"Thanks for lunch," I give Ryan a quick kiss after we reach his truck.
"You're welcome," he pulls me in for a hug. "Do you need anything before I go?"
"No," I tell him. "Thanks for the offer, though."
"Alright," he says. "See you, Evan."
"See you, Ryan," I respond.
He climbs into his truck, and I wait until he's driven off before turning around and making my way back into my house. Before I reach the stairs to my deck, however, my work phone starts to ring. I pull it out and find that it's Kelsey. Considering she was always a friend and not a customer, I'm surprised she'd even think to call this.
"Hello, Kelsey," I answer the call. "Everything alright?"
"Yeah," she answers. "I heard you made some [Scroll of Flamethrower]s the other day?"
"This is for the job tomorrow?" I ask. "I did, but they're only Tier 1 with a power of 20."
"Damn," she says. "Alright, we'll have to find another supplier. Those scrolls are pretty hard to find."
"I'm sure," I tell her. "Good luck with the job."
"Thanks," she says. "Have a good one, Evan."
Kelsey hangs up and I move my phone into my [Dimensional Storage], then head into my house and stretch for a moment.
"You ready for some work?" I ask Aster, who barks a few times and then vanishes. "Didn't think so."
I access my gate and head to the Great Napping Spot and begin sensing all of the energies I can here. Right at the peak of the hill is a mass of energy flows tangled together roughly the size of my torso, maybe a little bit larger. All of the streams are nearly completely black and red but there's some of their normal colors touched into them as well.
Monster Eggs are fully black and red, so this one must be undergoing restoration as well. At a guess, the fact that there's some proper color returned means that either the spawns here are done or they'll be much more slow than they used to be.
Though now I'm curious about which beasts there are which can hunt goblins, trolls, ogres, and the like. Either some of those types of beasts aren't monsters or there's a variety of creature I don't know of with a humanoid form which has a mythical beast variant. That's the only reason I can think of to explain why there isn't a much higher number of said monsters in the Mythic Forest.
Now that I've checked here, I return to the Whispering Life Spring. From what I could sense at the hill, it'll be quite awhile before that zone is ready for plants again.
Here at the Whispering Life Springs, things seem relatively unchanged in the energy flows but the plants have a quite visibly noticeable change. The grasses around the pond have reached their full height, some cattails have begun to grow, the bushes are more filled with berries and there are now twice as many as there were when I left, and more. Several more trees have grown in varying distances from the pond as well…
Which looks bigger.
I walk around the perimeter of the pond to check. The shape itself is roughly the same and the end which has the actual spring is in the same spot, but the pond is definitely larger. It was originally only ten feet at its longest and seven at its widest, but it's now around thirteen at its longest and nine at its widest.
The King of the Celestials expanded it by around thirty percent while I was at lunch. I suppose the forest being restored is a good time as any to make changes he wants to make.
Though I'm sure he could do it normally as well, so this could just also be a normal thing for him.
"Does your inability to kill monsters or make changes to the Mythic Forests also prevent you from fixing the energy flows?" I ask.
"It is not often a mortal can tell when a Celestial has appeared," Aurora says as I turn to face her. "Though you didn't seem to notice me when we met not long ago. At least, not until Aster let out his whine."
She's sitting gracefully, still in the leopard form she was in during my lunch break.
"I did notice your appearance," I tell her. "I didn't have enough time to react before Aster did. His reaction occurred almost at the same instant."
"I see," she says. "What brings you here?"
"I was granted access through a gate upon my Awakening," I answer. "Just want to see this place full of life again so I'm trying to help with that. I'm certain your king is also using this as part of his observations of people, to see how I do things while he fixes the energy flows."
"What reasons he holds for the things he does stands beyond me," she says. "As for your original question, that is something which I cannot answer."
"You're bound?"
Some government contracts require agreeing to be bound into silence on something through magic. Subjecting someone to such a bind against their will is illegal and comes with severe consequences, but I know some companies also use them to protect certain trade secrets. Celestials can probably use such binds as well, only on a more efficient level.
