‘Avatar,’ I called out for Mes and they appeared. They were looking a lot better than before. But they were wearing an eyepatch. At least there were no bandages. I was resting in my room. After a conversation with my father, I let him have my original room that he was sharing with Missy. I hadn’t asked about the details, since I didn’t want to know.
‘Mittens, I am fine.’
‘That’s good to hear. We aren’t going to have more things like that, right?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. The problem is that this place was in use before all you creatures were here, I suspect that even the creatures of this place aren’t natural,’ Mes told me.
‘What?’ I asked in surprise.
‘During that brief moment I leveraged my full power, I checked several things. One of them is the fact that you and all other creatures did not evolve,’ Mes said.
‘What is evolve?’ I asked.
‘Evolve means to change slowly, or undergo the process of evolution. Take cats for example. If your ancestors were feral, but then got smarter over time. They walked on their hind paws. Those traits would be passed down to their kittens and over millions of years, you would get modern cats. That is if you underwent evolution.’
‘Creatures change like that?’ I asked. That seemed like it shouldn’t happen. How would creatures know what they should change into?
‘You see this with variations like field mice and door mice. Their children adopt traits of both,’ Mes explained, and I nodded at that, even if I didn’t completely understand this evolution or evolve process they were explaining. ‘Like if a cat had two kittens, one larger but slower, and one smaller but faster. The one what had children would pass those traits on.’
I kind of got it. ‘So, cats and other creatures didn’t evolve?’ I asked.
‘No. Evolution is a natural process. I could see that happening for one, maybe two creatures on this world. But in reality, there are far too many different types of creatures that are not feral. It also explains my presence here as well.’
‘Wait? We were created by who? And your presence?’ I was getting more and more confused.
‘Your world, was once inhabited or managed by other creatures or beings. They created all the creatures you know today a long time ago. Something wiped them out, or they left. The Vacuum Energy Missile that we saw is proof that their departure wasn’t peaceful. But this place is still intact, so they protected it.’
‘Alright, and what does that mean for me?’ I mentally asked trying to understand where Mes was going with all of this.
‘I spotted several locations of interest. One beneath the Covenant Church’s main building. One on the snake continent. Another in the Great Lizard Kingdom. Based on the their locations, they are probably heavily guarded and secret. However, there is a fourth location. Deep underwater under the Northern ice cap.’
‘I won’t be able to get to any of those any time soon,’ I replied.
‘That is not necessarily the case. Getting to one of these locations and possible facilities is very important. I can issue a quest and not a local quest.’
‘And that helps me how?’ I asked.
‘I will assist with the goal of getting to one of those locations.’
‘I am nowhere near strong enough. I need more skills Mes, you know this. I can’t just leave either. Maybe the snake location once we go to the Southern Continent,’ I replied.
‘There is a time limit. I don’t know what it is. But what happened on that island has put events into motion.’
‘What kind of time limit?’ I asked a bit annoyed.
‘The end of your world.’
“What?!” I hissed out, forgetting to speak mentally.
‘In my brief period of activity, I could detect several issues. It is only a matter of time until something happens. A question of when, not if.’
‘And these facilities will help?’ I asked. There was a long stretch of silence. ‘Mes?’
‘Doubtful. What is about to occur is like an avalanche. Once it gets going, there is no way to stop it, and it is messy. Best case, nothing happens for a million years. Worst case, everything is destroyed tomorrow.’ I let out a sigh at that. There was a huge difference between one day and a million years.
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‘That is quite a wide time span. I don’t think things are that urgent,’ I replied. ‘And what is this avalanche exactly?’
‘I can’t determine the time frame without a second measurement, which I can’t do without issues and attention from the beings you call ancestral spirits. The avalanche is complicated and you don’t have the authority level to know the details. The short answer is that energy will leak through and then burst through.’
‘This will have devastating impacts, which will eradicate all life.’
‘So, what changes?’ I asked.
‘That is up to you. Even if it happens, I will be fine. But you need to understand that there is a time limit,’ Mes explained.
‘Well, if it happens tomorrow, this avalanche, there is nothing I can do. All I can do is get strong, unless you can give me EXP for free?’ I asked. Mes shook their head.
‘I wish it was that simple. But unfortunately, it isn’t. Even intervening as I did with that eldritch being, was not something I should have done. I could prevent that though. And you are my user, Mittens. But this avalanche is something I can’t stop.’
‘Just one mission at a time, and killing creatures. That I can do. Anything else interesting you discover? Like more cults I could go after?’ I asked.
