting. This is a first for him after all. Most of his ideas have worked to this point.

He shakes his head and start explaining. Ah, sorry, I had though I had just gotten an idea to obtain as much lava as we would need, and therefore obsidian, but it seems I was mistaken. Still... why did it work down in the cave then? The last part is almost muted, but still he sends it.

I try to wrack my brain to understand what he attempted. And as I look at the floating obsidian and then remember his sudden lapse as his idea struck, I get it. "Did you make that obsidian by splashing water on lava?"

Yes! Exactly, and I though I could make lava myself.

He then tells to me how he discovered it, showing me the different recipes asking for water and lava to make obsidian. As he does so, I also explore those machine recipes, and realize something. If one only looks through obsidian, it would appear the machine only makes obsidian with water and lava, however, that is only half true. the machines are able to make a wide range of stone materials with water and lava, not just obsidian. How does that work? No idea right now, but maybe we will find out when we actually reach such a point of development.

Still, we now have enough obsidian to validate the "Beyond the plane." quest.

To the Nether!

To get there, make a large rectangular frame and light the inside on fire.

Reach the Nether [_]

Rewards: 2000xp; 5 Exp. Candy XL

"Well... should we?" I am feeling quite exited to discover a new dimension. Although also a bit apprehensive. How much worse will this dimension be? The Ezian plane has not been too kind to us.

Mewtwo think for a minute before answering me, and raise an important point. Will the time dilatation effect cross dimensions?

"Shit you're right!" I had not though of that at all. Will the altar protection expend beyond the passage we are going to make?

Maybe we should keep advancing what we already can until that Nether dimension becomes absolutely needed for us to continue the quests. Mewtwo proposes.

As much as I want to actually go to the nether, maybe he has a point. Rushing there would only expose us to more dangers and risks than might be worth. Right now, us not going only locks out further botania advances. Thaumcraft still has a lot to give us. I do not feel like there is much left to discover for tinker, and the mystical agriculture is going to require time more than anything else.

"All right, let's see what-" Shush! The though is closer to a command, making me stop talking instantly. It has been sometime since Mewtwo imposed his will on me like this. Something has caught his attention.

As I look in the direction his narrowing eyes are pointing, I spot something. A shadow flickers between the trees.

Someone is coming? Many someones. Mewtwo narrows his eyes. the faint shimmer of blue over them indicates his use of aura sense. And it does not seems to be for a discussion.

That surprises me. The only sentient beings here are pokemons, which all obey Princess. Any of them coming to confront us must be aware that they would end up upsetting Princess. So why are they openly coming to us displaying enough hostility that even Mewtwo can sense it?

We do not have time to ask that question. A large ball of shadowy matter explodes against Mewtwo's back, sending him almost into the forest. Before I have time to react, five arrows pierce me almost simultaneously. I stumble forward with each impacts.

Once I recover, I turn around and shudder at what I see. Behind us are two pokemons.

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

An upright white owl covered in a brown cape with a green hoodie stands on the roof of the cottage. A decidueye. His cape opens, revealing more arrows as well as the cape being his wings. He quickly catches the projectiles and, using one of his hoodie strings, quickly prepare to fire them once more.

the second pokemon barely glances at me and rush toward Mewtwo. A spectral creature looking like a floating dress, with its head partly hidden under a pointy hat, a mismagius.

Both pokemons by themselves would have been a hard challenge already, considering both are beyond level 350 according to my system, but it is clear they do not intend to let us face them as a team.

Arrows are sent, and I barely evade them. Something is impeding my movements. The answer becomes clear when the arrows still stuck in my body wiggle against my auto-repair system. A dark purple aura permeates into them and they start to vibrate, making my movements jittery. I look back toward the decidueye, and catches the ominous purple aura around him as he continues to make sure his arrows remain in my body. He seems somewhat surprised by something however. The wiggling becomes a constant vibration, and still his surprise seems to only rise. I grab one of the arrows, this one sticking out of my belly, and extract it.