"Not for that," she says. "Among the variety of people throughout the universes, there are many tales of us Celestials and our powers. Some of them are correct, some of them are false. Aether is to a Celestial what mana is to a mortal or divine power is to a god, with the exception being that we have an unlimited amount of it. There are exceptions to even what we Celestials may do."
"And that includes manipulating the natural flows of it?" I ask.
"Indeed," she answers. "I can sense the bigger ones fine and some of the smaller ones with effort, but cannot influence them. His Majesty alone knows the art of maintaining them, though I've never seen him do it. From time to time, the flows in a place suddenly calm. Though since it can be many sleeps between when I visit a location, it might not be so 'suddenly' as 'suddenly'."
In other words, she doesn't really know how long it takes the King of the Celestials to fix the energy flows, and she herself is incapable of doing so. The other Celestials likely aren't, either.
"And here?" I ask.
"The flows have only grown worse since he left to observe mankind more closely," she answers. "Though it seems he is returning here once more. If he is using you for observations, then I will not interfere. Have a good time."
Aurora vanishes before I can ask any further questions. I have quite a few, but I can wait longer for them to be answered. There's nothing I can do to make a Celestial stay and answer questions and I wouldn't try to do that, anyway. It's not my sort of thing.
Alone once more, I walk over to a bush which wasn't here during my previous visit. It's barely begun to sprout and is growing a few feet from a tree sapling which also began to grow in my brief absence. Both have sprung up in the area of new growth, which seems to be leaning more toward trees than other plants.
They're only around two feet in height but that's fine since they'll grow more on their own. This much growth is no doubt because of the soothed flows of magical energy.
Though now I'm realizing that the King of the Celestials must have done more work while I was asleep. He took less than fifteen minutes to repair this area that much?
Or the tangled sections are a bigger stopper than I thought and he was nearly done untangling a few spots already. I don't know what they looked like before so I can't really judge on this that well. If those only took a few minutes to do, then it was definitely possible to fix them during my brief nap. He may have even been working on them while I was doing my Special Quest and Awakening Quests today.
I really want to know why he's not showing himself to me, but I guess I'll have to wait for answers on that until he deigns to actually reveal himself. It could be to minimize his influence on his observations, I guess.
What to do now? Up until yesterday, my schedule only included a few hours of work in here, and I think it would be best to let this zone grow a bit on its own, without my influence, while its mana flows recover. I don't want to do more combat but I think that might be the best option, either to expand the Pup Leisure Pond to make more space for [Cleanse] to work on, to make available the other side of the river at Happy Butterfly Hill or further up or downstream on there, or to take on more of the larger river.
The most effective choice to help the forest recover would probably be the river. It will boost my Level more quickly and enable to me to handle tougher beasts and grow more plants.
While it's faster, it also comes with the downside of being more work in a day. I'm already managing to walk between four and six miles a day along the river but that rate also means it'll take me until sometime next week to reach the end, if I go the full length. That's not in my plans but I still need to travel a decent distance to reach my own goal.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
Once I hit Level 10 is when I'll try to take on whatever is at the small lake at the hills. I can probably manage that by dinner today if I don't waste too much time.
As much as I'd rather sit down and relax, I return to the river and continue slaying my way through it. My current level of power makes taking on the goblins, trolls, and boars fairly easy and the main time sink here is the travel itself. The fewer strikes needed for boars now does speed things up a bit, and I manage to unlock my Level 8 Awakening Quest after only a little bit more than an hour. All I need to do for it is take out a goblin knight, which goes fairly quick and allows me to return to the trip.
The next two Awakening Quests are pretty standard slay-the-beasts Quests and take me less than an hour each. Neither one is for a new zone but I'm not surprised by that. The King of the Celestials probably does want to reduce how many zones have me going in and out right now.
I call up my Status upon reaching Level 10 to check the full changes.
Name: Evan Rethe Rank: 5 Species: Human Sex: Male Level: 10 EXP: 0/265,096 HP: 31,000/31,000 MP: 31.000/31,000 Strength: 112 Constitution: 146 Agility: 112 Dexterity: 226 Magic: 454 Mind: 252 HP Regen: 5% MP Regen: 5%
Those stats are rather high and with one more Level, I'll be able to survive entering a Category 5-2 Dungeon, since the ranks for those start at Level 1, Level 11, Level 21, etc. for their equivalent hunters. Now, only Rank 3s in their upper Levels and some Rank 4s are as strong or stronger than I am when looking at those of lower Ranks.
