"What the hell was that?" Barry mumbles.

We're currently seated on a rooftop terrace at a restaurant near the park. Once the First of the World Trees stopped possessing the tree he'd grown in the park, it took a little while for people to start moving around again. Those who began to recover first were Rank 5s, whether Awakened or not. Barry and Kelsey and the others on duty at the time stayed to make sure everyone was able to recover from that, then the two friends of mine among the guards came with Ryan and me to get some food.

Colby's currently sitting on his dad's lap, staring at the dish of ice cream with berries and chocolate on top that's set in front of them. Even if everyone has recovered enough to move around, most people are still subdued after an hour.

Even the Rank 5s.

The five of us are the only ones up here on this terrace right now, so it's safe to talk about a few things. I'm not really worried, however. Another thing Ash revealed to me last night is that my brother put into place restrictions on who can know what.

Quite literally.

If someone isn't supposed to know about something at all, then it can't be brought up around them. The same restriction set also prevents reincarnations from becoming widespread knowledge even if many people seem to be reincarnates.

"That was a Celestial in his true, full form," I answer Barry's question. "The third of them to come to be. The name he goes by is 'Ash', the approximation into our language of his original species."

"What are Celestials?" Kelsey asks.

According to Ash, I took the longest to remember anything out of transcendent ones, which may be influenced by my twice-transcended state, but most likely because of me being a Rift Wolf. That means both Barry and Kelsey already know they're reincarnated transcendent beings.

However, they don't have access to their knowledge of Celestials from pre-reincarnation. That's definitely a post-reincarnation learning experience only.

"A form of transcendent being above even the gods," I answer. "Though Ash's presence is a little bit different from the others'. That feeling of absolute superiority he gives would normally only be felt by those sensitive to the influence of a soul and is the result of him having transcended more times than you. However, the reason it was so bad this time is because he took on such a larger form, his soul itself wasn't as compressed.

"Ash has transcended via the soul," I say. "And that boosts the strength and potency of their soul. If he's in, say, a human form, only those sensitive to the influence of a soul would notice anything when he's not hiding his soul. His soul is compacted down into it and the vibe it gives off is proportionate to that. But when he takes on a much larger form, his soul is able to spread out more…"

"Which makes it much more noticeable," Kelsey says. "And that was amplified by his magic filling the air from the growth of the tree as well. It seems to have affected everyone in the district, too, not just those at the park."

"The district?" I snort a little. "No. According to what Ash told me would happen, it'll affect the entire city. And he did that at the central district for every city. On Earth. His voice spread throughout each city, and his magic carried the feel of his soul on it to everyone."

All three of the other adults at the table look at me.

"Hold up," Ryan says. "Ash told you he was going to do that?"

"He did," I confirm. "When we were talking last night, he mentioned his plan to interrupt today's conference. That is a message broadcast to the entire world."

Even if not all cities will actually be fine if the lack of Dungeons goes on for more than a week or two. The only reason cities were able to develop as much as they did was because of the presence of Dungeons. Ash confirmed to me that their purpose is to support society and let them grow more than just hunting monsters and harvesting resources would allow. Our city happens to be located in an area which can support such a large population without Dungeons, as long as actual effort is put in to sustain it.

"To the entire world?" Ryan asks. "Wait – you mean that he grew a tree in every City for that?"

"Simultaneously."

"Damn," Ryan leans back in his seat. "I knew Celestials were powerful, but that's just… damn. If that's it feels like when he's doing it on that scale, what would it feel like if he was fully in one place?"

"I'm not sure if there would be a different," I shrug. "I can't quite put it fully into mortal words, but essentially, his entire being was in each of the trees he grew at once, not split between them. That's the gist of it but not the entirety."

The others think about that for a few moments, then Kelsey frowns.

"How come you weren't affected?" She asks. "Does that mean you've transcended as many times or more as him?"

"No," I shake my head. "I've only transcended twice. Once you do it three times, you seem to be locked out of the soul cycle. The same goes for if you transcend in certain ways, such as via the elements or aether, as it creates fundamental changes to your soul.

"In my case," I say. "I've only transcended twice, so that feeling of me being superior can be felt by those sensitive to the influence of a soul who've only transcended once or never, but it doesn't give me immunity to those who've done it three times. According to Ash, Rift Wolves are completely immune to the effect regardless of how many times we've transcended."

"What's a Rift Wolf?" Kelsey asks.

"My real species," I answer. "According to Ash, very few people will have heard of us, whether transcended or not. He only knows of three of my kind: myself, my older brother, and one he only met recently enough that I was already reincarnated again. We seem to generally keep to our kind and our friends."

"Oh," she says. "What kind of stuff can you do as a Rift Wolf?"