‘No. My time was limited. Finding those facilities, fighting that being, and remaining undetected by other beings was the limit of my ability unfortunately.’ Mes sounded a bit annoyed at me.
‘Ah sorry, I wasn’t criticizing.’
‘It is fine. But the problems out there are not easily dealt with and you have been informed.
‘How would I go after this underwater facility even?’ I asked.
‘If you are serious, then I can start the quest chain. But that means it must be completed. You can’t back out of a quest you accept from me. I would provide a way down. And you would have to bring my stone,’ Mes explained.
‘And what is at this facility or location?’
‘I don’t know. That is why it is so dangerous. It was shielded from my observation. That isn’t simple or easy. Which means energy was in play.’
‘I think I want to hold off for now. I need to get better first. With that said, Interface. Combat log.’
COMBAT LOG
28 Enhanced Spiders (High): 4,513 EXP
TOTAL: 4,513 EXP
Experience: 5,378 EXP (4,513+ EXP)
Features: Interface, Avatar, Skill Attunement, Body Attunement, Mind Attunement
Strength: 65/80 (81%) +2
Dexterity: 103/120 (85%) +1
Constitution: 60/100 (60%) +23
Intelligence: 37/90 (41%) +15
Wisdom: 24/100 (24%) +10
Charisma: 35/50 (70%) +1
T1 Skills: Movement (98/100) +3, Balance (82/100) +4, Listening (63/100) +2, Breathing (57/100) +8, Dancing (51/100) +12, Focus (42/100) +10, Stillness (40/100) +2, Proprioception (34/100) +8, Sea Legs (35/100) +15, Smell (31/100) +2, Sea Stomach (28/100) +11
T2 Skills: Danger Sense (78/100) +13, Purge Poison (36/100) +1
T3 Skills: Claw Combat (81/100) +6
I looked over my increases. I was surprised Purge Poison had gone up, but it made sense since there were traces from my previous fights. Movement was almost maxed out. ‘How did I train my constitution?’
‘You were close to that eldritch being. It was physically warping the minds and bodies of the other creatures. Your attunements helped protect you and it was weak. It was the best constitution training you could have asked for. I would suggest keeping with the plan to increase your stats.’
‘Really, I would have thought you would have suggested something different after everything you had learned and wanted me to do?’ I asked.
‘Stats are the foundation Mittens. Increasing them is important to increase your chances of survival.’
‘Well, I have given it some thought.’ I then reached out and tapped the screen quickly before I could change my mind. I quickly moved up strength to 120. I had been too weak to carry Lionel out there and my spar with my father reminded me about how weak I was.
It was too easy for me to be pushed around. It had been tempting to increase my dexterity, but it was already very high. I needed to increase my maximum strength, so I had an easier time improving it. The fight with the tree had also been tough due to a lack of strength and other issues. But cutting into the tree with my claws was part of the issue.
So far, I hadn’t been in a fight where my dexterity was an issue. With my skills, it was far too easy for me to fight another creature. Even creatures with guns. My problem was all these weird beasts. The invisible tentacle beast that was eating hearts. Then the tree. And now a volcano. More dexterity wouldn’t have helped me in any of those situations.
But strength would have made a difference. ‘Mes, what about strength skills?’ I asked.
‘Better to increase the stat, since the skills are force multipliers. Raising up your stats is the best thing you can do at the moment to improve generally. More skills won’t help you as much,’ Mes explained.
‘Thanks Mes. I mean it. You really looked out for me,’ I thought.
‘Your welcome Mittens. And thank you for listening to my advice. I know the kill, kill, kill mentality is not for everyone, but you have been doing exceptionally so far. I am going to rest now.’ Mes disappeared and I closed the Interface.
The end of the world. I closed my eyes. Also, cats were created. Well, it made more sense than the Warrior’s Wisdom descending on creatures and granting them his blessing. I just had to focus on my missions and get strong like Mes had told me. Rushing wouldn’t help anyone.
That was why I hadn’t taken Mes up on their offer of a quest. I would visit it in my own time. A million years was a long way out. Even if the end of the world was in a century, or decade, I could only keep doing what I was doing.
For one brief moment, I considered telling the Covenant Church. But that would be a bad idea. They had been messing with that missile and clearly knew about it. I just needed to get strong enough to battle my way through any opposition. Then I could go get the answers myself.
I wrapped the blanket around me, as I heard the constant pounding of rain outside as the ship went up and down. Mousethief was going full speed ahead and I could appreciate that. He wasn’t stopping for anything. That was when I realized his island plan was no longer feasible for him. I didn’t know if I should say anything or not. That was probably the hardest question I faced right now.