My stats aren't the only change, however. A message I didn't dismiss yet still floats in my vision.
For reaching Level 10, you've gained 10 Skills and Skill Levels!
I review my Skill list to see the changes made. That happens every 10th Level so I can expect it to happen regularly. Based on what is known, the Skills which gain a Level are those which are already close to doing so. An early boost, so to speak. The new Skills unlocked are based on a mixture of a person's Classes and which of their Skills they use regularly, potentially ones that someone might be close to unlocking on their own.
If there aren't enough Skills to boost or gain, it then looks at those which aren't close to being Leveled or unlocked and picks the ones that are closest. As a Rank 5, I receive 10 Skill Levels every tenth Level, so there's a much wider pool for them to get picked from.
For me, it looks like [Magic Missile], [Telekinesis], [Fireball], [Flamethrower] [Dimensional Storage], and [Animal Communication] have all gone up in Level. My new Skills are [Multicast], [Barrier], [Gale], and [Vine].
The latter two won't be too useful for me unless I have plenty of time or am in a group with someone keeping the monsters' attention on them instead of me. The first two could be useful to some degree, though [Barrier] is a bit more limited.
[Multicast] is definitely the most useful for me right now, though.
[Multicast] Level: 1 The ability to cast multiple of the same spell at once, at the cost of extra MP and casting time per additional spell. Cost: +90% Casting Time: +90%
At Level 2, [Magic Missile] takes 0.9 seconds to cast but still costs 5 MP. Casting two spells at once isn't really easy and that's why there's a Skill for doing so – to make it easier for people to gain the ability to and to improve their ability to more easily. I probably could have learned this on my own, I just hadn't bothered with it
If I cast two [Magic Missile]s at once, they'll take 1.71 seconds to cast both, but cost 9.5 MP each. The mana cost is of no consequence for me and I generally have two seconds before any risk to myself occurs. Raising the spell up another Level will give me even more time.
Raising a hand, I begin casting two [Magic Missile]s at once to test out my new ability. Rather than forming right beside each other in front of my palm, they form about a foot apart with the center of that empty space in front of my hand.
The moment my cast finishes, the pair of [Magic Missile]s soar forward, curving outward for a moment before slamming into the edge of the river, right at the stone I'd aimed for around two hundred feet away. Dirt and stone fragments burst outward from the spot, creating a sizable hole in the side of the river.
Testing that on a monster probably would have been a better idea, but I don't think that level of damage is a problem here. If it is, the King of the Celestials will probably fix it.
A part of me wants to hold off on taking on the lake at the hills. Something that big just gives me a feeling as if it might be stronger than I can handle right now. That's not necessarily true, but I still get that feeling.
It could also just be how much I did today making me not want to take on such a large project without some proper rest. After spending a lot of time gaining Levels today, I don't really want to do too much extra work and a place that big probably needs a lot of work. It might be better to wait until tomorrow to take on the lake.
As I contemplate what I should do, Aster appears in the distance and starts running around a troll while barking. That answers several questions for me, so I walk over and put the troll out of its misery before looking at Aster.
"You never look sticky," I tell him. "But if I pick you up, am I going to get something sticky on me?"
"Arf!" Aster happily wags his tail.
I still haven't dressed from my Level 10 Awakening Quest, so I bend down and pick up the pup, finding that he is, indeed, quite sticky.
"What did you get into this time?" I ask.
Aster sends me a message containing memories of him raiding some jars of honey and jam in his bear cub form. Large jars of them, ones which he could climb into and there still be plenty of room within. They're made of clay and stored in some sort of dark, stone room.
"Those belong to someone, don't they?" I ask.
The next memory I'm given is of him being chased by bearkin. Mostly human in form and not hairy, but they have the ears and tails of bears and are larger in size, the men at least 6'3" at a minimum and with broad shoulders and muscular builds. Four are chasing him, two with spears and two with no weapons, all wearing furs with their breaths fogging in the air.