"Open rifts between universes," I answer. "And our natural power is wielding aether, not mana or some other form of magical energy derived from it. We produce it instead and can convert it into the others as needed or desired. What about you two? I know that Ryan's a god, but I don't know about either of you. Since you know mine, I think it's only fair."

"I'm a nature spirit," Kelsey informs me. "Originated as a tree, actually, and developed a mind over the eras. Transcended via nature. It's… not very easy for something not a part of it. So plants, boulders, springs, and the like can do it if they either get lucky or develop a mind like I did. Once something does, they become a nature spirit of a type dependent on what they originally were. The Earth term for my specific type is probably 'dryad'."

"How long have you known about yourself?" I ask. "Ash mentioned that Rift Wolves seem to take the longest out of all reincarnates to begin remembering, or even to become aware that they're more than they seem."

"Pretty much from the start," she shrugs. "I've just sort of always known I'm actually a tree of sorts, though my memories themselves didn't begin returning until I was around ten."

"What about you?" I ask Barry.

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He looks contemplative as he stares at Colby for a few moments, who's finally decided to take a bite of his ice cream.

"Much like orange eyes and gods," Barry tells me. "Grey eyes are only found in reincarnates of a specific type. Grey is for mythical beasts, and the two of us are specifically a species of deer similar to elk or moose but not quite. We have a few differences from deer as well, including having large, feathery wings. Our primary magics are force and spatial, which is why we're born with affinities for those in reincarnations. Colby is my real son and I was planning on returning to my real self, but then he was born. He apparently decided to follow his father into a new life for a little while."

Barry snorts and ruffles his son's hair.

"If he was just a normal kid," he says. "I probably would've left him with his grandparents to return to my real self. But for my actual son to reincarnate into my mortal son, he had perfect timing on that. We can sort of always tell we're something more, but don't begin regaining our memories until we hit puberty and generally remember everything by the time we're fifteen or sixteen. Well, everything that we're going to remember. Some information doesn't come back to us until we return to our true selves. So Colby can tell that he's not really a human, can't you?"

Colby nods and shoves another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

The rest of our early lunch is eaten in silence, though everyone seems to perk up a little bit more by the time we're done. The waitress who comes and checks on us every now and then is still subdued, though. Chances are high that the higher one's natural Rank, the faster they'll recover.

Ryan covers everyone's food, then Kelsey and Barry leave, Colby waving to me as they go.

"Something seemed like it occurred to you while we ate," Ryan says as we get into his truck. "Is it important?"

"Depending on how one looks at it," I say. "Do you know who's in charge of managing Monster Districts?"

"Yeah, why?"

I haven't told him yet that I can fix manipulate energy flows or fix Monster Eggs.

"Rift Wolves have the power to deal with them," I explain. "And it's something I can do without reverting to my true form. I can currently deal with six of them without recovering my aether and there are three within the city. It doesn't take me too much effort – just a few minutes – so I don't mind doing it. I think it'd be better to do it now, while everyone's a bit… affected."

Since Rank 4s and Rank 5s wouldn't have much of a reason to go to a Monster District, those who'll recover faster won't be heading into them. There won't be anyone in them who isn't an authorized agent of the bureau right now, either, as Ash told me he was going to teleport out any hunters who are in them for safety purposes. The staff maintaining the districts have secure facilities within them and will likely have been in those, so they wouldn't have been at risk of an attack while affected by the soul of a Celestial.

With only staff in there, this is the perfect opportunity for dealing with Monster Eggs within the city and not draw too much attention to myself.

"You don't seem terribly concerned with society at large," Ryan snorts and pulls out of the parking spot. "So I'm sure you've got some idea of compensation for the help."

If I were a different person, the assumption that I want to do it for selfish reasons might offend me. I don't really mind the assumption of selfishness when there's a legitimate reason for it. He's also not wrong about my motives.

"I'll be hitting Level 20 soon," I tell him. "This afternoon, if I work on the river when I head to the Mythic Forest today. Another Level and I'll be at the point where I can withstand the energies of a Category 5-3 Dungeon. Clothes can be a bit expensive and I've already spent quite a decent amount of money on new scavenging equipment, alchemy equipment, my bracelets, and my clothes. I want some sturdier stuff and can't afford it off of just my looting of the monsters I'm taking down. Their essence crystals sell for a decent amount, but I need stuff of a higher quality."

"Aren't Rank 5s and up immune to the energies of the Mythic Forest?" He asks. "Based on what I could find in historical records, our gear is never damaged in them."

"That might be true," I say. "But with my restoring the forest and its energy flows returning to normal, won't that mean its ambient mana levels will increase? The quality of the plants I'll find within will increase and my equipment can't handle that."

