Quite a few things have come up from me remembering an entire life before now, with plenty of things coming up just from the dream which brought said memories back. It's brought up a lot of new questions and changed my theories about a few things. Trying to dwell on most of that would be too bothersome so I won't.

There are some important pieces of information I have, though.

The first of those is that my older brother will probably find me within the next five years and headbutt me back into my real form as he did in that life. I get the impression from the memory of him doing that at the end of that incarnation that it's normal for him to bring me back that way. It probably doesn't matter for right now with how far away that is, though, so I won't worry about it.

Well, he might already know considering how things are right now, but that's another matter.

The second is that while I did recover the memories of that life, I'm probably still mentally twenty. That's one of the pieces of information I acquired from that life – my mental age matches my body in reincarnations even after I start remembering past lives. I won't remember everything my past lives remembered until I start regaining memories from my real form, but that's not really problematic.

I could use some techniques I used in that life to naturally boost my magical power and energy pools, but I'll hold off on that for now. I do want to try and live as a mortal as long as possible, now that I know what's really going on. Mostly know what's really going on.

The third important piece of information is that the Special Quests I'm receiving probably aren't coming from the King of the Celestials at all but are just something my brother put into the System to mess with me as a punishment for more reincarnations. If I'm right, that was him when I was found and rather than headbutting me back to my real self, he decided to just let me restore his gardens.

Something he's probably not actually having a direct hand in, though he's still no doubt the one who extended the Whispering Life Spring's pond. From what I learned from remembering that past life, our very presence cleanses energy flows. My effect is weaker since I'm in a mortal body but it'll grow stronger as I do, while my brother's presence should immediately fix an entire Mythic Forest.

That's why things are getting better while I'm here – the aether I'm leaking as I produce it cleanses the energy flows. I've hung out at the Whispering Life Spring the most so it's been affected the most. Meanwhile, my brother is staying outside and looking in, making little changes as I do my own thing but avoiding entering the Mythic Forest directly..

"No, that can't be right," I muse as I sit up, briefly noting that Aster's not here.

If my brother showed up while I was in the Great Napping Spot at my birth or whatever, then wouldn't that have fixed the Mythic Forest's energy flows? So either that was just a copy for a Dungeon and wasn't actually a part of the Mythic Forest or my brother knows how to stop the aether leak.

Something which I think the Celestials don't have. My knowledge on this part is fuzzy since that past life had the memories of past lives but hadn't directly dwelled on or applied said knowledge, but Rift Wolves like me and my brother produce aether directly. Celestials have an unlimited pool of it so they don't produce any, just like gods.

The leakage is caused by the production of it – mana leaks out of everyone and everything which produces it as well. Without leaking it, Celestials can enter the Mythic Forest all they want but their presence won't help it heal.

Now that I've learned some interesting pieces of information and processed everything that's important for now, it's time to do some other stuff. No reason to think on things for too long when it ultimately doesn't matter. My brother wants me to fix up his forest and I'll do that just because I want to, just as I did before remembering this information.

I pull on some clothes and head to the Pup Leisure Pond. My supply of mana potions is nearly empty and I need reagents to make more. The mana-touched nature of the water suggests there will be mana-filled reagents with which I can make more potions with once it's restored. While I still need to [Cleanse] the soil within and around the small zone, it probably won't take more than a day or two of work and departure from here for there to at least be enough reagents for me to use for a first batch.

Especially now that I know how to fix natural energy flows. That should definitely speed things up a bit.

Upon arrival, I spot something different from my prior visits to the zone.

Much like the Whispering Life Spring, the pond has grown in size. The pond is now around ninety feet at its widest and sixty at its narrowest. My brother is clearly doing some work here, that's for sure.

Dwelling on what his goals and plans are really isn't good to do as I won't get answers right now and it ultimately doesn't matter. What I should focus on are my goals. That's to continue living as a mortal for awhile as I'm quite enjoying it, and also to do some restoration work on the Mythic Forest I've been given access to.

The soil itself is still fairly contaminated as well, and I might be able to deal with that better if I can access the area outside of this smaller zone.

As I think that, the fog wall surrounding the pond fades away and the heavy fog beyond it quickly lifts, starting at the former fog wall and ending at the new one. The zone's expanded immensely, now around two thousand feet in diameter.