This seems to shatter the owl concentration, and I quickly remove another arrow. As I am about to remove a third, something heavy smashes on my back, and I fall forward. Before I can even try to move again, something heavy lands on my back and then strikes rain upon my head. Again, and again and again they come, at insane speed. I can feel my cranium giving in and caving with each one. Each impact echoing with a sound of metal against metal.

Again, no pain comes from the strikes, only slight annoyance. Although with each strikes, some artefacts and glitches enter my vision. What can I do? My arms are struck, the strikes are too fast for me to attempt a head butt. My legs!

But can I even reach my opponent? Could I bend them enough to catch or kick them?

Only one way to find out. I first go for a kick, sending my both feet close together. The angle is wrong, and I miss. My kick goes slightly too high, yet the constant striking falters for a second. I may have missed, but I manage to catch them off-guard. I try again, angling my legs in a way I am almost certain would be impossible for a human. Good thing I am not a human. this time I impact on something. Something hard. the strikes are once more disrupted and I can feel the weight on my back move slightly forward. I capitalize on this and try to rise.

The weight on my back shift and I push it off. I rise and summon my sword. I turn around and slash, using my momentum to make my strike hit even harder. I realize too late who I am about to strike. The machoke eyes are wide as my blade penetrates his raised arm. The same machoke that escorted me to the arm wrestling contest during the welcome picnic.

I am barely able to abort my strike, embedding the blue blade a good three centimeters into his thick arm. However, seeing my hesitation, he strikes without mercy, sending me careening at the steps of the cottage. I rise, ready to strike again, and witness Mewtwo's own struggle.

My tall friend is also fighting against two opponents. the misdreavus peppers him constantly with shadow balls. While an orange punk styled lizard keeps his attention by engaging him in close combat. The dark aura around each of his strikes are enough to indicate the use of dark-type energy. Mewtwo is barely holding on. He seems to keep a constant protective barrier around him to stop the shadow balls while attempting to deflect the scrafty strikes. His body shines white intermittently, and his injuries seems to recover, only for his foes to inflict new ones almost instantly.

Before I can even think of doing anything, the machoke charges at me. I ready myself, and half my vision suddenly blinks out. I stumble in surprise, and the machoke strikes. My stomach bends, and breaks. His fist penetrates me, skewers me. Oil and silvery liquid flow freely along the grey pokemon arm. He removes it, and I fall on the ground in a pile of unresponsive limbs.

The machoke does nothing more. And I can only watch with my vision half-obscured by strands of my own hair as the second pair quickly overwhelm Mewtwo. His barrier fails, the scrafty manages to paralyze my friend with a thunder wreathed punch, and ghostly flames consume him. He falls on his knees, a silent scream escaping his opened mouth and white out eyes, and then down as unconsciousness takes him.

The decidueye jumps off the roof, landing next to me and the machoke. He looks down at me in a mix of awe and horror, then shakes his head toward Mewtwo. The machoke grunts in answer. The misdreavus whispers incoherently and the scrafty nods. The punk lizard then points at me and asks something to the pair surrounding me. They answer with grunts and bird noise, and I can see the machoke shiver from the corner of what I assume is my only remaining eye.

The quatuor of pokemons wander around the clearing, looking at our little installations, poking and probing around, but surprisingly not damaging anything.

After about twelve minutes, according to my clock, two new pokemon enters the clearing. The quatuor immediately groups together and stand at attention.

The pokemon I recognize instantly, the pangoro that I challenged multiple times during the picnic. The large panda looks around the clearing and sighs, shaking his head in the process. When his eyebrow shaded gaze meets mine, he shudders and looks away. I must be quite a mess to look at. Add the fact that I am still alive, and yeah... I can understand their reactions.

The second pokemon to enter is one I have seen only in passing. An audino. The plum pink and cream bipedal pokemon with blue eyes, large ears with rolled up extensions beneath, approaches my down friend and douses him in shiny water. I recognize the life dew and am astonished by the volume she is able to pour out of thin air.

Mewtwo, however, does not stirs. His skin has returned to his unmarred gray, his tail regaining its healthy purple, but he still remains unconscious. The audino eyes shine and a pulse shoots from her body. Mewtwo's body shines for a second, and he stirs.