They even caught him and he ran off rather than teleporting.
"You liked getting chased by them, didn't you?" I ask.
"Arf!" His tail wags some more and I sigh.
"You need to stop stealing," I tell him. "You need to ask first. And apologize to the bearkin for stealing. Make it up to them. Otherwise, no more treats for you from me, and no more sleeping in my bed."
Aster lets out a soft whine… and then I find myself in the storeroom he'd raided, where two of the bearkin from the memory Aster sent me are cleaning up the mess he'd made. They're even dressed in the same furs they were wearing. It must have been in the last ten minutes or so rather than just at some point during my morning work.
It's also very cold here.
The moment we appear, the pair of men look at me, then immediately go to put up their fists.
"Woof!" Aster barks. "Woof… Woooooooooof!"
The jars he'd damaged all repair themselves, then Aster inhales deeply, then exhales. His breath lasts for almost thirty seconds and as he does it, a blue crystal with silver streaking through it forms in the air between us and the locals.
They give each other uncertain looks as the crystal – which is a sphere as large as their torsos – forms. The moment it finishes, it lands on the ground with a heavy thunk.
A little curious, I give it an examination.
[Big and Sparkly Crystal] Tier: 9,871,302 Big and sparkly! Hope you like it! -Aster
So the King of the Celestials isn't the only one who can edit the descriptions. Or perhaps normal Celestials can create descriptions when they make items, but not edit descriptions for others. I'm going to assume the Tier part is just an automated thing he can't affect as I doubt he would've put in some random number.
"Aster," I say. "That doesn't make up for stealing their jams and honey. Decorations are one thing, useful items or replacements are another."
Aster sighs, his ears and tail dropping as his head hangs low. Fortunately, the other men now look wary but not potentially hostile.
The pup suddenly raises his head and opens his mouth.
"Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba! Ba!"
With each one of those Aster lets out, a pure mana crystal the size of my fist forms and drops onto the ground. Their blue is deep and rich and a quick check shows that each one contains millions of MP each.
Talk about disproportionate payment… I have a sneaking suspicion I know what Aster's doing.
I clear my throat and the men look at me.
"I apologize for Asters… behavior," I infuse my voice with mana as I speak in the ancient tongue, my words flowing together in a harmonic, beautiful sound which the bearkin before me aren't going to hear. "I'm not his guardian, just someone he's recently found and taken a liking to. He doesn't seem to understand how society works, and I believe he's offering those both as payments for what he's stolen before and for what he wishes to take in the future."
"Woof!" Aster nods, his tail wagging.
"I also apologize for my attire," I say. "I'd just finished an Awakening Quest without gear which could handle it, found that Aster had just done the raiding, picked him up, and told him to apologize. He chose to teleport me here with him rather than come on his own or allow me to dress first."
The way I spoke, with my voice imbued with mana, turned my words into the true ancient tongue. When used, it is understood in the native or natural language of those who hear it, so the bearkin aren't hearing the ancient tongue but their own language. It's the same language the System is written in, allowing objects to bear the same information in any language. Aurora most likely used it when speaking with me earlier, and also when speaking with Ryan and me.
"And before you try to respond," I say. "I'm not speaking your language but one which is understood as a native by those who hear it. I won't be able to understand any responses, so you'll have to address the pup himself. I can speak to any tongue, but he can understand any tongue."
Aster nods.
The pair of bearkin try to talk with Aster as a few more show up and watch, and it seems that there's some degree of negotiation going on. While I can't understand what's being said, I can tell that it's mostly Aster trying to convince them of something as he keeps creating more mana crystals and conjuring several various other items. I'm not sure if he's creating them directly or if they're from his storage, but they're definitely on the interesting side.
By the time he takes me back to the river, there are forty-two mana crystals, ten new large jars which have "indestructible" in their names, a life-sized plush version of the pup's bear form, a painted skull of a wyvern, a brown-and-green rug, and a duck.
"Ask them in the future," I tell Aster. "Let's get you home and cleaned up."