No Special Quest popped up yet there are goblins all around. Either the System's too low on energy to issue new Special Quests or my brother did that just to mess with me. It's possible he can read my thoughts.

Well, it doesn't matter. Being annoyed over that is pointless and they're all fairly basic goblins, roughly three hundred of them.

Once I slay the goblins, I tap into my sense for energy flows. There are three Monster Eggs here, including one in the pond itself and two in other parts. The two outside of the pond must have both formed the same type of goblins if there were two of them. The one within the pond is likely the origin of the dark bramble, and I can tell that it's begun to soothe already, probably from my original visit here.

While I don't have full knowledge of how my aether aura works, I do know that I'm too weak in this body for it to do too much. That's why it's only areas immediately around where I am which find themselves fixing up a little. I can either stay in this zone for a long while or I can try and fix the flows directly.

The sooner the energy flows return to normal, the faster the soil, air, and waters can return to their healthier states.

"Don't deposit their soil around here," I tell Mrow as it pokes its head out of the ground near me. "I need to cleanse the soil first."

The lifeseed worm nods and begins working on eating goblin corpses. I undress and enter the pond to get as near to the Monster Egg as I can, though I can only reach about ten feet away from it before the water's up to my shoulders.

Closing my eyes, I feel for the additional energy I remember from my past life. Its feel is different from mana but distinct in my mind. With my past life as a reference, I quickly find the pool of aether within me and how small it is.

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Nowhere near enough to make drastic changes, but I should be able to fix the energy flows, I think.

Reaching forward with one hand, I shift the state of my aether and send it into the energy flows the way I did several times in my past life. Let it flow along the energy streams, destroying the energies within them which don't belong. I'm not sure exactly how the contamination happens as my past life didn't have a memory with it but it's not important for clearing them.

Sending aether into the streams destroys the energies within, but the channels themselves remain. With the energy touched destroyed, the pure energy which belongs within the flow can continue along the stream as it replenishes from… wherever it replenishes from. That's not information I've remembered yet.

As my energy flows into the tangled web of them forming the Monster Egg, I give it a jiggle by shifting the aether a little. I do that a few times as my magic purges the energies and the channels return to their normal size and release from each other. This step probably isn't necessary since the energy streams will shrink back to their normal states over time and that will cause them to untangle, but this quickens the process.

I allow my aether to spread a little more, but I can't push it too far. It seems my range for fixing the energy flows is around twenty feet at the most right now. Doing that in all directions took around a fifth of my aether pool, which doesn't seem to be listed in my Status even though I've now wielded it.

Beings who use aether probably aren't supposed to be connected to the System so it's not designed to track it. My current body isn't damaged by using it like a god's would be, and that's how it was in my last life as well.

Beings with a natural affinity for aether must not be able to be harmed by it even if their body is mortal.

After cleaning up the other two Monster Eggs within this zone, I begin using [Cleanse] on the soil. Even if I can feel myself recovering my aether right now – unlike mana, which only recovers when asleep – there's no point in my using it all up for a small amount of space. I took care of the bigger ones and my presence here from time to time will fix up the rest.

This area should be fixed up sooner than later now, if my guess is right.

Purging contaminates from the soil with [Cleanse] after dealing with the Monster Eggs doesn't take me too long thanks to having as much Magic as I do now. The contaminated soil stopped around one hundred feet or so from the new boundaries for the zone, so I won't have to worry about any leeching back in.

I warp to the Sparkly Earth Cave to begin mining out some earth magic crystals to use at the Pup Leisure Pond and the moment I arrive… I find several spools of silk in various colors. Very large spools of silk with a note stuck onto one, woven from black silk with silver text written in the ancient tongue.

This is for Rethe. If you are not he, leave them alone. If you are he, these are yours. Do with as you please.

Underneath that on a separate square of black cloth is a sewn-in image which looks just like my face, Redips apparently wanting to make absolutely clear who she's referring to. There's even a silver arrow pointing down to the portrait for extra clarity.

Not only can she make the finest of silks in a variety of colors, but she can apparently weave them together into pretty realistic pictures.

I put the note and the portrait into my storage, then examine one of the spools. It's about four feet in height and two in diameter, the threads bound tightly around it and close together. This particular one is the same lilac as my eyes, though there's also one in apricot, one in a seafoam green, one in salmon pink, and one in sky blue.