His eyes flutter open, and he immediately jumps on his feet. He summons barriers and ready himself for more fighting, but only find peace. Well... defeat more than peace. I am still on the ground and seemingly in a pretty bad shape.

Mewtwo notices and sends me a question. What is happening?

"nOo IdEa." I croak in a staticky voice, making all pokemon shiver in fear and disgust at the sound.

The pangoro regains his composure first and then turns to Mewtwo. He grunts what I can only assume is a request or an order at him.

Translation incoming.

If I could I would have nodded at him. Instead, I continue to lie down, waiting for my body to recover. Which it is doing. I can actually move again. I am just waiting to see what else they are going to do.

"Can he understand me?" The grunts and growls of the pangoro become words in my mind.

He can. Mewtwo confirms.

"Good, then let me tell you something. You two are DEAD!". He barks out.

Mewtwo fists immediately flare with fire. Not yet we are not! He growls and sends back.

the pangoro smashes Mewtwo's head with the flat of his hand before he can even react. "In theory you impulsive brat!" He roars.

The fire on Mewtwo's hand sputters out as he go to hold his head.

"This attack was a test, One you have both miserably failed!" The pangoro continues. "After your venture to the sealed temple, her highness asked us, the Forest Defender Force, to keep an eye on you. Each times you went in the temple, you returned extremely battered. This made me question how strong you actually were. I got my answer here, and it's not strong at all!" The panda pokemon sends us a judgmental glare. "How you survived this long I know not. But her highness trusts you, you" he points at me, "let us break you in pieces for our own curiosity, and you" this time he points at Mewtwo, "are a legend with absurd potential. The fact you have already mastered so many moves is proof of that. HOWEVER! As you are now, you are weak. Legend, you have started in the mastery and diversifying of your moves, but your awareness could use more work. And you, revenant, you have little to no awareness of what your body can do. If you were to set foot outside the confines of the sanctuary as you are now, you would die in less than a week. And it would not even be due to the dark god. The hunters or the league would tear you to pieces. Dark God, even a territorial pokemon old enough would eat you for breakfast." He finishes.

"We HaVE oUr owN waYs of GrowiNg strongeR." I reply.

"Yeah, Chok tells me you were harder than before." He points at the machoke, then continues "Still you lost, and Owl here managed to bypass that new resistance of yours quite easily. Training yourselves would have made you able to actually put up a fight, rather than the valiant doomed attempt you made."

It hurts to hear, but he is right. They did overwhelm us quite easily. The battle must have lasted at most two minutes, maybe three for Mewtwo. They completely got us by surprise and then defeated us without much of a fight.

"Which is way starting from tomorrow, you will be training under us. We will be making sure can at least defend yourselves against us." With that, he turns around and starts to leave the clearing, stopping one final time at its edge. "You will come to the east entrance of the palace tomorrow morning at sunrise. Do not be late, or I will send someone to drag you." He warns before quickly disappearing into the forest.

His friends, or colleagues, quickly follow. All give me a worried glance before disappearing beneath the trees.

For a couple minutes, the clearing is silent. The leaves of the trees rustle gently, the sounds of animals filter from within the forest, and the colorful wisps tinkle quietly.

I guess I do not need to pretend anymore then. I get up, with the sound of grinding gears. Okay maybe I am not as fixed as I expected. I also still only have vision through a single eye.

Trio you took a beating. Mewtwo sends me with tiredness.

"So dID yoU."

You still have an arrow piercing your skull.

"ThAT woUlD expLaIn thE MisSinG eyE."

And your neck. He adds.

"ThAt WouLd ExpLain thE vOiCe."

Silence returns once more, only cut by the sound of me pulling out the remaining arrows from my body. Mewtwo comes sit under to the porch of the cottage. Once I am done, I join him. We look at the clearing, marveling that the fight did not damage anything. If not for the arrows, no-one would be able to guess the beating we have just taken.

"I guess he has a point. We won most of our fight through luck to this point." I whisper.

Correct, we always knew we would soon meet something too strong for us. We still have room to grow. Mewtwo adds.

He summons the menu, opening both Knowledge and Hunt trials. It might be time to take on another challenge.

I nod. "Let's see what we can learn with the defenders first, then we will take on a trial."