Normal people might be able to consume high-strength foods and potions, and we could even use ordinary tools to process them. That last part only holds true for food, however, and it'll still wear on the equipment over time. The bigger the gap between the tools and the resources they're using to process them, the faster the wear occurs.

When it comes to alchemy… we're performing magical processes. That wears on things even more quickly and trying to craft a basic potion with non-magical mortar, pestle, ladle, and cauldron would result in all of them being destroyed the very first time. The amount of force needed to break harder magical reagents can be higher as well, so the mortar and pestle or whatever else would also need to be stronger to resist said force.

"You really like alchemy and running your shop, don't you?" Ryan asks.

"I do," I confirm. "I find alchemy and enchanting relaxing. Running the shop gives me plenty of time to read as well."

Even after remembering things from before this life, my tastes haven't changed and nor has my personality. I'm still me, I just have additional memories now. There's still plenty I can learn from reading, and plenty of stories I don't have memories of reading.

"Alright," he chuckles. "By the way, if you haven't checked your account in the last few days, there should have been a deposit into it."

"A deposit?" I frown. "Ry, please don't start sending me money."

"It's from the loot from the other day," he quickly explains. "That's both of ours, not just mine. I might have been the one to perform the kills, but you acted as tank and pulled in the beasts."

Even if I'm a long-range damage dealer as my typical role, such things aren't fully set and people can cover more than one area. By drawing the monsters in, I acted as the tank between us while Ryan was the dealer.

The reason people usually fall into one role is a mixture of their preferred fighting style and specializations. In a Dungeon or on a monster hunt, it's better to make sure each person knows what their dedicated role in the battles are. Doing that reduces the chances of getting in the way of others and causing problems, especially when working with someone you're not used to working with.

With teams more used to working together, it's easier to avoid getting in someone's way or wasting mana while expanding one's area as they're used to how the others act and support and can adjust accordingly. More experience working with others in a variety will help someone learn to do that as well, but it's not as easy when dealing with amateurs who can't also adapt, so I've heard.

"I hadn't thought about that," I admit. "Was it much?"

"Considering what we were working with?" He asks. "Yeah. I didn't use my sword for the fight both because it was so easy but also to spare the hides. Drought salamanders might be only about three feet in length, but they were strong enough that their hides were Tier 62. That's $6,200 or so per drought lizard hide. For the starseeker wolves, they were about the same Tier, so $186,000 or so per pelt. Those two alone were about ten mil combined, and that's the lowest-priced individual item with one that's not the highest. It doesn't include the meat, fangs, and claws, nor anything from the boars. Those three also had specialized essence crystals rather than standard ones… and I forgot to ask if you wanted any of those."

I'd honestly forgotten there were more specialized types of essence crystals. I always buy normal ones since they're the most common and the easiest and cheapest to acquire, especially with the cheaper potions I've been selling over the years. Since I didn't scavenge monster parts, I also never really harvested essence crystals until I Awakened.

Well it's technically Mrow harvesting them, but close enough.

"What types?"

"The drought lizards had fire essence crystals," he answers. "While the startusk boars and starseeker wolves had either fire, water, or spatial essence crystals."

"I probably could have used some of those," I say. "But I'm sure I'll acquire more. Based on the vision I had, the Starry Pleasure Waters are much larger than that zone. Several miles across. Since the Monster Eggs in the section we cleared out seemed to have some degree of influence from the terrain, there will probably be more to acquire."

Ryan is quiet for a few moments, then snorts.

"The more I get to know you on a personal level than just as a scavenger who I used to see all the time and now a shopkeeper," he says. "The more I'm starting to realize that you really don't get bothered very easily. You find out I didn't think about asking you if you needed stuff from the loot and your reaction is just 'eh, I can probably get more' even though you could've used them."

"I still don't have equipment that can process them," I say. "Though the money will help some. Not enough for stuff at Tier 124, though."

"You want to stop there?" He asks. "Not go further? I guess because the monsters there are all so weak, and you want to focus on the zones you've unlocked right now rather than spreading out a lot more?"

"Less of that," I say. "And more that I have a feeling I should just stick to Tier 124 things for now. Another thing I learned from remembering past lives is that I have clairvoyance for past, present, and future aspects, which probably explains those visions. It also manifests as 'gut instincts' about things, and I don't think I'll be gaining Levels again for awhile after I hit Level 20, nor that I'll be acquiring anything stronger than that for awhile."

"Any particular reasons?" Ryan asks.

"Just instinct," I shrug. "This isn't the way back to our district."

"It's not," he says. "Since you want to help with the Monster Districts today, we're heading to the nearest one. I was planning on calling the guy in charge of them and ask him to meet us there once we finished talking."

"Ah," I say. "Well, I think that's everything on my end, so I guess we can call him now."