This is too much for a single storage bracelet of mine, so I store them in two and return to my home, dropping the spools off. The odds of someone finding out about their presence and stealing them is rather slim, but a thought comes to me and I inspect the spool of purple thread.

[Lilac Royal Dreamsoft Silk] Tier: 1,000,000 The finest of all mortal silks, spun by the Queen of the Dreamsoft Spiders herself and of such a high quality that few can damage it and fewer can handle it.

Even if someone did find out about the silk, they wouldn't be able to do anything with it. They would need Tier 1,000,000 tools just to cut it. I don't think there's anyone on Earth who could handle this silk.

What did Redips think I could do with this?

Unless… she was able to recognize me as my real self and thinks I have some of my powers from then. Flow recognized Ryan, and he, Mrow, Elacs, and Redips did all seem to be familiar with me. Or at least, they all treated me in a friendly way and I doubt it's just because they're friendly.

Maybe mythical beasts can perceive souls? It would stand to reason that the Celestials probably can as well and Aster and I know each other either from a past life or from me being his king's younger brother. It would explain why he's decided to hang out with me while the big boy's doing… whatever it is my brother is doing.

I decide to deal with what to do about the silk later and return to the Mythic Forest and harvest some earth magic crystals, filling up one of my bracelets with them. Rather than going straight back to the Pup Leisure Pond after finishing that, I warp to the Happy Butterfly hill. Since the pond had contaminated soil, the pups weren't hanging out at it and if they're in the forest, I want to recruit their help again to save me some work.

They aren't here at the hill, though the plant growth has spread nicely. From the northern end to the southern end of the riverbank is filled with plants, from grasses and flowers to bushes and vines and even a few trees. It's spread further away from the water's edges than it had before, probably from the energy flows healing more. Rather than ending around forty to fifty feet from the edge of the river, it stops around ninety feet away from the edge.

With how much time I spent here on two occasions, my presence must have affected the energy flows similarly to at the Whispering Life Spring. They may not have been as disturbed here as badly, allowing things to recover a little bit faster.

While there aren't any pups running around, eating berries, or playing in the waters, there are other animals.

Butterflies, to be specific. They come in a few different colors with silver and gold markings, and some flutter from plant to plant while others rest wherever they are. There aren't too many of them but their presence and the fact that they're neither mythical beasts nor Celestials indicates that either my brother is introducing animals back into the zones or that they're forming on their own somehow.

I take a quick picture of some of the butterflies, then head to the Starry Pleasure Waters. There weren't any pups at a snacking area so they might be at an area that's a little bit more fun than just a pond with a stream. None are here, either, so I head to the Whispering Life Spring… which has increased in size again.

It was thirteen feet at its widest and nine at its narrowest after the last change, but now it's around nineteen feet at its widest and roughly fourteen at its narrowest.

There's now a small boulder collection at the end of the pond with the spring, and it looks like that part has actually increased in height as well so there's a little bit larger of a drop into the water than before even when not taking the boulders into consideration.

It would probably be easier to just change it all at once, but my brother could have originally thought the smaller increase was fine, then later changed his mind and expanded it again.

There's also an azulvitt wolf here. Flow in his adult form, specifically, and he seems to be napping but looks over when I kneel to look at some of the plants.

"Hey, Flow," I say. "Taking a break from the pups?"

He gives me confirmation of that, letting me know that the other two adults I've seen him with are currently watching the little ones.

"Got a question," I say, and he lifts an ear up. "Did you recognize me upon seeing me?"

The answer to that is that he didn't, but he's figured out who I am now.

"How did you do that?" I ask. "And how does it differ from how you recognized Ryan, if it does?"

He was able to recognize Ryan because he recognized Ryan's divinity, not by his soul. Recognizing me was a bit more difficult because I don't have something so easily recognizable and aether reads the same whether in a Celestial or just someone or something with an affinity for it. Well, other than Celestials having infinite pools of it.

Ultimately, he figured out who I am because of my smell. It seems that regardless of whether I'm in my real form or a reincarnation, I possess the same smell to him.

"But Ryan doesn't?" I ask.

Demigods apparently don't smell the same between reincarnations, though their real selves always have the same smell when they return to them.

"Alright," I say. "Thanks for the answers, big guy. Would you be willing to ask the pups if they want to play 'bury the crystals' again? This time at the Pup Leisure Pond. It's grown in size and the zone is cleaned up, so it's ready for me to start growing stuff there."